Rights

Japan passes copyright reform giving performers royalties when recordings play in public

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The country’s parliament enacted a revised Copyright Act on Wednesday (June 17), introducing what the government calls the record performance and communication right. Until now, only songwriters, composers, and music publishers were paid when commercially released music was played as background music in Japanese venues. The performers and the labels behind those recordings received nothing for the public plays, at home or overseas.

Source: Japan passes copyright reform giving performers royalties when recordings play in public

Majors and BMG ask US Supreme Court to overturn copyright termination ruling

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The major music companies and BMG have asked the US Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that lets songwriters reclaim the worldwide rights to their songs under American law. In a petition filed on June 11, the rightsholders warned that the decision would unleash “chaos” on the industry if left to stand, and asked the justices to reverse a January ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Source: Majors and BMG ask US Supreme Court to overturn copyright termination ruling 

Peanuts music catalog owner lands CBS licensing deal after Stephen Colbert’s Late Show finale

Lee Mendelson Film Productions has reached a licensing agreement with CBS for the use of Vince Guaraldi‘s Linus and Lucy on the final broadcast of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The proceeds from the CBS agreement will be donated to World Central Kitchen, which provides meals to communities affected by natural disasters and civil unrest.

Source: Peanuts music catalog owner lands CBS licensing deal after Stephen Colbert’s Late Show finale

Publishers Sue WeLib for Copyright Infringement

Fresh off of last month’s victory against pirate web site Anna’s Archive, 13 publishers across all segments of the industry have allied to sue yet another pirate site, WeLib, for copyright infringement. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charges that the operators of WeLib “ copied the source code and most of the contents of” Anna’s Archive.”

Source: Publishers Sue WeLib for Copyright Infringement

Tech startup Artist Included launches with plan to re-record classic songs using AI

A new music technology company called Artist Included has launched in Los Angeles, aiming to let artists re-record classic tracks using AI-assisted vocal technology. The company claims that it is “creating a new model for legendary artists to reimagine classic recordings and create new, artist-owned masters for today’s market”.

Source: Tech startup Artist Included launches with plan to re-record classic songs using AI

Four music datasets holding millions of tracks are being shared among AI developers: Report

Four datasets of music are circulating among artificial intelligence developers, and together they hold more than 21 million recordings, according to a report by The Atlantic. They are filled with copyrighted music, spanning household names and tens of thousands of lesser-known independent artists, according to the report. Two of the datasets each contain more than 100,000 recordings, according to The Atlantic, while the other two are far larger, at roughly 9 million and 12 million tracks.

Source: Four music datasets holding millions of tracks are being shared among AI developers: Report

Publishers to bill AI firms for unwanted scraping– and take them to court if they don’t pay

Some 31 UK websites, backed by the Movement for an Open Web (MOW), have added new “Search-Only Contracts” (SOC) to their website terms and conditions which prohibit the copying and repurposing of content by LLMs such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The terms seek to beef up existing robots.txt notices on websites, which are currently widely ignored by generative AI companies.

Source: Publishers to bill AI firms for unwanted scraping– and take them to court if they don’t pay

Lionel Richie Moves to Trademark His Voice

Specifically, Tuskegee-born Richie moved to obtain four trademarks yesterday – joining the likes of Taylor Swift and Matthew McConaughey, both of whom have sought voice and likeness trademarks as of late. According to the filings, Richie is specifically seeking sound marks for snippets of his famed song lyrics: “Hello, is it me you’re looking for?”; “Say you, say me”; “Easy like Sunday morning”; and “All night long.”

Source: Lionel Richie Moves to Trademark His Voice

Music publishers strike AI licensing deals with Udio and KLAY in ‘landmark’ industry-wide pacts

The National Music Publishers’ Association has agreed an industry-wide AI licensing deal with the AI music platform Udio. NMPA President and CEO David Israelite announced the deal on Wednesday (June 10). He also unveiled an agreement in principle with a second AI music platform, KLAY. Israelite said the Udio agreement is the first industry-wide licensing deal struck with a major AI music company, and the first to “value songs and sound recordings equally” when it comes to AI training.

Source: Music publishers strike AI licensing deals with Udio and KLAY in ‘landmark’ industry-wide pacts

YouTube Terms of Service Allow AI Music Training, Google Says in Copyright Lawsuit

Google says in a new court filing that YouTube’s terms of service grant a “broad license” for artificial intelligence models to be trained on music uploaded directly to the platform. This argument came in Google’s Monday (June 8) motion to dismiss copyright infringement litigation filed earlier this year by a group of independent artists, songwriters and producers.

Source: YouTube Terms of Service Allow AI Music Training, Google Says in Copyright Lawsuit

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