royalties
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US Senate passes bill modernizing music licensing and payouts
The US Senate has unanimously passed the Music Modernization Act, which aims to bring the way the music business works in line with the digital age. Providing the bill is met with approval from the House, and is subsequently signed by President Donald Trump, the legislation -- renamed the Orrin G Hatch Music Modernization Act in honour of the Republican senior senator responsible for introducing the bill -- will finally be enshrined into law. It's not expected to meet any opposition.
HDR10+ support comes to Samsung and Panasonic 4K TVs (updated)
Samsung's upstart HDR10+ format took a big step in its fight against Dolby Vision for HDR supremacy. The group announced that Panasonic and Samsung have deployed HDR10+ firmware to select 2018 4K TVs, and that 20th Century Fox will start encoding new films using the tech. That means if you buy a new 4K TV from Samsung or Panasonic, you'll soon be able to watch programs that look better than those encoded with regular HDR10.
Nokia will make €3 for every 5G smartphone sold
Licensing-related patent wars are pretty run-of-the-mill occurrences for tech companies -- there's always a report of some spat or another in the news. But now Nokia, and a bunch of other giants, are taking steps to avoid future battles by publicly disclosing the licensing fees involved in its 5G technology.
Beats co-founders lose $25 million royalty lawsuit
The long-running feud between Beats and claimed co-founder Steven Lamar appears to be winding to a close. A jury has told Beats luminaries Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine to pay Lamar $25.2 million in royalties for breaching a contract. Lamar contended that he played a key role at the company and deserved $130 million for working on a dozen headphones. Beats recognized Lamar's early involvement, but insisted that he was only supposed to get money for the original Beats Studio (which, of course, had already been paid).
Spotify settles music-licensing lawsuit for $112.5 million
A couple of years ago, Spotify was slapped with a class-action lawsuit claiming that the service was effectively ripping off artists. Now, it looks like the music platform will be able to make all of the upset go away for the sum of $112.5 million. The Hollywood Reporter says that Spotify has made a deal with a US District Court judge to hand over the fee in exchange for settling the class-action.
Tidal is reportedly months behind on royalty payments
Remember how Jay-Z relaunched Tidal with the promise of treating artists more kindly than Spotify? If you believe Dagens Naeringsliv, just the opposite is true. The Norwegian newspaper is continuing a string of exposés with claims that Tidal is behind on payments to at least some labels, including the big three (Sony, Warner and Universal). Indie labels and artists have complained that they haven't been paid for months, with Propeller Records noting that it hadn't received Tidal royalties since October.
Tidal reportedly inflated streaming stats for Beyoncé and Kanye West
Tidal is under fire once again for allegedly inflating its streaming numbers. This time, it's for misreporting the amount of plays Beyoncé's Lemonade and Kanye West's The Life of Pablo had by "several hundred million" false plays. According to a report (translated) from Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN), there's no way that the streaming numbers could've been that high without Tidal manipulating its data. More plays meant that the two artists garnered higher royalty payments. The publication received a hard drive brimming with Tidal play data including play times, song titles, user IDs and country codes.
Your data is valuable, but you’re never getting paid for it
It's hard to find a positive side to the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica (CA) scandal. But if there is one, it's that it's caused tech companies, lawmakers and users to think more deeply about personal data, how it's being used and who actually owns it. Facebook says that you, the user, are the sole owner of whatever information you consent to share with it. But it will use that data to offer you a free service based on targeted ads. The thing is, Facebook makes billions of dollars doing that, and there are some people who believe you should be getting a piece of it. After all, you are the product.
Spotify’s latest acquisition might help fix its royalty problem
Spotify announced today that it has purchased Loudr, a San Francisco-based company whose services, according to Spotify, "make it easy for content creators, aggregators and digital music services to identify, track and pay royalties to music publishers." Loudr describes its technology as "big data for music rights" and it uses algorithms to connect sound recordings to compositions. For music publishers, it can match their catalog to usage and make sure they're getting the proper amount of royalties.
Streaming services must give songwriters a 44 percent pay hike
Songwriters just claimed a major victory in the fight for better pay from streaming giants like Apple and Spotify. The US Copyright Royalty Board has ruled for an increase in songwriter rates that will give them a 43.8 percent pay raise over the next 5 years. They also won't have to jump through hoops to figure out how much they're owed: they'll claim either a percentage of revenue or the total content costs, whichever pays the most. There are no longer caps on writer rates, for that matter.
