News

  • Music copyright lawsuit hits sour note for Manchester bar

    A New Hampshire country music restaurant and bar is singing the “Working Man Blues” after paying thousands of dollars to settle a music copyright infringement lawsuit.

  • What every songwriter and publisher needs to know about the Music Modernization Act

    The Music Modernization Act, or MMA, has already changed a lot for songwriters and producers, but there’s a lot more on the way. And yes, it could...

  • Copyright Office Confirms NMPA-Endorsed Mechanical Licensing Collective

    The U.S. Copyright Office today announced that it has designated the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) as the new entity tasked with licensing and administering rights under the Music Modernization Act.

  • YouTube Updates Copyright-Reporting System to Make It Easier for Creators to Manage Claims

    Effective as of July 9, YouTube requires copyright owners to provide timestamps for all new manual Content ID claims. That’s designed to let creators know exactly which part of their video is being claimed.

  • Should Copyright Protect Music Created By Artificial Intelligence?

    As technology develops to the point where AI is capable of creating original music, questions are being raised as to whether this computer-generated music and the people behind the code that make it possible, should be granted the same legal protections as more traditionally created music.

  • DSPs Spotify, Google, Pandora & Amazon appeal Copyright Royalty Board rates

    This marks the first time that the section 115 rate determinations for music publishing rates has been appealed.

  • A long and winding road to new copyright legislation

    Spotify agreed to pay more than $112 million to clean up some copyright problems. Even for a service with millions of users, that had to leave a mark. No one wants to be dragged into court all the time, not even bold, disruptive technology start-ups.

  • CD sales aren't entirely dead, but they are heading towards niche status

    The mid-year installment of the RIAA’s outlook on how the music industry is performing created quite a stir when it counted sales of compact discs in the first half of 2018 at 18.6 million, worth $245.9 million.

  • YouTube download sites are biggest piracy threat to music industry

    Websites dedicated to “ripping” music from YouTube represent the biggest threat to the global music business, industry figures have warned, as a major crackdown seeks to address it.

  • Legal battle over whether Michael Jackson songs were really by superstar

    Michael Jackson’s longtime record label Sony has been caught up in a legal battle over whether the singer really performed the lead vocals on three songs in a posthumous album released under his name.

  • Streaming now accounts for 75 percent of music industry revenue

    The RIAA released a report today that details how the music industry has grown in 2018, and while the data isn’t surprising — the world still isn’t buying records — the specific numbers are still fascinating. Turns out, streaming makes more money than physical CDs, digital downloads, and licensing deals combined.

  • Music Modernization Act Passed: Industry, Politicians Welcome 'The Most Important Piece of Legislation in a Generation'

    In the end, getting together the Music Modernization Act might have been harder than writing a hit song. But after years of trying to get copyright legislation passed, it finally happened, with now both the Senate and the House unanimously passing the legislation.