royalties
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Spotify confirms it won't offer payouts for songs with fewer than 1,000 plays
Spotify has officially unveiled its new streaming payment policies for artists and labels and the details haven’t changed from previous reports. Payments have been eliminated for songs with less than 1,000 streams, impacting smaller artists.
Music industry avoids legal battle with new streaming royalty deal
Music publishers, songwriters and musicians have struck a deal with streaming services for US mechanical streaming rates for 2023-2027.
Tidal adds a free tier and brings HiFi audio to its $10 plan
Artists will earn more royalties from users on the $20 HiFi Plus tier.
Apple Music will use Shazam's tech to ensure proper royalties for DJ mixes
Apple says it has built a tool based on Shazam's technology that can identify all rights holders in a DJ mix and properly compensate them all.
SoundCloud's listener-based royalties promise better pay for indie artists
SoundCloud is switching to 'fan-powered' royalties that pay artists based on the music you listen to, potentially helping indie musicians.
Lawsuits claim Amazon, Apple and more are streaming unlicensed music
When you walk into a bar, hotel or store, you probably hear music. The same goes for when you tune into a TV channel or radio station. Those businesses are supposed to pay royalties to the artists for using their music. Collection firms like Pro Music Rights (PMR) are tasked with monitoring these things. And they've had a lot more work on their hands, now that they need to keep track of streaming services which must properly license the songs they add to their libraries. PMR -- which sued Spotify last year -- alleges that 10 of the biggest services have been streaming unlicensed music from artists the company represents, and has filed lawsuits against each.
Recommended Reading: The redesigned WWE Network
WWE Network 2.0: How WWE rebuilt its streaming service after a split with Disney Chris Welch, The Verge After a flashy reveal at CES a few years ago, the WWE Network is by all accounts a success, amassing well over a million subscribers by early 2019. Disney threw a wrench in the plans when it bought BAMTech, the company that had successfully constructed streaming services for the likes of Major League Baseball and HBO Now. It was also what WWE relied on for its 24/7 buffet of choke slams and live events. WWE saw the writing on the wall, and rebuilt its streaming library from the ground up.
Deezer's new royalty system could be a big deal for smaller artists
Deezer wants to launch a payment structure that more fairly rewards creators for their music. If the company can get the necessary rights holders on board, it intends to launch a user-centric payment system (UCPS) as a pilot in France early next year, with a global rollout to follow if all goes to plan.
UC Santa Barbara sues Amazon and IKEA over LED lighting
UC Santa Barbara has had enough of retailers selling its patented LED light bulb technology without authorization. This week, the university filed a lawsuit charging Amazon, IKEA, Walmart, Target and Bed Bath & Beyond with infringing its patents. According to Nixon Peabody, the law firm representing UC Santa Barbara, this is the "first-of-its-kind direct patent enforcement campaign against an entire industry."
Spotify claims it 'overpaid' songwriters and wants its money back
Spotify and music publishers have been in a bit of a tiff for months over a planned royalty rate increase that would require streaming services to pay more to artists. You can bet the company is watching the numbers closely, especially while it appeals the new rules. Spotify now claims that it overpaid songwriters and publishers last year, and now it's asking for its money back, according to Music Business Worldwide.
Federal judge rules Qualcomm violated antitrust rules
Roughly five months after the Federal Trade Commission and Qualcomm entered the courtroom over charges that Qualcomm engaged in anti-competitive behavior, a federal judge has sided with the FTC. In a decision shared Tuesday night, US District Judge Lucy Koh stated that Qualcomm violated antitrust laws, The Wall Street Journal reports. In her decision, Koh said the company charged unreasonably high royalties for its patents and eliminated cell phone chip competitors.
Apple and Qualcomm settle royalty lawsuits with new patent agreement
And just like that, the bitter feud between Apple and Qualcomm is already over. The two companies have settled their patent royalty dispute, ending all ongoing legal action (including with Apple's manufacturing partners). Apple has agreed to pay Qualcomm an unspecified amount, while both sides have struck a six-year patent license deal as well as a "multiyear" wireless chipset supply deal.
