Headlines

Japan passes copyright reform giving performers royalties when recordings play in public

The country’s parliament enacted a revised Copyright Act on Wednesday (June 17), introducing what the government calls the record performance and communication right. Until now, only songwriters, composers, and music publishers were paid when commercially released music was played as background music in Japanese venues. The performers and the labels behind those recordings received nothing for the public plays, at home or overseas.

Source: Japan passes copyright reform giving performers royalties when recordings play in public

Majors and BMG ask US Supreme Court to overturn copyright termination ruling

The major music companies and BMG have asked the US Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that lets songwriters reclaim the worldwide rights to their songs under American law. In a petition filed on June 11, the rightsholders warned that the decision would unleash “chaos” on the industry if left to stand, and asked the justices to reverse a January ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Source: Majors and BMG ask US Supreme Court to overturn copyright termination ruling 

Congress wants artists to own their aesthetic

A bipartisan group of lawmakers recently introduced the CREATOR Act, which would grant visual artists control over how AI mimics their creative styles. Existing intellectual property law generally doesn’t provide people with a right to their artistic styles. The CREATOR Act would significantly expand the scope of IP, and raises a number of unsettled questions about what exactly makes an artists’ work distinctive in a legal sense.

Source: Congress wants artists to own their aesthetic

No Fakes Act Clears Senate Judiciary Committee

A bill to curb the use of unauthorized AI deepfakes has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee, significant movement for a top legislative priority for the entertainment industry this year. The bill is meant to address the proliferation of unauthorized “deepfakes,” as a number of performers have testified on Capitol Hill about the use of their voice and likeness. 

Source: No Fakes Act Clears Senate Judiciary Committee

A landmark bill targeting AI deepfakes faces a US Senate Judiciary Committee vote on June 18

In the bill, a digital replica is described as “a newly created, computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation that is readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of an individual.” It covers fully synthetic tracks and real recordings whose fundamental character has been materially altered, but exempts parody, commentary, news and authorized sampling.

Source: A landmark bill targeting AI deepfakes faces a US Senate Judiciary Committee vote on June 18

Peanuts music catalog owner lands CBS licensing deal after Stephen Colbert’s Late Show finale

Lee Mendelson Film Productions has reached a licensing agreement with CBS for the use of Vince Guaraldi‘s Linus and Lucy on the final broadcast of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The proceeds from the CBS agreement will be donated to World Central Kitchen, which provides meals to communities affected by natural disasters and civil unrest.

Source: Peanuts music catalog owner lands CBS licensing deal after Stephen Colbert’s Late Show finale

Publishers Sue WeLib for Copyright Infringement

Fresh off of last month’s victory against pirate web site Anna’s Archive, 13 publishers across all segments of the industry have allied to sue yet another pirate site, WeLib, for copyright infringement. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charges that the operators of WeLib “ copied the source code and most of the contents of” Anna’s Archive.”

Source: Publishers Sue WeLib for Copyright Infringement

Tech startup Artist Included launches with plan to re-record classic songs using AI

A new music technology company called Artist Included has launched in Los Angeles, aiming to let artists re-record classic tracks using AI-assisted vocal technology. The company claims that it is “creating a new model for legendary artists to reimagine classic recordings and create new, artist-owned masters for today’s market”.

Source: Tech startup Artist Included launches with plan to re-record classic songs using AI

Four music datasets holding millions of tracks are being shared among AI developers: Report

Four datasets of music are circulating among artificial intelligence developers, and together they hold more than 21 million recordings, according to a report by The Atlantic. They are filled with copyrighted music, spanning household names and tens of thousands of lesser-known independent artists, according to the report. Two of the datasets each contain more than 100,000 recordings, according to The Atlantic, while the other two are far larger, at roughly 9 million and 12 million tracks.

Source: Four music datasets holding millions of tracks are being shared among AI developers: Report

Publishers to bill AI firms for unwanted scraping– and take them to court if they don’t pay

Some 31 UK websites, backed by the Movement for an Open Web (MOW), have added new “Search-Only Contracts” (SOC) to their website terms and conditions which prohibit the copying and repurposing of content by LLMs such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The terms seek to beef up existing robots.txt notices on websites, which are currently widely ignored by generative AI companies.

Source: Publishers to bill AI firms for unwanted scraping– and take them to court if they don’t pay

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