Cox Communications drops case against BMG and Rightscorp

By Emmanuel Legrand

US internet service provider Cox Communications has dropped its lawsuit against music company BMG and its anti-piracy partner Rightscorp. 

  Cox filed a motion to dismiss with US District Court for the Central District of California, informing the court that it "voluntarily dismissed this case with prejudice." 

  The motion to dismiss does not provide any additional information about the possible settlement between Cox and defendants.

An abusive and unfair campaign

  The ISP has sued BMG and Rightscorp in May 2021, accusing them of having "engaged in an abusive and unfair campaign of deliberately sending Plaintiff Cox Communications, Inc. (“Cox”), an internet service provider, tens of thousands of invalid notices of alleged copyright infringement with the goal of fabricating massive claims for secondary infringement against Cox."

  The suit added: “If Defendants were truly trying to notify Cox’s subscribers of allegations of copyright infringement, they would be sending notices to Cox’s registered agent, as required by law. Cox has informed Defendants of this numerous times, yet Defendants persist in misdirecting their notices to an improper email address.”

Prevent future copyright infringement suits

  Meanwhile, Cox is still engaged in an appeals procedure to try to reverse a previous court decision that ordered the ISP to pay $1 billion to BMG after a jury found Cox contributorily and vicariously liable for the piracy activity of its subscribers and failing to take action. 

  In its analysis of the case, TorrentFreak noted: "For Cox, it was probably most important to prevent any future copyright infringement claims from BMG. And with the appeal against the $1 billion verdict in another lawsuit still pending, the company has other priorities as well."

YouTube's advertising revenues went up 84% to $7 billion in Q2 2021

By Emmanuel Legrand

For the second quarter of 2020, Google's parent company Alphabet posted consolidated revenues of $61.9 billion, up 62% year-on-year, with operating income at $19.4bn, up 203% over the same period a year ago. 

  Sundar Pichai (pictured, below), CEO Alphabet and Google, said during a call with analysts that the company "saw a rising tide of online consumer and business activity," during the quarter. "We’re proud that our services helped so many businesses and partners."

  Pichai added that in Q2, the company "set a number of records": "This quarter, publisher partners earned more than they ever have from our network. We also paid more to YouTube creators and partners than in any quarter in our history. And on top of that, over the past year, we have sent more traffic to third party websites than any year prior, in addition to generating billions of direct connections - like phone calls, directions, ordering food and making reservations – that drove customers and revenue to businesses around the world that are working to get back on their feet."

Record growth in advertising revenue at YouTube

  Total Google Services revenues reached $57.1bn, up 63% y-o-y. The increase in advertising revenue was particularly notable at YouTube, as it topped $7.0bn, up 84%. Google Services includes products and services such as ads, Android, Chrome, hardware, Google Maps, Google Play, Search, and YouTube. 

  Google Services generates revenues primarily from advertising; sales of apps, in-app purchases, digital content products, and hardware; and fees received for subscription-based products such as YouTube Premium and YouTube TV.

  Pichai elaborated on the achievements of YouTube during the quarter. He said, "YouTube Shorts continues to gain momentum. We've been rolling it out everywhere YouTube is available, in more than 100 countries worldwide."

Progress with YouTube subscriptions

  He added: I’m proud to announce that YouTube Shorts has just surpassed 15 billion daily views. I’m also pleased with the progress we’re making with YouTube’s subscription products across Music, Premium and YouTube TV, each delivering a fantastic experience and content for viewers."

  Ruth Porat, Alphabet and Google CFO, noted that the company's total cost of revenues was $26.2bn, up 41%, with a 29% growth in Other Cost of Revenues, at $15.3 billion, up 29%, which includes content acquisition costs. 

BREIN report highlights the importance of bittorrent sites to disseminate illegal content

By Emmanuel Legrand

Bittorrent sites remain "by far the most popular protocol for illegal use" of content, according to the Netherlands' anti-piracy organisation BREIN.

  In its Annual Report 2020, the BREIN Foundation disclosed that while bit torrent sites continue to provide access to illegal content, other popular ways to access unlicensed content include streaming/download link sites for cyberlockers, as well as illegal IPTV subscription services with VoD for audiovisual content. 

Taking action against uploaders

  "Bittorrent and link sites mainly generate revenue from advertising, although VPN sales also make money," notes BREIN. BREIN's approach focuses on "all forms of illegal supply, regardless of the technology used for this." 

  The organisation said that due to the Covid lockdown measures, there has been "an increase in online use, both legal and illegal."

  BREIN often takes action against sites and uploaders that act as sources, intermediaries such as hosting providers and access providers, and works with payment services, advertisers and search engines to help curb piracy.

Victory with the Pirate Bay

  Recent successes include getting courts to block access to the bittorrent site The Pirate Bay, which has led "to a decrease of more than 95% in Dutch visits." BREIN will use this benchmark against The Pirate Bay to ask courts for similar decisions regarding other popular illegal sites helping disseminate illegal content.

  BREIN regroups about thirty industry and collective management organisations and their members from the creative sector, such as producers, publishers, broadcasters, distributors and platforms.

  Here are some of BREIN's key facts and figures for 2020:

  > 479 investigations completed, 183 ongoing;

  > 466 illegal sites/services removed;

  > 1 site – The Pirate Bay (TPB) – and 180 TPB proxies/mirrors blocked;

  > 338 TPB proxies ceased their services;

  > 23 illegal traders stopped selling IPTV subscriptions; 

  > 33 illegal streaming sites taken offline;

  > 18 Facebook groups with illegal offers stopped;

  > 20 platforms offering illegal ebooks taken offline;

  > 1,145,133 illegal search results removed

  > 12 repeated providers identified and stopped;

  > 42 settlements reached with identified perpetrators.

