Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor recently revealed his thoughts on how music streaming services impact artists. In short, he believes that musicians are being wronged by leading streaming companies, particularly Spotify. The long version of Taylor’s opin…
Category archives: Music Royalties
To Secure Royalties at the Expense of Artists, ByteDance and TikTok Hire a Former Music Industry Advocate
For weeks, TikTok parent company ByteDance has remained locked in bitter negotiation talks with European rightsholders. To secure music licenses, the Chinese conglomerate referred collecting societies PRS for Music, STIM, GEMA, and ICE – STIM and GEMA’…
Following Years of Litigation, Cash Money Records Finally Settles Lawsuit with Aspire Music Group Over Unpaid Drake Royalties
Several years ago, Aspire Music Group filed a lawsuit against Cash Money Records and Universal Music Group (UMG). The first label claimed it had signed Drake to a contract in 2008. Aspire was co-founded by Cortez Bryant, who once served as Lil Wayne’s…
Pan European Collecting Societies Agree on Standards for Digital Royalty Processes
A large group of Pan European collecting societies, music publishers, and rights agencies have unveiled a functional digital royalty processing working group. The Technical Online Working Group Europe – or TOWGE – includes STIM and GEMA’s joint venture…
PRS, STIM, GEMA, ICE Slam TikTok as ‘Unlicensed’ as Talks End In Stalemate
To avoid paying major labels “hundreds of millions” of dollars in guaranteed payouts, ByteDance and TikTok have opted for another route to secure music licenses. With licenses now expired in the app, the Chinese conglomerate referred collecting societi…
Irving Azoff’s Global Music Rights and Radio Broadcasters Continue Their Efforts to Rip Each Others’ Heads Off
Irving Azoff’s Global Music Rights (GMR) has gone on the offensive once more against the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC). For years, both organizations have sparred in a series of ugly legal battles. To make a very long story short, Azoff and GMR …
Video Game Developers Slam Ubisoft’s and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s “Spec Work” Exploitation on Watch Dogs Legion
French video game powerhouse Ubisoft has come under major fire. The popular developer, known for breakout hits including Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and the Just Dance and Far Cry series, recently confirmed a new partnership with Joseph Gordon-Levitt…
One Media IP Acquires the Publishing and Songwriter Rights to ‘God’s Not Dead’
One Media IP has confirmed a new acquisition. Last month, the relatively unknown intellectual property acquisition company purchased Core Taylor’s writers’ share. The deal was reportedly worth $260,000. The country singer and songwriter’s catalog comp…
APRA AMCOS and PPCA Set Up “Easy” Public Performance Licensing System — Just Don’t Read the Fine Print on “Scalable” Fees
Doesn’t APRA AMCOS’ new ‘simple licensing system’ merely fix a problem the Australian music industry itself has created? So, why the celebration? Australian music rights organizations APRA AMCOS and PPCA have unveiled a new single public performance l…
Spotify Settles Two Copyright Infringement Lawsuits With Initial Damages Exceeding $365 Million
In July 2017, prior to the enactment of the Music Modernization Act (MMA), Bluewater Services and songwriter Bob Gaudio filed massive copyright lawsuits against Spotify. Both cases dealt with a tricky part in music copyright – the mechanical license. I…