Facebook strikes music licensing deal with Sony
Facebook has signed a deal with Sony that will let you upload videos containing its music without worrying about them being taken down, Variety reports. Users will be able to upload and share videos on Facebook, Oculus and Instagram that with music licensed from Sony/ATV Music Publishing's vast catalog. Copyright infringement has become a big problem on the social network, and Facebook has been working hard to strike deals with music labels to avoid takedowns and fines.
Pioneer and Canada partner to ensure musicians get paid for DJ play
Pioneer DJ wants to make sure electronic artists get paid for the remixes you hear at the dance club. The company's Kuvo entertainment service has partnered with Canada's performing rights organizations (PRO) and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) to beam music metadata into other PROs, according to a press release. Apparently this won't cost DJs or venues a thing, either.
Spotify's 'Secret Genius' may help smooth things over with songwriters
Spotify announced the launch of Secret Genius today -- a global, songwriter-focused initiative that will highlight the contributions of those working behind the scenes in the music industry. It's a move that acknowledges members of the music world that Spotify has had a contentious relationship with in the past.
Qualcomm pays BlackBerry $940 million in royalty spat
Qualcomm hasn't been very successful with its licensing practices. It's gotten into trouble in South Korea for charging phone makers over an "unnecessarily broad set of patents" It has also been dealing with lawsuits from the FTC and Apple for similar tactics. Qualcomm was ordered to pay BlackBerry $815 million in an arbitration settlement last April. BlackBerry announced today that the two companies have reached a final agreement amount of $940 miillion, which includes the original arbitration amount along with interst and attorneys' fees. The release says that Qualcomm will pay the full amount before the end of May.
Apple and Qualcomm's license dispute is getting nasty
Qualcomm's ongoing legal dispute with Apple today took a new turn after the chipmaker accused its device-making partner of further withholding patent royalties. According to a statement, Apple recently stopped paying licensing revenue to manufacturers of the iPhone because it believes it's been overpaying for important 3G and 4G patents.
Spotify's latest move shows it's trying to get royalties right
Spotify has struggled with unpaid royalties recently, though it's promised to fix things to help support frustrated artists. The company recently limited its free streaming option to build trust with music creators. In addition, Spotify just acquired New York startup Mediachain, which created a decentralized, bitcoin-style secure database that manages ownership information for creative media on the internet.
BlackBerry made more cash from royalties than phones
Between antitrust fines and lawsuits, Qualcomm's patent strategy is already running into trouble... and things just got much worse. The wireless chipset maker has been given a preliminary order to pay BlackBerry $814.9 million in a dispute over royalty payments. The two went into arbitration in 2016 after BlackBerry claimed that it was overpaying royalties -- it argued that a Qualcomm cap on royalties applied to a licensing deal for device sales between 2010 and 2015. The final order won't be available until May 30th, but BlackBerry chief John Chen is quick to stress that he still sees Qualcomm as a partner.
Qualcomm countersues Apple over iPhone and iPad royalties
For years, Apple and Qualcomm have worked together on technology that' goes inside your iPhone and iPad. Qualcomm specifically handles a lot of the modem chips that connect devices to cellular or WiFi networks, and are crucial to any mobile hardware. Since Apple needed a lot of chips, Qualcomm supplied them, and everything seemed good -- until January when Apple filed a $1 billion lawsuit claiming Qualcomm charged royalties on tech it had nothing to do with, and then followed up with two antitrust lawsuits in China. Tonight, Qualcomm has responded with a lawsuit of its own (you can grab the 139 page PDF here), claiming that Apple is in the wrong, and has breached its contract with the company.
YouTube deal ends years-long fight over music videos in Germany
German music fans haven't had it easy in the past 7 years. A royalty dispute with music rights group GEMA has forced YouTube to block thousands of music videos in the country, leaving locals no choice but to either find alternative video sources or (gasp) settle for audio alone. At last, though, they can relax: GEMA and YouTube have reached a deal that makes sure GEMA members get paid for video streams. The exact terms of the deal aren't public, but it'll cover both the usual ad-supported free viewing as well as the eventual European launch of YouTube Red subscriptions.
Apple's idea for music royalties could stick it to Spotify
The Copyright Royalty Board, a three judge panel that sets licensing rates, is trying to figure out what the statutory rate music download and streaming services will pay publishers between 2018 and 2022. Now, the New York Times and Billboard report that Apple has a suggestion on how to figure out those rates that oh-so-coincidentally would negatively impact services with free streaming options like Spotify (heating up their back-and-forth battle) and YouTube. The statutory rate is what services pay unless they make a direct deal with a publisher, and can shape negotiations between them.