Canada's CMRRA distributed over CA$57 million to its members in 2020

By Emmanuel Legrand

The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA), has distributed over CA$57 million dollars in 2020 to its membership – music publishers and self-published songwriters. 

  However, the SoundExchange-owned company did not disclose figures for 2019 and whether or not the Toronto-based mechanical agency had been affected by the Covid pandemic.  

  The only details available about the 2020 performance were related to online streaming distributions, which increase by more than 17% compared to 2019’s distributions.

Renewed focus on rights and royalties

  “We know how significantly the music industry has been affected by the global pandemic,” said CMRRA President Paul Shaver (pictured, below). "The live sector has been decimated by venue closures, festival shutdowns and tour cancellations. At the same time, it’s also resulted in a renewed focus on rights and royalties. Catalogue sales have been making news headlines."

  Shaver added: "During the lockdown, commercial radio revenues received by CMRRA were down by 30% in 2020. We know how important it is for royalty payments to reach people right now and we’re thrilled that we were able to process and distribute over 57 million dollars of mechanical royalties in 2020 to music publishers and self-published songwriters."

  Recent business announcements included the launch in March 2021 of a new International Collections service, allowing clients to expand their collection territories for digital mechanical royalties, thanks to partnerships with the USA's new Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) and London-based IMPEL, the licensing agency for independent publishers. 

Improving processing technology

  CMRRA also announced recently a series of new licensing deals, in particular in June 2021 with short video format app TikTok, as well as with music streaming platform Qobuz, indigenous music preservation service Indigenous Cloud, ACX music – operator of the Ultimate Fighting Championship streaming application–, and classical streaming service Primephonic. CMRRA also renewed its licensing agreement with independent artists' platform Soundcloud.

  CMRRA, which has a repertoire database of over 40 million musical works, said in a statement that it had been investing in "an improved processing technology platform that will directly impact and improve processing for collections and distributions."

SiriusXM posts increases in advertising and subscription revenues in Q2 2021

By Emmanuel Legrand

SiriusXM, the audio distribution platform which includes satellite audio service SiriusXM and online streaming platform Pandora, posted revenue of $2.16 billion in the second quarter of 2021, a 15% increase compared to the prior year period.  

  The company recorded net income of $433m in Q2 2021, compared to $243 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter was $700m, up 14% from $615m in Q2 2019 in the prior year period.  

  "SiriusXM added an impressive 355,000 net new self-pay subscribers in the quarter, putting us on track to add 1.1 million self-pay subscribers this year – our best since 2018 – and we are increasing all of our financial guidance," said Jennifer Witz, Chief Executive Officer of SiriusXM, who added that during the quarter, the company experienced an increase in ad revenue of 82% from the prior year period and 20% from the second quarter of 2019. 

Increase in advertising revenue

  SiriusXM's service added 355,000 net new self-pay subscribers in the second quarter, a 34% increase from the 264,000 added in the second quarter of 2020. At the same time, paid promotional subscribers decreased by 378,000. 

  Total subscribers at the end of the second quarter were 34.5 million, an increase of 1% year-on-year, including 31.4 million self-paid subscribers. SiriusXM revenue increased 7% to $1.64bn and gross profit was up 5% to $996m. 

  Pandora's total revenue reached $516m, with advertising revenue increasing by 82% to $383m during the second quarter and subscription revenue up to $133m from $125m, up 6%. Pandora posted a gross profit of $193m, up 176% over the second quarter of 2020.

  Pandora's total Monthly Active Users (MAUs) at Pandora were down to 55.1 million in the second quarter of 2021, down 7% from 59.6 million in the same period a year ago. Pandora added 118,000 net new self-pay subscribers to its Pandora Plus and Pandora Premium services in the second quarter 2021 to end the period with 6.5 million self-pay subscribers to those services. 

Shaping the future business of audio

  Witz said SiriusXM's collaboration with short-video app TikTok is now live with Pandora playlists on this massive social platform, and a new SiriusXM channel powered by TikTok is "coming soon." 

  She added: "SiriusXM is also shaping the future business of audio by introducing SXM Media.  SXM Media now serves as our new cross-platform advertising sales organisation, a one stop shop for brands to gain access to our large base of 150 million digital listeners across SiriusXM, Pandora, Stitcher, and other publishers."  

  The company disclosed that for the full-year 2021, it expects to have self-pay net subscriber additions of approximately 1.1 million, with total revenue of approximately $8.550bn, and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $2.67bn.

Certainty on royalty rates

  Speaking to analysts, SiriusXM's CFO Sean Sullivan welcome the recent disclosure of the Web V rate determination that sets how much the platform has to pay to right holders. "We now have certainty on the bulk of our streaming royalty rates through 2025," said Sullivan. 

  Sirius XM paid during the quarter $387m in revenue share and royalties, up from $365m for the same period a year before, while Pandora paid $275m, up from $224m a year ago.

Reservoir's trading on New York's NASDAQ described as an 'important milestone' by CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi

By Emmanuel Legrand

New York-based independent music company Reservoir Media has started trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market on July 29, following the closing of its previously announced business combination with publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Roth CH Acquisition II Co. formed by Roth Capital Partners and Craig-Hallum Capital Group. 

