US record industry wins $46.8 million in damages in latest ISP copyright case
The US record industry has scored another big win against an American internet service provider that was accused of not doing enough to combat copyright infringement on its networks. A jury in Austin, Texas has concluded that Grande Communications should be held liable for the infringement of more than 1400 tracks by its customers. And it is being held liable to the tune of $46.8 million.

Grande is just one of a plethora of internet businesses that have been sued by copyright owners in either the music or movie industries in recent years. Those lawsuits all followed the big copyright ruling against ISP Cox Communications, which was initially sued by BMG and then later the major record companies.

Internet firms whose customers use their networks and servers to infringe copyright are usually protected from liability for that copyright infringement by the good old copyright safe harbour. However, to qualify for safe harbour protection, internet companies need systems in place to deal with infringing content and repeat infringers.

In the Cox case, it was shown that - while the ISP had policies for dealing with repeat infringers - it only paid lip service to those policies. Therefore it lost its safe harbour protection and became liable for its customers infringement. When the majors sued, those liabilities resulted in a billion dollars of damages.

Given the big pay out in the Cox case, other ISPs and internet businesses targeted with similar lawsuits were unsurprisingly keen to get them dismissed. That usually involved criticising the agencies that music and movie companies use to send in notices alerting them to copyright infringement, often arguing that those notices couldn't be trusted.

After it was sued by the major labels in 2017, Grande tried very hard indeed to get that lawsuit dismissed. But without success. And - unlike with the also sued Charter Communications and Bright House Networks - no last minute out of court settlement was negotiated. Which meant the labels v Grande case arrived in court before a jury in early October.

That jury has now concluded that Grande is indeed liable for 'contributory copyright infringement' because it didn't do enough to deal with its infringing customers. And, in the words of the Recording Industry Association Of America, "federal law does not allow internet providers to be wilfully blind to online piracy on their networks - in this case, the jury found that internet provider Grande Communications failed to meet its legal obligations and was liable for wilful copyright infringement".

RIAA boss Mitch Glazier adds: "This is the latest validation by US courts and juries that unchecked online infringement will not stand. The jury's strong action here sends an important message to internet service providers. Artists, songwriters, rightsholders, fans and legitimate services all depend upon a healthy digital music ecosystem that effectively protects creative works online".

Of course, compared to the $1 billion awarded in the Cox litigation, the $46.8 million in damages in this case seem pretty modest. But it's still a decent pay day for the music industry. Cox is still appealing its judgement. It remains to be seen whether Grande does likewise.

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ANote Music and Revelator announce partnership to facilitate more trading in music IP rights
ANote Music - a marketplace where people can invest in music rights and royalties - has announced a new partnership with Revelator, the music data and distribution management platform.

Under the alliance, music companies using the Revelator platform will be able to easily list royalty shares linked to tracks in their catalogues via the ANote marketplace. Investors - or fans for that matter - will then be able to buy shares in that music, providing the rightsholder with finance, and the investor a share in future royalties generated by the tracks.

The two companies say that this will "democratise fan and investor access to Revelator-managed intellectual property", and enable "rightsholders to further leverage on their assets, while sharing the future success and royalty streams with fans and investors".

The partnership will also see Revelator's various tools integrated into ANote, giving investors "more visibility into royalty streams and bringing Revelator's strength in data management into ANote's infrastructure".

Says ANote Music CEO Marzio F Schena: "We're hugely excited to be supporting Revelator's entry into music IP trading, as well as taking the next step in our own mission to further boost the goals and ambitions of all players operating across music rights as a sector".

"Since our inception, we have admired Revelator's work in empowering rights holders of creative IP through their innovative and forward-thinking platform and services. Clearly, we share similar values as companies, and I am sure this partnership will open doors for us both as we strive to democratise access to IP in general".

