Music Publishing News Roundup 10.21.16: Google, Amazon Exploit Songwriter Loophole • Australasian Revenue • Core Rights + SOCAN
Australasian collection society APRA AMCOS reported record revenue of a third of a billion Australian dollars for the financial year 2015-2016.
The main driver for the revenue gains for both societies was over A$20 million ($15 million) in digital revenue from downloads, subscriptions and ad-funded streaming services, video-on-demand, websites, and user-generated services. CEO Brett Cottle said, “the sheer volume of music being consumed is growing exponentially, which means that the fruits of this growth are being spread over a vastly increased pool of songwriters.”
• Google and Amazon are under fire for utilizing a loophole in US Copyright law to exploit songwriters’ work without compensation. These services have been sending notices of intent to use songwriters’ works to the U.S. Copyright Office if they’re unable to find the songwriter’s contact information, allowing them to continue to use the songs without paying royalties until the songwriter is found. Songwriters are sometimes never found, and the services are legally allowed to continue to use their work for free due to compulsory licenses mandated by the US government.
• Core Rights has partnered with SOCAN and Re:Sound to form Canada’s first country-wide digital marketplace for licensing music rights, with the help of a strategic alliance with Soundstr. Nashville-based Core Rights creates digital marketplaces that power licensing needs across countries and markets, integrating into existing PROs and other rights management functions to manage e-commerce, transactions, and digital contracts. This new platform will allow digital agents representing business owners, rights holders, and music suppliers to meet to create a one-stop shop for customers.