  The combined company is named “Reservoir Media, Inc” and trades the ticker symbol “RSVR” and “RSVRW". Reservoir’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Golnar Khosrowshahi (pictured, below), and the current management team will continue to lead Reservoir. The introduction price valued the company at $788 million. 

  Both Khosrowshahi and President/COO Rell Lafargue have a seat on the board of RSVR. Ezra S. Field, a Senior Advisor at Roark Capital Group, is Chairman of Reservoir Media and Chairman of Roth CH Acquisition II Co.

A bright future ahead

  Khosrowshahi said the trading of the company represented "an important milestone for our company as we become the first U.S.-based publicly traded independent music company and the first female founded and led publicly traded music company in the US.” 

  She added, “Over the last 14 years, the Reservoir team has excelled at enhancing the value of our copyrights and recordings, while building a diverse and high-quality catalog and growing our roster. Our tremendous passion and skills have driven Reservoir to hold a regular Top 10 US market share as reported by Billboard. This entry into the public markets is a testament to the growth and bright future that lies ahead within the industry. As we focus on our growth, our listing on Nasdaq provides us the resources to execute on our penetration into emerging markets and continue rapidly with our strategic acquisitions. I look forward to our next chapter as a publicly traded company.” 

  Reservoir was founded in 2007 in New York and now has offices in offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, London, Toronto, and Abu Dhabi. Through acquisitions and direct signings, Reservoir now owns a catalogue of over 130,000 songs as well as master recordings.

Invest in entertainment

  In a note to the industry, Reservoir said: "When Reservoir was founded in July 2007, we had three employees and a small office on Hudson Street in New York City's downtown Soho neighborhood. Our ethos since day one was a commitment to three guiding principles – represent high-quality music, maintain a disciplined approach to our growth, and curate an enviable roster of songwriters and artists."

  It continued: "So much has transpired in the 14 years since, but those core values remain unchanged. Our team's tremendous passion and skills have driven Reservoir to hold a regular Top 10 US market share as reported by Billboard. We have expanded at home and abroad, adding offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, London, Toronto, and Abu Dhabi; grown our recorded music operations to include iconic labels Chrysalis Records and Tommy Boy Records; and welcomed management partners Blue Raincoat Music and Big Life Management into the fold."

  The note concluded: "It is both exciting and humbling to take this next step in Reservoir's journey, as we look forward to all the growth opportunities that this creates and deepen our commitment to investing in entertainment. We thank each of you–our staff, roster, partners, and friends–who made this all possible.

Watchdog paints nuanced picture of Covid's impact on collective management organisations in France

By Emmanuel Legrand

France's Commission de contrôle des OGC de droits d’auteur et de droits voisins(Commission Controlling Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Management Organisations), has issued a report revealing that the economic impact of Covid on the country's Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) has been brutal, but has not hampered the organisation's ability to perform their primary tasks of collecting and distribution royalties.

  The report also shows that not all collective management organisations have not been affected in the same way by the crisis, with some notable variations according to their repertoire and their main streams of revenues.

  The watchdog forecasts that both 2021 and 2022 will be challenging for CMOs as the economy's recovery is slow and organisations will continue to feel the knock-on effect of 2020 on their businesses for at least a couple of years. "It is only in 2021 or even 2022 that the crisis will have produced its full effects. It is therefore only after the close of fiscal year 2022 that a more complete assessment of all the consequences of the epidemic can be drawn up," reads the report.

A strong reactivity from CMOs

  "The year 2021 promises to be tougher and its effects will last until 2022, or even beyond; CMOs have not suffered any major disasters; they have shown a strong reactivity allowing them, on the one hand, to continue to exercise their missions of collection and distribution of rights, on the other hand, to mobilise strongly to come in support of rights holders with numerous help schemes," wrote the Commission, in the summary of its yearly report to the nation's public accountability watchdog Court des comptes.

  The Commission notes that CMOs have been able to maintain their business operations and that Covid had not disrupted their functioning as they "maintained their activity and ensured the continuity of their basic missions." But the Commission added that "most [CMOs] expect a more difficult year 2021, marked by necessary savings in management costs."

  The Commission adds that the health crisis "will also have the effects of encourage certain CMOs to undertake an overview on their organisation, their structures and their staff. There is no doubt that the crisis will have served as an indicator and accelerator of certain reforms that CMOs had postponed or neglected for several years."

Impact on performance rights

  Overall, data collected by the Commission for the year 2020 shows that performance rights are those that have suffered the most, due to the administrative closures of venues and businesses, such as those collected by SACEM on behalf of the authors, composers and music publishers. Equally affected are the CMOs benefiting from the equitable remuneration collected by SPRE on behalf of performers and owners of recordings.

   For the Commission, the health crisis linked to Covid-19 has resulted in a notable reduction in collections from SPRE by around 20% compared to 2019. SPRE anticipates an impact of the health crisis on its collections at least until 2022.

Evolution of equitable remuneration
collections in 2019 and 2020 

  SACD, the society representing drama authors, revealed that significant drops in revenues from live performances of dramatic repertoire due to the closure of cheaters and festivals in 2020 (see table below).

Evolution of live performance revenues
from SACD in 2019 and 2020

  The Commission also noted that another type of rights, related to visual arts, had also been affected by the closure of businesses: the resale right, which allows authors of original graphic works to be associated with the sale of their creations on the art market. These rights are normally collected from the sale of works of art in auction houses and galleries. However, during lockdown, these businesses had to close, impacting the streams of revenues from the resale right. 

