Major Labels Sue Music Tech Startup Aurous In First Week Of Launch
Here we go again. Music Business Worldwide reports that “The RIAA — on behalf of UMG, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Bros. Records, Atlantic and Capitol Records — has today filed a lawsuit against Aurous and its founder Andrew Sampson for what it calls ‘willful and egregious copyright infringement’.”
The music app, being called the “the new Grooveshark” (Grooveshark shut down earlier this year after similar lawsuits was filed against the company), just launched in public Alpha this week.
Aurous’ founder, Andrew Sampson, maintains that the website is a search engine that enables Internet users to search BitTorrent networks to find and stream content. However, the RIAA argues that the website directly targets recorded music from overseas pirate sites, effectively enabling consumers to infringe on the copyrights of record labels.
Whether Sampson intended on his platform to illegally access and stream recorded music or if he truly believed he built a legitimate consumer app detached from piracy, like many other uninformed tech developers out there, he has been caught in what could be a very expensive and crushing legal battle informed by copyright law.
I spend a great deal of time consulting with entrepreneurs who have cool ideas to develop new music apps, services, and platforms. However, the challenge that many of them face is having a limited understanding of the music publishing and recording landscape, from the perspective of a music tech startup. With the help of a music industry professional, founders gain insight on where products and services may infringe on the intellectual property rights of others. I’ve helped numerous startup entrepreneurs create products, formulate business models, and deliver value, all while respecting and complying with the intellectual property rights of third-party rights owners.
Read more about this story at Music Business Worldwide.
Infograph: Understanding U.S. Music Royalties
The Music Business Association (Music Biz) published an infographic, “Music Royalties USA Quick Start Guide,” which gives songwriters and performing musicians a simple way to understand the complex framework they must navigate to receive proper payment for their work.
Click to enlarge and download.
The document illustrates how royalties are handled for songwriters, publishers, and performers in various media, such as Physical Products and Download Sales, Radio & TV, Satellite & Cable Radio, Non-Interactive Streaming Radio, On-Demand Streaming Music Services, and Synchronization – Movies, TV, Games, Etc. The infographic also explains some of the more misunderstood jargon related to royalties and tells songwriters, publishers, and performers exactly which entities they need to register with.
“Because the rules governing music royalties are so complex and differ so greatly from one medium to another, many artists are leaving a significant amount of money on the table without even knowing it,” said Bill Wilson, Vice President of Digital Strategy and Business Development at Music Biz. “This infographic arms songwriters, publishers, and performers with the knowledge they need to ensure they get everything they are owed, allowing them to get back to what they do best: making music. We’d also like to thank our Affiliate Partners ASCAP, BMI, The Harry Fox Agency (HFA), The Recording Academy, SESAC, and SoundExchange, who all helped review the infographic to ensure it fully captured the process.”
The “Music Royalties USA Quick Start Guide” is the latest in a series of informational infographics that affirm Music Biz’s commitment to the artist community by providing vital information needed to understand how the music industry works and tips to get the most out of the services available to them. Previous entries include the “Global Music Licensing Quick Start Guide,” “SEO for Music Websites,” the “Artist Website Toolkit,” and more.
The infographic is available for free and can be viewed as a JPG or PDF.
Source: http://musicbiz.org/press-releases/music-biz-decodes-u-s-music-royalties-new-infographic/
Music Tech Startups Must Deal With United State’s Broken Music Licensing System
On behalf of my client, I spent the week conducting conference calls and long email exchanges with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, The Harry Fox Agency, National Music Publishers Association, Association of Independent Music Publishers, Crunch Digital, We Are The Hits, Tresona Music, and Audible Magic securing public performance licenses, obtaining synchronization licensing information, obtaining copyright identification service & royalty administration information for their UGC video hosting platform.
I Saw Great Startups @SFMusicTech, But They Have A Lot To Learn About The Music Business
What I learned (or confirmed, rather) is that there is a HUGE need to streamline and make efficient the process of securing synch licenses, a HUGE need to standardized/equalize deal structures between labels and digital service providers vs. publishers and digital service providers, and a HUGE opportunity for a collective-bargaining startup to secure pass-through licenses on behalf of many music tech startups, and we should consider making some forms of synch licensing compulsory.
Nevertheless, as long as the music industry is slow to innovate in how it deals with digital startups, there will continue to be confusion and frustration among all stakeholders and work for me to do as a consultant.
Dae Bogan To Moderate “Online Video & Music-Related Content: Promotion and Monetization Strategies” Panel At The Digital Entertainment World Conference
I am excited to announce that I will be joining the likes of Eddy Moretti (Chief Creative Officer of VICE Media Group), Steve Mosko (President of Sony Pictures Television), Ynoz Kreiz (President of Maker Studios), and Thomas Gewecke (Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development of Warner Bros. Entertainment) as the official moderator of the panel “Online Video & Music-Related Content: Promotion and Monetization Strategies” at the Digital Entertainment World conference next month.
Music Licensing: ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ Takes Music Licensing To The Next Level
It isn’t often that we get to learn about the vision behind the musical selections — including licensed music, commissioned music and collaborations — directly from the music supervisors of entertainment products; especially music supervisors of video games. So, this interview of Rockstar Games’ music supervisor Ivan Pavlovich by The Hollywood Reporter on his work for Grand Theft Auto V is a rare peak behind the curtain of creating the sonic identity of one of the top video games of all time. And boy is it insightful!
Demystifying The Music Industry: What’s The Difference Between ASCAP/BMI/SESAC and SoundExchange?
I received an email this morning from a reader who had read my piece, “Demystifying The Music Industry: What’s This About Public Performance Rights?.” He asked, “If SoundExchange was designated by the Library of Congress as the sole PRO to administer public performance licenses and also collect public performances fees for Sound Recording Company Owners, then why do artists still utilize the services provided by the other 3 US PROs (ASCAP / BMI / SESAC) – is [SoundExchange] not sufficient by itself?”
A lot of indie artists are confused about the difference between ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange. I’ll attempt to break down the most important differences between these groups and elaborate towards the end about other considerations and other royalty collection entities. Feel free to comment with any questions (or corrections). Read More…
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