Quansic's FX Nuttall wants ISNI identifiers 'everywhere'

By Emmanuel Legrand

Getting the metadata right has become priority number one for the rights management community. In the music sector, ISRCs (recordings) and ISWCs (compositions) are the key identifiers, but what if ISNIs were the missing link? Such is the belief of French metadata expert FX Nuttall (FX stands for François-Xavier).

  ISNI, or International Standard Name Identifier, is an International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO 27729)-certified global standard number for identifying the millions of contributors to creative works, including researchers, inventors, writers, artists, visual creators, performers, producers, publishers, aggregators, and more.

    In 2019, Nuttall set up Quansic, a new Swiss-based company that aims to connect ISNIs with other identifiers to provide a database with the most accurate and complete set of data relating to artists.  At Quansic, Nuttall has set out to find an answer to the proliferation of unmatched data.

  “The problem is that there are many sound-alike names and they are badly identified,” says Nuttall. “Take Bliss, for example. There's quite a few of them. For users, it is difficult to know which is which, and for platforms, when they get a new album by Bliss, they're not sure where to put it. So the solution is to put ISNI everywhere.” 

  Nuttall, who founded his first music metadata company, AudioSoft, in 1995, is no stranger to ISNI. While working as a consultant for 10 year for CISAC, the International confederation of Societies of Authors and composers, overseeing their International Standards initiatives, was editor of the ISO 27729:2012 International Standard Name Identifier and then founder and Chairman of the ISNI International Agency.

  Nuttall also spent seven years working for Google and affiliate YouTube, at their Publishing operations in charge of data quality. “I convinced YouTube to become an ISNI agency and we rolled out ISNI throughout YouTube's systems,” says Nuttall.

  “The benefits of ISNI are that it is an open system that identifies the names of parties, whereas a lot of the other well-known party identifiers are proprietary and private – such as IPI and IPN,” explains Mark Isherwood of the Digital Data Exchange (DDEX) Secretariat. “ISNI can also be used as a bridging identifier between those proprietary identifiers which sometimes have associated with them, confidential information.”

An important identifier

  For Isherwood, ISNI is becoming “an increasingly important identifier although take up in the music industry has been a little slow. ISNI is now liaising with the music industry to iron out any issues that have been identified and work to correct them and the indications are, once that happens, that there will be a strong push towards adopting ISNIs.”

  The benefit is that ISNIs can, in principle, “be used to identify the parties that perform the various roles that exist in the music industry, whether that is individual people, their stage personas, bands and orchestras, collaborations etc,” says Isherwood. ISNIs, he adds, are “name” identifiers not “person” identifiers. For example, the person know as Madonna has two ISNIs: One for “Madonna” (used as the artist) and another for “Madonna Louise Ciccone” (used as the composer/lyricists).

  The model for Quansic is to put ISNI at the heart of the data and aggregate around ISNIs all the various data sets. Nuttall's ambition is to connect ISNIs with all other identifiers and map as accurately as possible the links between identifiers. The starting point is the ISNI database and then enrich at all times, he explains, using other databases and checking.

  Quansic has partnerships with ISNI and the Recording Industry Association of America as an ISRC registration agency and a licensing agreement with YouTube. Its clients include DDEX, rights organisations PPL and PRS for Music in the UK, Amazon Music and Warner Music Group among others.

  At this stage, Nuttall says that Quansic's ISNI-X database is the largest artist data set with 1.2 million artists documented  and 1.5 million partially documented. Altogether, the database provides 150 million data points.

  Nuttall says he has worked on new working methodology, using the Graph software that allows to materialise all the links. The other aspect of the database is that entries in the database make it only if 100% of the identifiers are, well, identified. “We only work with 100% certainty,” says Nuttall. “Either we know or we don't. When we don't, we don't add. We've set the bar very high in terms of quality.”

Huge value for labels

  For Nuttall, 100% accuracy is paramount because the identification of artists is difficult with lots of artists with the same name. “There are a lot of errors, and it's not just long tail,” he adds.

  “Graph allows us to interconnect the works and we have all the connections, we can create info that was not available before,” he says. “We connect ISNI with ISRC and ISWC and we have an algorithm to reconstruct the link ISRC-ISWC. This is the Achilles heel of the music industry. ISRC is streamed and ISWC is paid and we trust the link, but most of the times it is very fragile. We can connect close to 100%. We have all the identifiers by platform, and we can connect all aspects. This can be of huge value added for labels.” 

