Category archives: publishing

Prince And Negativland: Tilting At A Similar Copyright Windmill

In the wake of their recent passing, this piece by George Howard looks at the surprising corollary between two artists, Prince and Richard Lyons of Negativland, both of whom greatly impacted the world of music industry copyright. _________________________________________________ Guest Post by George Howard on Forbes Like the rest of the…

BMI’s New Honor Is Called The Taylor Swift Award, And The First Winner Is….

BMI celebrated the songwriters and publishers behind the year’s most-performed pop songs at the 64th Annual BMI Pop Awards, held May 10 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. ______________________________________ This week Taylor Swift was presented with the first-ever BMI Taylor Swift Award, a special award bearing her…

ASCAP Pays $1.75 Million to Settle DoJ Investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle allegations that they had engaged in anti-competitive practices in violation of a court order. According to DoJ, ASCAP signed contracts with approximately 150 songwriters…

The Numbers Don’t Lie: An Interview With Arty Erk, Industry Music Industry Auditor Extraordinaire

Recently Larry LeBlanc sat down to interview Arty Erk. Currently a partner at Citrin Cooperman, Erk has worked with issues relating to royalty compliance, tour accounting, royalty statements, and many other financial matters, and has over thirty years of industry experience. __________________________________ Guest post by Larry LeBlanc for Celebrity Access…

YouTube Holds All The Leverage In Current Record Label Negotiations

While many labels and high-profile artists have chosen to take a stand against other streaming services which they feel are treating musicians unfairly, the nature of YouTube makes it difficult to take this same approach, despite YouTube’s pittance of a payout. _________________________ Guest Post by Bobby Owsinski on Music 3.0…

Spotify’s Latest New Release Excuse Is Invalid [David Lowery]

Spotify and the NMPA have recently claimed that, for most new music being released, the owner is unknown. Here David Lowery looks at why this argument is implausible. ________________________________ By David Lowery from The Trichordist The latest excuse from Spotify (which strangely is being echoed by David Israelite (NMPA CEO)…