Twitch announced in an email to streamers that the site has added new tools today to help creators see where they stand with takedown requests and copyright strikes. Twitch also added tools to let streamers mass delete their recorded streams. It’s a smart move because it gives streamers better tools to play on the right side of copyright law.
Source: Twitch makes it easier for streamers to wipe out their old videos to avoid copyright strikes
We all know the painful transition of the height of the CD era in 1999 to the lows of the digital, Napster-dominated early 2000s. With the shift from physical to digital the industry, and especially the labels, had to reinvent itself as a licensing business. A key question here revolves around how well-suited the CMOs are to collect and manage these digital rights.
Source: A necessary legal fight: collective rights management and allocation
Amongst the new markets are key territories such as South Africa, Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Senegal, with UMG’s catalog now also widely available across French-speaking territories for first time. In 2018, UMG became the first major global music company to license music to the service, which now has 50 million monthly active users.
Source: Universal and music streaming service Boomplay expand license to cover 47 countries across Africa
The agreement comes more than two years after UC officials walked away from its subscription deal with Elsevier, demanding the publisher negotiate a fair transformative open access deal. No stranger to tough negotiations, Elsevier held its ground, cutting off UC’s access in July 2019. And in turn, some UC researchers publicly announced their refusal to submit articles to Elsevier journals or serve on Elsevier editorial boards.
Source: Elsevier Strikes Historic Open Access Deal With University of California
SoundCloud’s move is by no means an immediate game-changer. At launch in April, only indie artists on two of SoundCloud’s own distribution services will get access to these user-centric royalty options. And SoundCloud is not where the majority of music streaming in the world takes place. Still, the symbolism of the decision — which raises another round of conversation about whether artists can make a living wage from streams — has the music industry’s interest piqued.
Source: Will SoundCloud’s Fan-Centric Royalties Spark Wider Change?
Along with the money and hype, the NFT craze has spurred a debate over what it means to own digital property, and the role of copyright on the Internet. Some suggest NFTs might soothe long-running tensions between creators and tech platforms—while others point out the trend has already given rise to new forms of piracy and rip-offs.
Source: The NFT Craze Offers Easy Money—And Hard Copyright Questions – Decrypt
The streaming service built its massive subscriber base through exclusive original content like “Stranger Things” and “The Queen’s Gambit” and by licensing content like “The Office” from legacy media companies. However, according to The Information, Netflix is looking into a strategy reversal of sorts that would see the company license its movies and shows to companies like ViacomCBS and NBCUniversal.
A bipartisan pair of legislators have introduced a bill that would eliminate some “outdated” regulations including the must carry-retransmission consent regime that broadcasters use to secure payments from MVPDs for their local programming/signals and the compulsory copyright license.
Source: New Bill Would Kill Retrans Regime, Compulsory License
A few days ago, several domains of the popular ebook repository ZLibrary became inaccessible. The ‘suspensions’ were handed down by the site’s Chinese registrar, following copyright complaints from Harvard. The ‘shadow library’, which also allows researchers to bypass academic paywalls, remained available through backup domains. To its surprise, the suspensions were soon lifted as well.
Source: ZLibrary Domains Were ‘Temporarily’ Suspended Over Copyright Infringement Claims * TorrentFreak
A broad coalition of more than 350 leaders of Hollywood’s creative community has sent a letter to every member of the newly installed Congress asking for a stronger American copyright system. Among other actions, the letter from CreativeFuture implored the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to hold internet companies accountable for the widespread presence of illicit content on their platforms.
Source: Hollywood Coalition Asks Congress to Strengthen Copyright Laws