  To beef up its organisation, Quansic acquired a few months ago Transparency Rights Management, the data matching company set up in 2010 by Jean-François Bert. “Transparency's team knows how to manage data,” says Nuttall. “Transparency brings a robust technical staff and will allow Quansic to grow fast. It's a perfect logistics fit. They have products and clients and we are integrating our technologies together.”

An interface between ISNI and the industry

  “We had co-created with FX an identifier and our first client was YouTube,” recalls Bert who has joined as COO of Quansic. “Being able to work with Quansic has allowed to have synergies with clients and also to acquire new technologies. FX is first and foremost an engineer, we did not master Graph and FX brought it to the fold. In addition, I have been working for 10 years on identifiers and here we have a company that puts transparency in metadata at the heart of its business. It was a very natural fit with FX. We have the same passion and the same modus operandi.”

  “We are the interface between ISNI and the music industry,” says Nuttall. “We adapted the data model to make it simple and usable. We are a short-cut for those who can adopt ISNI. The cost of cleaning data is huge around the world and here you have an ISNI identification database. It's done once and can be shared.”

UK music sector welcomes £1.57bn support package

By Emmanuel Legrand

The British government's decision to allocate £1.57 billion to the music sector has been widely praised by representatives from the music community. Oliver Dowden, in charge of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, and the Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the package would "help weather the impact of coronavirus" and will be "a big step forward to help rebuild our cultural infrastructure."

DCMS's Oliver Dowden

  The money, said the DCMS, represents the biggest ever one-off investment in UK culture, and "will provide a lifeline to vital cultural and heritage organisations across the country hit hard by the pandemic."

  The package, intended to benefit performing arts and theatres, heritage, historic palaces, museums, galleries, live music and independent cinema, includes:

  > £1.15bn support pot for cultural organisations in England delivered through a mix of grants and loans (£270m of repayable finance and £880m grants).
  > £100m of targeted support for the national cultural institutions in England and the English Heritage Trust.
  > £120m capital investment to restart construction on cultural infrastructure and for heritage construction projects in England which was paused due to the coronavirus pandemic.
  > £188m for the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland (£33m), Scotland (£97m) and Wales (£59m).

Safeguard the sector

  "This money will help safeguard the sector for future generations, ensuring arts groups and venues across the UK can stay afloat and support their staff whilst their doors remain closed and curtains remain down," said Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

  The government said decisions on awards "will be made working alongside expert independent figures from the sector including the Arts Council England and other specialist bodies such as Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and the British Film Institute. Further details will be set out when the scheme opens for applications in the coming weeks. "I said we would not let the arts down, and this massive investment shows our level of commitment," said Dowden.

  “We are delighted that the Government has recognised the special importance of the arts and creativity – including music – to our national life," said Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive BPI & BRIT Awards. "We warmly welcome specific mention of our cherished music venues, and to support for the arts, which should also assist our classical music sector. The live music industry, and the artist community that it supports, has felt the full, devastating force of the Covid-19 emergency and grassroots venues urgently require support if the UK is to retain its exceptional local music scene and continue to produce world-beating artists. We look forward to further discussing how the funds will be allocated.” 

A VAT reduction on concert tickets

  > As part of a £30 billion recovery plan, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a reduction of VAT from 20% to 5% for the hospitality sector, which is extended to shows, theatres, circuses, fairs, amusement parks, concerts, museums, zoos, cinemas and exhibitions. The measure will be limited for six months, and will apply to advance sales of tickets for events taking place after January 12, 2021. However the VAT reduction did not extend to music retail, which was a request from retail chain HMV owner Doug Putman.

Authorising outdoors live performances

  > Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announced that from the weekend of 11 July live performances could take place in outdoors venues, respecting social distancing, with reduced audience sizes and online ticketing. Indoor test events are being scheduled to inform the plan as to how and when venues can reopen, according to the DCMS.

  "This is an important milestone for our performing artists, who have been waiting patiently in the wings since March," Dowden said. “Of course, we won't see crowds flooding into their venues, but from 11 July our theatres, operas, dance and music shows can start putting on outdoor performances to socially distant audiences.”

  The Musicians’ Union (MU) welcomed the announcement. “The safety of our members is paramount so outdoor performances will come first, whilst pilots of indoor live performance are carried out and scientific research continues," said MU's General Secretary, Horace Trubridge. “Our sector needs more. Specifically a finance package for the workforce to sustain them until they are able to work at full capacity, and this will be the focus of our lobbying going forward.”

