As the rock era has moved into old age, a phenomenon has emerged known as the “copyright dump,” where, due to a still vaguely defined European Union law, artists must release recordings before those recordings become 50 years old, or lose the rights to them. Pink Floyd has quietly released a whopping 18 ‘Dark Side of the Moon’-era concerts onto streaming services to renew its rights to the recordings.
Source: Pink Floyd Quietly Releases 18 ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ Era Concerts Onto Streaming Services
This music rights gold rush is due to both the explosion of music streaming and tunes on TikTok as well as an ever-growing need to supply global video services like Netflix with soundtracks to their shows and movies. Now, Duetti, co-founded by two former TIdal execs, wants to flip the practice on its head. Instead of giving big-name artists huge paydays, the company is looking to cut deals with small artists and help their old songs blow up.
OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, briefly considered changing its policy before a deafening backlash from artists forced the company to double down on its commitment to royalties. OpenSea also introduced an “enforcement tool” allowing artists to blacklist rival marketplaces that don’t honor creator royalties. It’s a small win for creators although some have called it a “bandaid” as many growing platforms still do not enforce royalties by default.
In their response to Sony Music Entertainment’s complaint, Triller, Inc. denied all core allegations and argued that they do not owe Sony any money for their use of Sony’s copyrighted music on their music video creation app. While Triller admits to Sony’s allegations of how they generate revenue, they deny that Sony’s music in particular is core to their business model. They say that their general ability to advertise and draw paying users is how they do business.
