Copyright Reform

[Image: XKCD]

Yesterday, the administration released a public draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The draft text of the agreement can be found here.

This is big news for those who follow the ins-and-outs of international copyright law. Just in case you don’t, we’ll break it down for you.

So what, exactly, is ACTA? read more

The Terminator: Rights Reversion and Musicians

Let's get out our time machine and set the coordinates for 2013. Why that date? Because that's when a lot of creators will see copyrights that they signed away in 1978 revert back to them.

This is a big deal for musicians and songwriters who decades ago assigned their rights to a label or a publisher. With their songs back under their control, artists could license them directly to TV and movies, re-release albums on their own imprints, or even re-transfer their stuff to a label or publisher in a more lucrative deal. read more

The Cloud vs. the Paradise of Infinite Storage

We're here in sunny Austin for SXSW! Just a few minutes ago, we saw a fascinating panel called "The Cloud vs. the Paradise of Infinite Storage." Some real brainiacs on this one, let us tell you. The discussion featured FMC board and advisory board members Bryan Calhoun and Sandy Pearlman, the brilliant Eric Garland from Big Champagne, Mike McGuire from Gartner Research, Wayne Marshall of MIT and WayneAndWax and Peter Biddle, one of the first authors to describe the "Darknet" â€” a closed private network of computers used for file sharing.

The discussion was a continuation of a breakout session hosted by legendary rock producr/manager Sandy Pearlman at our most recent Future of Music Policy Summit. Consider this our "executive summary." read more

OK, Now What?

In 2006, OK Go’s video for “Here It Goes Again” — also affectionately known as “the treadmill video” — became a web sensation. By decade’s end, it had been viewed approximately 50 million times — no small feat for a homemade clip. Although the video made its biggest splash on sites like YouTube, many fans embedded it on their personal pages and social networks. At which point “Here It Goes Again” went viral, increasing the band’s exposure on a global scale and boosting the band’s record sales (and the bottom line of their major label, EMI). read more

Tackling Digital Piracy

By David Miller

Internet News

May 11, 2009

[…] “We’re setting up a friction that doesn’t exist between consumer rights and copyright, so how do we encourage dissemination and access to all of these works that are being created? We need to rewrite the copyright laws,” said panelist Ann Chaitovitz, former executive director at the Future of Music Coalition and a copyright attorney-advisor to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

By Stephanie Condon

Cnet News

February 11, 2009

WASHINGTON—With a new administration and a Democratic Congress, now is the time to overhaul copyright law, advocates for reform said Wednesday—but the complex nature of the issue makes copyright legislation nearly as unrealistic as ever.Representatives of songwriters and the recording industry faced off against open Internet advocates at the Future of Music Coalition’s Policy Day here in Washington, demonstrating the entrenched divisions that remain within Democratic constituencies over copyright issues.

This Week in News

FCC Chairman plans to recommend censure against Comcast
Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin plans to recommend that the FCC issue a warning against the ISP for imposing "arbitrarily limits" on its subscribers. The recommendation, now circulating internally, would require various disclosure and procedural shifts without applying penalties.
Margaret Kane, News.com read more

Who's Wrong on the Performance Right

FMC has spent a goodly amount of time supporting the creation of a public performance right for sound recordings, which would require terrestrial radio broadcasters to pay performers and labels for the recordings they play. It’s been a while since we addressed the issue, so allow us to recap.

Currently, when you hear a song on over-the-air broadcast radio in the US, the composer/songwriter/publisher are compensated for that "public performance" via ASCAP/BMI/SESAC, but the performer and record label are not. Meaning, if you hear SinÃ©ad Oâ€™Connorâ€™s version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" on the radio, only the songwriter (Prince) and the publisher receive payment; Sinead (and her label) are left out. read more

This Week in News

The New Economics of Music
Economist Umair Haque explains why the music industry is so vulnerable to piracy and how to fix it. He argues that consumers download music because buying an album comes with a great element of risk because the record label provides no guarantee of quality. In most industries the cost of a product is an indication of quality, but the music industry has near-uniform costs. Umair suggests new pricing models to reduce this element of risk.
Bubble Generation, February 15, 2008 read more

ACTA Reactor

The Terminator: Rights Reversion and Musicians

The Cloud vs. the Paradise of Infinite Storage

OK, Now What?

Tackling Digital Piracy