We’ve been able to pay to digitally download sound recordings through legitimate services for over a decade now, and these services have grown pretty rapidly in terms of both scale and profitability. So much so, that iTunes (so far the most successful of the digital distribution platforms) has sold more than 10 billion songs [...]

Love is in the air and to commemorate the spirit of St. Valentine (resenting happy people), we’re reviewing the recent trend of partnership disputes plaguing the comic book industry.  The first case portrays the culmination of a decade-long feud between two industry greats.   The second depicts the early stages of a dispute between childhood friends.  [...]

  Let’s start by taking a look at Grooveshark. Universal Music Group (UMG) filed a complaint in Manhattan District Court on November 18, 2011 against Escape Media and five of its executives alleging that Grooveshark engaged in a plethora of infringing conduct. According to the complaint, “Escape publically touts the fact that it has a [...]

  Tuesday, January 31st, may have marked Edgar Bronfman’s final day as chairman of Warner Music Group, but that didn’t stop him from making one more promise regarding the label’s future plans on his way out.  In an interview with Peter Kafka at the “D: Dive into Media Conference,” Bronfman had some choice words regarding [...]

On January 27, 2012 the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York approved a settlement reached after a nearly two year debate over the fees the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) would pay for the privilege to air the approximately 8.5 million songs in the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers [...]

On January 18, 2012 in Golan v. Holder the Supreme Court upheld amendments made to the “Copyright in Restored Works” section of the U.S. Code in response to the Uruguay Round Agreements Act § 514 as per the U.S. membership in the Berne Convention. Article 18 of Berne requires countries to protect the works of other member [...]

Thanks to the Copyright Act of 1976 the recording industry has yet another battle to worry about . . . copyright termination. What do I mean by termination? Well, the Copyright Act includes sections 203 and 304, which are often called the “termination provisions.” These provisions allow authors to recapture their copyrights after a certain [...]

In a world where Newt Gingrich is being sued for copyright infringement by the composers of “Eye of the Tiger”, lays the hopes and dreams of Indie music labels.  These labels have been making gains in pursuing their goals; the start of which was their “Manifesto” produced on January 29th. January 28-31, 2012 marked this [...]

The “world’s largest funding platform,” Kickstarter raised $20 million for musicians in 2011. The Kickstarter-crowdfunding model demonstrates that musicians can successfully (and directly) obtain funding for their creative projects from their fans, without record label backing- either major or independent. This all begs the question, what does Kickstarter’s $20 million mean for the future of [...]

  Double, Double, Newt’s In Trouble. With the Republican primaries approaching an end, I am sure a few candidates and their advisors have been thinking of ways to motivate voters. The power of music has long been recognized to move people and stir emotions. So if Orpheus could convince Hades to free his beloved Eurydice [...]