Copyright & Media Update – 9/9/16

September 9, 2016

Music Industry Hits Pause on Exclusive Album-Release Deals

BY HANNAH KARP: The music industry’s tradition of releasing albums via only one particular retailer or online service—often the one that pays for the privilege—endured through physical discs, digital downloads and into the streaming era. But at some record companies, the practice of granting “exclusives” now appears to be headed the way of the eight-track tape. The music companies now realize that restricting desirable albums to one online service could limit the overall growth of subscription music—viewed by labels as key to their own long-term survival. READ MORE…

Playboy Wins Copyright Battle Over Weblinks to Its Images

BY JULIA FLORETTI: Playboy won a legal fight to stop a website from posting links to images published without permission on Thursday, a decision which could have far wider consequences across the internet. The European Union’s top court decided that posting such links infringes copyright when the website doing it is seeking to profit from pictures published without permission. READ MORE…

Will FCC Try to Unlock Copyright Licensing

BY SCOTT CLELAND: Multiple sources indicate the FCC is on path to include in its final proposed AllVid set-top box order a de facto FCC office of copyright licensing to try and politically paper over obvious policy and enforcement gaps in FCC authority. It is further evidence that the “Unlock the Box” proponents pushing AllVid are really bent on “unlocking the copyrights, licenses, and contracts” that collectively protect $200b worth of annual video programming business, not the purported $20b set-top box business. READ MORE…

The Streaming Music War Is Getting Ugly

BY SETH FIERGERMAN: Fans waited four years for Frank Ocean to put out a followup to his Grammy-winning album Channel Orange, but when he finally released it this month, some listeners were upset to learn it was only streaming on Apple Music… Ocean’s release was just the latest example of tech companies vying for exclusives on new albums in a bid to attract customers. It’s a tactic that has become more common over the last 18 months as streaming services try to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive and combative market. READ MORE…

 

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