Recently, on December 12, 2023, the Copyright Royalty Judges announced a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase in the mechanical royalty rates for the 17 U.S.C. §115 statutory license for making and distributing phonorecords of nondramatic musical works regarding physical phonorecords and Permanent Downloads. The new rate is 12.40 cents per reproduction or 2.39 cents per [...]
Written by Maddie Westrup Amidst the rise of “streaming” the music industry has faced immense innovation in recent years, not the least of which is the total rebuild of Section 115 and the mechanical licensing portion of the 1976 Copyright Act, thanks to the Music Modernization Act which is being implemented as this is [...]
In 2009 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) estimated 95% of all digitally downloaded music was obtained illegally. This leaves only 5% of potential revenue to be distributed between all those who play a part in today’s music culture, including the most affected group, songwriters and music publishers. While some opponents dispute that number, [...]
By Amber Rose and Barry Shrum If you've cruised the net or checked out your local news any time within the last few months, chances are you've heard rumors currently sweeping the United States about two pieces of proposed legislation : H.R. 3261 entitled the Stop Online Piracy Act (“SOPA”) and S. 968 entitled the [...]
By Rachel Galloway IMPORTANT NOTICE: The views expressed in this article are solely those of Ms. Galloway and may not necessarily reflect the views of Law on the Row or Barry Neil Shrum, Esquire. The last time I watched a Happy Tree Friends video was when I was around 13 years old in the company [...]
A decade’s worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators... and the people this reverse Robin Hooding benefits are rich service providers, whose swollen profits perfectly mirror the lost receipts of the music business. -Bono (New York Times, January 2010) March 11, 2011. The passage of the [...]
By Barry Neil Shrum & Nathan Drake In November 2010, the Federal Immigration and Counterfeit Enforcement agency ("ICE") recently seized 82 websites and shut them down on the grounds that they were committing criminal copyright infringement. One of these websites has recently become the spotlight of attention:. Brain McCarthy, the owner and operator of channelsurfing.net, [...]
Mark Twain had a lot to say about statistics, ranking them as the highest of all lies: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Twain is also attributed with the more insinuated saying that “statistics are like ladies of the evening, once you get them down, you do anything with them!” [...]
NBC Universal recently hired a company called Envisional to study counterfeiting activity over the Internet. The results of this study – despite the fact that it is industry funded – are literally astonishing: 24% of all global Internet traffic involves digital theft! Stated another way, one in every four people surfing the Internet are stealing [...]
It was allegedly King Solomon who declared “there is nothing new under the sun!” Now a recent strain of thought seeks to recast King Solomon’s casual observation in order to challenge the basis of U.S. copyright laws, i.e., original ideas. This line of reasoning is perhaps best exemplified in the popular cult film by Brett [...]
