Rights

ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish Friday defended a strategy of licensing popular content to outside platforms even as it prepares to roll out streaming service Paramount+ in a fiercely competitive market. Bakish and new CFO Naveen Chopra reiterated on a post-earnings call with analysts — who continue to question the strategy — that they make scrupulous analytical decisions on each property – balancing profits from selling versus keeping rights.

Source: ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish On Licensing Content (“We Can’t Keep All That For Ourselves”), The Upfront & Production Ramp

Much like other best-laid plans in 2020, the consumer product pipeline was ravaged by the coronavirus. Licensing rights to major films and streaming intellectual property generated $124.8 billion in revenue in 2019, according to a global study from trade organization Licensing International. The entertainment category accounts for 44% of that market share, doubling the size of its closest competitor.

Source: How COVID-19 Rocked Hollywood’s $125 Billion Licensing and Consumer Product Cash Cow

Two weeks ago the RIAA asked GitHub to remove the open-source stream-ripper software youtube-dl. This request wasn’t well-received by developers, many of whom retaliated by posting copies of the code. Yesterday, things went from bad to worse when a user with the name ‘F*** T** RIAA’ uploaded three MP3s of the songs the RIAA mentioned in its takedown notice.

Source: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub * TorrentFreak

Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) and peermusic have signed an exclusive digital licensing deal to promote and distribute peermusic’s publishing catalog in China. TME’s users will be able to access the catalog through TME’s streaming platform and other local digital platforms, which include QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music, and WeSing.

Source: Tencent Music Entertainment Group and peermusic strike exclusive digital licensing deal in China

Royalty payments to creators across Australia have been “hit dramatically” due to the health crisis, and will contract by double-digits, APRA has warned. COVID-19 and the current recession will impact distributions for the April-June quarter, which will be reflected in the November royalty payment, the PRO confirms in a statement.

Source: Royalty Distributions ‘Hit Dramatically’ for April-June Quarter, APRA Warns

TikTok has announced a new licensing agreement with Sony Music Entertainment. With this deal, the TikTok creator community will have access to sound clips from Sony Music artists. TikTok and Sony Music will work together to support greater levels of TikTok user personalisation and creativity on the platform, and drive new and opportunities for fan engagement with SME’s artists and music.

Source: TikTok signs Sony Music licensing deal

From the beloved opening lines of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” to the rousing, children’s-choir conclusion of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” President Donald Trump’s campaign rallies have been filled with classic songs whose authors and their heirs loudly reject him and his politics.

Source: Stop the music! Chorus of artists tell Trump to turn it down

Spoken Giants, the first royalty administration company for creators of spoken word copyrights — comedians, podcasters, authors of speeches/lectures — launched today Oct. 28. The new entity is vowing to be the single, credible, transparent, and scalable collective organization for rights for creators of spoken word compositions.

Source: No Joke: Music Industry Veterans Turn to Royalty Collections for Comedians, Podcasters

Most UK copyright works (such as books, films and music) will still be protected in the EU and the UK. This is because of the UK’s continued participation in the international treaties on copyright. For the same reason, EU copyright works will continue to be protected in the UK. This applies to works made before and after 1 January 2021.

Source: Intellectual property after 1 January 2021