US authors and publishers file copyright infringement suit against KISS Library

By Emmanuel Legrand

US publishers Amazon Publishing and Penguin Random House, alongside 12 authors members of the Authors' Guild – including its President Doug Preston, John Grisham and former President Scott Turow –, have sued KISS Library for copyright infringement. KISS Library is a Ukraine-based entity that operates sites including Kissly.net, Libly.net and Cheap-Library.com. The suit names KISS Library co-founders Rodion Vynnychenko and Artem Besshapochny among the Defendants.

  The Authors' Guild has described KISS Library as "a pirate online bookstore based in Ukraine that illegally sells pirated ebooks at discounted prices to unsuspecting US readers. The defendants dress their websites up to make them look like sophisticated, legitimate sites, intentionally deceiving consumers who are unaware that authors, publishers and legitimate booksellers are being denied their legal share of the sales price."

Site replete with pirated books

  In the suit, filed with the District Court for the Western District of Seattle, Washington, KISS Library is accused of copyright infringement, as well as vicarious and contributory copyright infringement, for “illegally copying, distributing, and selling works written or published by Plaintiffs.” The online vending platforms advertises "unbeatable prices" on ebooks, but according to the suit “its catalogues are replete with pirated ebooks, including titles for which Plaintiffs individually own and/or control exclusive copyrights in the United States.”

  Plaintiffs are seeking an order to immediately and then permanently enjoining Defendants to stop distributing infringing products on their websites; the impounding of all digital copies of the infringing works; to disable or transfer the domain names to plaintiffs; the restraining from "transferring or disposing of any money or other assets"; access to "a full and complete accounting of all sales, copying, and/or reproductions of all infringed works, and all amounts due and owing to Plaintiffs as a result of Defendants’ unlawful activities"; the award of all profits realised as a result of Defendants’ infringement; the award for costs related to the action and attorneys’ fees incurred in prosecuting the action; and any additional "just and equitable" relief decided by the Court.

A united fights against piracy

  “We are filing this suit not only on behalf of ourselves but for the thousands of authors who labor years to write a book, putting their hearts and souls into every sentence, only to see their income lost to book piracy,” said Preston.

  “We are very grateful to Amazon Publishing and Penguin Random House for joining us in this lawsuit, as few authors possess the financial resources to file suit in federal court, particularly against a foreign adversary as cagey as KISS Library,” said Mary Rasenberger, executive director of the Authors Guild.

  She added, “This filing joins together bestselling and emerging authors with industry leaders in a united fight against piracy. Every purchase from an illegal piracy site represents a theft of earned income from the author and publisher, causing massive losses to the industry that, over time, will diminish the industry’s ability to publish a wide diversity of voices. This outright theft must stop.”

France's new Minister of Culture vows to support a strong copyright regime

By Emmanuel Legrand

France's new Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot intends to put "culture at the heart of the reconstruction plan for our country, laminated by an economic, health, social and moral crisis of a magnitude which is still difficult to qualify the contours." Bachelot made the comments on the day she took over from outgoing Minister of Culture Franck Riester, who has been appointed to the position of Minister of for Foreign Trade and Attractiveness in the government formed by new Prime Minister Jean Castex.

Roselyne Bachelot and Franck Riester
(Photo: Ministère de la Culture)

  In the two years he was in the role, Riester was a driving force during the adoption of the European Copyright Directive. He also helped create the National Music Center to support the music sector and has presented before Parliament an ambitious media bill.

  Bachelot also said that her ambition is to continue to build a strong framework for "the preservation of copyright and intellectual property." But for her, the "absolute urgency" at the start of this summer "will be to help restore and restart cultural sites, festivals, theaters, museums, cinemas, historic monuments. It’s almost a matter of life and death for so many people, direct jobs and peripheral jobs."

Regain artistic vitality

  Labelling herself he Minister of Artists and the Minister of the Territories, Bachelot said one of her priorities would be to hold what she called the Estates General of festivals "so that next season will regain its artistic vitality, its role in democratisation and economic irrigation."

  Opera-lover Bachelot, 73, was unexpectedly named at this crucial position in the cabinet reshuffle. She held previous ministerial jobs in conservative government and has become in the past years a popular host of radio and TV shows. Many in the industry believe that she will have the political clout to get things done and obtain the budgets to support a sector that has been seriously impacted by the Covid-19 crisis.

