Rights

Tumblr is selling user data to train AI. Things could get weird.

Auttomatic, the company that owns WordPress and Tumblr, is making a deal to provide data from their sites to help train OpenAI and Midjourney. “We are also working directly with select AI companies as long as their plans align with what our community cares about: attribution, opt-outs, and control,” an Auttomatic blog post says. “Our partnerships will respect all opt-out settings.”

Source: Tumblr is selling user data to train AI. Things could get weird.

Universal Music Deploys the ‘Nuclear Option’ Against TikTok

The companies are battling over how much TikTok pays Universal—the world’s largest music company—to make the label’s vast catalog of songs available to one billion-plus social-media users worldwide. The fight escalated this week, with Universal bringing on what many in the industry call “the nuclear option”—requiring TikTok to take down songs on which any songwriter signed to Universal’s publishing division has a credit.

Source: Universal Music Deploys the ‘Nuclear Option’ Against TikTok

ASCAP Reports Record Collections, Distribution 

ASCAP collections grew 14.1% to $1.737 billion in 2023 and payouts to songwriters and publishers increased 14.7% to $1.592 billion, the performance rights organization reported Wednesday (Feb. 28). Those figures represent a record year for ASCAP in both revenue buckets, as well as all-time highs for any U.S. performance rights organization ever, ASCAP claimed.

Source: ASCAP Reports Record Collections, Distribution While Casting Shade on For-Profit Competitors

TikTok Begins Removing Universal Music Publishing Songs, Expanding Royalty Battle

The bruising battle over royalties between Universal Music Group and TikTok entered a new and more severe stage in the early hours of Tuesday as songs published by UMG began to be removed from the platform. The standoff, which began earlier this month, initially saw recordings owned or distributed by UMG removed from the platform, but now is extending to a much larger number of songs by including those published by the company.

Source: TikTok Begins Removing Universal Music Publishing Songs, Expanding Royalty Battle

Spotify Generated $4.5 Billion for Independent Artists and Labels in 2023

Streaming has leveled the playing field in many ways since it became the main platform for music around a decade ago, and the fact that independent artists — which Spotify defines as artists signed to a non-major labels or self-releasing — now account for half of that total, for the first time, is evidence. With some 236 million paying subscribers, Spotify remains by far the world’s largest paid music-streaming service, with the U.S. its biggest territory.

Source: Spotify Generated $4.5 Billion for Independent Artists and Labels in 2023

Impala joins indie critics of Apple Music’s royalty changes 

European independent-music body Impala is weighing in to the row over Apple Music’s plans to give music catalogues that are available as spatial audio a boost in its royalties calculations. “The boost in royalties, as already highlighted in the press, is less accessible to independents,” claimed Impala in a statement this morning. Impala wants Apple to “discuss alternative ways, rather than unilaterally introducing significant changes, resulting in the redirection of revenues from independents to be redistributed among the major players”.

Source: Impala joins indie critics of Apple Music’s royalty changes – Music Ally

How an AI feud is roiling the music industry

he biggest record labels in music are trying to figure out how to grapple with the rise of artificial intelligence. When Universal Music Group (UMG) pulled its songs from TikTok on Feb. 1 partly because of a concern artists weren’t being protected from artificial intelligence, it triggered a debate across the industry about whether to embrace the new technology, fight it, or both.

Source: How an AI feud is roiling the music industry

Songwriters and publishers to receive nearly $400m payout after streaming royalty ruling 

The windfall stems from the Copyright Royalty Board’s Phonorecord III determination in August 2023, which established higher royalty rates for music streamed between 2021 and 2022. This means streaming giants like Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, and Pandora underpaid songwriters and publishers by $419.2 million, according to information from the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), highlighting underpayments during the 2021-2022 period.

Source: Songwriters and publishers to receive nearly $400m payout after streaming royalty ruling in the US

Reddit in AI content licensing deal is with Google

Social media platform Reddit has struck a deal with Google to make its content available for training the search engine giant’s artificial intelligence models, three people familiar with the matter said. The contract with Alphabet-owned Google is worth about $60 million per year, according to one of the sources. Bloomberg previously reported Reddit’s content deal without naming the buyer.

Source: Reddit in AI content licensing deal with Google

American Federation of Musicians, AMPTP Resume Contract Talks Amid Fight Over Streaming Residual Fees

As the American Federation of Musicians and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers resumed contract negotiations Wednesday, the AFM has released statistics that shed light on the changing nature of employment for industry musicians who play on many of the films and TV shows now being made.

Source: American Federation of Musicians, AMPTP Resume Contract Talks Amid Fight Over Streaming Residual Fees: ‘Their Value Cannot Be Denied’

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