US court says copyright termination applies globally, potentially causing ‘chaos’ for rightsholders
A court ruling by a US federal judge in Louisiana has thrown a wrench into the common understanding of how copyrights on catalog music work – one that could have implications for music publishers and songwriters.
At issue are “termination rights.” Under the US’s Copyright Act of 1976, the original author(s) of a song can “take back” their copyright from a publisher (or whoever they assigned the rights to) after a set period of time. For works written in 1978 or later, that term is 35 years. For works from before 1978, it’s 56 years.
Until now, it was generally understood that when an author exercises their termination right under US law, this applies only to US rights – international rights remain with the assignee (i.e., the publisher who bought the rights).
However, a recent ruling by the US District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana upended this: The court concluded that a termination under US law applies globally – or, at least, in all the countries that participate in the Berne Convention, the international treaty that requires signatory countries to recognize copyrights created in other signatory countries.
U.S. Copyright Office AI Guidance Agrees with ASCAP: Human Creators First
On Wednesday, January 29, 2025, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) released part two of its report on the legal and policy issues related to copyright and artificial intelligence (AI). This report focuses specifically on whether works created using generative AI are copyrightable.
Commenting on the report, ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said: “We’re pleased to see the U.S. Copyright Office affirm our core principle of Human Creators First. ASCAP submitted comprehensive responses to the office to make sure music creators’ voices were heard throughout this process. As we embrace the exciting benefits of this new technology, ASCAP will continue to put human creators first and defend the value of our members’ creative work.”
The new guidance supports ASCAP's first AI principle: Human Creators First. Among the key findings:
Bombshell copyright ruling could be “financially devastating” for music publishers
A ruling last week in a US termination rights dispute could have big ramifications for the music industry. Previously when songwriters exercised the termination right in US copyright law, it was assumed they only got their US rights back. A court has now said termination should apply worldwide. A US judge last week made what could prove to be a bombshell ruling for the music industry. Louisiana Judge Shelly Dick ruled that songwriter Cyril E Vetter was able to reclaim all the rights he’d assigned to his music publisher under a 1963 publishing deal when he terminated that deal using the termination right in US copyright law. Crucially, he was able to reclaim the rights in relation to his 1962 song ‘Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love)’ on a global basis, not just in the US.
Music industry convention has - until this case - operated on the assumption that when songwriters exercise their termination rights in US law they can only reclaim the rights in their songs within the US, meaning the publisher still controls the songs in the rest of the world.
More to come...
Music Publishers Begin ‘Extensive’ Spotify Podcast Takedowns Over Licensing Violations
Just hours after Spotify announced its first-ever annual net profit, the National Music Publishers’ Association has launched an ongoing takedown initiative against the streaming giant for the unlicensed use of music in podcasts on its platform.
Beginning today (Feb. 4), notices will be sent to remove thousands of unlicensed uses of NMPA members’ works, according to the announcement. Over 2,500 detections of infringement are included in the initial takedown notices. The move follows the trade group’s 2024 legal action against Spotify over its controversial audiobooks-music “bundling” deal, which significantly lowered the royalties paid out to music rights holders.
Cassette Recording: Is it Worthy?
Even though basic digital recorders have never been more affordable, there are those who continue to seek the simplicity and charm of old cassette-tape multitrackers. First arriving in the early 1980s, these bantamweight, easy-to-operate and mainly four-track “porta-studios” were a godsend for musicians who’d struggled to make anything listenable on the oversized and underwhelming reel-to-reel tape decks of the time.
Though a considerable improvement, cassettes, like reel tape, were prone to analog idiosyncrasies such as “wow” and “flutter” and also ran slower than conventional tape machines, resulting in more background noise or “hiss.” By the time the first digital multitrackers dropped a decade later, many of those who’d lived through the entire tape era were more than happy to move on.
But as the never-say-die vinyl format has shown, there remains a healthy enthusiasm for analog methods and machinery, and for those looking to dip their toes into tape, a functioning cassette four-tracker is a relatively safe place to start. Here we briefly look at the benefits and disadvantages of these digital predecessors, what to look for when considering a tape multitracker, using cassette in tandem with your digital recorder, and other thoughts.
Spotify Wins MLC Lawsuit Over Bundling Royalties
Spotify has won a legal battle against The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), with a federal judge ruling in favor of the streaming giant’s revised royalty structure.
The MLC filed a lawsuit last year, accusing Spotify of unlawfully cutting its royalty payments nearly in half by bundling audiobooks with its premium subscription service.
In a decision issued Wednesday (Jan. 31), Judge Analisa Torres ruled that Spotify’s approach was permitted under federal regulations, stating that audiobook streaming constitutes a distinct product with more than “token value,” according to a report from Billboard.
“MLC cannot plausibly claim that having access to audiobooks is not something of intrinsic and monetary value to many, even if only a fraction of Spotify’s millions of Premium subscribers may take advantage of it,” the judge wrote. “The court can draw only one conclusion: that 15 hours of monthly audiobook streaming is a product or service that has more than token value.”
