Rights

‘Landmark Victory’: Copyright Office Finalizes Rule Change On Streaming Royalties

The U.S. Copyright Office has finalized a new rule aimed at ensuring that songwriters who invoke termination rights to regain control of their music will actually start getting paid streaming royalties after they do so. The provision, issued on Tuesday, will overturn what the Copyright Office called an “erroneous” earlier policy by the Mechanical Licensing Collective, which critics feared would have kept sending money from streamers like Spotify to former owners in perpetuity, long after a songwriter took back ownership.

Source: ‘Landmark Victory’: Copyright Office Finalizes Rule Change On Streaming Royalties

Tool preventing AI mimicry cracked; artists wonder what’s next

Designed to help prevent style mimicry and even poison AI models to discourage data scraping without an artist’s consent or compensation, The Glaze Project’s tools are now in higher demand than ever. But just as Glaze’s userbase is spiking, a bigger priority for the Glaze Project has emerged: protecting users from attacks disabling Glaze’s protections—including attack methods exposed in June by online security researchers in Zurich, Switzerland.

Source: Tool preventing AI mimicry cracked; artists wonder what’s next

UK music bodies welcome new government with policy requests

The UK will have a new government this morning, after the Labour party won a landslide in its general election. British music bodies have been quick to welcome the new administration, but also to remind it of their key policy requests. “The incoming Labour Government has been elected on a platform to implement a plan for the creative sector as part of its industrial strategy. The potential of the UK music industry to contribute to growth must be at the heart of this plan,” UK Music head Tom Kiehl said.

Source: UK music bodies welcome new government with policy requests

As Apple and OpenAI Grow Partnership, Studios Stand on Sidelines of AI Battle

Apple’s growing partnership with OpenAI further calls into question the standing of major studios and the Motion Picture Association, which counts Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix among its members, on issues related to the use of intellectual property to train AI systems. Studios stand as among the most notable groups that’ve chosen not to sue AI companies, which could be using copyright-protected material in training data

Source: As Apple and OpenAI Grow Partnership, Studios Stand on Sidelines of AI Battle

NAB President Pushes Back on Recording Performance Royalties

The National Association of Broadcasters President has pushed back against the idea of recording performance royalties for radio. LeGeyt argues that the AMFA could place financial strain on local radio stations, especially as global digital competitors with consumer subscriptions to cover royalty expenses continue to draw attention away from radio.

Source: NAB President Pushes Back on Recording Performance Royalties

OpenAI Sued by Center for Investigative Reporting 

OpenAI and Microsoft have been sued by another news organization for using articles to train its artificial intelligence systems, this time by the Center for Investigative Reporting. In a lawsuit filed in New York district court, the nonprofit newsroom, which produces Mother Jones and Reveal, alleges the Sam Altman-led firm “copied, used, abridged, and displayed” the Center for Investigative Reporting’s content without consent or compensation.

Source: OpenAI Sued by Center for Investigative Reporting as Media Takes Diverging Paths on Tech Giant

‘What’s in it for us?’ journalists ask as publications sign content deals with AI firms

Vox Media’s president, Pam Wasserstein, sent her staff a Slack message and an email on May 29 detailing what the company’s journalists say was shocking news: Vox had signed a content licensing deal with OpenAI. The deal gives the AI company access to Vox’s current content, as well as the entire archive of its journalistic work. Wasserstein sent the alerts just moments before Axios published an exclusive detailing the licensing and product deal, much to the surprise of her journalists.

Source: ‘What’s in it for us?’ journalists ask as publications sign content deals with AI firms | TechCrunch

Suno CEO accuses major labels of ‘reverting to their old lawyer-led playbook’ 

Suno CEO Mikey Shulman has issued a statement, accusing the plaintiffs of resorting to outdated legal tactics. “Suno’s mission is to make it possible for everyone to make music. Our technology is transformative; it is designed to generate completely new outputs, not to memorize and regurgitate pre-existing content. That is why we don’t allow user prompts that reference specific artists,” Shulman said in a statement obtained by MBW.

Source: Suno CEO accuses major labels of ‘reverting to their old lawyer-led playbook’ following lawsuit for copyright infringement

Major labels sue AI music generators Suno, Udio for ‘mass infringement’ of copyright

Among AI music generators capable of creating entire songs with just a prompt, Suno and Udio are considered by many to be among the best. They are also considered by many to have used copyrighted music to train their AI models, without authorization. Now, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is coordinating lawsuits on behalf of major recording companies against the two AI companies.

Source: Major record companies sue AI music generators Suno, Udio for ‘mass infringement’ of copyright

Bundling Up

Reps. Ted Lieu and Adam Schiff, both Democrats from California and members of the House Judiciary Committee, along with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee sent a letter to U.S. Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter last week raising “serious questions” as to whether Spotify is abusing the collective licensing system for mechanical rights by bundling its previously standalone audiobook service into its premium music subscription tier. The bundling arrangement has the effect of lowering the royalty rate Spotify pays to music publishers and songwriters under the terms of the most recent rate-setting agreement adopted by the Copyright Royalty Board.

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