Warner Music Group (WMG) and music streaming and discovery platform Audiomack have announced an expanded licensing agreement covering 47 additional countries. In this expanded deal, newly added regions include the UK, France, Italy, Germany, the Caribbean, Mexico, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The partnership, which was Audiomack’s first with a major label, began in 2019.
Source: Warner Music Group and Audiomack Expand Licensing Deal
What kind of deals do entertainment and media giants need in the age of technology giants? It is a question that Hollywood management teams and Wall Street are constantly discussing and assessing. Management consulting firm Bain & Co., in a new research report, shares this guidance: “Own the consumer, own the intellectual property (IP), or own nothing.” In other words to compete in “a world of tech mega-platforms,” players will need “more cross-sector M&A and deals for IP.”
Source: Bain’s Advice for Hollywood This Year: Own IP or Own Nothing
The world’s major publishers claim that unlicensed libraries cast a permanent shadow over authors’ ability to make a living from their work. Those same shadows also make it more difficult to predict whether today’s investments in publishing content will pay off, or find themselves copied at will and distributed for free on the world’s most popular shadow libraries.
Source: Publishers Ramp Up Pressure vs. Anna’s Archive, Sci-Hub, Z-Library & Libgen * TorrentFreak
Just hours after Spotify announced its first-ever annual net profit, the National Music Publishers’ Association has launched an ongoing takedown initiative against the streaming giant for the unlicensed use of music in podcasts on its platform. Beginning today (Feb. 4), notices will be sent to remove thousands of unlicensed uses of NMPA members’ works, according to the announcement. Over 2,500 detections of infringement are included in the initial takedown notices.
Source: Music Publishers Begin ‘Extensive’ Spotify Podcast Takedowns Over Licensing Violations
Until now, it was generally understood that when an author exercises their termination right under US law, this applies only to US rights – international rights remain with the assignee (i.e., the publisher who bought the rights). However, a recent ruling by the US District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana upended this: The court concluded that a termination under US law applies globally – or, at least, in all the countries that participate in the Berne Convention.
Source: US court says copyright termination applies globally, potentially causing ‘chaos’ for rightsholders
The legal team for the MLC has stated that it is ‘evaluating all options’ including a potential appeal of Spotify’s bundling court victory. Spotify’s bundling of audiobooks into its Premium Individual, Duo, and Family subscription plans are at the heart of the issue. Applying the rate formula applicable to bundled subscription offerings resulted in a reduction of the service provider revenue that Spotify reports, resulting in an underpayment of royalties.
Source: The MLC Is ‘Evaluating All Available Options’ Including An Appeal
The estate of Superman creator Joseph Schuster is suing Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Comics alleging that its planned release some key territories is illegal. Plaintiff Mark Warren Peary, executor to the estate, filed the suit in Federal Court in the Southern District of New York seeking “damages and injunctive relief for Defendants’ ongoing infringement in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.”
Source: ‘Superman’ Estate Sues Warner Bros. Discovery, DC Comics To Block Release In Key Territories
Entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery has struck a deal with UK-based Cutting Edge Group to create a JV through which they will co-own and co-manage WBD’s vast catalog of film and TV music. The creation of the JV is claimed to be, “by value, one of the largest music rights deals ever transacted.” The Financial Times reports that the deal is worth more than USD $1 billion.
New research has suggested UK news publishers are owed £2.2bn by Google for their contribution to the search platform in 2023 alone. The Public Interest News Foundation worked with FehrAdvice to calculate the value of journalism to Google with a survey of 1,484 people which observed their internet browsing habits. Google responded that such studies are “misleading” and have been “debunked”, insisting it makes very little money from news content.
Source: Google owes UK news industry £2.2bn from 2023 alone, claims new research
News organisations have filed several lawsuits accusing AI companies of infringing on their copyright to train their own models. Is the argument so cut and dry? “We haven’t had any court ruling to say that they are violating the law,” says Alina Trapova. “The general feeling in all of these discussions is that there is a violation of copyright. But it has to really go down again to how each individual system works.”
Source: How AI is reshaping copyright law and what it means for the news industry