Tidal under criminal investigation in Norway over 'faked' streams
High-fidelity music streaming service Tidal is under criminal investigation in Norway for allegedly inflating album streams for Beyoncé's Lemonade and Kanye West's The Life of Pablo. The alleged faking of streaming numbers was exposed last year by Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN), which said it had obtained a hard drive with the tampered data. Around 1.3 million accounts were supposedly used to lift the play counts of said albums by "several hundred million", with Tidal paying out higher royalty fees to the two artists and their record labels as a result.
The FTC's antitrust trial against Qualcomm has begun
After two years, the FTC's antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm has reached the courtroom in earnest. The two sides made their opening arguments in a San Jose court on January 4th as part of a 10-day, no-jury trial that could force Qualcomm to alter its wireless chipset practices and, potentially, affect the company's legal battle with Apple. The initial salvos weren't completely shocking, although Qualcomm suggested at one point that it wasn't influential enough to warrant an antitrust case.
Spotify settles $1.6 billion copyright infringement lawsuit
Last year, Wixen Music Publishing filed a lawsuit against Spotify alleging that the music streaming service was using tens of thousands of songs without the proper licensing. But the $1.6 billion lawsuit has now come to a close as both companies have reached a settlement, Music Business Worldwide reports. "I want to thank Daniel Ek and Horacio Gutierrez, and the whole Spotify team, for working with the Wixen team, our attorneys and our clients to understand our issues, and for collaborating with us on a win-win resolution," Wixen President Randall Wixen said in a statement.
Apple and Qualcomm face off in court on April 15th
Apple and Qualcomm have refused to budge in their fight over iPhone patent royalties, so they're headed to court. A federal judge in San Diego has scheduled the companies' trial for April 15th, 2019. Qualcomm had wanted a trial in February, but the judge determined that a delay was necessary due both to the court's schedule as well as the complexity of the case. There had been rumors of a settlement, but Apple has repeatedly stressed that there are no ongoing talks and that the two sides haven't met for "months."
Taylor Swift ensures UMG artists will profit from Spotify shares
Taylor Swift doesn't mess around when it comes to her musical empire. Back in 2014, on the eve of 1989 becoming the first platinum album of the year, she kicked streaming service Spotify to the curb, publicly making clear her position on free music. Even after Spotify conceded to her demands and she restored her catalog to the service, she pulled a power move by keeping the then-newly released Reputation off it for the first week. Now, she's signed with a new record label and again, she's not pulling any punches when it comes to the way her music -- and indeed the music of all artists under the label -- is used.
Qualcomm says Apple owes $7 billion in device royalty payments
If Qualcomm ever prevails in its patent dispute with Apple, it could have ample compensation coming its way. The chip designer told a San Diego federal court on October 26th that Apple was allegedly $7 billion behind in device royalty payments -- no small amount when it comes to cellular chipsets. The declaration doesn't guarantee that Apple actually owes that much, but it does reveal the scale of Qualcomm's claims against its former customer.
'The Witcher' author demands $16m in royalties from CD Projekt Red
Andrzej Sapkowski, author of The Witcher series of novels, is pressing Polish games studio CD Projekt Red for more than $16 million in royalties, because he reckons he was short-changed during licensing agreements made back in 1997 -- licensing agreements he apparently keenly agreed to at the time.
US bill modernizing music royalties only needs the President's signature
The House of Representatives has given the Senate's version of the Music Modernization Act two thumbs up, which means the bill is now heading to the White House. MMA will update rules regarding royalties and licensing when it comes to streaming in an effort to make sure creators are properly compensated. It will lead to the creation of a publicly-accessible database that makes it easier to see which publishers and artists need to be compensated for particular songs. Further, it will update the royalty rates for artists behind pre-1972 songs and will update royalty rates to reflect market changes all around.