  Collecting society ADAMI, which represents artists, welcomed the arrival of Bachelot at the Ministry of Culture, which inherits "a prominent personality to lead major cultural projects while Emmanuel Macron recently made culture one of its four priority projects." For ADAMI, Bachelot's experience "will be particularly valuable when the entire sector, and in particular the artists, has been seriously affected by the health crisis." ADAMI is asking Bachelot to take a stand on the issue of the online remuneration of artists, which is inscribed in the Copyright Directive.

Urgency to adopt EU's Copyright Directive

  Record labels' body SNEP said Bachelot has "all the qualities to defend the artists and companies that invest in the creation and production of music in our country." SNEP said one of the priorities should be the quick transposition of the European Copyright Directive, which is currently debated by Parliament. "Recorded music producers have confidence in the new minister’s determination to take into account the urgency of adopting this text, which alone will allow the necessary rebalancing of the relationship between rights holders and video sharing platforms," said SNEP.

  Society SACD, which represents drama authors, is expecting from Bachelot "a massive, dynamic and innovative recovery plan."

> The amendments allowing French Government to transpose the Copyright, Cab-Sat and SMA Directives have been adopted by the Parliament. Amendment 23 states that the Government is “empowered to complete the transposition of Directive 2019/790 from April 17 2019 on copyright and related rights in the digital single market." Article 15 (neighbouring rights for news publishers) of the Copyright Directive had already been transposed into law on July 24, 2019.

The amendment fixes a six month deadline for the adoption of ordinances transposing Articles 17 to 23 of the Copyright Directive, and a 12 month deadline for the others provisions of the directive. Concerning the “cable-satellite” directive, the ordinances must be issued within 12 months of the promulgation of the law.

European Court of Justice narrows the notion of 'address' in copyright infringement cases

By Emmanuel Legrand

Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has denied the request from a German film production and distribution company whose works were illegally uploaded on YouTube to have the video streaming service hand over the email addresses, telephone numbers and IP address of the users who illegally uploaded the films to the Google-owned platform.

  The CJEU issued the ruling following a request for guidance issued by a German court that was asked to determine, in a case filed by German film distributor Constantin Film, if it could force YouTube to provide the personal data of alleged infringers. Constantin Film had taken YouTube and Google to court after the companies declined to provide the data of users who are alleged to have uploaded movies the rights of which are owned by Constantin in 2013 and 2014.

Fair balance between fundamental rights

  The CJEU ruling narrows the notion of "address" to identify infringers when it comes to copyright infringement. “When a film is unlawfully uploaded onto an online platform, such as YouTube, the rights holder may, under the directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, require the operator to provide only the postal address of the user concerned, but not his or her email, IP address or telephone number,” wrote the CJEU in its ruling. "The directive, which provides for disclosure of the ‘addresses’ of persons who have infringed an intellectual property right, covers only the postal address."

  The Court nevertheless stated that "the Member States have the option to grant holders of intellectual property rights the right to receive fuller information, provided, however, that a fair balance is struck between the various fundamental rights involved and compliance with the other general principles of EU law, such as the principle of proportionality."

Ruling provides clarity

  “Today’s CJEU decision provides the legal clarity on what information is appropriate to share with rights holders in case of a copyright claim,” a YouTube spokesperson told Reuters.

  The CJEU ruling will now provide the German court the legal foundation to make a decision about Constantin Film's request, and it is likely to go in favour of YouTube.

The MLC rolls out two new initiatives to ensure correct data from stakeholders

By Emmanuel Legrand

The Mechanical Licensing Collective, the new entity in charge of licensing and administering mechanical rights in the US, has launched two new initiatives to help self-administered songwriters, composers, lyricists, administrators and music publishers "organise and prepare their musical works data." The two initiatives are designed so that "stakeholders can 'Play Their Part' in helping The MLC fulfill its important mission of paying royalties accurately and expediently for their benefit."

  The MLC is rolling out the Data Quality Initiative (DQI), described as "a streamlined way for music publishers, administrators and foreign collective management organisations (CMOs) to compare large schedules of their musical works’ data against The MLC’s data."

  The other initiative is the Music Data Organisation Form, destined "to help self-administered songwriters, composers and lyricists begin to organise their musical works’ data" ahead of The MLC’s roll-out of The MLC Portal.

Address discrepancies

  Through the DQI, The MLC said it would provide participants with reports "that highlight the discrepancies between the two sets of data so that they can more easily address those discrepancies and improve the quality of The MLC’s data." The MLC has begun working directly with a number of music publishers and administrators "to on-board them into the initiative." The MLC is also working with software vendors to help them enhance their platforms to enable users of their systems to participate in the initiative.