Revelator boss Bruno Guez adds: "The business of IP trading has been on our radar for some time and, watching ANote over the last couple of years, it became clear they were the go-to partner to facilitate this. We completely align with their goal of democratising access to music IP in a profitable way for all involved and feel this is only the beginning of what we can achieve together".

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Will Page says "music copyright has never had it so good" as global revenues reach almost $40 billion
Former Spotify economist Will Page has said that "music copyright has never had it so good", with - by his calculations - the value of the wider music rights business now almost $40 billion worldwide.

The total value of music copyright in 2021, says a new report from Page, was up 18% to $39.6 billion, and would have been higher had the pandemic not impacted on certain music right revenue streams, such as live and public performance royalties.

However, he notes, without the pandemic, streaming might not have accelerated at quite the same level. So, swings and roundabouts.

Page has been estimating the value of the wider music copyright sector for a number of years now by aggregating and comparing industry data from various sources. That includes data on the recorded music market compiled by the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, and data about all the money collected by song right collecting societies around the world compiled by global collecting society grouping CISAC.

However, the annual stat packs published by IFPI and CISAC don't cover all the revenue streams. For example, revenues generated by music publishers through sync deals and their direct deals with the streaming services are not included. Therefore Page also consults other sources such as Music & Copyright's analysis of music publishing and, for the first time this year, estimates made by music business consultancy MIDIA regarding the revenues generated by those production music firms that operate outside of the collective licensing system, like Epidemic Sound.

Having crunched all of that data, Page's report finds that the majority of music right revenues - 66% - is being generated on the recordings side of the business, so by the record industry, meaning that the songs side of the sector, which is to say music publishing, accounts for 34%. That's a slight shift in favour of the record industry compared to 2020, when Page calculated 64.9% was generated by recordings and 35.1% by songs. And that's an ongoing shift that's been underway for a few years now - when Page first did this study in 2014 it was 55% recordings and 45% songs.

There's a difference because of how income is split between recordings and songs is different depending on the specific revenue stream. With some revenue streams recordings and songs earn more or less the same. With some revenue streams - such as live music - only the songs earn. And with some revenue streams the majority of the money goes to the recordings.

Using Page's terminology, 'consumer spend' revenue streams tend to favour recordings, while 'business licensing' is good for songs. And in recent years consumer spending on streaming has been the big growth revenue stream, while the licensing of live music and businesses that play recorded music in public was most heavily hit by the pandemic.

Discussing the trend in which recordings increasingly dominate over songs, Page says that's because of "the recovery in consumer spend on music, which traditionally favours labels over publishing. This has been accentuated by the pandemic's adverse impact on business licensing, which traditionally favours publishers over labels".

While streaming does favour recordings over songs, the ongoing streaming boom is nevertheless benefiting the entire music copyright sector. And streaming now accounts for the majority of wider music copyright revenues - by Page's calculations 55% of revenues in 2021 - up from 52% in 2020 and just 30% back in 2017.

So, while the debate over how streaming monies are split between recordings and songs continues, the entire sector is still benefiting from the streaming boom.

"The great news is the value of copyright keeps on growing", Page writes. "Nostalgia has long been the biggest enemy of the music industry - a misplaced belief that we need to get back to the 'good old days' when record labels used to sell CDs to stores by the weight-of-pallet. Nostalgia can mislead and misinform - music copyright has never had it so good".

The streaming boom has also ensured that wider music copyright revenues have continued to grow despite the impact of the pandemic on things like live and public performance licensing.

Page also considers the extent to which the COVID effect on those latter revenue streams constrained the impact of the streaming boom on total revenues. Although, he adds, the COVID lockdowns and resulting spike in demand for home entertainment possibly boosted growth at the streaming services.

"If we look at revenues across a two year time span, from (pre-pandemic) 2019 to the present, we see how performing rights have suffered, by $0.5 billion", he writes.

"On one hand, had the world not entered lockdown, and performing rights income had continued growing at a 6% a year, then arguably they would be $1 billion higher today ($9.4 billion, not $8.4 billion), bringing the grand total past $40 billion. Yet on the other hand, had the pandemic not happened, streaming may never have accelerated the way it did".

