Downtown Music Holdings-owned royalty collection platform Songtrust and Secretly Publishing have inked a new administrative partnership. Songtrust will now be administering the full music catalog of Secretly Publishing, including the catalogs of affiliates Ghostly Songs and The Songs of Numero Group, for royalty collections outside of the United States and Canada.
Source: Songtrust and Secretly Publishing ink new administrative partnership
New York-based musicians will benefit after Gov. Cuomo signed into law Senate Bill S5959D, providing a post-mortem right of publicity for 40 years after death. Prior to the new law, if a person died while living in the state of New York, all rights of privacy and publicity ended.
Source: New York Just Made It Easier for Artists to Protect Their Image After They Die (Guest Column)
Senator Thom Tillis has announced a new bill that will criminalize streaming piracy. Unlike similar legislation that was proposed in the past, the new ‘‘Protecting Lawful Streaming Act of 2020’’ specifically focuses on commercial pirate platforms. While this is less broad than the SOPA and PIPA plans, critique remains, especially because the amendment will be added to the Government’s must-pass spending bill.
Source: New U.S. Streaming Piracy Bill Focuses on Commercial Services * TorrentFreak
Several controversial copyright bills are reportedly being added to the US ‘must-pass’ spending bill. This includes the CASE Act and a proposal to make streaming piracy a felony. Tech companies and civil rights groups are calling on lawmakers to reject these plans.
Source: Controversial Copyright Legislation May Show Up in ‘Must Pass’ US Spending Bill * TorrentFreak
BMG has signed up The Rolling Stones to represent the band globally in pursuing collections of master recording performance rights royalties when their records are played on radio and television, also known as neighboring rights.
Source: The Rolling Stones Tap BMG for Global Neighboring Rights, Extend Publishing Deal
US Senator Thom Tillis has asked various stakeholders to shed light on possible DMCA reforms, including easier website blocking options and a notice-and-staydown regime. These potential changes will be welcomed by major copyright holders but groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Re:Create, and Public Knowledge are fiercely against.
Source: DMCA Review Triggers Opposition Against Site Blocking and Staydown Requirements * TorrentFreak
The potential deal would be a breakthrough moment in the library e-book market as Amazon currently does not make its digital content available to libraries. It would also be a major coup for the Digital Public Library of America’s upstart e-book platform and its SimplyE library reading app.
Source: Amazon Publishing in Talks to Offer E-books to Public Libraries
Citing people familiar with the deal, The Wall Street Journal reports that Primary Wave bought an 80% interest in the copyrights, which its sources state are valued at approximately $100 million. Additional terms of the deal include a strategic publishing alliance with the singer that will allow her to sign new songwriters to a joint venture.
Source: Primary Wave buys majority stake in Stevie Nicks publishing catalog for around $80m
In what could be the biggest deal ever for a single songwriter. Universal Music Publishing Group announced today (Dec. 7) that it had purchased Bob Dylan’s entire catalog of songs, from 1962 to the present, from Dylan himself.
Source: Universal Music Publishing Buys Bob Dylan’s Song Catalog
In December 2019 Swift confirmed that she was blocking sync uses of her classic hits because Scooter Braun owned the masters at the time. As writer/co-writer of her hits, alongside her publisher Sony/ATV, Swift has the ultimate yay or nay over whether these tracks can be used by sync partners.