Good performances from private copying

  Collections from resale rights, which generally represent 25% of visual artists' society ADAGP collections, decreased by nearly 26% in 2020 compared to 2019, with a drop of €4.12 million. At the height of the crisis, ADAGP indicated that it has observed a drop of 65% in revenues, which can be explained by the closure of businesses, in particular galleries.

  On the other hand, private copying revenues as well as streaming rights "continued to grow without apparently being affected by the crisis." COPIE France, the umbrella organisation collecting the proceeds of the private copying levy, told the Commission that the impact of the crisis on its private copying collections has been largely absorbed. With collections of €273m in 2020, compared to €259m in 2019, the result for fiscal year 2020 is "close to the expectations."

  Online rights have continued to grow, driven by streaming (consumption of music or online audiovisual content). The report points out that while the lockdown favoured the in-house consumption of film and TV programmes, this pattern has benefited more to streaming platforms than traditional over-the-air and cable TV services, which are reliant on advertising revenues. 

Mechanicals boosted by streaming

  "The main beneficiaries of this increase in television and sound consumption have in fact been the online service platforms which are remunerated through subscription schemes," reads the report, adding that the effect of the crisis on advertising revenues in 2020 will have an impact in 2021.

  Mechanical reproduction rights have not been "very sensitive to the health crisis thanks to the development of streaming" according to the Commission. Mechanical rights society SDRM collections have been driven, for several years, by the strong dynamism of “online” rights. With collections of €398m in 2020, an increase of​ ​+ 5.8% compared to 2019, SDRM has confirmed in 2020 the trend in increasing collections despite the health and economic crisis.

  Other rights, such as reprography, cable transmission, foreign rights for books, have suffered "variable changes but without direct links to the effects of the health crisis."

A different impact 

  Overall, the crisis has affected the collections of the 27 collective management organisations operating in France in different ways: CMOs reliant of performance rights such as music rights societies SACEM, SPRE, SCPP, SPPF, ADAMI and SPEDIDAM were the most affected; those relying of consumption unrelated to the opening of in-person businesses, have had a better year, as shown in the table below.

French CMOs' collections 2019-2020
                     (in € million)            

  When it comes to distribution of royalties, the lines are more or less similar to the collection patterns. Writes the Commission: "With the exception of six CMOs, which distributed significantly less (SPEDIDAM, SPRE, SCPP, SCELF, SACD and SAI), and seven CMOs (COPIE France, ARP, PROCIREP, ANGOA, SAI, SAIF and SEAM), which were able to distribute a great deal more than in 2019, the sums distributed in 2020 were quite close to those of the previous year for the largest CMOs."

Concern for the following years

  It added: "Some CMOs have implemented advances on distributions for beneficiaries experiencing cash flow difficulties, i.e. by paying rights in advance (SCAM, SOFIA), either by granting exceptional advances (SACEM, SPPF, SEAM) or by implementing exceptional arrangements for annual supplement or payment of surpluses from previous years (ADAMI)."

French CMOs' distributions 2019-2020
                     (in € million) 

 

 The Commission welcomed the way CMOs have mobilised during the crisis, and contributed to the financial, material and moral support of their members. "Mobilising funds for artistic and cultural action, they set up aid mechanisms, maintained or even increased the appropriations provided for this purpose and participated in emergency funds initiated by the public authorities," reads the report. "This strong responsiveness deserves to be noted and will undoubtedly have to be continued in 2021."

  Finally, the Commission warned that "the time-shifting effect" between the moment performance rights take place and are collected and distributed should "call for caution for 2021 and be of more concern for the following years."

CCS Rights Management's Jodie Ferneyhough launches Daytripper Music Publishing

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

Canadian independent rights administration and creative services music company CCS Rights Management has launched a new music publishing division, Daytripper Music Publishing, as a stand-alone brand dedicated to the creative development of established and up-and-coming artists and songwriters.

  Daytripper's first signing is songwriter, producer and composer Hill Kourkoutis (pictured, below), who joins a roster of songwriters and artists such as Tribe Friday, Featurette, POESY, Nuela Charles, CARYS, Yukon Blonde, Laurent Bourque, and Mikhail Laxton, that have moved from CCS to Daytripper.    



  Daytripper will rely on CCS for global administration, synchronisation, and licensing services. Both companies are based in Toronto, Canada.

Put value in every copyright

  CCS Rights Management was founded 10 years ago by Jodie Ferneyhough (pictured, below) after he left Universal Music Publishing Canada where he served as MD. His goal was to position CCS as an alternative to big conglomerates and target independent artists and offer them global services. 

  CCS has affiliations with many collective management organisation in the world and works with a networks of 18 sub-publishers around the world. CCS handles publishing as well as recording rights. 

  In Canada, Ferneyhough is a member of the Music Publishers' Association and is a member of the advisory committee of mechanical rights agency CMRRA. He has also been a board member of the International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP) since 2013.

  "We started with a modest loan and we are now looking after 150,000 titles and employing eight people," Ferneyhough told Creative Industries Newsletter. "We look after the rights of writers and artists. Every copyright has value for us. We have grown the administrative portion of the company and I felt that we were losing our appeal from the creative side."
 
Growth in neighbouring rights management

  One area of development for CCS has been the rise of neighbouring rights management on a global basis, for which CCS has a dedicated staff. New opportunities have come up in this sector following the signing of the US-Canada and Mexico trade agreement, as Canada was bound by the terms of the treaty to end the notion of national treatment applied to US artists, which was in force because the US does not have performance rights on sound recordings for terrestrial radio.

