Licensing

PRS for Music chief talks financials, blockchain and YouTube

Robert-Ashcroft-150x150Ashcroft was keen to talk up the significance of PRS for Music’s investments in back-end technology, from its core systems in the UK to its European joint venture with German and Swedish peers GEMA and STIM. PRS says the number of music ‘uses’ it processed rose from 975bn in 2014 to over 2tn (trillion) in 2015 – a reflection of the deluge of streaming data.

“These are highly-specialised systems. No other business has to store copyright data on the scale that we do, and then the matching of sound recordings reported to us by the DSPs with the songwriters that wrote them,” said Ashcroft.

Source: PRS for Music chief talks financials, blockchain and YouTube

How To Integrate Blockchain Into Existing Businesses

The Emer platform claims to offer Digital proof-of-ownership to merchants who are looking for both scalably and to transparently store records of both digital and physical assets on the blockchain.

From a resolution of land title disputes between law offices to licensing associated with anything from streaming video services to anti-virus software subscription, the Emer platform claims the ability to manage these processes. In addition, the verification of these records is much simpler to access and complete using the Emer platform as all records are kept securely and accurately on the blockchain. This can lower costs and the time spent both from a customer perspective and from a lawyer’s perspective, removing the need to deal with physical documents to complete routine transactions.

Source: How To Integrate Blockchain Into Existing Businesses

In Possible Threat to Must-Carry, GAO Says Broadcast License Phase-out Feasible 

The General Accountability Office has concluded that phasing out cable and satellite statutory licenses for the retransmission of broadcast content “may be feasible for most” participants, and the U.S. Copyright Office agreed. Must-carry rules could be threatened as a result.

GAO also said that increasing the individual negotiations could lead to broadcast “blackouts,” already a complaint by cable operators over retrans negotiations with blanket licenses. It would make sense that the more individual negotiations required, the more potential for disagreement and disruption, though some content providers argue there would also be more opportunity for a marketplace-set rate on their content rather than a government-set blanket license they argue is artificially low.

Source: In Possible Threat to Must-Carry, GAO Says Broadcast License Phase-out Feasible | Broadcasting & Cable

ASCAP Payout to Industry Falls by $16m, Despite Revenue Growth

US licensing body ASCAP collected more than $1bn for the second year in a row in 2015 – but paid out some $16.1m less to songwriters and publishers.

As a result, the collection society’s overall cost-to-income ratio moved in the wrong direction for rights-holders – despite its expenses actually dropping in the year.

Total receipts at ASCAP last year hit $1.015bn, up 1.3% on the $1.002bn collected in 2014. However, 2015 saw distributions of $867.4m to ASCAP’s 560,000 members in the US and around the world.

Source: Music Business Worldwide

Hooper to step down as chairman of Copyright Hub Foundation 

Richard HooperRichard Hooper is to stand down as chairman of the Copyright Hub Foundation at the beginning of May.

After nearly five years in the job, Hooper will hand over the role to Mark Bide who is currently an adviser to the Foundation’s Board.

The move will mark the transition of the Copyright Hub Foundation to the next phase of its development, in which its principal focus will be on building trust in the market place and effective self-regulation; as well as continuing to facilitate the roll-out of applications and sister hubs. Bide has previously led the governance work strand on behalf of the Foundation’s board.

Source: The Bookseller

Universal Wins Big Ruling in Copyright Lawsuit Over In-Flight Music

Getting record labels to sign off on licensing is tricky. That’s nothing compared to winning a case over the lack of licensing where the target is moving.

Universal Music and Capitol Records have navigated the complexities of international air travel to score a summary judgment ruling that when it gets to a jury next month to decide damages, could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The defendant in the lawsuit is IFP and parent company Global Eagle, a worldwide provider of in-flight entertainment from movies to songs.

Source: Billboard

Alibaba Releases Planet, a First-Of-Its-Kind, All-In-One Music App

Alibaba, the Chinese digital commerce giant with a market capitalization of $198.76 billion as of this writing (putting it just behind Visa and just ahead of Chevron, worldwide), has announced the launch of Alibaba Planet, a new music-focused platform the company says will facilitate fan-to-artist relations — and vice-versa.

The first “tier” of the new platform allows fans to buy merchandise, watch live streams of performances and stream music; things previously made possible on competing platforms like Spotify through its deal with Bandpage — at least, before its recent acquisition by YouTube. The company says it has licensing agreements with BMG and Universal Music Group. It makes no mention of either Warner Music Group or Sony Music.

Source: Billboard

SoundCloud and Sony/ATV Announce Licensing Deal in Europe

SoundCloud, the user-driven streaming platform which recently announced a paid tier of its service, and Sony/ATV, the world’s largest music publishing company by market share, have announced a “multi-territory agreement for Europe” around the publisher’s vast catalog.

The deal will allow Sony/ATV’s catalog to generate money for its songwriters via SoundCloud’s bleeding-edge identification technology.

“These deals for the US and Europe create the best opportunity for Sony/ATV and its songwriters to maximize the creative and revenue benefits of SoundCloud’s multi-territory business,” wrote Sony/ATV CEO Martin Bandier in a statement on the news.

Source: Billboard

Bridging The Streaming Music ‘Value Gap’

music-onlineThe global music business offered up two cheers this week for the first signs of life in the recorded music business in nearly a decade. According to International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s (IFPI) latest global sales report, total recorded music revenue grew 3.2 percent in 2015, to $15.0 billion, the biggest jump since 1998 and the only growth since 2012, when sales ticked up 0.3 percent.

The overall growth came entirely from digital sources, particularly streaming revenue, which jumped 45 percent over 2014, to $2.9 billion, or 19 percent of total revenues. Physical sales continued their decade-long slide, falling another 4.5 percent, buoyed somewhat by the continued renaissance of vinyl.

The strong streaming numbers were evenly distributed, however.

Subscription streaming revenue accounted for $2 billion of the $2.9 billion total, as the total number of paying subscribers reached 68 million, while industry revenue from ad-supported streaming amounted to a mere $634 million, despite more than 900 million listeners worldwide.

New EU Regulations for Collection Societies and Pan-European Licensing to Take Effect This Weekend

More than two years after they were first passed by the European Union, new regulations governing European collection societies and multi-territory licensing come into force this Sunday (Apr. 10), with rights holders and digital services among the intended beneficiaries.

Devised and implemented by the European Commission as part of its “Digital Agenda for Europe” and “Europe 2020 Strategy,” the Collective Rights Management Directive is designed to help make sure royalty payments are timely and accurate while significantly improving the transparency and governance of European collective management organizations (CMOs), otherwise known as collection societies.

The two main collecting societies in the United Kingdom are PRS for Music, which looks after the rights of over 115,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers, and PPL, which works on behalf of record companies and performers.

Together, they have a combined turnover of over £1 billion ($1.4 billion) a year, according to the British government, and around 500,000 members.

Source: Billboard

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