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Regulation Ed Sheeran

Thanks Aron!!!

Copyright
The music industry relies on royalties
generated by the licensing of
copyrighted songs and recordings as
a primary form of payment for
musicians. Intellectual property law
and licensing systems have gone
through significant adjustments over
recent years as a result of the rise of
digital music, but much of the
industrys historic legal framework

Royalties
Performance Royalties
The fees music users pay when music is performed
publicly. The use of music over the radio, in a
restaurant or bar, or over a service like Spotify or
Pandora is considered a public performance.
Mechanical Royalties
Mechanical royalties paid to songwriters and artists
when music is licensed (think CD or vinyl) but also
when music is streamed (streaming mechanicals)
on-demand (like Spotify). Songwriting mechanical
royalties are set by government through whats
called a compulsory license, which right now is set to
about 9.1 cents per copy.

The company, owned by billionaire Len Blavatnik, saw


streaming music revenue from its recorded music
division surpass digital download dollars for the first time
in its history, with streaming revenue jumping 33
percent.
While the company doesnt break out the division
between download and streaming dollars, overall global
digital revenue was $297 million, up 1 percent for the
quarter to March 31, 2015, or 10.4 percent in constant
currency.
Streaming will help return the industry to
sustainable, long-term growth, said CEO Stephen
Cooper.
The music industry saw $1.9 billion in streaming revenue
in 2014, from sources such as YouTube, Spotify and
Pandora, or 27 percent of the overall pie, according to
the Recording Industry Association of America.

Labels represent artists. Artists record sound


recordings.
Publishing Companies represent songwriters.
Songwriters write compositions.
Every recording has two copyrights: one for the
sound recording and one for the composition.
The only way Spotify (and all other streaming
services like Apple Music, Rhapsody and Tidal) get
music for their service is from distributors. Every
label, major or indie, works with distributors. Every
unsigned, self-released artist works with a digital
distributor (like DistroKid, CD Baby and Tunecore)
to get their music to streaming services.

The lawsuit alleges that Spotify not only hasnt paid all of
the mechanical royalties, but that they didnt obtain the
proper licenses either.
they didnt negotiate directly with the publishing
companies for the mechanical license nor did they send out
NOIs either. Distributors get paid from Spotify royalties for
the sound recording, NOT the composition.
Spotify (and all streaming services) worked out the sound
recording rates they pay labels and artists (via the
distributor) directly. The compulsory royalty rates for
compositions, however, are set by the US government.
Streaming services, however, dont have to get permission
to use a composition, but they do have to obtain a license
for it. A license can either be obtained directly from the
publisher or they can send a Notice of Intent (NOI) to the
publisher just saying that they intend to use the
composition (30 days prior to releasing the song on the
service).

Regulation - Spotify - HW

What is IP?
Who owns (rights holders) Ed Sheerans IP?
How does the owner make money?
What are the different types of Royalties?
What does Ed Sheeran think about royalties
from streaming services?
Has Spotify done anything wrong?
Thinking about streaming and royalties what
effect has this had on the industry?

Mash ups
https://www.rocketlawyer.com/blog/m
ashups-and-sampling-whats-fair-use97506

Sampling

Parody

Changes to UK legislation allowing


the parody of copyright works (2014)
In the past comedians like French and Saunders and many others have
parodied famous films, TV shows and songs using the copyright
material in them, but there has always been a risk they could be sued
by the copyright owner.
Copyright owners would often grant a licence to those who wanted to
use their work, and charge a fee for doing so. That meant many people
wanting to parody were deterred from doing so. However, the view that
parody is a form of free expression and creativity has driven the change
to the law.
Recently there's been an explosion of online parodies made by
comically re-editing or "mashing-up" snippets of TV, film and songs. A
mash-up of The Apprentice has had more than five million hits, while a
parody of the Miley Cyrus song Wrecking Ball has had more than 50
million.
The law should lead to a growth of that kind of creativity by parodists
who can now plunder copyright material from movies to boy bands.

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