By Nathan Drake & Barry Neil Shrum Warner Music Group's ("WMG") year-end financial reports for 2010 came as little surprise when you take into account two factors: (1) the general economic downturn in the U.S. and (2) the continued piracy in the global music industry. See the report on WMG’s website here. WMG has been [...]
by Ross Hill & Barry Shrum The new formula for the music industry, as described by Techdirt's Mike Masnick, is “CwF + RtB = $$$$,”5 which, translated means “connect with fans,” and give them a “reason to buy,” which in turn translates to sales! Masnick’s presentation at MIDEM09 was geared towards this new business model [...]
Editors Note: The following is a research paper from one of the students in my Entertainment Law & Licensing class I teach at Belmont University’s Curb School of Music. By G. GRANT GUINANE On July 30, 1998 Tivo Inc. registered a patent for their multimedia time warping system that allows a user to store selected [...]
The U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled against LimeWire and its parent company, Lime Group, finding them liable for inducement of copyright infringement based on the use of their service by subscribers. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood issued the 59-page decision Wednesday, siding with the 13 record companies that [...]
Rep. John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee brought the Performance Rights Act (HR 848) up for markup this morning. HR 848 created no small amount of disagreement among radio broadcasters, minority broadcasters, trade unions and civil rights groups. However, a group of minority artists, including Duke Fakir of the Four Tops, Dionne Farris [...]
Link to Politico Interview As a follow up to my previous post on the subject, the radio widget above should play Politico’s interview with Smashing Pumpkin’s founder and frontman Billy Corgan following his testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee in support of HR 848, the Performance Rights Act. Corgan testified on Capitol Hill [...]
The House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on H.R. 848 (this year’s version of HR 4789) tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. Although the Committee’s website does not identify any witnesses at this time, I am informed by musicFIRST that Smashing Pumpkins’ founder Billy Corgan and Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO of the RIAA will be [...]
Beginning this Saturday, Feb. 14, legendary radio station 650 AM WSM will move its acclaimed Bluegrass Underground series to a new time slot. The program will now broadcast on WSM every Saturday night from 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. CST and stream worldwide at www.WSMonline.com. A performance by Nashville bluegrass band, The Steeldrivers, will be [...]
By Jennifer Bendall, Executive Director of musicFIRST Did you know that every time you hear your favorite artist’s hit songs over the airwaves he or she doesn’t receive a single penny from the radio stations broadcasting the song? Sounds crazy, right? While AM and FM music broadcasters rightly pay the writers of these songs, they [...]
Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc. today announced the lineup for this year's KCRS Live! event during the radio industry event, CRS-40, scheduled for March 4 - 6, 2009 at the Nashville Convention Center. The ASCAP-sponsored KCRS Live! event will Wednesday, March 4 from 5-6:20 p.m. The event almost always features some of Nashville’s top songwriting talent. [...]