As noted, for the first time this year Page also includes stats relating to those production music firms that operate outside of the collective licensing system, of which Epidemic Sound is the market leader.

Production music is music specifically created for use in audio-visual productions. Companies like Epidemic Sound set up a new model for selling production music geared towards online content creators, which has been controversial in parts of the music community, but undeniably successful. MIDIA estimates that that strand of production music was worth $250 million in 2021.

Although the Epidemic Sound approach to production music was originally targeted at online creators making videos, Page also notes that podcasters are now a key customer of that service too. And podcasts are something he thinks the music industry should be giving more consideration to, given they are both a competitor for consumer attention, and an under-tapped customer of music.

Citing James Cridland from Podnews, Page writes: "Average weekly podcast listening [is] hovering around seven hours; the equivalent for music streaming is only a couple of hours more".

The music industry can try to persuade consumers to listen to more music over podcasts, but should also be trying to get more music into podcasts. It's currently really hard for podcasters to license commercially released music for use in their programmes, meaning most of the biggest podcasts are speech based, and when they do use music, they are getting it from the likes of Epidemic Sound.

Page says: "If commercial music wants to win back attention that's been lost to long-form podcasts, it needs to give up on bringing a horse to water (expecting podcasters to adapt to current licensing complexity) and develop solutions that bring water to the horse (or 'fight complexity with simplicity', to quote Epidemic Sound). That way, music can compete for scarce attention that might otherwise go elsewhere".

Elsewhere in this year's study, Page also talks about "the strengthening US dollar and its impact on this global calculation". He explains: "Given the IFPI 'Global Music Report' is presented in US dollars and in constant currency over time, the impact of the dollar's dominance is two-fold: devaluing the absolute value of the 'rest of' the global music industry, and increasing the US's relative share".

He then considers "the mathematical impact this fluid exchange rate may have on next year's 'Global Music Report' for 2022", he goes on. "For simplicity's sake, let's assume that the US dollar has appreciated against the Yen from ¥110 to ¥130, an increase of 18%. Further, let's assume the Japanese music industry continues to grow at 9% this year".

"The 18% collapse in the Yen's exchange rate, combined with the 9% growth in domestic revenues, results in Japan's USD-denominated contribution to the 'GMR' falling 8% from what it reported in the 2021 yearbook", he adds. "Of course, constant currency smooths out the dollar-trend (year on year change remains 9%), but there is an absolute drop in the dollar value of the Japanese recorded music industry. This matters, when adding up a global industry and determining its trend".

This means that a US recorded music market that is already the biggest in the world, and which has significantly grown in strength with the streaming boom, has yet another boost.

Writes Page: "Add the impact of exchange rates and it's possible that the US could make up half of all global recorded music revenues within the next couple of years. It's both reassuring and alarming that one country dominates this global success story of music copyright, bringing to mind the old economic adage 'when America coughs, the rest of the world catches a cold'".

Read Page's full report here.

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BMG launches new label with Logan Media Entertainment
BMG has announced a partnership with management firm Logan Media Entertainment that will see the launch of a new label called Tag8 Music focused on working with has beens. I mean, super exciting established artists with existing fanbases looking for a label partner to deliver release campaigns that both drive sales and streams of the new music, but also enhance other elements of those artists' businesses.

Says the Logan of Logan Media Entertainment, good old Craig Logan: "Established artists increasingly have multifaceted careers in which the new album is just one element of a bigger picture in a way which does not necessarily fit in with the ethos of most hit-driven frontline labels. Tag8 Music gives artists access to a global independent label working closely with both the artist and their manager to help enhance their artist brand on multiple fronts".

BMG will handle all the distribution and administration of Tag8's releases, while LME will deliver the marketing. At launch the new label's roster includes Blue, Pixie Lott, Roachford, Louise Redknapp, and a cast album of 'The Drifters Girl' musical featuring Beverley Knight.