  Ferneyhough has been reaching out to US labels, performers and managers to explain that Canada will now pay neighbouring rights to US performers and labels. "We tell them that we understand the system and we know how to collect their royalties," he said. "It's become an important side of our business."

   Regarding Daytripper, Ferneyhough said that after ten years at the helm of CCS, he felt the need to set up a specific unit for the development of creative projects and be the front-facing side of his activities.

A long-term game

  "We keep the same spirit: we are just offering artists their own home and identity," he said. "This is their creative pod. I did not want to mix it with CCS, but they will get the same services, except that at Daytripper we will just put the focus on writers and artists, and help them develop. Our business is based on songs, and nurturing songwriters is important. And it's a long-term game."

 Jordan Howard, Creative/ A&R Director at CCS, added: “We have steadily developed an outstanding roster of artists and songwriters, while also growing other aspects of what the CCS offers, so we wanted to create a separate ‘home’ that emphasises all their world class talent. And now, proudly, Daytripper is that home.”

  For his business, Ferneyhough applies a mix of old-school music publishing with a 21st Century focus on efficiency and technology. "We want to be a very accessible company, where it's about working for the artists on their creative projects and not just on catalogue," he explained. "We are not exclusively after Canadian artists, we fancy ourselves as a worldwide company. We are investing in other territories."



  Ferneyhough said the label is a tribute to his sister who died in the spring following a battle with ALS. The company was named after the Beatles' song, which was the No.1 single on the week his sister was born in 1966. "This is my way to honour her and keep her memory alive," he said.

European Commission starts procedures against member states failing to implement EU's Copyright Directive

By Emmanuel Legrand

The European Commission has asked 23 European Union countries to explain why they did not meet the deadline to implement into their national legislation the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. 

  The commission also engaged with the 21 member states that have not yet transposed the Directive on Television and Radio Programmes. Both Directives were due to be implemented by June 7. 2021.

  The Commission said it had sent letters of formal notice to the countries that failed to meet the transposition deadline. For the Copyright Directive, the Commission has targeted Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Finland, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.

Member states dragging their feet

  For the TV and Radio Programmes Directive, the Commission has written to Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Spain.

  Once a formal notice has been sent, countries have two months to respond or the will receive a warning which can then lead to a referral to the EU’s Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

  To the frustration of rights holders' groups, many EU countries have been dragging their feet to  implement the Copyright Directive, adopted two years ago. The Directive introduces a series of measures to ensure that content is remunerated online and that digital services are liable for the unlicensed content on their platforms.

New opportunities with the Directives

  Rights holders have also been concerned that some countries, such as Germany, have adopted a text that drifted significantly from the original text voted by the European Parliament. Other countries, such as The Netherlands, have adopted the Directive in a version close to the original text.

   On June 4, Margrethe Vestager (pictured, above), Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for a Europe fit for the Digital Age, said the two Directives would help modernise EU's copyright framework and provide benefits for creators, businesses and consumers.

  “The Copyright Directive and the Directive on television and radio programmes will allow for more content to be available across the EU," said Vestager. "Creators will get a fair remuneration for their work and users can rely on clear rules protecting the freedom of speech. With the national transposition of both Directives, everyone will benefit from new opportunities, so we can fully enjoy the best of the internet and the TV and radio programmes. Also across borders.”

Tencent ordered to end exclusive deals with recorded music suppliers

By Emmanuel Legrand

China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has confirmed earlier reports from Reuters that it has ordered leading music streamer Tencent Holdings to give up exclusive music streaming rights within 30 days and pay a fine of half a million yuan ($77,145).

  Tencent has been given ten days to provide a comprehensive plan about the way it intends to comply with SAMR's requirements. The company was also asked to outline how it will ensure that the changes will be enforced for the next three years. Tencent said it intends to “faithfully” comply with the requirements.

  SAMR had been investigating Tencent’s acquisition of China Music Corp. in 2016, a move which would lead to the creation of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, and combine Tencent's streaming service QQ Music with China Music Corp.

A significant lead

   Tencent Music has been securing exclusive licensing rights from recorded music sources, including from the three majors – Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group–, and would then sub-license the content to other platforms, including those operated by NetEase, and Alibaba's Xiaomi, which has since ceased to operate. Since then, the majors have ended the exclusive deals and have contracted directly with platforms like NetEase.

  South China Morning Post surmised in a news report that "while the end of exclusive licenses is considered a boon for the entire music-streaming market in China, analysts do not expect a shake-up in the sector because Tencent’s apps have already built a significant lead through the years." 

  In addition to QQ Music, Tencent also operates streaming services Kugou Music and Kuwo Music. Overall, Tencent streaming platforms attract a combined 662 million monthly active users.

The strength of Tencent's social networks

  “Aside from high switching costs in music streaming, TME is also backed by the breadth and strength of Tencent’s social networking reach to power its experiences business, which is difficult to replicate, and represents a substantial part of TME’s revenue,” said Matthew Kanterman, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, quoted by the South China Morning Post.

  The action against Tencent is part of a coordinated plan by Chinese authorities to put the country's tech giants under scrutiny. This has translated in a record fine of $2.8 billion last April against vending site Alibaba Group Holding for antitrust violations. 

  "Beijing has sought to curtail the growing influence of China’s powerful internet corporations over every aspect of Chinese life from online shopping to chatting and ride-hailing," wrote The Japan Times. 

