Spotify Royalty Drama Casts Shadow Over Songwriter Consensus
Musicians and streaming services’ compromise over songwriters’ royalties is corroding just six years after landmark legislation was enacted to redefine music copyright law and the licensing regime used to distribute industry revenue.
Spotify Technology SA’s move in March to reclassify its premium subscription service narrowed its royalty payments and lit a fuse that sparked a lawsuit against it, a push from the music publishing industry to change the law, and a novel complaint against the streaming giant at the Federal Trade Commission.
The flurry of activity in the songwriter and music publishing industry is reminiscent of the “end of a fireworks show,” said Joseph Fishman, an intellectual property law professor at Vanderbilt University. Trust between the music industry and the platforms is approaching a breaking point as songwriters, music publishers and streaming services all vie for larger slices of a shrinking pie caused by the maturation of all-access audio services, said Richard Burgess, CEO of American Association for Independent Music said. With seemingly “not enough money to go around,” the groups are resorting to every tool in their toolbox to rework the law in their favor.
How Radio Can Improve Its Digital Content Batting Average
Yesterday’s post about radio’s successful reinvention when millions of TV sets appeared in American rec rooms and dens in the 1950s is a stimulating and hopeful story about the medium’s resilience. Radio benefitted from smart, savvy thinking from programming icons like Bill Drake, Todd Storz, and Gordon McLendon, coupled with fortuitous tech inventions like the transistor and FM radio. The confluence of those pieces allowed radio broadcasters to create a different relationship with a mass audience built around music, personality, and a connection to local communities. Many have suggested that because of radio’s success seven or so decades ago, the possibilities for it to happen again are excellent. This appears to be supported by the fact that while other traditional media such as newspapers and local television have shed audience, radio’s reach has held up remarkably well, in spite of novel Internet content and gadgetry.
Perhaps catering to and patronizing the local markets???
UMG,
WMG, Sony Music File Litigation Against AI Music Services Suno and Udio for Massive Copyright Infringement
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), on behalf of its major label clients Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group, announced the filing of two copyright infringement lawsuits against AI music services Suno and Udio, alleging the unlicensed use of copyrighted sound recordings to train their generative AI models. According to the trade group, the lawsuits against Suno and Udio, filed in Boston and New York federal courts, respectively, mark a significant step in protecting artists’, songwriters’, and rightsholders’ control over their works in the rapidly evolving landscape of AI technology. The plaintiffs, specifically Sony Music Entertainment, UMG Recordings, Inc., and Warner Records, Inc., assert that Suno and Udio have copied and exploited countless sound recordings without permission, spanning various genres, styles, and eras. The cases seek declarations of infringement, injunctions to prevent future infringement, and damages for past infringements. The core allegations highlight the unlicensed copying of sound recordings on a massive scale for training, development, and operation of Suno and Udio’s services.
Willie Nelson expected to return to Outlaw tour after health concerns
The Outlaw Music Festival Tour kicked off in Alpharetta, Ga., on Friday, but without Willie Nelson.
The 91-year-old country singer from Texas received doctor’s orders to rest for a few days before joining the tour. “He is expected to make a quick recovery and join the Outlaw Music Festival tour next week,” read a Friday statement on Nelson’s social media. In his stead, his son Lukas Nelson and the Family Band would perform a set featuring some of the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s hits. This is not the first time health problems have stopped Nelson from performing. He has previously canceled several appearances because of respiratory issues.
A longtime marijuana advocate, Nelson told KSAT in 2019 that he quit smoking cannabis for his health, though he had not given up cannabis consumption. “I have abused my lungs quite a bit in the past, so breathing is a little more difficult these days and I have to be careful,” he said at the time. In an update shared with Today.com on Saturday, a representative for the country singer said Nelson “will be fine.”
The Power of Momentum in the Creative Process
Creativity in the broader sense can feel, to the uninitiated, like a monolithic and seemingly impossible pursuit. But as someone who has spent decades in the creative trenches, I’m here to tell you that creativity is made up of smaller more manageable steps which allow any - and all - of us to access our innate creative ability. That being said, there’s more to creativity than breaking it down into its component parts. Creativity is also highly dependent upon your process. A flawed or unexamined process can lead to frustration and unsatisfactory results. One of the best ways that I’ve found to improve the creative process is by striving for and maintaining momentum. Below are a few reasons why momentum in your creative work can be particularly powerful.
