Competing submissions for the Music Modernization Act’s MLC were officially filed with the U.S. Copyright Office on Thursday night. Talk to National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) president David Israelite, and he’ll tell you this shouldn’t be a …
Category archives: Legislative
Members of U.S. Congress’ Recording Arts and Sciences Caucus Have Been Announced
The music industry’s Congressional ‘connecting committee’ is in place. Members of the 116th Congress’ Recording Arts and Sciences Caucus have been announced. The bi-partisan caucus was first established in 2005 as a way to work with members of the mus…
Facing Major Blowback from the Artist Community, Japan Scraps Its Controversial Anti-Piracy Bill
Japan wanted more restrictions on piracy. The local creative content community unequivocally said, “No.” Last month, the Japanese government took a harsh stance against piracy. A government panel had reportedly adopted a new policy. The proposed bill…
Spotify Says They’re ‘Not Suing Songwriters’ — Here’s Their Full Statement to the Music Industry
Spotify is now responding to accusations of ‘suing songwriters’ and ‘declaring war’ against content creators. Last week, Spotify — along with Amazon, Google, and Pandora — started the process of appealing a Copyright Royalty Board ruling that would ult…
Our Latest Podcast: Now That the Music Modernization Act Has Passed, Who’s Gonna Run the Damn Thing?
Maybe passing the Music Modernization Act (MMA) was the easy part. What? You’re not subscribed to the Digital Music News Podcast? We’re available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, and pretty much everywhere else. Or, simply listen to the em…
Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, Google Unilaterally Challenge the CRB’s 44% Songwriter Royalty Increase
Last month, National Music Publishers’ Association president David Israelite stated that any challenge to the CRB’s proposed mechanical royalty increases would be ‘declaring war on songwriters‘. Well, if that’s the case, the enemy assault is coming fro…
Democrats Introduce the ‘Save the Internet Act’ to Restore Net Neutrality In America
States like California are already passing net neutrality laws — and fighting the federal government in court. Now, Congressional Democrats want to un-repeal Trump’s net neutrality repeal. The dogfight over net neutrality in America is entering a bran…
US Radio Stations, Restaurants, Spotify, Tech Giants Speak Out on PRO Consent Decrees: ‘They Are More Critical Than Ever’
ASCAP and BMI say they’re stodgy, antiquated laws. But a consortium of radio stations, restaurants, hotels, and and major tech giants like Spotify and Google/Alphabet are defending the Department of Justice’s long-running Consent Decrees as necessary …
NMPA Urges Members to Support the ‘Industry Consensus’ MLC — ‘We Urgently Need Your Help’
Now that the Music Modernization Act (MMA) is law, who should be implementing it? Maybe passing the Music Modernization Act into law was the easy part. Now, attention has shifted towards critical implementation details, with major publishers arguing th…
The American Mechanical Licensing Collective (AMLC) Isn’t Going Away — Here’s Their Full Statement to the Music Industry
The American Mechanical Licensing Collective (AMLC) says they represent the interests of independent songwriters and rights owners. In fact, they feel they’re addressing a bigger group than the major publisher-backed ‘MLC’. Back in November, we first …