Music Deals -- Week 29 2021

Warner Music Group has acquired the assets of 12Tone Music, the independent music company founded in 2018 by former Universal Music Group's Chairman and CEO Doug Morris. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Warner said that Morris will continue to be "actively engaged in the day-to-day activities of 12Tone Music and its artists." 12Tone was distributed by WMG's services company for the independent sector ADA. Its roster includes Dolly Parton, Anderson Paak, the 88 Rising collective (featuring Joji), Lauren Daigle, and Illenium. “We’re very pleased that Doug has chosen Warner as the team to continue nurturing the amazing artists that 12Tone has signed and developed over the past three years,” said WMG's CEO of Recorded Music Max Lousada. Commented Morris: “After leading all three major music companies, I loved returning to my indie roots by starting 12Tone. I want to thank Steve Bartels and the 12Tone team for being such a big part of the picture. This three-year run has been a lot of fun. I look forward to remaining fully engaged with the WMG team, who are outstanding professionals."

ATC Management ​has entered a partnership with London-based music technology ​company ​Spitfire Audio​ ​to provide ATC artists and composers access to Spitfire's studios, software, tools and services, as well as the opportunity to collaborate on new products and initiatives with Spitfire’s team of developers. ​"Our composers and Spitfire are true innovators in the world of composition and our artists have used their products for a long time. This partnership feels like a logical next step in pursuing our shared goal of challenging preconceived notions of who can be a composer and what constitutes a great score​," said ATC Management​​'s principal ​Toby Donnelly​. ​Founded 12 years ago by composers Christian Henson and Paul Thomson, Spitfire Audio ​has developed​ a vast catalogue of sample libraries​, with contributions from the likes of is​ ​Hans Zimmer, Eric Whitacre, Ólafur Arnalds, Warp Records, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Abbey Road and the London Contemporary Orchestra​, among others.

​Toronto-based lyrics licensing platform LyricFind has launched a new service that allows labels and rights holders to quickly and easily turn their tracks into dynamic and engaging lyric videos.​ Using proprietary technology, LyricFind’s new tool can automatically generate a high quality branded video in seconds. The tool provides custom backgrounds, fonts, and visualizers to animate a song’s lyrics. LyyricFind said the tool is ideal for catalogues and other large collections of recordings. The video creation tool also includes vetted translations in seven languages, as well as other high-quality features. LyricFind does not charge for access the tool. Instead it takes a share in the revenue generated from video views. “This new lyric video service is part of our mission to create innovative ways for labels and rights holders to use lyrics to benefit their business and for artists to raise their profile and connect with fans – and generate revenue," said Darryl Ballantyne, co-founder and CEO of LyricFind (pictured, below).

Bolo Indya has partnered with rights management and identification solutions expert Audible Magic Corporation to allow India’s home-grown social livestreaming platform to "proactively manage both occurrences of licensed and unlicensed copyrighted media on their site." Bolo Indya is working with Audible Magic to deploy a scalable identification service to respond to the service's rapid growth in livestreaming and short-form videos usage. "We stand focused on providing copyright solutions for user-generated content on our platform. This expanded solution on our platform will use the robust technology to support the compliance and licensing of user generated content on platform," said Varun Saxena, CEO and Founder of Bolo Indya. Added Vance Ikezoye, President and CEO at Audible Magic: “We are pleased to help Bolo Indya to identify licensed and unlicensed use of copyrighted music proactively. The partnership leverages our strength in content identification technology, coupled with the trust we’ve built with rights holders.” 

Universal Music Group has signed a licens​ing agreement with Singapore-based Lomotif​, providing the video sharing app​'​s users access to​ UMG's repertoire for use in video clips. ​Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. “We are very pleased that Lomotif’s fast-growing community of users around the world will be able to take inspiration from the artists and music they love, all while ensuring UMG’s artists are fairly compensated for the value music generates on Lomotif’s platform," said Michael Nash, UMG’s Executive Vice President of Digital Strategy. The Lomotif app is currently available on more than 225 million devices globally and more than 300 million videos are watched on the platform each month. 

Music Chairs -- Week 29 2021

 USA

US President Joe Biden has announced plans to appoint lawyer Jonathan Kanter to lead the Department of Justice's (DoJ) Antitrust Division, as Assistant Attorney General for the antitrust division. Kanter started his own law firm last year and has represented companies "seeking to push antitrust enforcers into suing Google," accordingto The Hill, which wrote that the appointment, if confirmed by the Senate, would be "another sign of the administration’s intention to take on Big Tech." Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), chair of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, said Kanter's "deep legal experience and history of advocating for aggressive action make him an excellent choice to lead the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division."


BMI has promoted two executives within the US rights society's Distribution, Publisher Relations and Administration Services department: Shouvik Das (pictured, above) has been elevated to Senior Vice President, Distribution, Publisher Relations & Administration Services, and Misha Hunke (pictured, below) was promoted to Vice President, Administration & Publisher Relations. BMI said these new roles will "streamline the reporting structure of the Distribution & Administration departments," which previously reported as separate entities to Alison Smith, Executive Vice President, Distribution, Publisher Relations, and Administration Services. Both departments will now function under the leadership of Das, who will continue to report to Smith, with Hunke now reporting directly to Das. Das served as Vice President, Distribution & Administration Services and Hunke was previously the Assistant Vice President, Distribution and Administration Services.


Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter ​has appointed George Thuronyi as interim head of the Office of Public Information and Education at the United States Copyright Office, effective July 27, 2021. He will ​replace Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Public Information and Education Catherine Zaller Rowland​, who is leaving the Office after more than ten years. ​T​huronyi joined the Copyright Office in 1999 and has served in various roles​, most recently as deputy director of the Office of Public Information and Education. 

