Rights

The deal includes the Times’ participation in Google News Showcase, a product that pays publishers to feature their content on Google News and some other Google platforms, some of the people said. The product has yet to be launched in the U.S., but is available in other countries including Germany, Brazil and Australia.

Source: WSJ News Exclusive | New York Times to Get Around $100 Million From Google Over Three Years

In December, Canadian illustrator and content creator Sam Yang received a snide email from a stranger asking him to judge a sort of AI battle royale in which he could decide which custom artificial intelligence image generator best mimicked his own style. In the months since Stability AI released the Stable Diffusion generator, AI enthusiasts had rejiggered the tool to produce images in the style of specific artists; all they needed was a sample of a hundred or so images.

Source: Artists Are Suing Artificial Intelligence Companies and the Lawsuit Could Upend Legal Precedents Around Art

Sheeran’s win means that music’s wider legal landscape remains largely undisturbed. After the shock of the “Blurred Lines” verdict in 2015, in which Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were ordered to pay more than $5 million to Gaye’s family — a case that many experts felt was wrongly decided — Led Zeppelin prevailed in a suit involving “Stairway to Heaven,” sending the pendulum back to a more neutral position.

Source: 6 Takeaways From Ed Sheeran’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ Copyright Case

The annual Irish Music Rights Organization (IMRO) and Law Society Annual Copyright Lecture has been told that an EU Copyright directive “clearly improves” the position of press publishers and journalists in their relationship with technology giants. Dr Mark Hyland (IMRO Adjunct Professor of Intellectual Property at the Law Society) warned, however, that some of the wording in the directive was ambiguous, and could lead to litigation.

Source: Copyright rules ‘no silver bullet’ for publishers

SoundCloud has teamed up with Merlin, the digital music licensing agency for independent labels, on a global licensing deal, allowing Merlin members and their artists to participate in SoundCloud’s Fan-Powered Royalties (FPR) model. Unlike the traditional pro-rata “one big pot” streaming model, FPR is a user-centric model that allocates a share of each listener’s subscription and advertising revenues only to the artists/tracks they individually listen to.

Source: SoundCloud, Merlin strike global deal to bring fan-powered royalties to indie labels

Amid the Hollywood writers strike, the Directors Guild is preparing to fight for more global streaming residuals with its contract talks with studios looming. “Residuals are one of the most important benefits of being a DGA member,” the DGA said in a recent message to its members. “Residuals tie you to the economic success of your work, they provide a safety net between jobs, and they are a major funding source for our Pension Plan.”

Source: Directors Guild Prepares To Fight For More Global Streaming Residuals With Contract Talks One Week Away

After a two-week trial, the verdict was handed down on Thursday (May 4) by a Manhattan jury, ruling that Sheeran did not infringe on the copyright of the Marvin Gaye classic, Let’s Get It On. he decision marks the culmination of a years-long copyright battle between Sheeran and the heirs of Ed Townsend, a songwriter who co-wrote the 1973 track.

Source: Ed Sheeran wins Marvin Gaye copyright infringement trial

Artificial intelligence by way of machine learning is the latest existential threat to the music business. The questions around AI and creators’ rights are so head-spinning it’s hard to know where to begin: If David Guetta uses ChatGPT to create a fake Eminem verse for a song, who gets paid? Should it be Eminem, or could it fall under fair use or even parody, which is protected by the First Amendment?

Source: AI vs. the Music Industry: With the Internet Full of Fake Drakes and Eminems, Who Gets Paid?  

Audius’ new AI opt-in option allows artists to give others permission to upload AI-generated tracks based on their work. Audius sees its new offering as “an extension of the platform’s popular remix contests and other fan-artist music collaborations.” Now, artists can choose its “AI-Friendly” button on their settings page to create a separate AI-generated track section on the artists’ page, allowing fans to upload songs that were made by training on the artists’ work.

Source: Audius’ Opt-In Option Allows Some AI-Generated Tracks on Platform

The case presented by the Townsend estate is nakedly cynical and designed to play on fundamental misapprehensions about how songs are created. Much like math or writing, music is limitless in its possibilities but paradoxically required to repeat itself. The notion of copyrighting any chord progression, let alone one as common as the one used in “Let’s Get It On,” makes no more sense than copyrighting the numbers six and 13.

Source: Opinion | The Ed Sheeran lawsuit is a threat to Western civilization. Really.