Creative Industries
Main stories — Week 28, 2022
Here’s a list of the main stories published by Creative Industries News in the past weeks.
LEAD STORIES
> The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority does not plan a full investigation into the economy of streaming
> European Commission confirms Article 18 of the Copyright Directive can take the form of an unwaivable remuneration right
> Copyright Office report concludes US Congress should refrain from adopting news neighbouring right for press publishers
– USPTO and Copyright Office will run a joint study on the impact of NFTs on IP at the invitation of US Senators Leahy and Tillis
> European Parliament adopts the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act
> Epidemic Sound files $142 million lawsuit against Facebook and Instagram for copyright infringement
> US book publishers and Internet Archive each file motion for summary judgment in eBooks copyright infringement case
> Ninth Circuit reverses a district court decision on De Fontbrune v. Wofsy
> Italian court orders CloudFlare to block access to copyright infringing sites
> Ninth Circuit rules US courts can have jurisdiction over foreign companies in copyright infringement cases
> David P. Shaw replaces Suzanne Barnett as the new chief copyright royalty judge and head of the Copyright Royalty Board
> US court puts a hold on Radio Music License Committee’s action against BMI
> Warner Music Group joins in SoundCloud’s fan-powered royalties system
> Hipgnosis Songs partners with SACEM and peermusic to administer and sub-publish its multiple catalogues in Europe and RoW
> Poland’s ZAiKS adds music publishers as board members for the first time in history
> SACD signs podcast licensing deal with GESTE
> DistroKid’s two million members to benefit from data access agreement with Jaxsta
> MPLC and the American Hotel Lodging Association seal partnership to support hotels’ audiovisual copyright compliance
> Warner Bros. Discovery announces a drastic reduction of local production in Europe
> Stationhead closes a $12 million Series A funding round with help from Diplo
> Netflix‘s Q2 2022 revenue up 9% despite losing one million subscribers;Microsoft picked as advertising partner
> Xposure connects aspiring artists and music professionals
> Music streamer Deezer is now listed on Euronext Paris
BRIEF NEWS
– New Zealand will extend its term of copyright by 20 years for authors, performers and producers, from 50 to 70 years
– Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) have become co-chairs of the Congressional Creative Rights Caucus
– UK government proposes changes to copyright law to facilitate AI data mining
– Copyright Office celebrates the 40 millionth copyright registration in the US
– Michael Martin Murphey has accused Sony Music Entertainment of unlawfully preventing him from reclaiming ownership of two albums
– The Kenya High Court has affirmed a permanent injunction requiring local ISPs to block 44 sports streaming sites
– British High Court has confirmed that the blocking of pirate music sites and apps can be extended to mobile networks
– British High Court confirmed that the blocking of pirate music sites and apps can be extended to mobile networks
– Dutch provider of illegal IPTV has settled with anti-piracy organisation BREIN
– META sues Facebook parent Meta…
– AMRA expands its digital licensing and collections operations in Canada
– The Copyright Royalty Board upholds the increase in mechanical rates set in 2018 giving a win to songwriters and publishers
– SGAE has reported 2021 revenues up 18.2% year-on-year to €258.3 million
– PPL has paid out £71.3 million to 113,271 performers and recording rights holders in June 2022
– SNEP, SCPP, and The OCC have signed a partnership with Yadeck allowing users to bet on charts
– British recorded music exports revenues were up 13.7% to £590.8 million in 2021
– RightsClick joins the Copyright Alliance
– Mdundo reaches 20.3 million active monthly users (MAUs) across Africa
– YouTube’s Shorts generate 30 billion daily views and attract 1.5 billion monthly users
– Bill Ackman folds his SPAC after failing to find a suitable target other than UMG
– Spotify acquires music trivia app Heardle
– YouTube’s Shorts generate 30 billion daily views and attract 1.5 billion monthly users
DEALS
– Jean-Michel Jarre has sold his music publishing back catalogue BMG
– Sony Music Publishing UK has signed Danger Mouse to a worldwide publishing agreement
– Iconoclast acquires Irv Gotti’s publishing and recording share in Murder Inc. catalogue
– Universal Music Group (UMG) has sealed an agreement with the Zappa Trust to acquire Frank Zappa’s estate
– BMG has acquired a set of music rights from Scottish rock band Simple Minds
– Bucks Music Group has signed an admin deal with ROBA Music Publishing covering UK and Eire
– Layto has signed a recording agreement with Position Music
– peermusic Nashville has signed Kaylin Roberson to a global publishing deal