Berry Gordy, the founder of record label Motown, is among the recipients of the 44th Kennedy Center Honors, alongside Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, performer and actress Bette Midler, 'Saturday Night Live' creator Lorne Michaels and opera singer Justino Díaz. The ceremony will take place on December 5, 2021 in Washington, DC. 

Sinéad Hartmann has been named VP of Licensing & Music Creative of Warner Chappell Production Music (WCPM). Based in Los Angeles, she oversees WCPM's US sync and creative teams in LA, Nashville, and New York, as well as Canada and Latin America. In addition, Gavin Carroll has joined WCPM in New York as Sr. Creative Director, Licensing. 

San Francisco-based virtual concert start​-​up Flymachine ​has named Jason Feinberg (pictured, below) as​ ​Senior ​V​ice ​P​resident​, Marketing​​. He joins from ​UMe, the catalogue division of Universal Music Group​, where he was ​SVP, Marketing​. ​At Flymachine, he will ​oversee the company's marketing ​efforts ​across digital and product-based initiatives​, covering consumer and product marketing, partnerships, audience growth, advertising, branding, direct to consumer, and fan acquisition. 


EUROPE

Content management platform ​AudioSalad has appointed Tom Deakin (pictured, below) to head the company's UK and European office network and spearheading expansion into EMEA. Deakin was Director, Global Member Relations at Merlin, the licensing agency for independent music companies. “Having worked closely with Tom during his successful tenure at Merlin, we saw first hand that he is a true champion of independent music. Combined with his experience and great knowledge of the digital music marketplace, Tom is the ideal person to lead AudioSalad into this exciting next chapter of our growth abroad," said AudioSalad CEO Iain Catling. AudioSalad allows clients to implement their preferred licensing strategy and power their digital supply chain. AudioSalad is a Preferred Distribution Partner of both AppleMusic and Spotify and is also a key technology partner of Merlin.


FRANCE

Stéphane Berlow ​h​as ​been appointed ​Managing Director​ of Kobalt France​, where he will be in charge of run​ning​ and develop​ing​ Kobalt’s French operations. Based in Paris, ​he reports to Kobalt CEO​ ​LaurentHubert​ with whom he reacquaints since they both worked in the past for BMG. Berlow was previously CEO of BMG Rights Management France and prior to that he was the ​Managing ​Director and ​President of BMG Music Publishing France. ​For the past few years he was running his own music publishing company SpinOff. "I am delighted with this exciting new adventure, which aims to bring to France a different and innovative approach to music publishing, in my opinion very adapted to the evolution of things and to the expectations of artists and their entourage,​" said Berlow. Commented Hubert: "In Berlow, we have a highly experienced leader and I look forward to working closely with him to expand our global footprint and provide great service for our songwriters and rights holders.” 

Warner Chappell Production Music (WCPM) has appointed Julia Sassi as its new Head of WCPM France. Sassi’s primary focus will be to expand WCPM France’s custom music footprint and uncovering new opportunities with advertising clients and television and film production companies.

ASIA


Sony Music Publishing ​has promot​ed Carol N​g (pictured, above) to President, Asia. ​Based in the company’s Hong Kong office​, she​ reports to ​SMP ​President, International, Guy Henderson. ​She was SMP Regional Managing Director ​since 2014​.​​ ​She is responsible for spearheading creative strategy and roster development; cultivating relationships with industry partners and local collection societies; driving digital opportunities with companies in the Pan-Asian region; and expanding the company’s presence in new markets.​ ​​Ng will continue to work closely with Sony Music Publishing’s local territories to further strengthen its position throughout the Pan-Asian region. This will include working alongside Silence Hua, Managing Director, China & Director Greater China, to foster relationships with key digital partners in China​, and with Kenny Lee, Managing Director, Korea. 

Senators introduce the Local Journalism Sustainability Act​ to support local news organisations

By Emmanuel Legrand

US Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Ron Wyden (D-OR)​ have introduced ​the Local Journalism Sustainability Act​ that is meant to bolster local newsrooms through three targeted tax credits to help ensure they can continue to bring the news to their local communities. ​​

  A similar legislation was previously introduced in the House by US Representatives Dan Newhouse (R-WA-04) and Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ-02)​​. ​The Bill has now been referred to the Senate's Committee on Finance.

  The Local Journalism Sustainability Act offers a series of three tax credits aimed at ​"​sustaining and providing a pathway to viability for the local journalism industry in the years to come.​" 

  The first credit ​is meant to incentivi​s​e annual subscriptions to local papers​; the second credit is a five-year credit for local newspapers to employ and adequately compensate journalists​; the last of the three credits is a five-year tax credit that incentivi​ses small businesses to advertise with local newspapers, as well as local radio and television stations. 

  In October 2020, Cantwell released a report examining the changes affecting local news gathering and found that over the past two decades, the local newspaper industry has lost around 70% of its total revenue, and newspapers have been forced to let go of more than 40,000 newsroom employees.

  “The COVID-19 pandemic made it crystal clear that local reporters and newsrooms are essential to keeping the public informed and safe, but their importance spans well beyond health emergencies,” said Sen. Cantwell (picture, above). “At its core, local news is about holding the powerful accountable. The strength of our democracy is based in truth and transparency, and local newsrooms are on the ground in our communities asking the critical questions, countering misinformation, and telling our stories. We have to protect these vital parts of our communities.”