George Strait Shatters Attendance Records at Historic Kyle Field Concert
The King of Country, George Strait, has proven once again why his reign endures. On June 15, 2024, Strait made history with his performance at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field, drawing a record-breaking crowd of 110,905 fans. This monumental event set a new benchmark for the largest single-ticketed concert in U.S. history* and established a new attendance record for Kyle Field for any single event.** The Texas native and country legend headlined the evening, George Strait: The King at Kyle Field, accompanied by fellow Texans and MCA labelmates Parker McCollum and Catie
Offerman. As the night unfolded, the energy in the stadium was palpable. Strait, after performing his second song, “I Got A Car,” took a moment to address the enthusiastic crowd. “It’s so good to be here with Catie Offerman and Parker McCollum – let’s have another big round of applause for those two. And happy birthday, Parker, my gosh, what a day, what a place to spend your birthday, right?”
In a nod to the Aggie spirit, Strait playfully asked the audience, “Can I whoop, one time, just once? ‘Whoop!’” The crowd’s roar in response was deafening, acknowledging Strait’s connection to Texas A&M through his son, a proud graduate.
Music Publishers File Legal Complaint Against Spotify With Federal Trade Commission, Claiming ‘Unfair, Deceptive and Fraudulent Business Practices’
The National Music Publishers Assn. has filed a legal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Spotify, primarily to oppose its recent plan to bundle music and audiobooks, which will result in a lower mechanical royalty rate for songwriters and artists, estimated to be a $150 million annual loss. Spotify has confirmed that a lower royalty will result, but claims that earnings for creators will continue to rise. “Spotify has deceived consumers by converting millions of its subscribers without their consent from music-only subscriptions into ‘bundled; audiobook-and-music subscriptions, publicly announcing increased prices for those subscriptions, failing to offer an option for subscribers to revert to a music-only subscription, and thwarting attempts to cancel through dark patterns and confusing website interfaces,” the letter reads in part.
NMPA steps up Spotify fight: ‘Welcome to OUR version of a bundle’
US publishing body the NMPA held its annual meeting yesterday. The walk-on track for boss David Israelite’s ‘State of the Industry’ speech was LL Cool J’s ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’.
Who on earth might Israelite want to send crashing to the canvas? Take a guess… Yes, Spotify. Israelite’s speech – you can watch it here – was almost entirely focused on the NMPA’s current battle with the streaming service.
To quickly recap: after adding audiobooks, Spotify recently reclassified its premium tier as a ‘bundle’, which means lower mechanical royalty payments. Cue a furious protest from the NMPA; a letter to the DSP alleging copyright infringement around lyrics, music videos and podcasts; a lawsuit against Spotify for unpaid royalties filed by the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC); and a legislative proposal by the NMPA that would enable publishers to opt out of statutory licensing in the US.
As became clear yesterday, the NMPA is just getting started. Israelite announced that the body has now filed an official complaint about Spotify with regulator the Federal Trade Commission. It has also referred the company to 10 state attorneys general, inviting them to investigate Spotify’s “bait and switch practice”.
Recorded music industry revenues flat in 2023 … but then inflation.
(RIAA)
U.S. recorded music revenues in 2023 continued the flat-to-upward movement of recent years. Looking at the year-over-year reckoning supplied by the Recording Institute Association of America, we see paid music subscriptions continue the past growth trend since 2019 (see below), but with slowing upward movement. Digital downloading of tracks and albums continues its deep dive, reducing from $650-million to $434-million. As recently as 2021, digital downloads generated $622-million. The plunge is fierce!
Google’s DeepMind AI Can Now Generate Music for Video — And Create Full-Blown Soundtracks
(So much for musicians and human critical thinking)
Google has shared an update on its DeepMindAI and it’s ability to generate music that accompanies video—creating full-fledged soundtracks.
The process of creating video-to-audio combines video pixels with natural language text prompts to generate a soundscape for the video. Google pairs its V2A technology with video generation models like Veo to create shots that include a dramatic score, realistic sound effects, or dialogue that matches the characters and tone of a video. The model can also generate soundtracks for traditional footage from archival material, silent films, and more. Google says the new process will give audio engineers enhanced creative control because it can generate an unlimited number of sound tracks from any video input. Engineers can use positive and negative prompting to change the feel of the music. Positive prompting guides the model toward desired sound outcomes, while negative prompting guides it away from undesirable sounds.
Is ‘being signed’ still a big success metric for musicians?
Amuse and Midia Research have been working together since 2019 on reports examining the outlook for independent artists. Their latest study is out now, analysing what success means for DIY musicians. It turns out it means five things: sustainability, recognition, progression, longevity and legacy. “More artists than ever are seeking to make a career out of making music, yet less than 5% are signed to labels – 1% with majors, and the rest with indies,” claims the report. The remaining 95% are ‘artists direct’ releasing through distributors and artist services firms. According to the report, 2% of those artists have “previously exited the label system”. Artists surveyed for the report were asked who their ideal partner would be. 6% of full-time musicians said a major label; 10% said a management company; 16% said ‘a self-serve, online platform with all the tools I need’ and 20% said an indie label. The top pick (31%) was ‘a distributor with label services – fortuitously for Amuse, which is in exactly that bucket.