  “One of the biggest and most time-consuming challenges for music publishers, administrators and CMOs is checking the accuracy of their musical works’ data,” said Richard Thompson, CIO of The MLC. “We launched the Data Quality Initiative to help those parties increase the efficiency and effectiveness of this process. Participants in the initiative will be able to see where their musical works data does not match The MLC’s data, so that they can then take the necessary corrective action.” 

Guiding self-administered writers

  For Kris Ahrend, CEO of The MLC, the Music Data Organization Form is designed "as a worksheet to help guide self-administered writers through the process of collecting the data they’ll need to register with The MLC. The form essentially outlines the information self-administered writers will need to compile in order to register their musical works in The MLC Portal.”

  The MLC said it intends to begin rolling out the first version of its user portal later this quarter. "This version will enable users to set-up their accounts and then search, view and edit The MLC’s data for existing musical works and register new musical works," explained the Nashville-based organisation which is due to go live on January 1, 2021.

Believe-owned digital distribution company TuneCore launches in India

By Emmanuel Legrand

TuneCore, the distribution and services company for independent artists, has launched in India, with industry veteran Heena Kriplani serving as TuneCore’s Country Manager for India. Believe-owned TuneCore will provide access to the world's leading streaming services, including Spotify, iTunes/Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music and Deezer in India.

  The company said that it already provides access to local streaming platform JioSaavn and that deals with Gaana, Hungama and Wynk will be "coming soon."

  Believe was established in India in 2013 and has over 140 employees working in offices in Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai, under the leadership of General Manager Vivek Raina. “Our global expansion into India not only allows us to further our mission of supporting our artists at the local level, in the best way possible," said Denis Ladegaillerie, CEO of Believe. "TuneCore uniquely pays 100 percent of 100 percent of what is collected from the digital services, which has made the company the leader in helping artists get what they deserve.”

An artist-centric approach

  TuneCore will roll out in India (at TuneCore.in) its services to Indian customers such as YouTube Sound Recording Revenue collection service, Facebook/Instagram Music, and TuneCore Fan Reviews, as well as TuneCore's customer support. As in the rest of the world, TuneCore will charge clients a flat fee rather than take a percentage of revenues. As an introductory offer, TuneCore artists in India will get 50% off the regular distribution costs with singles available for ₹499 (€8.87) instead of the regular price of ₹999 (€11.76) and the first year distribution for albums is available for ₹1499 (€17.64) instead of ₹2899 (€34.12).

  "TuneCore and Believe’s artist centric approach aligns seamlessly with my own. India has always had a unique music landscape and I’m glad we’re able to service local, independent artists with tools created specifically for keeping their global reach and local needs in mind,” said Kriplani. “TuneCore.in aims to be part of the solution and, with our store and streaming partners, we will help democratize the music ecosystem in India while enabling every artist to be heard across borders, without giving up their rights or revenue.”

  TuneCore said that it pays out "well over" $1 million each day and that since the company's inception in 2006, it has distributed over $1.8 billion collectively to its clients.

BandLab unveils new tool for artists to sell their music

By Emmanuel Legrand

Singapore-based social music platform BandLab has rolled out its self-publishing tool BandLab Albums, allowing artists and musicians to release and sell unlimited singles, EPs and albums freely and on their own terms. The 'Albums' feature proposes a user-friendly and intuitive interface that creators can use to reach out to their customers. Creators can choose to set a fee to download their album or release it free, without BandLab taking a cut on the transaction. 

  BandLab allows artists to keep complete ownership of their creative output, their rights and control their own pricing. BandLab’s cloud-based music production platform integrates music making, mastering and collaboration tools, and with Albums, now offers professional tools to help artists sell their music as well. "There are no hidden fees or subscription charges for listeners or creators, beyond payment gateway fees, powered by Stripe," according to the company.

Control and ownership

  “Our users are at the heart of our product," said BandLab CEO Meng Ru Kuok. "Beyond the continued development of our next-generation solution for the music creation process, we’re incredibly committed to supporting our growing base of creators at each stage of their creative journey. We want that journey to last a lifetime, and releasing Albums is an important step in allowing our artists and independent labels to create sustainable revenue streams for themselves whilst keeping them completely in control and ownership of their own content.”