  Here are the details of the three tax credits schemes:

  > Local News Subscription Credit

   - Five-year credit of up to $250 annually. 

  - Credit covers 80% of subscription costs in first year and 50% in subsequent four years. o To receive full $250 credit, a subscriber would have to spend at least $312.50 in the first year, and $500 each of the following four years. 

  - Credit can be used to help support a donation to a nonprofit local news publisher. 

  > Local News Journalist Compensation Credit 

  - Five-year credit of up to $25,000 per journalist in first year and up to $15,000 in subsequent four years. 

   - Credit covers 50% of compensation up to $50,000 in first year, and 30% of compensation up to $50,000 in subsequent four years. 

  - Journalist must meet a minimum of 100 hours of work per quarter to qualify as an eligible employee. 

  > Local Newspaper and Local Media Advertising Credit

  - Five-year credit of up to $5,000 in first year and up to $2,500 in subsequent four years. 

  - Credit covers 80% of advertising costs in first year and 50% in subsequent four years. 

  - To increase flexibility, small businesses may utilize this credit to advertise with local television and radio stations, in addition to local newspapers, digital-only local news sources and nonprofit news organisations.

Warner Chappell Production Music unveils new logo and website

By Emmanuel Legrand

Warner Chappell Production Music (WCPM) has unveiled a new logo and website​, as part of the rebranding of Warner Chappell's music production arm​. ​The new logo borrows from the recently redesigned logo of Warner ​Chappell. 

  The ​revamped ​website​ features WCPM’s licensing tool – offering​ over​ 135,000 unique tracks ​for licensing ​– and features a number of elements including a recommendation engine that references streaming links and MP3s. 

  In addition, WCPM can now rely on two new studio facilities to develop custom-made music, with the openings of Sky Light Studios in Hollywood and Sandtrack Sound in Nashville. Both locations are already being used for custom music projects from top brands, TV shows, and companies. 

Better serve clients

  WCPM’s co-heads Alec Sharpe, Head of Business Development & Operations, and Pat Weaver, Head of Production, led the revamp​. ​Sharpe said: “We’re thrilled for the bright future ahead for WCPM and the opportunity to better serve our clients through unmatched service and a much-improved music search experience.​"​

  Weaver added: “It’s an exciting time to be with WCPM as we expand our custom music services, grow our production music catalogue, and kick off the first projects in our new recording facilities."

Carol N​g appointed President for Asia at Sony Music Publishing

By Emmanuel Legrand

Sony Music Publishing ​has promot​ed Carol N​g (pictured, above) to President, Asia. ​Based in the company’s Hong Kong office​, she​ reports to ​SMP ​President, International, Guy Henderson. ​She was SMP Regional Managing Director ​since 2014​.​​ 

  In her new role, Ng is responsible for spearheading creative strategy and roster development; cultivating relationships with industry partners and local collection societies; driving digital opportunities with companies in the Pan-Asian region; and expanding the company’s presence in new markets.​ ​​

  Ng will continue to work closely with Sony Music Publishing’s local territories to further strengthen its position throughout the Pan-Asian region. This will include working alongside Silence Hua, Managing Director, China & Director Greater China, to foster relationships with key digital partners in China​, and with Kenny Lee, Managing Director, Korea. 

Huge growth in Asia

  “I have been very blessed throughout these years working with my team," said Ng. "We fight hard and support each other; we share tears and laughter; we share visions and make it happen! I am also thankful to Guy who always supports and listens, and to Jon [Platt, SMP Chairman and CE] who always appreciates and encourages.”    

  “The Asian region is exciting, varied and with new income sources emerging all the time, often challenging. It takes a special executive to manage and grow all these facets of our business – Carol is that executive,” said Henderson.   

  “Asia has been a huge growth area for Sony Music Publishing for several years and Carol has been the driving force behind achieving this. By leading her very talented team which she has also bolstered by adding new territories to her region, Carol has ensured Sony Music Publishing’s consistent position as the leading publisher in the region.” 

LyricFind launches video-creation tool for lyrics

​By Emmanuel Legrand  

Toronto-based lyrics licensing platform LyricFind has launched a new service that allows labels and rights holders to quickly and easily turn their tracks into dynamic and engaging lyric videos.​ 

  Using proprietary technology, LyricFind’s new tool can automatically generate a high quality branded video in seconds. The tool provides custom backgrounds, fonts, and visualizers to animate a song’s lyrics. 

  LyyricFind said the tool is ideal for catalogues and other large collections of recordings. The video creation tool also includes vetted translations in seven languages, as well as other high-quality features. 

A revenue-sharing model

  LyricFind does not charge for access the tool. Instead it takes a share in the revenue generated from video views. 

  “This new lyric video service is part of our mission to create innovative ways for labels and rightsholders to use lyrics to benefit their business and for artists to raise their profile and connect with fans – and generate revenue," said Darryl Ballantyne (pictured, below), co-founder and CEO of LyricFind. 

  LyricFind said the project was initially born from the vision of Bill Wilson, SVP Operations & Innovation at eOne Music, and naturally, the music company has joined in as a launch partner, bringing in repertoire from labels such as Death Row Records (The Game, Snoop Dogg, Pop Evil, Dr. Dre, and Bryant Myers). 

  “We have an extensive catalogue of amazing recordings, and this tool has allowed us to unlock the revenue potential of these tracks, which would have been extremely costly and time consuming without LyricFind’s system,” said Wilson. “Already the results have blown away our expectations.”