Music Rights Management Newsletter No. 16

Intro

Welcome to the 16th edition of our newsletter. We’ve continued our efforts on enhancing our system while also continuing work on new features and functions. We’ve been aware of a brief slowdown with registration processing and have been in communications with the societies as they begin catching up on previously submitted registrations. If you have any questions regarding the status of your work registrations that are older than seven days old, please contact support and we’ll be happy to check on the status for you.?

Notable News

Notable news this week:

• The American Music Fairness Act Gets Re-Introduced in the US House and Senate
• Meta Announces Launch of New IP Rights Manager Tool
• DIY and non-major/Merlin Music Now Accounts for a Quarter of Spotify Streams
• Why Music Catalog Investors Are Finally Warming to Hip-Hop

Help Articles

Release Notes

A running log of system updates and modifications

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In The News

The American Music Fairness Act Gets Re-Introduced in the US House and Senate

After a major setback at the end of 2022, the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA) is back on track — the legislation that will bring into the US copyright framework a performance rights on sound recordings when played on AM and FM radio stations has been reintroduced in both the US Senate and House of Representatives.?

Representatives Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in the House of Representatives and Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) in the Senate have re-introduced the AMFA in an identical form in both bodies.?

Meta Announces Launch of IP Rights Manager Tool

Meta announced that it launched a website to educate users on the processes and features of its new Rights Manager tool and system, which copyright owners can use to identify and manage copyright infringements and disputes. The Rights Manager tool allows rightsholders to match video, audio, and images to content found on the Facebook and Instagram platforms, including in Live Videos. Rightsholders do not have to upload or publish their works to Meta’s platforms to utilize the tool and can instead upload works only as a reference file to Rights Manager.?

DIY and non-major/Merlin Music Now Accounts for a Quarter of Spotify Streams

Here’s one nugget from the filing: music licensed to Spotify by the three major labels and indie licensing agency Merlin accounted for around 75% of Spotify streams in 2022. We wondered how that has changed over time, so we went back to past filings to find out.?

What we found was that this percentage has been falling steadily. In 2017 the majors and Merlin accounted for 87% of Spotify’s total streams, but that proportion fell to 85% in 2018; 82% in 2019; 78% in 2020; 77% in 2021 and now 75% in 2022.?

Why Music Catalog Investors are Finally Warming to Hip-Hop

Recently announced sales of music assets by?Dr. Dre,?Juice WRLD?and?Future?are fueling investor interest in hip-hop song rights and catalogs, prompting skeptics of the genre’s near-term value to take a fresh look, sources in the music publishing and valuation industry say.?

Dre?sold his music assets?to Universal Music and Shamrock Holdings in January for a deal estimated to be worth over $200 million. Influence Media Partners?acquired superstar Future’s music publishing catalog?in a deal?Billboard?estimated to be worth $65 million to $75 million last September, and a majority stake in the late rapper Juice WRLD’s rights and income streams?went for a nine-figure sum?in early 2022.?

Shenseea Battling Two Lawsuits Over Copyright Infringement

Jamaican singer Shenseea is battling two separate copyright lawsuits in the United States, claiming—in both cases—that if any infringement occurred, it was “innocent,” and therefore, the damages should be limited.??

“It will be interesting to see how [these cases] progress, not just because of Shenseea,” Jamaican entertainment attorney Roderick Gordon told DancehallMag.?“The legal issues go to the heart of the rapid development of trends through imitation and reposting on social platforms.”?

Rick Astley seeks 'Millions of Dollars' from Rapper Yung Gravy for Impersonating his Voice in Betty (Get Money)

The lawsuit claims that while the publishing rights to the song had been cleared, it was not the case with the recording of the song. Instead, the lawsuit alleges that Yung Gravy and his team chose to re-create in studio the voice of Astley.?

The lawsuit states that Defendants were “unable to obtain a license for a sample (a digital copy of the actual sound of Mr. Astley’s voice) from the sound recording of ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’,” and “conspired to do so in the recording of ‘Betty (Get Money)’, as all were involved in the recording and imitation of Mr. Astley’s voice, and were publicly open about what they were doing.”?

Github and EFF Back Youtube Ripper in Legal Battle with the RIAA

The DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision is aimed at tools that bypass effective technological access restrictions. That doesn’t apply to YouTube’s Javascript-based code, EFF argues.?

“The YouTube website code at issue in this case is different: it was not clearly designed to limit access to videos, or the ability to copy them. YouTube videos arrive at a viewer’s device with no encryption or scrambling. No login, password, key, or other secret knowledge is required to gain access.?

“Tellingly, YouTube does use encryption and a password-controlled login to limit access to subscribers of its separate pay-TV service, YouTube TV,” EFF adds.?

?Worthy Reads

Neighbouring Rights: ‘We’re Hitting The Ground Running...’?

Metadata and its Importance in Sanitizing The Music Scene

She Spent Two Years Writing and made Only $4,000?

Universal is Investigating new Royalty Payout Models for Streaming

Artificial Intelligence and the Perils of Plunder??

US Ruling Over an AI-Generated Cartoon Has Major Implications for Music’s Future?

EU Commission Refers 11 Member States for Failing to Fully Transpose Copyright Rules?

Partner News

The MLC Has Distributed $1 Billion to Songwriters to Date

MBW reached out to the MLC for a comment on the milestone. MLC Chief Executive Kris Ahrend said that, “reaching this milestone shows that the processes we built and launched a mere two years ago are working effectively, allowing us to fulfill our mission to pay rights holders their digital audio mechanical royalties”.

He added: “It also shows how much we as an industry can accomplish when we work together. We’re grateful to our members, partners and other stakeholders for playing their part.”

SoundExchange Hails Speedy Reintroduction of American Music Fairness Act

SoundExchange, the premier music tech organization powering the future of music, hailed today’s Senate and House reintroduction of the Music Fairness Act (AMFA) as a monumental step toward achieving respect and equity for music creators. The early introduction of the legislation reflects how momentum is building to finally rectify a decades-long injustice: the refusal of broadcast corporations to pay creators for AM/FM radio plays.?

“Music creators have been forced to give away their work for far too long. It is time for Congress to demonstrate that they stand behind the hard-working Americans that provide the music we all love by finally passing the American Music Fairness Act,” said Michael Huppe, President and CEO of SoundExchange. “This bill has the broad support of artists, labels, small broadcasters, unions, and others because it strikes a fair balance by respecting creators for their work and protecting truly local broadcasters. No more excuses, no more waiting in line for their turn. Music creators demand the economic justice AMFA provides.”?