Here’s a music copyright lawsuit we wouldn’t have predicted for 2015: filed by Universal Music, it focuses on “care packages” sent by family members and friends to US prisoners through companies the Centric Group and Keefe Group. At issue: mixtapes that are part of those care packages, which UMG say haven’t got licences to include artists like James Brown, Eminem and Marvin Gaye. “Defendants boast on their website that their business ‘was developed to eliminate contraband,’ yet the infringing copies of Plaintiffs’ sound recordings and musical compositions, in which Defendants unlawfully transact and from which they unjustly profit, are contraband personified,” claims the lawsuit, which suggests that the companies are sourcing the music from a company called Ari’s Mixtapes.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…