  BandLab launched in 2015 and counted 20 million registered users in 180 countries in May 2020. The company said it has been experiencing "significant growth" in 2020, with on average one million monthly downloads, and 10 million tracks saved on the platform monthly. BandLab is available as a web version, iOS, and Android app.

  If offers users several customisable features such as the design of the album, and the option to attach bonus content in a wide variety of formats, such as lyric sheets, images, videos, or behind-the-scenes content.

US Copyright Office: Congress should wait until EU's Art. 17 is implemented before reforming DMCA's safe harbour provisions

By Emmanuel Legrand

The US Copyright Office (USCO) has suggested that Congress should wait for the European ​Copyright Directive's content liabilities provisions for internet service providers (Article 17) to be fully implemented before considering updating the United States current take-down system and the safe harbour provisions contained in Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

  The recommendation was made by Maria Strong (pictured, below), the Acting Register of Copyrights and Director of the USCO, in a letter to Senators Thom Tillis and Patrick Leahy from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Strong was responding to a letter co-signed by Tillis and Leahy dated May 29, 2020, in which they asked a series of questions regarding the USCO's recent report on 'Section 512 of Title 17'.

  One of the issues tackled by Strong in her letter is the need to address the notice-and-take-down process in order to achieve "a more equitable balance between deterring bad notices and requiring too much time and effort by a small rights holder to submit a take-down notice."

A burden on small rights holders

  "As the Office noted, the notice-and-take-down system currently imposes a greater burden on small rights holders: these stakeholders often do not have access to the technologies that larger OSPs make available to larger rights holders, such as filtering systems that can identify infringing content and alert the rights holder," wrote Strong.

  However, Strong remained cautious about the notion of stay-down, following a take-down, which is often a request from rights holders who consider that the take-down system does not work as infringing content reappears almost instantly once taken down. "As noted in the Report, there currently is no extant model for successfully mandating universal stay-down," wrote Strong. She then alluded to countries in the European Union that have taken different approaches to implement the requirements of Article 17 of the EU Digital Single Market Copyright Directive.

Evaluate success or failure

 ​  “Given the international nature of the internet, there is a risk associated with being the ‘first mover’ for adoption and implementation of such a requirement," she wrote. “Were the United States to adopt its own implementation method and requirements at the same time as, and without reference to, those adopted by the EU, it would risk placing requirements on OSPs [online service providers] that are either incompatible or otherwise in tension with the EU’s requirements."

  She added: "Incompatible obligations could pose a significant adverse economic impact for US-based OSPs attempting to serve both the domestic and the foreign market. It may, therefore, be prudent to wait and see whether the EU ultimately coalesces around one or two models, and then evaluate the relative success or failure of those models against the current notice-and-take-down system in the United States.​"

Changes to improve the system

  Elsewhere in the letter, Strong identified a series of changes that could improve the system:

  1 - Congress should clarify the distinction between “actual knowledge” and “red flag knowledge.”  Currently, wrote Strong, Section 512 provides that, in order to qualify for a safe harbor under section 512(c) or (d), an OSP must act expeditiously to remove or disable access to infringing material when it has either actual knowledge that the material or activity on its service is infringing, or when the OSP becomes “aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent,” which is commonly referred to as red flag knowledge. Strong notes that "the knowledge requirements could benefit from additional statutory language that could incorporate a reasonableness standard to explicitly take into account differences among OSPs in terms of the sophistication of their operations and their technological capability to respond to red flag knowledge."

  2 - Congress should clarify its intent regarding the content requirements for a valid take-down notice, specifically the provisions concerning the submission of a representative list of infringed works and adequate identification of the location of infringing material, as, according to the USCO, the "current statutory language ambiguous and potentially contradictory."

  3 - The current functioning of section 512 "may be improved" by providing the Office with increased regulatory authority to set standards related to the manner in which compliant notifications may be submitted to designated DMCA agents. Strong suggested that Congress could "grant the Office additional authority to specify criteria related to the location, prominence, and content of the required public identification and contact information of an OSP’s designated DMCA agent on its website, to ensure that the public can easily locate this information."

Offer broader solutions

  4 - The USCO recommended that Congress should consider "not only reforms to section 512(f), but also broader solutions outside of section 512 to address abuse practices generally, including the filing of abusive complaints in court or the sending of abusive cease and desist letters." Strong noted that the issue of abusive allegations of copyright infringement "is serious, and congressional attention to the broader question of how to best discourage such uses of the copyright system could provide more effective mechanisms to address the problem."

