Music industry legal news

Former Ticketmaster exec pleads guilty over Songkick server hacking

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Ticketmaster • 2 min read

Former Ticketmaster exec pleads guilty over Songkick server hacking

When Songkick sued Live Nation in the mid-2010s, it emerged that Ticketmaster execs had illegally accessed its rivals servers using logins of a former Songkick employee. The lawsuit was settled but a criminal investigation into the hacking continued. The former Songkick exec has now pleaded guilty…

Chris Cooke • 28 Jun 2024

US radio royalties back in the spotlight in Congress

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American Music Fairness Act • 3 min read

US radio royalties back in the spotlight in Congress

The decades long campaign to force US radio stations to pay royalties to artists and labels continues. Representatives for the music industry - including Randy Travis - and the radio sector went back through the arguments for and against such a royalty at a hearing in US Congress yesterday…

Chris Cooke • 27 Jun 2024

Udio responds to record label lawsuit insisting its AI model ‘listens’ rather than ‘copies’

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Udio • 3 min read

Udio responds to record label lawsuit insisting its AI model ‘listens’ rather than ‘copies’

Udio has responded to the lawsuit filed by the record companies earlier this week. It insists that its AI model only ‘listens’ to existing recordings, learning the art of music-making just like a human creator. The record industry maintains that that listening involves unlicensed copying…

Chris Cooke • 26 Jun 2024

John Fogerty dispute in Australia should shift to California, judge rules

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John Fogerty • 2 min read

John Fogerty dispute in Australia should shift to California, judge rules

Former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty was booked to headline a festival in Australia. However, a month beforehand organisers withdrew their offer and demanded a $700,000 deposit be paid back. An Australian court says the dispute should now go to arbitration in the US…

Andy Malt • 26 Jun 2024

AI lawsuit filed by music publishers in Tennessee move to California

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Anthropic • 2 min read

AI lawsuit filed by music publishers in Tennessee move to California

When a group of music publishers filed a lawsuit against AI company Anthropic, they chose a court in Tennessee, as they all have offices in Nashville. Anthropic said the legal battle should be fought in its home state of California. A judge has considered that argument and sided with the AI company…

Chris Cooke • 26 Jun 2024

PRS sued over “unreasonable and unnecessary hurdles” for writers directly licensing their live performances

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PRS For Music • 4 min read

PRS sued over “unreasonable and unnecessary hurdles” for writers directly licensing their live performances

PRS has been sued for a second time by its members. Dave Rowntree previously went legal over the black box, and now Robert Fripp, the Jesus & Mary Chain and others have filed a lawsuit over the “unreasonable and unnecessary hurdles” writers must cross when direct licensing their live performances…

Chris Cooke • 25 Jun 2024

SiriusXM breaches consumer rights by charging an extra music royalties extra fee, says lawsuit

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Sirius XM • 3 min read

SiriusXM breaches consumer rights by charging an extra music royalties extra fee, says lawsuit

SiriusXM charges its users in the US an extra Music Royalty fee - on top of the advertised price of its subscriptions - to cover payments to the music industry. But, says a new lawsuit, music royalties are a core expense for a music service and shouldn’t be paid for out of a mysterious add-on fee…

Chris Cooke • 25 Jun 2024

Apple’s amended app rules still don’t comply with Digital Markets Act, EU confirms

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Apple Music • 2 min read

Apple’s amended app rules still don’t comply with Digital Markets Act, EU confirms

Apple recently changed its rules around the sign-posting of alternative payment options within iOS apps in a bid to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Spotify, among others, say the changes are not good enough, and - in a newly published preliminary view - the European Commission agrees…

Chris Cooke • 25 Jun 2024

Suno boss accuses music industry of “reverting to its old lawyer-led playbook”

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Suno • 3 min read

Suno boss accuses music industry of “reverting to its old lawyer-led playbook”

The US record industry yesterday sued AI companies Suno and Udio for copyright infringement. Suno’s CEO says that the labels are just coming out guns blazing without first having a proper conversation. The RIAA says that labels are quite happy to do that with people who don’t first steal their stuff…

Chris Cooke • 25 Jun 2024

Suno and Udio’s “lawless” behaviour cheapens human creativity with sound-a-likes and knock-offs says watershed RIAA lawsuit

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AI • 6 min read

Suno and Udio’s “lawless” behaviour cheapens human creativity with sound-a-likes and knock-offs says watershed RIAA lawsuit

Suno and Udio are evasive about how they trained their AI models and have infringed copyright at “an almost unimaginable scale” says the RIAA. Music generated by the platform will flood the market with such speed and scale that the impact will be devastating for human creators…

Chris Cooke • 24 Jun 2024

Live Nation boss Michael Rapino sued by shareholder over DoJ action

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Live Nation • 2 min read

Live Nation boss Michael Rapino sued by shareholder over DoJ action

Last month the US Department Of Justice sued Live Nation accusing the live giant and its Ticketmaster subsidiary of anticompetitive conduct. Now an investor has sued members of company’s board claiming they “breached their fiduciary duties” by allowing the alleged anticompetitive conduct to occur…

Chris Cooke • 24 Jun 2024

Apple says EU rules will delay launch of Apple Intelligence in Europe

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Apple • 2 min read

Apple says EU rules will delay launch of Apple Intelligence in Europe

The roll out of Apple’s new generative AI tool Apple Intelligence could be delayed in Europe because of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act. Apple says that three new features it unveiled earlier this month will be delayed in the EU because of interoperability requirements in the DMA…

Chris Cooke • 24 Jun 2024

Music industry legal news coverage