INDIE Weekly

April 11, 2016

The INDIE Weekly is your source for news and creative ideas for independent artists and songwriters. This week we are providing news about music rights in the digital realm:

The Legality of Selling “Used” Digital Songs and Movies Headed to Appeals Court

BY ERIQ GARDNER: ReDigi strikes a deal to avoid facing Capitol Records at trial next week, but now, it gets really interesting. For those who have amassed an extensive iTunes collection of songs and movies, is there any hope of reselling these works? Back in 2011, a company called ReDigi attempted to give consumers just such a pipe dream. The idea was to take advantage of the “first sale” doctrine, which gives those who purchase copies of copyrighted work the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular copy notwithstanding the interests of the copyright holder. ReDigi provided cloud storage and a market for “used” songs bought off of iTunes. Naturally, the record industry wasn’t happy, which led to a lawsuit and a big ruling in April 2013. READ MORE

Here’s Why Musicians Won’t Stand for Illegal Uploads Anymore

BY MARC HOGAN: As recently as 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeals of two people owing almost a combined $1 million for allegedly downloading and sharing copyrighted music. The cases of Jammie Thomas-Rasset and Joel Tenenbaum were vestiges of a high-profile battle between the record industry and the internet that dated back to Metallica’s crushing 2000 lawsuit against online music-sharing O.G. Napster. In the court of public opinion, such debates tended to pit an aged, clueless industry against internet-connected music lovers tired of having to buy an $18 CD to hear that one kinda decent Fastball song. Much has changed. What the narrative of money-hungry corporations versus innocent fans inevitably leaves out is the existence of a not entirely disinterested third party: the technology industry. Companies such as Google, founded a year before Napster in 1998, have benefited society in countless ways—and profited handsomely from it. At the same time, their music-loving users have blogged the occasional Rapidshare link, or (gasp!) uploaded copyrighted songs to YouTube. The primary law meant to establish a necessary balance between the competing interests of copyright owners and Silicon Valley is 1998’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA. READ MORE

We hope you find these articles helpful and informative! Please submit suggestions or contributions for this column to [email protected].

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About Christian Copyright Solutions: CCS’s quest is to help churches and Christian ministries “do music right.”  CCS is an expert on church music copyrights and our primary focus is providing licensing and clear educational resources to churches, as well as representation, administration and advocacy for copyright owners. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. The information contained herein is for informational purposes only, and is not legal advice or a substitute for legal counsel.

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