Digital Millennium Copyright Act safe harbor protections and lower than industry standard royalty rates allow YouTube to underpay musicians, songwriters, label and other rights holders between $650 million and $1 billion a year, according to a new analysis. _________________________________ Safe harbor provisions of the DMCA allow YouTube to underpay the…
Category archives: Streaming & Cloud
The Trial That Will Determine Songwriters’ Income Over The Next 5 Years
Big news in the world of mechanical royalties, the Copyright Royalty Board is opening up hearings to set a new mechanical royalty rate. The board will hear from both music creators and users as it makes a determination which will be in effect for the next five years. _______________________ Guest…
SoundExchange Is Distributing SiriusXm Settlement Funds For Pre-1972 Recordings
SoundExchange has began distributing proceeds to featured and non-featured performers of a SiriusXM legal settlement for use of sound recordings that were created prior to February 15, 1972. The distribution began in the Fall of last year, but "as we distribute these funds in the future, recording artists will notice…
Pandora Under Pressure Even As Music Industry Warms To Westergren
Pandora used to be the company the music industry loved to hate. An aggressive campaign to lower royalty payments and a now ex-CEO who cared more about money than music earned the ire of many. But just as that image is changing, Pandora is feeling new pressures. __________________________________ When Tim…
Latin America And The Ascent Of Digital Music [Exclusive White Paper]
A region packed to the brim with an outstanding array of original music from great acts, Latin America has also long been plagued with piracy, although the quick adoption of digital media could well be providing a cure to this behavior. _____________________ Guest post by Juliana Koranteng of Midem When…
Introducing Voltra’s ‘Stream To Own’ Approach
Although the idea of owning music may seem antiquated in the streaming age, a new online store known as Voltra is approaching things differently by offering consumers a ‘stream to own’ option, where users can initially listen to a song for free, and then pay for it incrementally with each…
Latest Collection Society Scandal Raises Question: Are They Credible Representative Of Artists?
Either as a result of incompetence or malice, some copyright collection societies have earned something of a tarnished reputation when it comes to representing artists, says Glyn Moody of Techdirt. ___________________________ Guest post by Glyn Moody of Techdirt If you’ve been reading Techdirt for any time you’ll know that copyright…
SoundCloud Go, SoundCloud Go+ Launch In Netherlands
SoundCloud Go and Go+ have launched in the Netherlands. The announcement come fresh on the heels of $70 million in much needed debt funding for the music service. SoundCloud Go and SoundCloud Go+ is available in the Netherlands on web, iOS App Store and Google Play. SoundCloud Go is 5.99…
How Royalties From Soundexchange Kept Our Band Together
[UPDATED] Here keyboardist Justin Wiseman of The Rocketboys reveals how royalties earned from SoundExchange helped revitalize his independent band in its darkest hour, and why other independent artists should make it priority to register with the service. ______________________ Guest post by Justin Wiseman of The Rocketboys for SoundExchange I’m not…
Drake’s "More Life" Just Broke Record For Single Album Streams In U.S.
[UPDATED] Drake’s "More Life" just broke the record for the number of streams from a single album in one week in the U.S., according to Nielsen Soundscan. The previous record was set by Drake’s last album "Views", with 245 million streams. "More Life" has shattered that number with 385 million…