Adds BMG's President Of Repertoire & Marketing UK, Alistair Norbury: "Our partnership with LME will enable us to open up many of the elements of the existing BMG service for established and proven artists to an entire new cohort. These days some labels are not interested unless they can be confident of achieving 50,000 album equivalents or more. The Tag8 Music set-up will be flexible to deliver at all levels".

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Domain Capital Group announces new $700 million fund for entertainment acquisitions
Yet another private equity outfit all set to splash the cash on buying up some music rights? Oh yes! Domain Capital Group announced earlier this week an all new $700 million fund that will specifically invest in the entertainment industry, and which is now seeking acquisitions in film, TV and music.

In music, Domain recently partnered with Sony Music Publishing to acquire the existing and future song rights of country songwriter Ashley Gorley. It remains to be seen how many of its future acquisitions are music centric. Domain also says that - as well as buying up existing catalogues - the new fund will be investing in ventures that support the creation of new content.

Says Domain Capital Group Executive MD Anthony Tittanegro: "We are excited to launch our first diversified private entertainment royalty fund. At a time of sustained entertainment industry growth supported by an ever-evolving landscape of distribution channels, we are focused on building a diversified asset-base to generate cash yield and help maintain our investors' capital".

The firm's MD Of Media, Entertainment And Technology, Pete Chiappetta, adds: "We believe in the long-term value of these assets and are purposeful about each investment and its connection to the creator as well as our broader portfolio. We consider this a structurally creative and flexible approach to achieve our investment goals while also meeting the needs of our transaction partners".

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Curve launches royalty accounting software for small independent music companies
Curve Royalty Systems has launched a new 'lite' version of its royalty accounting software, making it more affordable for smaller independent music companies.

The software provides record labels, music publishers and music distributors with the tools to provide royalty statements to artists and songwriters. Prices start at £20 a month.

"We have always believed that high quality royalty accounting should be accessible and available to all music industry companies regardless of their size", says Curve CEO Tom Allen. "And that the traditionally high costs of such platforms should not be a barrier to record labels, music publishers and distributors providing a transparent, fast and accurate service to the artists and composers they represent".

"Curve Lite has been designed specifically for smaller sized companies who need an intuitive, easy-to-use, affordable system, which is fully upgradeable as they grow", he adds.

Launched in 2019, users of Curve's systems include Domino, Mad Decent, Audiosalad, Cooking Vinyl, Epitaph Records, 300 Entertainment and Dirty Hit.

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APPOINTMENTS

Secretly Publishing has hired Trinity Hood as an A&R associate and Tony Messina-Doerning as an A&R. Both will be based in the company's LA office. "I'm THRILLED to welcome Tony and Trinity to the Secretly Publishing family as part of our A&R team", says Senior Director Of A&R Eddie Sikazwe. "Their addition is another display of our commitment to providing first-class service to our writers. After multiple conversations with Tony and Trinity, I have no doubt that they'll bring exciting and unique concepts to the team".

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RELEASES

Gary Barlow has confirmed that Take That are working on their first album since 2017. "We have started a little bit of writing, but we're not due to officially start until the New Year", he told Zoe Ball on her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show. "Hopefully there will be an album out next year, but we've got to write some hits".

Pink has released new single 'Never Gonna Not Dance Again', which sounds exhausting. She's also announced UK shows next summer where you can see how her commitment to always dancing is going, including two performances at the British Summer Time festival in London's Hyde Park on 24-25 Jun.

Bastille have released the video for 'Hope For The Future', which appears on both their recent 'Give Me The Future + Dreams Of The Past' album and the soundtrack of new climate change documentary 'From Devil's Breath'. "I was given the chance to watch 'From Devil's Breath' a while back, and was really moved by the incredibly powerful story that [director] Orlando Von Einsiedel and the team have woven together", says frontman Dan Smith. "It's a heart-breaking story that's beautifully told, so when they asked me to write a song for the end credits, it seemed important to make something that felt intimate, but also struck a balance between the more poignant elements of these people's stories and the hope that the film ultimately gestures towards".

