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YouTube: 50% of Music Biz’s Revenue on Site Comes From Content ID

July 13, 2016By rightstech

The music industry has been complaining that YouTube doesn’t do enough to combat piracy. But Google says record labels are making millions from YouTube’s Content ID copyright-flagging system, and that the process is used 50 times more frequently than DMCA takedown notices.

In a report released Wednesday, “How Google Fights Piracy,” the Internet giant says that when music companies find copyrighted material they own on YouTube with Content ID, they choose to monetize more than 95% of those claims by opting to leave the content up on the platform to generate advertising (rather than blocking it). Indeed, 50% of the music industry’s YouTube revenue comes from fan content claimed via Content ID, according to Google.

Source: YouTube: 50% of Music Biz’s Revenue on Site Comes From Content ID | Variety

Blockchain Coders Win Grant to Fix Smart Contracts With ‘Legalese’ –

July 13, 2016By rightstech

In the wake of The DAO’s demise, new efforts are beginning to emerge that seek to address the challenges developers have so far faced working with smart contracts, the key building blocks that underlined the project and whose exploitation led to its failure.

One such startup is Legalese. Co-founded by Virgil Griffith and Wong Meng Weng, Legalese is an open-source project writing a new programming language specifically for smart contracts. Called L4, the language is designed to help coders properly vet contracts before they go live.

Source: Blockchain Coders Win Grant to Fix Smart Contracts With ‘Legalese’ – CoinDesk

Will It Even Be Called Music? The Intriguing Future Of Virtual Reality

July 12, 2016By rightstech

Filming Virtual Reality can be eye-wateringly expensive, with The New York Times said to have spent up to $100,000 a minute on its recent VR film The Displaced. Little wonder that U2 and Muse’s excursions into VR were backed by Apple, its $200bn cash pile and a corporate taste in music.

Put like this, the appeal of combining Virtual Reality and music seems at first glance like an expensive trinket to sit alongside 4K TVs in the home of the rich and easily swayed. But dig a little deeper into VR and a new thread emerges, where independent artists are driving experimentation in a technology that could – depending on who you talk to – transform music listening itself, reinvent the music video, fundamentally change live music or fade out again like just another fad.

Source: The Quietus | Opinion | The Quietus Essay | Will It Even Be Called Music? The Intriguing Future Of Virtual Reality

Indie Music Trade Groups Blast DOJ’s 100% Licensing Position

July 12, 2016By rightstech

Condemnation of a new U.S. Department of Justice position allowing 100% licencing of songs has been nearly universal within the music publishing community. In a show of unity, three independent music trade groups have issued a joint response:

We, the undersigned, represent the independent music publishing and record label community in North America, and want to lend our unified voice to the recent press and discussion regarding the outrageous position the Department of Justice (DoJ) has taken with regard to the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees.

Source: Indie Music Trade Groups A2IM, AIMP, CMPA Issue Joint Response To DoJ 100% Licensing Position – hypebot

Imogen Heap explains why blockchain could bring about a music revolution

July 11, 2016By rightstech

One of blockchain’s most vocal bell-ringers is the Grammy Award-winning UK singer, songwriter and producer Imogen Heap. “Blockchain is completely enabling us to rethink the basic, core structure of how monetary distribution works in the industry,” Heap told City A.M. “It can be used to build a united platform and create an ecosystem, but most importantly builds innovation under the standards that make sense for artists.”

The research would seem to back up Heap’s point. In a report this week released by the Blockchain for Creative Industries cluster at Middlesex University and the Featured Artists’ Coalition (FAC), researchers found four areas where using blockchain could be a genuine asset to the music industry.

Source: How to revive the music industry: Imogen Heap explains why blockchain could bring about a music revolution | City A.M.

NBC Universal Scores Patent to Detect and Target Pirates

July 11, 2016By rightstech

Over the past several years various anti-piracy tools have been deployed. Nonetheless, piracy is still very much alive today with hundreds of millions of people sharing infringing files every month.

While there’s no silver bullet to stop all piracy indefinitely, NBC Universal scored a new patent this month which it believes may help. Titled “Early Detection of High Volume Peer-To-Peer swarms,” one of the patent’s main goals is to detect and target instances of online piracy before the problem spreads.

Source: NBC Universal Scores Patent to Detect and Target Pirates – TorrentFreak

Pink Floyd: Blockchain technology in music could be ‘truly revolutionary’

July 8, 2016By rightstech

If blockchain technology can help the commercial and contractual relationships in music keep pace with technology and the communication between artists and fans then it could be truly revolutionary, writes Nick Mason from Pink Floyd in the foreword to a new report on the subject.

The “Music on the blockchain” report from a research team at Middlesex University, continues a concerted effort led by musician and technologist Imogen Heap to get artists a fairer deal using blockchain designs. Heap has brought together members of the Ethereum community, ConsesnSys and a host of others at London’s Sonos studios.

Source: Pink Floyd: Blockchain technology in music could be ‘truly revolutionary’

How blockchain could help musicians make a living from music

July 7, 2016By rightstech

In the decade and a half since Napster, it’s got harder for musicians to make a living, at least from recorded music. Falling CD sales, illegal downloads, the low payments from legal music streaming platforms, and a shift towards buying single tracks rather than whole albums all play their part.

Recently, a number of music industry projects have turned to a particular technology as a possible solution to these problems. These include Mycelia, launched by singer, songwriter and producer Imogen Heap, and Dot Blockchain Music, launched by PledgeMusic founder Benji Rogers. Then there’s Ujo Music, Blokur, Aurovine, Resonate, Peertracks, Stem and Bittunes, which already claims users in 70 countries. What links these projects is that they all are based on blockchain.

Source: How blockchain could help musicians make a living from music

5 Questions With: Benji Rogers of PledgeMusic

July 6, 2016By rightstech

PledgeMusic is a direct-to-fan music platform that enhances the fan-artist dynamic from the creation of music to its experience in digital and live formats. The platform allows fans to play a part in the actual music making side of an artist’s work while the creators get a better, more intimate understanding of the people that support their careers. In short, PledgeMusic has created a digital environment that breaks from all traditional production-to-distribution channels in today’s hyperconnected world.

A key feature of PledgeMusic allows artists to sell a project straight to their fans before it comes to fruition. In a campaign artists can take preorders for albums, for instance, or offer other products or experiences to their super fans as incentives for funding an idea. Another way PledgeMusic is revolutionizing the creation and distribution of music is through direct purchases and the implementation of blockchain.

Benji Rogers is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of PledgeMusic and the lead musician behind the band Marwood. A public speaker, investor, and musician from London and New York, Rogers was the recipient of the A&R Worldwide “Digital Executive of the Year” award, and in 2013 he was named to Billboard‘s 40 Under 40 Power Players list. Digital Media Wire had the chance to ask Benji some questions about PledgeMusic, the music industry, and the role of blockchain in this new model. Below is a recording of Benji’s responses along with a transcription.

Source: 5 Questions With: Benji Rogers of PledgeMusic – Digital Media Wire