The Licensing Plate

A Genre-Bending Musical Pitch to Ad Agencies

The old joke about asking how to get to Carnegie Hall and being told “practice!” is getting a rewrite by a music licensing company, which is asking how to get to Madison Avenue and answering in an unusual way.

The New York Times (full article)

YouTube agrees to share ad revenues with Belgian royalties collector

Belgian music royalties collector Sabam has agreed licensing terms with YouTube which it said will enable Belgian artists to obtain compensation when their music is used on the site.

Pinsent Masons LLP (full article)

Songwriters Guild of America Jumps Into ‘Y.M.C.A.’ Copyright Termination Fray

The Guild tells the judge about the huge stakes and why the case shouldn’t get bogged down in legal maneuvers from the well-heeled music industry.

The Hollywood Reporter (full story)

How The Stop Online Piracy Act Will Kill Innovation

Without safe harbor and several related provisions, much of the internet as we know it could not exist, because forcing websites to pre-screen everything that comes from users is untenable. And that is one reason why the copyright cartel’s friends and puppets in Congress have introduced the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa), a bill designed, among other things, as an end run around safe harbor.

paidContent.org (full article)

Google Opens Music Store To US, Challenge To Apple

Google unveiled its much-anticipated digital music store Wednesday as it opened a new front in its battle with Apple to provide services over mobile devices.

Pollstar (full article)

Jackson brothers sue over ‘Thriller’ jacket deal

Three of Michael Jackson’s brothers claim in a lawsuit filed this week that they’ve been “duped” by a company selling replicas of jackets worn by the pop icon.

CNN (full article)

FreeBieber campaign is not afraid of Justin Bieber or his lawyers

In 2007, a 12-year-old Justin Bieber began recording videos of himself singing covers of popular songs and uploading them to YouTube. A copyright reform organization called Fight for the Future created a website called FreeBieber.org to highlight the danger that a pending anti-streaming bill could make the creation of such videos a felony. The 17-year-old Justin Bieber, now an international superstar, apparently doesn’t appreciate the unauthorized campaign. So he (apparently) had his lawyers send out a cease-and-desist order.

ars technica (full article)

Why Justin Bieber Won’t Go To Jail For Posting Songs On YouTube (Analysis)

The potential spectacle of Justin Bieber being extradited from Canada to the United States to serve five years in prison has become a new flashpoint in a debate over whether copyright law should be amended. What are the chances the teen heartthrob could end up behind bars?

The Hollywood Reporter (full story)

Bret Michaels – Poison Sued By Chicago Band

Bret Michaels and his Poison bandmates are facing a lawsuit from the former members of a Chicago, Illinois-based rock group over allegations of copyright infringement dating back to the 1980s.

contactmusic.com (full article)

What TorrentFreak’s ‘Free Justin Bieber!’ Campaign Is All About

A proposed law has drawn the ire of copyright reformers for including prison sentences for those who stream copyright material. Now news site TorrentFreak is having some fun with the law by drawing on the fame of a certain teen heart-throb.

paidContent.org (full story)

Rihanna and David LaChapelle settle copyright lawsuit over S&M video

Rihanna has settled a lawsuit from photographer David LaChapelle, who accused her of copying his photographs for one of her music videos. Earlier this summer, LaChappelle won the right to go to trial to contest the singer’s alleged use of his Italian Vogue images in the video for her song S&M.

The Guardian (full article)

Hendrix Plaintiffs Appeal Pyrrhic Victory in Washington Right of Publicity Lawsuit

Plaintiffs Experience Hendrix, L.L.C., and Authentic Hendrix, LLC, are appealing to the Ninth Circuit their Pyrrhic victory over HendrixLicensing.com, Ltd., HendrixArtwork.com, and Andrew Pitsicalis.

Seattle Trademark Lawyer (full story)

Smaller Record Labels in Deal With YouTube

…a consortium of small labels has buried the hatchet with YouTube through a licensing agreement that will allow them to collect advertising revenue when their songs are used in videos on the site.

The New York Times (full article)

Kanye West and Jay-Z Sued for Allegedly Sampling Soul Musician

West is said to have tried unsuccessfully to license soul singer Sy Johnson’s song, “Different Strokes,” and then used it anyway.

The Hollywood Reporter (full story)

What If You Could Legally Resell Your Digital Music? ReDigi May Have Found The Solution.

Here’s an interesting piece of news that’s sure to reignite debate over consumers’ rights in the digital age: A Boston-based startup called ReDigi has this week launched an eMarketplace that allows users to resell their digital music — as well as buy new and used songs for cheap.

…ReDigi hopes to succeed where others have failed by designing a marketplace that is not about file sharing, but is instead a method of “facilitating the legal transfer of music between two parties”.

TechCrunch (full story)

Lady Gaga Beats “Lady Goo Goo” in UK Court

Pop star Lady Gaga has won an injunction stopping the makers of an online children’s game from promoting an animated character called Lady Goo Goo, the company involved said Friday.

AP (full story)

Judge Asked to Reject Resistance to “Y.M.C.A.” Copyright Termination

Victor Willis, the original lead singer of the Village People, presents arguments why music publishers must accede to his attempt to terminate copyright grants on 32 songs. Meanwhile, other artists are about to terminate the rights to other songs — including rock anthem “Eye of the Tiger”

The Hollywood Reporter (full story)

VH1 Movie Used Unlicensed Photos of N.W.A., Suit Says

VH1 did not have permission to use pictures of group N.W.A. in its documentary about the iconic hip hop founded by Dr. Dre with Ice Cube and others in 1986, the photographer claims in Manhattan federal court.

Courthouse News Service (full story)

Could one music downloader change U.S. copyright law?

In the age of iTunes and an-app-for-everything, Joel Tenenbaum’s battle with the music industry over illegal downloading seems as relevant as an eight-track cassette.

But it turns out the fight could produce something surprisingly enduring: a change in copyright law.

Reuters (full story)

Vimeo launches music store to help you license music for videos

Popular video sharing site Vimeo launched a new service today called Music Store that makes it simple to find and license music for online videos.

MediaBeat (full story)