Sam Fischer has released new single 'Carry It Well'. The song, he says, "is about saying 'yeah I'm fine' when asked if you are, even when you're not. You never know what someone might be going through and I think if the past few years have taught us anything, it's how to mask what we can't describe while feeling intensely what we don't understand. I hope 'Carry It Well' can just let people know they're not alone".

Sam Ryder has released new single 'All The Way Over'. It is, he says, "a song for anybody on a journey to the other side of loss, grief or heartache". Catch him live at The Outernet in London on 23 and 24 Nov.

White Lung have released new single 'If You're Gone'. "Suicide was in the zeitgeist in many ways when I wrote this song", says frontwoman Mish Barber-Way. "At the time, a few prominent public figures had killed themselves and they all had children. I was thinking about postpartum depression and how real it can hit. The song is about the emotions of children when their parent is now gone and how they deal with that loss. It also looks at the struggle parents face when life gets so bad one doesn't see another way but to end it". Their new (and final) album 'Premonition' is out on 2 Dec.

Lafawndah has released new track 'The Dawn Of Everything (Jin, Jiyan, Azadi)', in support of women in Iran. Proceeds from the release will be donated to the Human Rights In Iran organisation. "It was born between unlearning the past and watching the future unfold", she says of the track. "It is dedicated to the people of Iran and their bravery in rising up after the murder of Jina Amini. A lullaby for the tremors that rise when a new life starts to feel possible against all odds - Jin, Jiyan, Azadi".

The Antlers have released new single 'Ahisma' - a song that first appeared on a 2017 solo album from the duo's Peter Silberman. "The original version was intended as a meditation on the Buddhist notion of 'non-harming'", he says. "But in the years since its original release, I think the song has taken on a meaning closer to the immediacy of the chorus of 'no violence', and become a kind of hymn in opposition to the rampant turmoil and seemingly inescapable vitriol of the moment".

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GIGS & TOURS

Henry Rollins has announced UK tour dates for his new spoken word show in March and April next year including one at the London Palladium on 5 Apr. Tickets are on sale now.

Goat have announced UK tour dates in April next year, finishing up with a show at Electric Brixton in London on 22 Apr. Tickets are on sale now.

Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily - updated every Friday.

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Selena Gomez named her new kidney after Portlandia's Fred Armisen
Back in 2017, Selena Gomez revealed that she had undergone a kidney transplant. Now she's let it be known that her new(ish) kidney has a name. That name is Fred, after 'Portlandia' actor and co-creator Fred Armisen. If you think that's a bit weird, that's the point.

"I named my new kidney Fred", she tells Rolling Stone in a new interview. "I named it after Fred Armisen because I love 'Portlandia'. I've never met him, but I'm secretly hoping he finds that out just because I want him to be like, 'That's weird'".

Armisen has yet not commented on this news. Possibly because he finds it too weird.

Gomez underwent the surgery five years ago after been diagnosed with kidney failure following a bout of lupus. The donated kidney came from actor Francia Raísa, Gomez's then housemate.

Having focussed more on acting in recent years, Gomez also says in the Rolling Stone interview that she has written 24 songs for her next album - the follow-up to 2020's 'Rare'.

This week she released 'My Mind And Me', the title track from a new Apple+ documentary, which is out today and explores her struggles with her mental health. But that song, she says, is not representative of how the new album will sound.

She explains: "'My Mind And Me' is a little sad, but it's also a really nice way of putting a button on the documentary part of life, and then it'll just be fun stories of me living my life and going on dates and having conversations with myself. I feel like it's going be an album that's like, 'Oh, she's not in that place anymore; she's actually just living life'".

Watch the video for 'My Mind And Me' here.

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