Jason Allen, the author of the two-dimensional artwork, titled “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial,” which was rejected by the U.S. Copyright Office last year, has filed a request for declaratory judgment asking a district court to find that his work is eligible for copyright registration.
Source: Author of AI-Generated Work Rejected by Copyright Office Says Lack of Protection Has Crushed Him
Performing rights organization AllTrack, built to serve the independent sector, has launched a suite of APIs that are now available to creator-centric platforms like streaming services, UGC platforms, distributors, and publishing administrators. In a first-of-its-kind integration between a streaming service and a PRO, TIDAL recently became the first platform to integrate AllTrack’s APIs.
Source: AllTrack Launches Performing Rights API Tools for Royalty Tracking
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ikTok Music is officially set to cease operating on November 28th, 2024, after launching in 2023, TikTok has announced. Absent from TikTok Music’s website is any mention of the precise cause(s) of the shutdown.
However, it’s possible that licensing problems (or at least friction) of some sort contributed to the decision. TikTok set its standalone streaming ambitions in motion in 2022, and even back then, reports suggested the majors were concerned with the service’s monetization potential.
Source: TikTok Music to Shut Down in November After Launching in 2023
DMG Media chief executive Rich Caccappolo has said that monopoly lawsuits against Google and the prospect of new UK tech regulation could bring huge benefits to news publishers. Speaking at the Press Gazette Future of Media Technology Conference in London this month, Caccappolo said he expects the major tech companies in the UK media market to get designated as having “strategic market status” by December this year.
Source: Daily Mail CEO on Google lawsuits, AI and why future of news is bright
The European Union’s Copyright Directive was approved in 2019. Five years later, it is finally being implemented across the EU, with Poland the final member state to do the necessaries. Before it was passed in 2019 there was a bitter lobbying battle between some tech firms and the music industry over its provisions around safe harbors and rights enforcement – the infamous Article 17 of the directive. It was the peak of the ‘value gap’ conflict between rightsholders and YouTube.
Source: EU Copyright Directive finally implemented in all its countries
Music rightsholders want AI-music companies to ask permission and strike licensing deals before training their models on commercial recordings. Now US firm SoundExchange has announced plans to launch a registry of sound recordings that will give AI companies a clear picture of what they can and can’t use for their training processes. It will launch in the first quarter of 2025, built using its existing ISRC (international standard recording code) database.
Source: SoundExchange signals plans for AI registry for music creators
A federal judge on Friday brutally district Court Judge Vincent Chhabria accused the plaintiffs’ attorneys of dragging out litigation that may help set important guardrails for the emerging technology. “You are not doing your job. This is an important case,” Chhabria told lead counsel Joseph Saveri during an hour-long video conference about fact-finding issues in the case.
Source: Judge sharply criticizes lawyers for authors in AI suit against Meta
In a significant move, Lionsgate and the video-focused artificial intelligence research firm Runway have inked a deal that will see Runway train a new generative AI model on Lionsgate content, and will see the entertainment company use the tech as it produces future film and TV projects. While details are scarce, the companies say that the new model will be “customized to Lionsgate’s proprietary portfolio of film and television content,” and exclusive to the studio.
Source: Lionsgate Inks Deal With AI Firm to Mine Its Massive Film and TV Library
California Gov. Gavin Newsom visited SAG-AFTRA headquarters on Monday to sign two bills regulating the use of performances generated by artificial intelligence. The actors’ union lobbied for passage of the legislation, which builds on the protections won during the four-month actors’ strike against the major studios last year.
Source: Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs AI Bills Backed by SAG-AFTRA
The music industry has been clear on its views about training musical AIs: licensing deals are required. But what should those licensing deals look like? A new white paper written by Professor Daniel J. Gervais of Vanderbilt Law School offers some ideas on that. “The best way for creators to generate a decent stream of ongoing revenue for the use of their copyrighted works by GenAI applications is to be paid when the datasets used to train GenAI containing their works are used to create new ‘content’.”
Source: Could a new remuneration right be the key to AI music licensing?