Tag: US
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RIAA: mixtapes site Spinrilla ‘ineligible’ for safe harbour

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US industry body the RIAA is continuing its action against digital-mixtapes site Spinrilla, claiming that the site should not be eligible for DMCA safe-harbour protection.

In a new court filing, the body claims that Spinrilla has not registered a ‘designated agent’ with the US Copyright Office, in order to field infringement notifications from rightsholders. Nor has it adopted and promoted a policy for terminating the accounts of repeat infringers on its service.

“Although the failure to meet either requirement would foreclose Defendants’ claim to the safe harbour, Defendants have failed to meet both,” claimed the RIAA’s filing, which was published on TorrentFreak.

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Bandcamp supports trans rights with day of donations

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Artist-stores platform Bandcamp has announced that it will be donating 100% of its share of sales this Friday (4 August) to the Transgender Law Center (TLC).

It’s the company’s protest against US president Donald Trump’s announcement last week that transgender troops would no longer be able to serve in the armed forces.

“We support our LGBT+ users and staff, and we stand against any person or group that would see them further marginalised. This includes the current U.S. administration,” announced Bandcamp in a blog post.

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ASCAP / BMI database plans are already sparking a row

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ASCAP and BMI are fielding criticism for not including other US performing rights organisations (PROs) in their partnership to create a new database of song rights.

Sesac and Global Music Rights are both currently not involved in the project, and that has drawn a cross response from member of the US House of Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner, who has been playing a prominent role in American politicians’ latest drive to regulate music-industry licensing practices.

“Despite claims from BMI and ASCAP that they have been working on this joint database for the past year, they have made no effort to cooperate with Members of Congress on the issue,” said Sensenbrenner in a statement.

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ASCAP and BMI to work on joint musical-works database

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The latest initiative to tackle the music industry’s metadata problems is a collaboration between American PROs ASCAP and BMI.

Focused on the US – put away those ‘Global Repertoire Database’ comparisons now please – it aims to launch by the end of 2018, and will aggregate song-ownership data from the two organisations.

In fact, they’ve been working on the project for a year already, meaning that by the time it launches, the database will have been nearly two and a half years in the making. That’s a hint at the efforts involved to detect and correct incomplete registrations and figure out ownership and splits disputes.

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Pandora adds new features to its Artist Marketing Platform

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Despite the changes going on at the top of the company, new investor Sirius XM included, Pandora is pressing on with improvements to one of its more successful features: its Artist Marketing Platform (AMP).

New elements include specific options to promote a live show or single using an ‘artist audio message’ on Pandora, with geotargeting and ticket-buying links in the former case, and the ability to tie a message to a specific track in the latter.

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Songwriter and publishing issues rear up again for Spotify

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Did you think that Spotify’s recent settlement of a class-action songwriters lawsuit over mechanical royalties and licensing would be an end to the streaming service’s challenges in that area of the business?

In a year when Spotify is moving steadily towards its long-awaited IPO, of course not. And it’s the US that continues to provide the key flashpoint for the company’s headaches around the publishing side of the industry.

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Newspapers want to team up to negotiate with Google and Facebook

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The music industry’s major labels know all about the need to avoid looking like a cartel in their dealings with technology companies.

So they’ll be keen to follow the progress of a group of major news publishers, who are seeking the right to negotiate collectively with Google and Facebook.

The News Media Alliance includes a range of US publications, from local media to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.

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US music-video streams growth pales next to audio streams

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Overall music consumption in the US grew by 9.9% in the first half of 2017, according to analytics firm BuzzAngle.

It has published its Mid Year 2017 report ahead of the publication of official half-year figures from the RIAA.

The report shows how the key trends from 2016 have continued this year, including a 58.5% rise in audio streams; 29.5% growth in ‘song consumption’ and a 13.9% fall in album sales.

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Jay-Z ‘4.44’ album reportedly on its way to Apple Music

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The release of Jay-Z’s new album ‘4.44’ as a Tidal/Sprint exclusive has created plenty of debate and controversy.

Just ask Mark Ronson, who was tweeting grumpily about trying (and failing) to hear the album after joining Tidal after the deadline to gain access to it.

“I signed up for Tidal solely to listen to a Jay Z album, which turns out is the only thing I can’t listen to on Tidal,” wrote Ronson. “I’ve. Bought. Every. Jay Z Album. The. Day. Of. Release. Usually. On. Vinyl. At. Rock N Soul Records.”

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TuneIn sues Pandora over ad-sales partnership

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If Pandora thought its troubles were easing after securing a $480m strategic investment from SiriusXM… well, another digital radio firm is set to give it a headache.

TuneIn is suing Pandora, after an advertising-sales partnership between the two companies went sour. The lawsuit alleges breach of contract, anticipatory breach, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and negligent misrepresentation.

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Taylor Swift’s 551% streaming uplift in the US

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To get clickbaity for a second: Taylor Swift put her catalogue back on all the streaming services… and you won’t believe what happened next!

Well, you will: her streams went up by lots. Nielsen Music says that Swift’s catalogue generated 47.5m on-demand streams in the US last week, up 551% from the 7.3m it generated the week before (i.e. on Apple Music).

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Sony/ATV boss calls for songwriter credits in streaming

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We’re used to royalties being the main point of friction between songwriters and streaming services. However, Sony/ATV boss Martin Bandier has turned the focus onto another topic: credits.

As part of his speech accepting a lifetime service award at US publishing body NMPA’s annual meeting last night, Bandier called on streaming services to do more to highlight songwriters.

“When I look today at the likes of Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, I ask: where are the names of the songwriters? They are either not there or so hidden that you would have to be a special prosecutor, or perhaps The Washington Post – to find them,” said Bandier.