  5 - The Office noted "concerns about the ten to fourteen day window in which content remains down following receipt of a counter-notice," but the time frame "is both too long for legitimate speech to be blocked and too short for a rights holder to realistically prepare to file a federal lawsuit to prevent the return of infringing materials." To address this issue, Congress "may wish to consider a more flexible approach that allows users to seek a faster evaluation of their counter-notice or rights holders to seek an extension of the deadline for restoring the content."

  The 19-page letter is available here in full.

Memo from European neighbouring rights societies to SoundExchange: If the USA joins the Rome Convention money will flow

By Emmanuel Legrand

European neighbouring rights societies were pondering their response to SoundExchange's latest campaign asking for “national treatment” for US performers and labels in the collections of neighbouring rights overseas, but it is quite likely that the position most societies will adopt will be: Join the Rome Convention, adopt performance rights for sound recordings played by terrestrial radio (equitable remuneration), and money will flow back to US rights holders.

  At the moment, according to SoundExchange, US artistes and labels are victims of “discrimination” since they cannot received the proceeds of equitable remuneration in countries like the UK, France, Italy or Germany. In a campaign initiated two weeks ago, SoundExchange and a coalition of music-related organisations representing labels and performers have been asking the US government to make it an agenda item in the trade negotiations with other countries or regions.

  Earlier this year, SoundExchange referred several countries, including Japan, the UK, France and others to the US Trade Representative to have them included in the Special 301 Report, identifying the countries with which the USA has IP issues. Around that time, SoundExchange sent letters to neighbouring rights societies named in the USTR list, pointing out that the system in place in these countries was penalising American creators by allowing their works to be used without compensation.

Apply reciprocity

  European societies contacted by this writer have declined to comment on SoundExchange's latest campaign. It is understood that several European societies have been discussing about a common position without so far issuing any joint statement.

  Speaking off the record in order to speak candidly, several European executives said that the treatment reserved to US rights holders was not related to discriminatory practices but boiled down to the fact that the United States are still not signatory to the Rome convention, and although they are part to WIPO's WPPT treaty, they only grant the benefits of equitable remuneration to performers and producers of phonograms for the use of music on non-interactive digital services. As a result, terrestrial radio in the US still does not pay performance rights on recordings.

  Executives noted that US performers can benefit in full from equitable remuneration in Europe if their recordings have been fixed in a country signatory to the Rome Convention. What defines the current system, said an executive, is the concept of reciprocity. Since the US do not have performance rights for the use of recordings on terrestrial radio, there is no reason these rights should apply to US rights holders outside of the US.

Fighting the wrong battle

  "American artists are not denied rights because of their nationality,” said one executive from a continental European society, “but this is unfortunately the case for all artists, regardless of their nationality, who have recorded with producer members from countries that have not ratified the Rome Convention, and that includes the United States.”

  The executive continued: “Furthermore, European artists are denied their rights to equitable remuneration in the United States on analogue radio broadcasts while they enjoy these rights in their countries of origin, which constitutes discrimination which is only due to the refusal of the United States to ratify without reservation the international conventions which recognise the neighboring rights of performers.”

  Another executive from another European country said it was not the first time Sound Exchange publicly challenged European collective management organisations (CMO). “Just like the first time, we are not amused this time either,” said the executive, claiming that Sound Exchange and unions representing artists and musicians such the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and SAG-AFTRA, are “fighting the wrong battle.”

A two-sided story

  “Their fight should not be with the European societies, but with their own government,” the executive added. Regarding equitable remuneration for broadcasting and public performance, the executive argued that “the legal basis is the Rome Convention, to which the US is still not a party. The problem is as simple as that. You cannot ask for national treatment within the context of a treaty if your country has not signed the treaty.”

  The executive said that the easiest way to give US labels and performers access to the European equitable remuneration for broadcasting and public performance "is to convince the US government to sign the Rome Convention, which is nothing more than an old but still very current free trade agreement. This would then allow the European CMO’s to extend their licenses to US repertoire and – with the help of the US performers – negotiate new and better tariffs for the use of music.”

  The executive concluded: “It’s a two-sided story. We’ll get there in the end.”

Maria Schneider files class action suit against YouTube for copyright infringement

By Emmanuel Legrand

US composer and performer Maria Schneider has filed a class-action lawsuit against YouTube and parent companies Google and Alphabet in the US District Court in the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, seeking damages and injunctive relief for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act.

