RIAA and MPA Urge Court Not to Disarm the DMCA Subpoena Anti-Piracy Tool
The RIAA and MPA are concerned about a recent court ruling that could hinder their ability to combat online piracy using DMCA subpoenas. The court's decision suggests that IP addresses may not be considered "links", potentially limiting the scope of these subpoenas. This interpretation could impact the music and film industries' efforts to identify and take action against infringers and operators of piracy services. Tackling online piracy is a complicated endeavor that often starts by identifying the operators of infringing sites and services. This is also where the first hurdles show up.
Many pirates keep their identities concealed. This applies to the operators of sites and services as well as their users. This relative anonymity is a nuisance to anti-piracy groups, including the RIAA and MPA. While most online services refuse to voluntarily hand over user details, there are some legal tools that can help rightsholders move forward.
In recent years, DMCA subpoenas have established themselves as a key anti-piracy enforcement tool. These requests don’t require any oversight from a judge and are typically signed off by a court clerk. This makes them ideal to swiftly identify online pirates.
Kris
Kristofferson, Country Music Legend, Dies at 88
Kris Kristofferson, born in Brownsville, Texas in 1936, who attained success as both a groundbreaking country music singer-songwriter and a Hollywood film and TV star, died Saturday at home in Maui, Hawaii.
From humble beginnings as a floor-sweeper at Columbia Records’ Nashville office, Kristofferson convinced Johnny Cash to record his original song, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” in 1970, which went on to earn Kristofferson the Songwriter of the Year Award at the CMA’s. His gifts not only sent several other artists to the top of the charts with hits like “Me and Bobby McGee” for Janis Joplin, “For the Good Times” by Ray Price, “The Taker” for Waylon Jennings, and “Help Me Make It Through” the night for both Sammi Smith and Gladys Knight & The Pips, among many others, but also fueled his own solo career, resulting in timeless tracks like “The Silver Tongued Devil & I,” “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33,” “Casey’s Last Ride,” “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again),” and many others.
Beyond his massive talent as a songwriter, performer and recording artist, Kristofferson was an accomplished actor, most renowned for his memorable roles in films like Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Frank Pierson’s 1976 version of A Star is Born.
Over the course of his illustrious career, Kristofferson received three GRAMMY awards, was nominated 13 times and was given the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. He received 15 BMI Awards and was named a BMI Icon at the 57th Annual BMI Country Awards in 2009.
Despite Major Markets’ Serious Streaming-Growth Slowdown, Global Music Industry Revenue Will Crack $100 Billion in 2024, Goldman Sachs Forecasts
Despite an ongoing streaming-growth slowdown in established markets, global music industry revenue is on track to top $100 billion during 2024, according to Goldman Sachs’ “Music in the Air” report.
Goldman just recently pointed to insights from its latest analysis of the music space, including revenue from recordings, publishing, live events, and more. We last checked in on Music in the Air data this past May, when a slimmer “redacted” version shed light on a decidedly bullish forecast of almost $164 billion in global industry revenue for 2030. Now, the investment bank has elaborated on the prediction in a fresh streaming-focused update. Like with past coverage of the annual report, it’s worth reiterating Goldman’s clear-cut financial interest in strong industry growth. At the top level, the business advised BMI on its sale and has stakes in companies including but not limited to Fever, Splice, and Complex.
The Power of Accepting - and Thriving In – Ambiguity
Comfort zones are, you guessed it, comfortable. We have all the answers, we know how things are going to go, and we like it that way. Who could blame us? The problem is that reality - and growth - doesn’t buy in to the idea of the status quo. In the real world, entropy reigns supreme. A quick definition of entropy is “a lack of order or predictability.” And given that entropy is the natural state of things, thriving in this kind of ambiguity begins with accepting that there are good reasons why ambiguity can lead us to successful outcomes. I’ve listed some reasons below why there is real power in embracing ambiguity. Creativity is all about coming up with new approaches to age-old challenges, but creativity is rarely - if ever - a neat and clean process.
While ambiguity is a critical part of the creative process, we can console ourselves with the knowledge that it is only a part of that process. However uncomfortable the ambiguity and chaos inherent in creativity may be, ambiguity isn’t the final destination but rather an essential part of the journey. Attempting to shortcut the process by either avoiding or minimizing the ambiguous elements will only result in half-baked or ineffective ideas. It is only through accepting ambiguity that we can find our way through to the other side.
Become the Musician Every Band Wants to Hire
Breaking into the music industry is tough, with only 71,000 of 1.3 million new artists in 2023 making it to a “career” stage. Learn how to build your personal brand and become the musician every band wants to hire. Breaking into the music industry is difficult. Whether you’re looking to make some extra money by working freelance or to secure yourself a full-time gig, getting paid to make music is a dream that many strive for, but few achieve. This is primarily because there’s such a large number of people looking to make it in the industry, but few opportunities are handed out. Data from Chartmetric shows how difficult it is to make it in the music industry: While 1.3 million artists launched on streaming platforms in 2023, only 71,000 made it to what is considered a “career” stage. Making it as a musician is about presenting yourself as the best option among many, making your portfolio attractive to hiring bands, whether you’ve officially “made it” or not. In this article, we’ll dive deeply into how to make yourself a real “band magnet,” whether you’re looking for a full-time position with a career band, collaborating with more established artists, or making some extra money playing part-time.
5 Key Strategies for Promoting Music
Promoting music requires a fresh approach to stand out in a competitive landscape. Discover five key strategies for promoting music that every artist needs to know.
Promoting your music isn’t easy primarily because it’s a moving target. What worked last year might be wildly outdated this year. The Major Label Artist Club analyzed some of the top performing artists and songs on TikTok and came up with a list of principles for promoting your music on social in 2024. Here are 5 of them.
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Report claims most music-streaming services are losing listeners
“There was strong music industry growth in Q2 2024, with DSPs accounting for nearly half of all the increase,” is the headline claim for consultancy firm Midia Research’s latest report. That’s based on an estimated 9.6% year-on-year growth in revenues for labels, publishers and streaming services in the second quarter of 2024.
However, the lede may be buried. Read further down Midia boss Mark Mulligan’s blog post announcing the figures, and there’s another finding that is also noteworthy: “early signs of a slowdown in streaming music consumer
behaviour”. “Spotify and YouTube Music were the only leading DSPs to experience weekly active user (WAU) growth between Q2 2023 and Q2 2024,” wrote Mulligan. “All other DSPs saw declines over the period. This is not a one-off event. Between Q2 2020 and Q3 2022, all DSPs experienced steady WAU growth. From then on, however, all experienced flattening or declining growth,” he continued.
“The streaming slowdown is not restricted to DSP WAUs. The vast majority of monthly consumer streaming activities and wider monthly music behaviours, were also down,” he continued. Cost of living pressures and competition from other activities – short-video included – are among the suggested factors in this trend.
