MDM August Newsletter - The MUSIC Issue

Manatt Digital Media – August Newsletter: Music Edition

In this edition, we focus on the world of music, exploring the opportunities for artist-fan engagement, examining the conflicts between piracy and artist livelihood, and, for creators, providing guidance on navigating the use of music in your own work.

So You Want Music in Your Video: 5 Things to Remember so You Don't Get Sued

This article was originally published in Newsweek.
Last month we received a call from a woman who made an unassuming video of her daughter's wedding and added her favorite song as the musical bed. She was frightened, a little angry and perplexed by the copyright infringement letter she received from a major music publisher. Read more

Streaming Can EXPAND Artist Revenues—BandPage & Rhapsody Point the Way

Conventional wisdom is that subscription music streaming services like Spotify—which now drive more overall music revenues than direct downloads—drive significantly less revenues to artists themselves. That's true if streaming service revenues are considered in isolation. Read more

Media's Online-Offline Nexus: Connecting Virtual, Physical Worlds

This article was originally published in Wired Insights.
We always write and read about the virtual world of online media in Wired, but not so much about the physical world of live media experiences. But the virtual and physical worlds absolutely should be connected in this increasingly disconnected world in which we can all communicate with one another, but rarely really meaningfully communicate and feel that we are part of a real community. Read more

Restoring the Value of Art and Enforcing Creator Rights—Unapologetically

We live in a world where many share the belief that content is "free" and of fast-growing piracy of music and media. Yet, most of us don't know that. In fact, most believe that earlier rampant piracy has been significantly curtailed by new legitimate services and business models (like subscription streaming). But, it just ain't so. Cisco forecasts that file sharing in North America will grow a massive 51% from 2014-2019 and analyst firm NetNames, in a study commissioned by NBCUniversal, concludes that virtually all P2P file sharing violates copyright. And, leading consulting firm Bain & Company is reported to have concluded that recorded music sales would be 17 times higher in a piracy-free world. Read more

Digital Music Updates

About a month after launching Apple Music, Apple has announced that 11 million users have signed on for the three-month trial. While this number carries Apple a tenth of the way to its goal of 100 million subscribers, the true test will come after the trial period. Apple still has some time to win users over, but so do other players, who are continuing to up their game. Read more