  At the heart of the lawsuit is how independent rights holders that do not have access to YouTube's Content ID system can monitor and police infringing content. YouTube, according to the lawsuit is "replete with videos infringing on the rights of copyright holders" and has "facilitated and induced this hotbed of copyright infringement through its development and implementation of a copyright enforcement system that protects only the most powerful copyright owners such as major studios and record labels."

  Plaintiffs and the Class are described as "the ordinary creators of copyrighted works" and "are denied any meaningful opportunity to prevent YouTube’s public display of works that infringe their copyrights—no matter how many times their works have previously been pirated on the platform. They are thus left behind by YouTube’s copyright enforcement system and instead are provided no meaningful ability to police the extensive infringement of their copyrighted work."

Deliberate limitations

  It added: "These limitations are deliberate and designed to maximise YouTube’s (and its parents Google’s and Alphabet’s) focused but reckless drive for user volume and advertising revenue."

  Plaintiffs argued that "Defendants permit and facilitate this infringement because it furthers their growth and revenue strategies and because they have determined that Plaintiffs and the Class —  unlike YouTube’s preferred Content ID partners — lack the resources and leverage necessary to combat copyright infringement on the scale at which it is perpetuated on YouTube."

  Plaintiffs filed for five actions the Defendants are allegedly responsible for: direct copyright infringement, inducement of copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement and removal of copyright management information and distribution of altered or missing copyright management information.

Offer Content ID to all persons

  Plaintiffs are seeking that the action "may be maintained as a class action." They also asking for a jury trial and for the court to grant Plaintiffs and the Class injunctive and other equitable relief enjoining Defendants from a) directly or indirectly reproducing, publicly performing, publicly displaying, or distributing the copyrighted works to which Plaintiffs and the Class have exclusive rights, b) causing, contributing to, inducing, enabling, facilitating, or participating in the infringement of any of the works cited in the lawsuit, and c) to "affirmatively adopt, implement, and offer to all persons the technological measures available now, including Content ID, and those that shall become available in the future to identify and protect copyrighted content uploaded without consent and prevent it from being posted or otherwise made available through the facilities owned, operated, or controlled by Defendants."

  Plaintiffs are also seeking damages and Defendants’ profits derived from the infringing acts, and/or statutory damages.

Germany's indie labels' body VUT becomes GVL's fourth shareholder

By Emmanuel Legrand

VUT, the German Association of Independent Music Entrepreneurs, has become the fourth shareholder of GVL, the Berlin-based neighbouring rights society for Germany, alongside BVMI (the Federal Association of the Music Industry), DOV (German Orchestra Association) and BFFS (the Federal Association of Actors).

  VUT will represent on GVL's board the interests of independent music entrepreneurs. VUT counts independent labels as well as about 1,200 performers who control their master recordings. VUT Managing Director Jörg Heidemann will represent VUT in GVL's shareholder committees.

  VUT's share come from a transfer from some of BVMI's shares. DOV and BFFS shares remain unchanged. BVMI and VUT will now jointly supervise the sound recording side within GVL, noted Florian Drücke, Chairman & CEO of the BVMI.

Distributive justice

  "We are excited about our new role as co-shareholders of the GVL and are pleased that the independent music entrepreneurs now have another opportunity to participate in the GVL committees," said Heidemann, who added that the indie labels' organisation will bring international expertise through its work with European indie labels' trade body IMPALA, and plans to contribute "to the issues of transparency and distributive justice.”

  “We are pleased to have gained the VUT as another shareholder by our side, which is going to support members’ interests and give them a strong voice when it comes to managing their rights," said GVL Managing Directors Guido Evers and Tilo Gerlach.

  The inclusion of VUT was made possible by changes in the statutes and the organisational structure of GVL under the new Collecting Societies Act (VGG). The organisation's Assembly of Shareholders and Delegates is made up of its shareholders – BVMI, BFFS, DOV and now VUT – as well as the 22 delegates that have been elected by the Assembly of Rights Holders. The Assembly of Shareholders elects a supervisory committee where one representative per rights holder category (artists, producers) oversees the work of the Managing Directors.

  GVL represents the rights to 160,000 performers, producers of sound recordings and audiovisual recordings, music and music video clip producers as well as event organisers. It collects performance rights from the use of sound recordings in public and in the media as well as the proceeds from the private copying levy. In 2019, GVL posted total revenues of €215.5 million against €229.8m in 2018, down 6.3% year-on-year.