music

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Beyoncé to Get Lawyers in “Formation”

As reported by Law360, the estate of deceased YouTube performer, Anthony Barré, has filed a suit against Beyoncé and Sony Music Entertainment seeking $20 million in damages as well as declaratory and injunctive relief for copyright infringement. The complaint alleges that the pop star sampled phrases from Barré’s YouTube videos in her 2016 chart-topping hit […]

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Producers Pressured to Disavow

In the post-“Blurred Lines” music industry, where an artist even casually admitting that their work was influenced by another may expose them to potential copyright infringement lawsuits, music labels are taking no chances when commissioning official remixes. In what appears to be a direct response to the surprising verdict in which a jury awarded $5.3

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Tidal Claims Exclusive Streaming Rights to Prince Catalogue

On Nov. 2 Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) won the bidding war to become “worldwide publishing administrator” for the entire Prince catalogue. Unfortunately, for streaming purposes, it may have to license those publishing rights exclusively to Tidal. According to Billboard, on Nov. 11, Jay Z’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, filed paperwork in a Minnesota district

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European Songwriters Pressure US to Change Copyright Exception

When the owner of a public space plays recorded music, she must obtain a license for the public performance of the copyrighted musical work. American copyright laws require the owner to only obtain one license for the song copyright, whereas in other countries, owners are required to obtain an additional license for the recording copyright,

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Musicians Fight for Legal Reform in a Changing Industry

As the year draws to an end and music fans start to speculate on which artists will and should be honoured with Grammy nominations, the Recording Academy, the organization in charge of the Grammy Awards, will undoubtedly garner a lot of attention for its always controversial choices. However, most fans are unaware of the Academy’s

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Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph” Not Worth Ten Thousand Words?

Irish superstar Ed Sheeran and his song writing team were recently hit with a $20 million copyright infringement lawsuit alleging that Sheeran’s hit song “Photograph” is a “note-for-note copying” of Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard’s 2009 song “Amazing.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, instead of disputing the technical musical issues of whether there was infringement,

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When Streaming Music Services Collide

According to the BBC, Spotify, the titan of the music-streaming world, is currently in advanced negotiations to purchase Soundcloud, the global online audio distribution platform. The potential merger comes at a time when competition in the music streaming world is at an all time high – although Spotify currently boasts 40 million paid subscribers, Apple

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A Possible Legal Trap for “Trap Queen”

According to MTV News, if it were up to Danish musician Lazar Lakic, we would all be living in a Trap Queen-less world. Lakic is suing rapper Fetty Wap and producer Tony Fadd over their quadruple platinum and Grammy nominated hit song “Trap Queen” on grounds that he is the true owner of the track’s

Updates

Volume 7-1 Released

JSEL Volume 7, Number 1 (Full Version PDF) ARTICLES Comparing NCAA and Olympic Athlete Eligibility Dispute Resolution Systems in Light of Procedural Fairness and Substantive Justice Josephine R. Potuto and Matthew J. Mitten Constitutional Voting Rules of Australian National Sporting Organizations: Comparative Analysis and Principles of Constitutional Design Robert D. Macdonald and Ian M. Ramsay  NOTES

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Tidal, Microsoft, Google, Rhapsody, and Slacker Face The Billion Dollar Baby of Class Actions

  According to a breaking news story by Digital Music News, multiple music streaming services including Tidal, Microsoft, Google Play, Rhapsody, and Slacker will be facing multiple class action lawsuits for their alleged failures to acquire the appropriate mechanical licenses for song recordings in their repertoires. With each suit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars

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“Happy Birthday” Suit Settled for $14 Million

  This past Monday, Warner Music agreed to pay $14 million dollars to end its lawsuit involving the rights to the song “Happy Birthday to You.” Back in 2014, a film producer and two New York music producers filed the class action lawsuit after paying exorbitant licensing fees for use of the popular song. One

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