Rights

Over 2.2 million YouTube videos were hit with copyright claims that were later overturned between January and June of this year, according to a new report published by the company today. The Copyright Transparency Report is the first of its kind published by YouTube, which says it will update biannually going forward.

Source: YouTube reveals millions of videos get hit with incorrect copyright claims

Tiffany Haddish, Mike Birbiglia and a host of other popular acts have joined a group of entertainers trying to get paid a royalty on a copyright for jokes they wrote when they are played on radio and digital service providers like Spotify, SiriusXM, Pandora and YouTube. The comedians’ effort is largely led by Spoken Giants. The global rights administration company, founded in 2019, wants to collect royalties for underlying composition copyrights of spoken-word media.

Source: Spotify Removes Some Comedians’ Work From Streaming Service

YouTube-ripping service Yout.com sued the RIAA last year in an attempt to have its platform declared legal in the US. The music industry group asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that Yout clearly circumvents technological protection measures. However, Yout counters that YouTube doesn’t have any meaningful restrictions and wants the lawsuit to move forward.

Source: Youtube Ripper Strikes Back at the RIAA in DMCA ‘Circumvention’ Lawsuit * TorrentFreak

Two men have been indicted by a grand jury for running a massive YouTube Content ID scam that netted the pair more than $20m. Webster Batista Fernandez and Jose Teran managed to convince a YouTube partner that the pair owned the rights to 50,000+ tracks and then illegally monetized user uploads over a period of four years.

Source: U.S. Indicts Two Men for Running a $20 Million YouTube Content ID Scam * TorrentFreak

Prime minister Justin Trudeau  has pledged to introduce a news media bargaining code for Canada within the next two months. Like Australia, Canada will seek to compel Google and Facebook to pay news publishers for the use of their content. It will grant collective bargaining powers to Canadian publishers, and will threaten platforms with compulsory arbitration if they cannot agree deals with news companies.

Source: Canada news firms eye $100-150m as regulation hits Google & Facebook

Shopify, an Ottawa-based e-commerce company launched in 2006 by snowboarders seeking a platform to sell equipment, is now a juggernaut with a market value reported to be at least $180 billion and 1.75 million businesses in its portfolio. On Wednesday, five major publishers sued the Canadian company, accusing it of enabling digital piracy committed by its vendors.

Source: Shopify sued by publishers alleging copyright violations

Late last week as most of the world was preparing to take some down time and enjoy a Thanksgiving spread with their families, streaming giant Spotify quietly removed albums, and in some cases entire comedian catalogs from its platform. This effected all levels of comedians from working comics to some of the biggest names in the game including Jim Gaffigan, John Mulaney, Dave Attell, Mike Birbiglia, Chad Daniels, Tom Segura, and Kyle Kinane.

Source: Spotify pulls comedy catalogs in retaliation to comedians asking for owed royalties

When Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams prophetically titled their song “Blurred Lines,” no one could have predicted, sampled or interpolated the tidal wave of internet-hatched accusations of theft directed at industry hitmakers, or the onslaught of frivolous and dubious claims that this deeply flawed verdict would bring to light.

Source: Second-Guessing Inspiration Has No Place in Music Making (Guest Column)

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that Josh Groban’s 2003 hit “You Raise Me Up” didn’t infringe the copyright to a little-known 1977 song, ruling that both songs were actually derived from the century-old folk song “Danny Boy.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower judge’s decision last year: That any similarities between the two songs originated in the famous folk ballad, for which any copyright has long since expired.

Source: Josh Groban’s ‘You Raise Me Up’ Didn’t Violate Copyrights, Court Says

Merging social media, gaming, consumerism and other forms of entertainment into one innovative digital universe holds great promise for the music industry. And while the terms and technology will change, the rules have not. Music must be licensed and paid for regardless of how it is consumed, which bodes well for songwriters in this new frontier.

Source: What the Metaverse Means for Music Creators (Guest Column)