The Music Artists Coalition is a new lobbying group formed on behalf of some of the biggest stars in music. Dave Matthews, Anderson .Paak and Maren Morris are all on board, along with manager Irving Azoff. The Music Artists Coalition will advocate on a…
Category archives: Legislative
U.S. Congressman Calls Metallica’s Ticketing Operation a ‘Scam’ — ‘These Problems Are Not Going Away’
Metallica’s ploy involving the direct delivery of tickets to secondary sites is stirring debate over regulatory measures. Last week, secretly-recorded conversations involving Live Nation and Metallica revealed that 88,000 tickets had been directly fed …
‘Baby Shark’ Used by West Palm Beach Officials to Drive Away Homeless People
Shark Attack: West Palm Beach city officials play ‘Baby Shark’ to dissuade people from sleeping on the beach. West Palm Beach officials have started to play “Baby Shark,” a hit children’s song that’s amassed more than one billion YouTube views, to dete…
NYC Mayor’s Office Is Giving $500,000 to Aspiring Women Musicians & Executives
New York City’s Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) recently announced that it will distribute $500,000 worth of grants to aspiring female musicians and music industry employees who live in New York City. The funds will be issued with cash…
AMLC, SGA Respond to the U.S. Copyright Office’s MLC Decision — And Promise to Keep Fighting
On July 5th, Digital Music News first revealed that the U.S. Copyright Office had chosen the winning bid to run the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). The winner — perhaps unsurprisingly — was the ‘industry consensus’ coalition led by major music p…
U.S. Copyright Office Awards Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) Contract to ‘Industry Consensus’ NMPA Bid
After a heated and contentious battle, the U.S. Copyright Office has chosen its winner to run the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). The award is going to the aptly-named ‘Mechanical Licensing Collective,’ a coalition created by major music publish…
Spotify Says They ‘Overpaid Most Publishers In 2018’ — And They Want Their Money Back
Looks like everybody’s gotta play by the same rules — Spotify’s rules. Not only is Spotify fighting a proposed increase songwriter and publisher royalties. They’re also demanding a refund, based on overpayments made in 2018 on family bundles and colle…
YouTube Is Under Federal Investigation Over Violations In Child Privacy Laws
The U.S. government is now investigating YouTube for over alleged violations of children’s privacy laws, it was recently revealed. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is apparently spearheading the effort. The existence of the investigation was first re…
Sony/ATV Ex-Chairman Marty Bandier: ‘I’ve Never Gotten a Call from [Spotify CEO] Daniel Ek’
He never wrote, he never called. Why didn’t Spotify CEO Daniel Ek reach out to music publishing’s biggest exec — even once? Earlier this week, Sony/ATV Music Publishing’s former Chairman & CEO, Marty Bandier, revealed the strange fact, part of a br…
Senator Ed Markey Doesn’t Quite Remember Signing the Music Modernization Act
For those that haven’t lost faith in the American political system yet, there’s this. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) was apparently an ardent co-sponsor of the Music Modernization Act last year. Markey not only signed the bill as part of the Senat…