Rights

U.S. lawmakers are considering updating the DMCA to bring it into line with current piracy challenges. A detailed consultation process resulted in a set of recommendations from the Copyright Office this year, but many questions remain. A hearing at the House Judiciary Committee last week reiterated that stakeholders aren’t in agreement on how to move forward.

Source: House Committee Hearing Shows Disagreement on How to Fine-Tune the DMCA * TorrentFreak

Polaris, the umbrella collection society for the Nordics, has reached a new licensing agreement with YouTube for music used on its service, which means that music by Danish writers should once again become accessible on the service in Denmark.

Source: YouTube welcomes back music from Danish songwriters, inking new Polaris licensing deal

Today the company unveiled its latest effort to claw back more credibility in the news publishing world, launching the Google News Showcase. Sundar Pichai, CEO of the search giant, said in a blog post that it would collectively pay some $1 billion to news publishers in licensing fees “to create and curate high-quality content” for new story panels that will appear on Google News. Initially, these will appear on Android devices and eventually also on Google News on iOS.

Source: Google to pay out $1B to publishers to license content for new Google News Showcase

France, among Europe’s most lavish patrons of culture, cinema and literature, has criticised the European Commission over how it plans to apply landmark copyright rules that pit YouTube and Instagram against the creative industries, saying its approach may weaken the rules. The criticism, following accusations from Europe’s creative industries earlier this month that the EU executive is rewriting the rules.

Source: France says EU Commission approach may compromise copyright rules

Twitch announced today (September 30), that its been developing a new creator tool for the past year called Soundtrack by Twitch, offering rights-cleared music for livestreams via partnerships with a number of labels and distributors.

Source: Twitch, still unlicensed by majors, launches rights-cleared music via deals with indie distributors and labels

Each “Monday Night Football’ broadcast this season takes place as the NFL and the TV networks that air its games are holding critical negotiations about rights contracts that, if they aren’t renewed, could determine nothing less than the fate of traditional TV itself. To be sure, networks make tweaks and improvements to regular programs all the time, but this season, any changes to gridiron TV take place under a new and intense spotlight.

Source: ‘Monday Night Football’ is More Than a Game for Disney in NFL Rights Scramble

Peter Chernin wants to spin Spotify’s podcasts into TV and movie gold. Spotify and Chernin Entertainment have formed a multiyear partnership to adapt the audio streamer’s original podcasts for television, film and digital video. Under the first-look deal, the two companies will collaborate 50-50 on investing in developing new projects.

Source: Chernin Entertainment Inks Spotify First-Look Deal to Adapt Podcasts for TV, Film

The trade organization doesn’t collect money for performers and it doesn’t represent neighbouring rights for them. What it does do is every bit as important: offering guidance, education and advice about neighbouring rights for performers and rightsholders, within a community comprised of some of the music business’s biggest names.

Source: Artists are missing out on tens of millions of dollars from neighbouring rights. IAFAR is trying to fix the problem.

The causes of unstreamableness vary. For films made before digital distribution existed, it can be unclear who owns streaming privileges. Restrictions on digital use of the music in a film can hold it back. For those who want to release older films in new formats, hunting down rights holders can become a Watergate-like investigation. After decades of mergers and acquisitions, the corporate owner of a film may not even know it’s the owner.

Source: Why Some Classic Films Still Aren’t Streaming, From ‘Jungle Fever’ to ‘Silkwood’

In a letter sent to the European Commission, a large group of anti-piracy organizations and copyright holders calls for stricter online identity checks. As part of Europe’s planned Digital Services Act, online services such as hosting companies, domain registrars, and advertisers, should be required to perform “know your customer” checks. This can help to combat all sorts of illegal activity including online piracy.

Source: Rightsholders Ask Europe for Broad “Know Your Customer” Checks to Deter Piracy * TorrentFreak