| We've covered the music business each day since 21 Jun 2002 Today's email is edition #5296 |
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| | | In today's CMU Daily: A judge recently ruled that Kobalt should cover Spotify’s costs relating to the legal battle over Eminem’s songs, based on a 2016 agreement between it and the streaming platform. Kobalt asked the judge to reconsider. She has declined but cleared the way for the music company to appeal
One Liners: James Ford, UMPG, Paul Oakenfold, Kassner Music, Low Profile, Capitol Records, Columbia Records, Spinal Tap, Roblox, Global, Kendrick Lamar, Apple Music, National Album Day, Kilimanjaro Live, PRS Foundation, Southbank Centre
Also today: Anthropic recently cited other AI legal cases when trying to get a lawsuit filed by group of music publishers trimmed down, but the publishers say their case is different because of “overwhelming evidence” that Anthropic’s AI outputted their lyrics; Verizon urges a US court to dismiss the latest major label ISP music piracy lawsuit, citing a 2023 Supreme Court ruling relating to terrorist content on social media
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| Judge declines to reconsider Kobalt strand of Spotify’s legal battle with Eminem’s publisher | | The judge who ruled on the big legal battle between Eminem’s publisher and Spotify has declined to reconsider a side dispute involving Kobalt. As part of last month’s judgement in favour of Spotify, the judge said Kobalt had an obligation to indemnify the streaming service in relation to the litigation, meaning it would have to cover some of Spotify’s legal costs. Despite Kobalt’s best efforts, that part of the judgement stands, but can now be taken to appeal.
At the heart of this dispute was the allegation by publisher Eight Mile Style that Spotify streamed Eminem’s songs without a mechanical rights licence. Kobalt got dragged into the litigation because it provided rights administration services to Eight Mile Style.
Spotify argued that a 2016 licensing agreement it had with Kobalt incorrectly implied it covered the mechanical rights in Eminem’s songs, even though it did not, and therefore Kobalt should indemnify Spotify in relation to this litigation. Judge Aleta A Trauger agreed and then, last month, Spotify filed a motion for damages, asking Kobalt to cover some of its legal costs.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 👉 See all current jobs at https://completemusicupdate.com/jobs | | | Horizon is CMU's weekly newsletter that brings you a hand-picked selection of early-stage career opportunities from across the music industry. Whether you're looking for your first job in music or you're ready to take a step up, Horizon is here to help you find your dream job faster.
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| | | Deals Universal Music Publishing Group has signed producer and songwriter James Ford to an exclusive, global administration agreement. Kassner Music has acquired the publishing catalogue of DJ, producer, and artist Paul Oakenfold. Low Profile, the New York music licensing company founded by former Downtown exec Jen Pearce, has launched a music publishing division. Universal Music’s Capitol Records has signed singer-songwriter Christian Hayes. BLACKPINK member Jennie has signed a partnership with Sony Music’s Columbia Records, in conjunction with her own company Odd Atelier. Legal Spinal Tap, the fictional band from the mockumentary film, has banned former US President Donald Trump from using its music at campaign rallies. Streaming, Digital, Broadcast & Retail Roblox has launched new features to boost music discovery on its platform including integration with music distributor DistroKid, a 'What's Playing' feature for users to identify songs while gaming, and music charts planned for early 2025. Media company Global has announced the launch of twelve new radio stations. Kendrick Lamar has been announced as the half-time performer for the Apple Music-sponsored Super Bowl on 9 Feb 2025 at The Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Live National Album Day has announced Kilimanjaro Live as its official live partner for 2024. Other Industry News & Events PRS Foundation and Southbank Centre have announced a call for proposals for the New Music Biennial 2025. Artist News Fish, former lead singer of Marillion, has announced plans for his farewell tour and the release of remixed versions of his solo albums 'Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors' and 'Internal Exile'. Beyoncé has been overlooked by the Country Music Awards, receiving no nominations despite her album 'Cowboy Carter' featuring one of the year's biggest country hits, 'Texas Hold 'Em'. | | 👉 Read today's One Liners in full | | |
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Music publishers say “overwhelming evidence” against Anthropic means case must not be slimmed down | | The music publishers suing Anthropic have responded to the AI company’s recent bid to get everything except the core direct copyright infringement claim from their lawsuit dismissed.
Unlike other AI cases, the publishers have “overwhelming evidence of infringing and harmful output generated by Anthropic’s AI models in response to user prompts”, they say in a new court filing.
Having successfully got this legal battle moved from the courts in Tennessee to California, Anthropic cited other AI cases in the state to back its bid to get the publishers’ lawsuit cut back.
But, the latest filing from Concord, ABKCO and Universal Music Publishing declares, “Anthropic's reliance on other pending lawsuits against AI companies in this district disregards the significant differences between those cases and this one”.
| | Read the full story | | | Previous music piracy judgements against ISPs were “wrong” says Verizon, and those legal arguments “are even less persuasive now” | | US internet service provider Verizon has told a New York court that it should dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against it by the major record companies. While it concedes that the labels have won similar lawsuits against other ISPs in the past, it says those judgements “were wrong then and are even less persuasive now”.
Verizon argues that latter point on the basis of a US Supreme Court ruling last year which said that social media companies are not liable for illegal content posted by their users.
While that ruling, in the Twitter v Taamneh case, was in the context of terrorism-related content, and in particular content posted to social media by ISIS, Verizon argues that a similar principle should extend to their dispute with the record labels, because the majors want ISPs to be held liable for the illegal activity of users of their network sharing music online.
“As the first district court to consider the issue after [Twitter v Taamneh]”, the ISP’s legal filing declares, “this court now has the chance to reject that premise. It should do so. The complaint should be dismissed".
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