The ruling solidifies Spotify’s ability to pay a lower “bundled” rate under federal royalty guidelines, rejecting MLC’s argument that the company’s offering did not constitute a true bundle.
Apple Who? Spotify Claims the ‘Highest Annual Payment to the Music Industry’ After Surpassing $10 Billion In 2024, Targets ‘1 Billion Paying Listeners’ Across All Platforms
Just moments after a report indicated that Apple Music pays far better, Spotify is touting the record $10 billion it paid out to the music industry in 2024 – and eyeing a goal of one billion paid subscribers across all on-demand services. But does the royalties figure tell the entire streaming-compensation story? While there’s certainly something to be said for those findings – and for overall growth at Spotify, which topped yet another all-time-high stock price in early trading – it’s worth noting that close to 70% of audio uploads failed to crack 100 streams apiece across all platforms in 2024. Additionally, as the AI music floodgates are wide open, more machine-made audio than ever is claiming streaming space and royalties. This isn’t a Spotify-specific problem; in fact, the service looks to be comparatively adept at halting AI streaming fraud.
SiriusXM’s SXM-9 Satellite Completes In-Orbit Testing and Begins Service
SiriusXM and Maxar Space Systems announced today that the SXM-9 satellite has completed in-orbit testing and is now fully operational by SiriusXM after being successfully launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on December 5, 2024. “SiriusXM is committed to cutting-edge technology and enhancing the proprietary satellite delivery systems that help power our audio entertainment and information service offerings,” said Bridget Neville, SiriusXM’s Senior Vice President & GM of Signal Distribution Engineering. “The successful implementation of SXM-9 and expected launches of SXM-10, -11 and -12 will strengthen the health of our satellite fleet for decades to come and allow our team to continue innovating far into the future.” SiriusXM and Maxar Space Systems previously announced that Maxar Space has been commissioned to build the SXM-10, -11 and -12 satellites for SiriusXM, and those programs are ongoing with the expected launch of SXM-10 to occur later this year.
Finally, a Way to Leverage Songwriter and Producer Opportunities That Distributors Neglect
Navigating the complexities of the music industry can be overwhelming. For independent artists, publishers, and smaller labels, managing royalties, rights, and registrations often feels like an uphill battle. With countless acronyms like ASCAP, BMI, and MCPS, plus the challenge of juggling numerous platforms, you might find yourself spending more time on admin than on creating music. That’s where Melody Rights comes in—a comprehensive solution for rights management in the music industry. Melody Rights doesn’t focus on getting your music onto Spotify or Apple Music (in fact, they’ve intentionally avoided that route). Instead, they’ve specialized in the essential, behind-the-scenes work of ensuring musicians get paid whenever their music is streamed, downloaded, synced, or performed.
Three Things Learning to Write Songs Can Teach Us About Leadership (Cliff
Goldmacher)
In my years of work conducting creativity and innovation programs, I’ve had the privilege of working with some remarkably accomplished leaders from CEOs to senior legal partners to highly accomplished bio-tech scientists and more. It’s not only an honor to work with such incredible people but a joy to introduce them to the power of songwriting as a way to reimagine their work.
Songwriting, my chosen form of creativity for the past three decades, is the great leveler. Whether you’re a PhD or a high-school dropout, the rules are the same. It’s all about communicating in a way that is both clear and compelling to your listeners. As leaders, the key is staying open to new ideas, embracing collaboration and avoiding perfectionism. Songwriting can teach us all of that and quite a bit more.
Luminate report: audio music streams grew by 14% in 2024
Industry research firm Luminate’s annual report is out, and the biggest of its many big figures is 4.8tn (trillion). That’s how many on-demand audio music streams there were in 2024 according to its calculations – a year-on-year rise of 14%. The US accounted for 1.4tn of those (29.2%). However, the 6.4% growth in the US was outstripped by the 17.3% spike in the rest of the world.
The report also shows some of the continuing trends in the share of premium (subscription) audio and video streams by the country of origin for the artists. Mexico, Brazil and India showed the biggest growth – they now account for nearly 11.5% of those global premium streams. The UK, US and Canada showed the biggest fall in their share (although in each case it’s by less than half a percent).
There are now over 200m tracks on audio streaming services. Nearly 100m of them aren’t played more than 10 times each year.
According to Luminate’s 2024 Year-End Music Report, 202 million separate tracks were available on audio streaming services at the end of last year. (That’s ‘tracks’ as in files with their own distinct ISRCs, or International Standard Recording Codes.)
That 202 million figure was up by approximately 18 million (+9.8%) YoY, when compared to the equivalent figure from Luminate’s prior year report (184 million).
In simpler terms: on average, comfortably more than a million new tracks were uploaded to music streaming services per month in 2024.
(Indeed, Luminate calculates that there was an average of 99,000 new ISRCs delivered to DSPs like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube etc. each day in 2024, down slightly on 2023 when 103,500 were uploaded daily.)