– Sony Music Publishing has signed Jonas Jeberg to a worldwide publishing agreement
– Sony Music Publishing has renewed its worldwide publishing agreement with Marco “Tainy” Masís
– Mojo Music & Media has acquired the songwriter rights and co-publishing interests of Sharon Vaughn
– BMG has signed Daniel Lanois to a distribution agreement
– Brent Faiyaz renews global publishing agreement with PULSE Music Group
– Milk & Honey, Oak Felder and HaHaHa Production launch new publishing jv
IN THE NEWS
– Downtown Music Holdings has appointed Songtrust President Molly Neuman to the newly created position of Chief Marketing Officer
– Pixelynx has appointed Paul Joffe as Chief Operating Officer and Richard Sanders as Group Strategy Advisor
– Chris Herche has been appointed SVP, Music Operations and Marketing at Create Music Group
– Karibi Dagogo-Jack has been appointed Head Of Music Partnerships at gaming platform Roblox
– Rothenberg, Mohr & Binder LLP has promoted Kevin Eskowitz to the position of Partner
– Andrew Ludwick has been promoted to Vice President of Business Development, Digital at Warner Chappell Music
– SoundCloud has beefed up its executive team with Jessica Rivera and Maurice Slade
– Sun-Ui Yum has been named Principal at Matt Pincus‘ investment company MUSIC
– Catch Point Rights Partners has promoted Corey Sorrento to Vice President Investments
– Interscope Geffen A&M Records has promoted Brigitte Green to the position of Senior Vice President Film & TV Licensing
– Tim Wipperman has been appointed Managing Director of the Nashville operations of ONErpm
– Dionnee Harper has been appointed Executive Vice President of Marketing & Artist Development at Warner Records
– Better Noise Music has promoted Paul Cormack to the role of General Manager
– Universal Music Canada (UMC) has appointed Trinh Tham to the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Revenue & Digital Strategy
– Adam Williams has been appointed as Interim Chief Executive of the UK’s Intellectual Property Office
– Serenade has unveiled the members of its UK advisory board chaired by former YMU Managing Director Iain Watt
– Damian Collins has been appointed Minister for Tech & Digital Economy at the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sports
– YolanDa Brown has been appointed Chair of the BPI
– The UK’s Music Publishers Association has appointed Paulette Long as Chair of the MPA, and Rachel Lindley as Chair of Printed Music Licensing Ltd. (PMLL)
– Utopia Music has appointed Tracy Maraj as Chief People & Culture Officer
– Jane Millichip has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of BAFTA, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts
– The BBC has appointed Jonathan Rothery to the newly created position of Head of pop music, TV
– The Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) has appointed Ronnie Gurr as Chief Executive Officer
– SACEM has appointed Fabienne Gestin as Director of Human Resources
– Jacqui Louez Schoorl has stepped down on July 15 as a director of Jaxsta
INTERVIEWS
In case you missed it, Creative Industries News published recent Q&As with:
– Bruno Guez (Revelator)
– Andrea C Martin (PRS for Music)
– Cécile Rap-Veber (SACEM)
– Molly Neuman (Songtrust)
– Jordi Puy (Unison)
– Olivier Chastan (Iconoclast)
– Ken Umezaki (Verifi)
– Spek (PopArabia)
Copyright & Regulation
WIN calls on EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis to “block” the acquisition of Downtown by Universal Music Group
WIN calls on EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis to “block” the acquisition of Downtown by Universal Music Group
Jeff Toig promoted to CEO of US rights society Global Music Rights as Randy Grimmett becomes Executive Chairman
Kobalt seals a global publishing partnership with India’s Madverse music
The MLC plans webinars to show members how to use tools to manage song data
Six takeaways from The MLC’s first annual report for 2021: distributions, membership, matching rates, processed works, historical unmatched works and expenditures
Cécile Rap-Veber (SACEM): ‘We are a solutions provider to create value, a tech company, and we are less and less seen as some sort of cultural institution’
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Collective Management Organisations3 years agoThe MLC plans webinars to show members how to use tools to manage song data
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Collective Management Organisations3 years agoSix takeaways from The MLC’s first annual report for 2021: distributions, membership, matching rates, processed works, historical unmatched works and expenditures
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Collective Management Organisations4 years agoCécile Rap-Veber (SACEM): ‘We are a solutions provider to create value, a tech company, and we are less and less seen as some sort of cultural institution’
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Interview4 years agoOlivier Chastan (Iconoclast): ‘Name, image and likeness will be as important as music rights in the future’