Music industry legal news

Music publishers lawsuit against X cut back but allowed to proceed

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X • 2 min read

Music publishers lawsuit against X cut back but allowed to proceed

A lawsuit filed by a group of music publishers against X will proceed, although with some claims removed. The social media firm wanted the case dismissed outright, but a judge says that allegations of contributory infringement stemming from the unlicensed music on its platform should go to trial…

Chris Cooke • 06 Mar 2024

Manchester City Council has spent nearly £90,000 fighting Night & Day legal battle

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Night & Day • 3 min read

Manchester City Council has spent nearly £90,000 fighting Night & Day legal battle

A freedom of information request has revealed that Manchester City Council has now spent nearly £90,000 on its legal battle with the Night & Day venue over a noise abatement order. It blames the venue for taking the matter to court, a claim the Music Venue Trust rejects…

Chris Cooke • 05 Mar 2024

Apple hits out at EU competition ruling that “ignores the realities of a market”

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Apple • 4 min read

Apple hits out at EU competition ruling that “ignores the realities of a market”

Apple has responded to the European Union’s ruling that its App Store rules breach competition law, hitting out at both Spotify and the European Commission, and all the meetings that Spotify has had with EC officials since first complaining about its rules around in-app payments…

Chris Cooke • 05 Mar 2024

EU fines €1.8 billion at end of Spotify initiated competition law investigation

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Apple • 4 min read

EU fines €1.8 billion at end of Spotify initiated competition law investigation

Apple has been fined €1.8 billion by the European Union, following an investigation into its App Store rules. The massive fine is almost four times larger than the €500 million that had been expected and is the result of a complaint filed by Spotify in 2019…

Chris Cooke • 04 Mar 2024

YouTube Music staff laid off in middle of meeting about employment rights with Austin City Council

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YouTube • 2 min read

YouTube Music staff laid off in middle of meeting about employment rights with Austin City Council

A group of YouTube Music staff found out that they had been made redundant while speaking at a council meeting in Texas, urging councillors to support them in their efforts to get the Google-owned company to negotiate with their union. Google says they were contractors whose agreements have expired…

Chris Cooke • 04 Mar 2024

Stability files defence in important test case on AI and UK copyright law

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Stability AI • 3 min read

Stability files defence in important test case on AI and UK copyright law

Stability AI has argued that it can’t be held liable for copyright infringement in the UK, because training of its Stable Diffusion AI platform took place on servers in the US. Getty Images says that the company infringed its copyrights by training its AI model on pictures it owns without permission…

Chris Cooke • 04 Mar 2024

And Finally! Apple brushed off Bing for its lack of Annie Lennox knowledge

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And Finally • 6 min read

And Finally! Apple brushed off Bing for its lack of Annie Lennox knowledge

Six years ago, Microsoft made a play to convince Apple to ditch Google and make Bing the default search engine on its Safari browser. Why is this not the case? Because Bing didn’t know enough about Annie Lennox. Check out this and more of this week’s funniest music news stories…

Andy Malt • 01 Mar 2024

Trademark dispute over Earth, Wind & Fire tribute shows back in court

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Earth, Wind & Fire • 2 min read

Trademark dispute over Earth, Wind & Fire tribute shows back in court

A company owned by the family of Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White wants summary judgement in its trademark legal battle with the promoters of tribute shows that involve musicians who previously performed with the band. It’s alleged that the marketing of the shows implies official status…

Chris Cooke • 29 Feb 2024

Donna Summer estate sues Kanye West over “shameless” uncleared sample

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Donna Summer • 2 min read

Donna Summer estate sues Kanye West over “shameless” uncleared sample

Kanye West has been sued over an uncleared sample on his album with Ty Dolla $ign. The Donna Summer estate says that it declined a request to interpolate ‘I Feel Love’ into a 'Vultures 1' track, concerned about associating Summer with the controversial rapper, but West went ahead and did it anyway…

Chris Cooke • 28 Feb 2024

Supertramp songwriter defeats former bandmates in song royalty dispute

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Supertramp • 2 min read

Supertramp songwriter defeats former bandmates in song royalty dispute

A judgement has been made in the legal battle over Supertramp song royalties. The band’s songwriting members agreed to share song royalties with their other bandmates in a 1970s agreement, but then stopped doing so in 2018. The court has ruled that they were entitled to end that agreement…

Chris Cooke • 28 Feb 2024

Sony Music settles big termination rights test case

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Sony Music • 2 min read

Sony Music settles big termination rights test case

Another lawsuit aiming to test whether the US termination right can be applied to record contracts has been settled. A group of musicians including The New York Dolls’ David Johansen agreed to drop his case against Sony Music after it was taken to arbitration…

Chris Cooke • 27 Feb 2024

Diddy producer alleges UMG boss Lucian Grainge “knew or should have known” about spiked drinks in new sexual assault lawsuit

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Diddy • 3 min read

Diddy producer alleges UMG boss Lucian Grainge “knew or should have known” about spiked drinks in new sexual assault lawsuit

In the latest sexual assault lawsuit filed against Diddy, producer Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones Jr claims that he was subject to and witnessed assault and harassment while working on the musician and mogul’s last album. He also says that Universal and its boss Lucian Grainge are complicit…

Chris Cooke • 27 Feb 2024

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