The ruling was announced on Saturday by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation. It gave Tencent Music 30 days to unwind its exclusive deals with major international music suppliers and fined the company RMB500,000 ($77,100). The regulator also said that Tencent Music cannot seek hefty pre-payments from rivals to which it sub-licenses content.
Source: Tencent Music Ordered to Unwind Exclusive Content Deals With Global Labels
Nearly 15 years after James Brown’s death, his children and grandchildren have reached a settlement over a legal dispute involving his lucrative holdings. Brown had specified in a 2000 will that he would bequeath little to his heirs, other than a $2 million scholarship fund for his grandchildren, but his daughters Deanna Brown-Thomas and Yamma Brown, among others, found a way to inherit potentially millions of dollars.
Source: James Brown’s Heirs Settle 15-Year Dispute Over Soul Icon’s Estate, Song Publishing Rights
A game developer named Peter Madsen has started work on an extension for Twitch called SpotifySynchronizer. The idea is pretty simple. It allows viewers to synchronize their Spotify accounts with the streamer – so they can hear the music on their own account. Viewers can hear the same music at the same time as the streamer, while music artists, Spotify, and PROs get paid. Viewers who are watching without the extension will only hear the standard game audio.
Source: Twitch Streamers Use Spotify Syncing Extension to Avoid DMCA Strikes
The European Union’s Commissioner For The Internal Market, Thierry Breton, has announced that the European Commission is launching a study into the impact of a copyright ruling in the EU courts which related to a music royalties dispute in Ireland caused by a quirk of American copyright law.
A steady stream of new study requests from Congress over the last few months, combined with approaching deadlines for ongoing studies and CASE Act implementation activities, means a busy summer (and rest of 2021) for the Copyright Office.
Source: Copyright Office’s Busy Summer Includes a Full Slate of Studies and Rulemakings
US music rights organization SESAC Digital Licensing and BMG have expanded their partnership with new digital licensing deals for BMG’s Anglo-American repertoire in Southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand. On behalf of BMG, SESAC will negotiate license agreements with international online service providers and with local online service providers in the respective markets.
Source: BMG and SESAC expand partnership for Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, administered by Mint
Two former members of the Sex Pistols are suing singer Johnny Rotten for the right to use the band’s songs in an upcoming television series about the anarchic punk rock icons. Guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook want the songs to appear in Pistol, a television series based on a memoir by Jones.
Source: John Lydon Sued By Ex-Sex Pistols Bandmates Over Music in TV Series
EU Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe has published his advice on Poland’s request to annul Article 17 of the Copyright Directive. The AG argues that the ‘upload filter’ doesn’t significantly harm freedom of expression, but notes that safeguards are needed to prevent over-blocking.
Source: ‘Upload Filters’ Don’t Violate Freedom of Expression, Advocate General Finds * TorrentFreak
SoundExchange, the nonprofit appointed by the U.S. Congress to collect and distribute performance royalties for non-interactive digital music streams, is expanding its operation to encompass domestic and foreign private copy royalties, it was announced today.
Source: SoundExchange Expanding Into Private Copy Royalty Collection in the U.S.
France’s antitrust watchdog slapped a 500 million euro ($593 million) fine on Alphabet’s Google on Tuesday for failing to comply with the regulator’s orders on how to conduct talks with the country’s news publishers in a row over copyright. The fine comes amid increasing international pressure on online platforms such as Google and Facebook to share more revenue with news outlets.
Source: France fines Google 500 mln euros over copyright row