July 17, 2008
EU Initiatives
The European Commission adopted two initiatives in the area of copyright (July 16, 2008). First, the Commission proposes to align the copyright term for performers with that applicable to authors, in this way bridging the income gap that performers face toward the end of their lives. Secondly, the Commission proposes to fully harmonise the copyright term that applies to co-written musical compositions.
July 11, 2008
Red Hot Chili Peppers - TM Suit
Man uses band's trademark on back of jacket. Man gets sued for trademark infringement.
July 9, 2008
Last.fm - Artists Royalty Program
Last.fm launched their Artist Royalty Program. The program allows unsigned musicians to collect royalties when their music is loaded into Last.fm’s library and then streamed.
“The young musician making music in a bedroom studio has the same chance as the latest major label signing to use Last.fm to build an audience and get rewarded. The Artist Royalty Program is another revolutionary step towards helping musicians take control of their music — and, more importantly, make a living from it,” said Last.fm co-founder Martin Stiksel.
[Quote]
“The young musician making music in a bedroom studio has the same chance as the latest major label signing to use Last.fm to build an audience and get rewarded. The Artist Royalty Program is another revolutionary step towards helping musicians take control of their music — and, more importantly, make a living from it,” said Last.fm co-founder Martin Stiksel.
[Quote]
July 7, 2008
Branding in Music
Robert Levine, "It's American Brandstand: Marketer's Underwrite Performers", July 7, 2008 New York Times, at Business (Media & Advertising) (highlighting a wave of companies getting into the music business to promote their own products, essentially becoming record labels themselves).
July 3, 2008
June 30, 2008
Prince - On Cover Songs
Rolling Stone reports that Prince is suing a Norwegian record company for releasing a 5-CD cover album of "the Purple One's songs". The article describes "the whole thing [as] quite hypocritical of Prince [because he] has no problem with borrowing other people's songs", referring to his cover of Radiohead's "Creep" at Coachella.
But, is the article missing an important distinction? Cover songs on an album implicate the copying/fixing of the underlying musical composition (i.e., publishing); but, cover songs at a live festival implicate the public performance of the underlying musical composition. In other words, different rights. Licensing administration schemes for the two regimes are different, and often involve different players.
Radio Royalties in the Future?
House Subcommittee Approves Performance Rigths Bill:
The Performance Rights Act, bill HR 4789, would remove a historical exemption that allows over-the-air radio stations to avoid paying royalties to record labels and artists for performances of sound recordings
The Performance Rights Act, bill HR 4789, would remove a historical exemption that allows over-the-air radio stations to avoid paying royalties to record labels and artists for performances of sound recordings
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
