US publishing body the NMPA held its annual meeting this week, and there was news on its relationships – both positive and negative – with music apps startups.
The body is launching an ‘App Initiative’ which it says will “ensure apps that utilise music are properly paying music publishers and songwriters”, and its first move is a lawsuit against one particular app: Vinkle.
It’s an app for making music videos, and it’s now being sued by a group of publishing plaintiffs including UMPG, Hipgnosis, Big Machine, Concord, peermusic and Reservoir.
NMPA boss David Israelite told members at the meeting that around 100 cease-and-desist letters have been sent to other apps that the NMPA believes are infringing copyrights, so there are potentially many more lawsuits to follow.
In more positive news, the NMPA is working with startup Songclip (whose UMG licensing deal we wrote about earlier this week) to make it easier for apps who DO want to be properly licensed to get up and running.
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