songwriters
Unlawful Use of Copyrighted Karaoke Songs Costs Bar $49,000
Royalty-collection group accused Tucson, AZ restaurant of using 14 copyrighted songs over two nights of karaoke without a license. Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) , which collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers and music publishers, has been waging a long battle against venues of all sorts to make sure they pay for the privilege of playing copyrighted music to their customers, cover and karaoke songs included.
Continue reading »Billy Bragg, Charlie Angus, on digital culture
p2pnet news view P2P | Politics:- The outgoing British Labour government wants to leave as its legacy a law to victimise members of the P2P communities, including children, who share with each other online. “Initially the Government will aim to educate and those identified as downloading unlawfully, will be sent letters,” says the Telegraph . “If this proves insufficient, technical measures will be introduced — including the powers to disconnect pirates.” The ‘graduated response’ Three Strikes plan, touted as separate ‘initiatives’ by individual governments such as Britain’s, is in fact a major component of a massive global entertainment industry scheme to acquire the net as an exclusive corporate marketing and distribution vehicle.
Continue reading »Pirate Party Clashes with Music Industry Boss
Panel on P2P turns heated as Patrick Rakow CEO of BASCA (British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors) says Pirate Party’s plan for five year copyright limit would “completely undermine” the ability of content creators to make a living. Yesterday was day one of the three day In The City music conference in Manchester, England, and it got off to a bang with a panel devoted exclusively to the issue of P2P. Rick Falkvinge, founder and chairman of the Swedish Pirate Party which won 7.13% of the Swedish vote in the 2009 European Parliament elections, giving it as many as 2 seats in the European parliament, addressed the crowd by detailing 5 copyright law reforms proposed by the party.
Continue reading »Radio "pay to play" law ready for vote in House, Senate
The recording industry’s bid to make radio pay more when it plays music lurched ahead yesterday as the Senate Committee on the Judiciary voted the Performance Rights Act (S. 379) out of committee and on to the full Senate. A House committee did the same thing back in May (H.R.
Continue reading »UK Music Industry Group Tries to Reunite Artists, Labels
“Clarifies” that both are united in support of “three-strikes” plan to disconnect illegal file-sharers, but conveniently ignores the fact that the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), and the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have all united to publicly denounce the proposal. UK record labels are in quite the quandary these days as they try to maintain a united front in their battle against illegal file-sharing. After years of being the sole voice of the music industry they’ve been facing increasing dissent from many of the singers, songwriters, and producers they claim to be serving, and unsurprisingly, are hoping the public ignores them.
Continue reading »