Universal Music Group has a ticking time bomb on its hands. The Copyright Act gives authors the ability to terminate a grant after a 35-year wait, and now there are hundreds of recording artists from the early 1980s who are looking to take advantage of this statutory provision to reclaim ownership rights.
Source: UMG Fights Musicians Who Wish to Terminate Copyright Grants
The three biggest record labels are demanding more money for songs played on TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin, setting up a showdown with the hugely popular video apps, people with knowledge of the matter said. Deals between the labels and the Chinese owner of the services, ByteDance Ltd., expire this spring, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. The two sides have made little progress in negotiations that have been going on since last year, they said.
The spectre of the value gap hung over the IFPI’s Global Music Report and press conference this morning, as it has done for the past few years, but the name ‘YouTube’ was not mentioned directly. Instead, it was the elephant in the room. IFPI boss Frances Moore and senior executives from the major labels talked about Latin America and India as key to the next stage of growth, yet it’s also true that YouTube is hugely popular in both territories.
Source: Despite growth music labels warn: ‘We should never get complacent’
ReDigi is now before the U.S. Supreme Court in a legal battle over the reselling of digitized copyrighted works. The company, which attempted to launch an online marketplace for secondhand iTunes songs, has written a letter to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg requesting an extension to May 13 to file its cert petition.
Source: Supreme Court Will Be Asked to Permit Resales of Digital Music Files
European Union countries on Wednesday endorsed an overhaul of the bloc’s copyright rules which would force Google and Facebook Inc to pay publishers for news snippets and filter out copyright-protected content on YouTube or Instagram. A majority of EU diplomats agreed to the revamp while Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Poland refused to back the deal and two other EU countries abstained.
European Union negotiators agreed Wednesday on codified language in a new set of sweeping copyright-reform rules — including a provision that would mandate YouTube and other internet platforms block copyrighted material when it’s uploaded. YouTube in particular has been particularly vigorous in opposing the proposed changes to the laws.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is now appealing the decision to dismiss the case against defendant Tofig Kurbanov. “The court got it wrong,” says RIAA spokesperson Cara Duckworth. “Its decision represents a big step backward in the protection of American culture and the creators that fuel it. We look forward to laying out our arguments in the weeks ahead.”
Source: RIAA Appeals Dismissal of Major Labels’ Case Against Russian Stream-Ripper
EU efforts to reform copyright rules hit a roadblock on Monday as a meeting of lawmakers and officials was called off, prompting criticism of Google from publishers after it and other tech giants lobbied against the changes. European Parliament lawmakers, representatives from EU countries and Commission officials were scheduled to meet on Monday to reconcile their positions on the topic.
Source: In win for tech giants, EU copyright reforms stalled
A group of prominent representatives of the audiovisual and sports sectors, including the MPA and the Premier League, are calling for a suspension of the current Article 13 negotiations. The companies suggest that a case currently before the EU Court of Justice may give them a ‘better deal’ than the copyright reform proposal.
Source: Rightsholders Call for Suspension of Article 13 – TorrentFreak
With the technology reaching a tipping point, several companies are clamouring — sometimes by way of the courts — to create a hologram performance that can be as engaging as a human one. In the process, they hope to unlock vast amounts of money in the back catalogues of the 20th Century’s biggest artists.
Source: Dead musicians are touring again, as holograms. It’s tricky — technologically and legally