Rights

Worldwide Independent Network calls for AI ‘licensing marketplace’ in new manifesto

WIN’s AI manifesto comes as music companies around the world navigate the complex new world of AI, working to maximize the technology’s potential for artists and businesses while addressing challenges such as deepfakes of artists and the unauthorized use of copyrighted music in training AI models. “The global independent music community welcomes new technological developments which respect the value of music and creators’ rights,” WIN CEO Noemi Planas said.

Source: Worldwide Independent Network calls for creation of AI ‘licensing marketplace’ in new manifesto

NMPA Calls on Congress for Copyright Act Overhaul Amid Spotify Battle Over Bundling

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) has sent a letter to Judiciary Committee leadership in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, asking for the overhaul of the statutory license in section 115 of the Copyright Act, which “prevents private negotiations in a free market” for mechanical royalty rates for songwriters and music publishers in the U.S.

Source: NMPA Calls on Congress for Copyright Act Overhaul Amid Spotify Battle Over Bundling

Hollywood agency CAA aims to help stars manage their own AI likenesses

With many stars having their digital likeness used without permission, CAA has built a virtual media storage system for A-list talent to store their digital assets, such as their names, images, digital scans, voice recordings, and so on. The new development is a part of “theCAAvault,” the company’s studio where actors record their bodies, faces, movements, and voices using scanning technology to create AI clones.

Source: Hollywood agency CAA aims to help stars manage their own AI likenesses

SCOTUS: No Statute of Limitations on Copyright Damages

The Copyright Act of 1976 stipulates that a plaintiff must file an infringement suit “within three years after the claim accrued.” For many years, courts have disagreed over when that three-year clock actually starts ticking.

Some courts, including some Circuit Courts of Appeal, have held it starts running when the alleged infringement occurred and that suits filed three or more years after that time are not valid. Other courts have held that the statute of limitations only start running when the plaintiff discovers, or reasonably could have discovered, the infringement, even if it occurred more than three years prior — an interpretation known as the “discovery rule.”

Reddit’s deal with OpenAI will plug its posts into “ChatGPT and new products”

OpenAI has signed a deal for access to real-time content from Reddit’s data API, which means it can surface discussions from the site within ChatGPT and other new products. It’s an agreement similar to the one Reddit signed with Google earlier this year that was reportedly worth $60 million. The deal will also “enable Reddit to bring new AI-powered features to Redditors and mods” and use OpenAI’s large language models to build applications

Source: Reddit’s deal with OpenAI will plug its posts into “ChatGPT and new products”

Actors Hit AI Startup With Class Action Lawsuit Over Voice Theft

It’s believed to the first lawsuit against an AI firm over the use of likenesses to train an AI system and marks a growing rift between creators and companies alleged to indiscriminately hoover troves of data to power their technology. The lawsuit seeks to represent other voiceover artists who believe their voices were misappropriated by LOVO.

Source: Actors Hit AI Startup With Class Action Lawsuit Over Voice Theft

Mechanical Licensing Collective Files Lawsuit Against Spotify

The action states that, beginning in March 2024, Spotify asserted that its Premium Individual, Duo, and Family subscription streaming plans were now bundled subscription offerings because those plans now include access to audiobooks. Applying the rate formula applicable to bundled subscription offerings results in a reduction to the service provider revenue that Spotify reports.

Source: Mechanical Licensing Collective Files Lawsuit Against Spotify

Sony Music Warns AI Developers Not to Use Its Content for Training

Sony Music Group is sending out warnings to what sources say are around 700 AI developers and music streaming services, warning them not to use its content to train AI. These so-called “opt-out” letters, which have been obtained by Variety, state that developers will need explicit permission to use that content and warns that some may already be in violation.

Source: Sony Music Warns AI Developers Not to Use Its Content for Training

Spotify reveals UK-specific streaming royalties data

Earlier this year, Spotify released its annual Loud & Clear report which rounded up global royalties data. Now, Spotify has unveiled UK-specific equivalent data. The UK figures include the overarching (royalties generated by UK artists from Spotify exceeded £750M in 2023) and drill down to artist-level (the number of UK artists who generated over £10,000 and £50,000 in royalties from Spotify in 2023 has doubled since 2017).

Source: Spotify reveals UK-specific streaming royalties data

OpenAI destroyed a trove of books used to train AI models

Newly unsealed documents in the class-action lawsuit brought by the Authors Guild against OpenAI show the startup deleted two huge datasets, named “books1” and “books2,” that had been used to train its GPT-3 artificial-intelligence model. Lawyers for the Authors Guild said in court filings that the datasets probably contained “more than 100,000 published books.”

Source: OpenAI destroyed a trove of books used to train AI models. The employees who collected the data are gone.

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