Music Business Times Legal Newshttp://app.feed.informer.com/digest3/IQFGY1UCDG.html Respective post owners and feed distributors http://feed.informer.com/ Broadcasters call the Performance Rights Act a tax. To the music industry, it's more like a royalty fee. But the legislation, which is gaining momentum in both the House and the Senate, is making radio stations nervous. For more than 80 years, commercial stations have aired songs without paying royalties to musicians. Sound recordings were exempted from performance rights fees even after they became copyrightable in 1972; and the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act, passed in 1995, applied only to new technologies such as cable, satellite and Internet radio. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-radio3-2009jul03,0,6937549.story?track=rss Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-radio3-2009jul03,0,6937549.story?track=rss? Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:48 GMT The world's biggest distributor of links to copyright infringing material is to be bought by a software entrepreneur and turned into a legitimate business, the site has announced. The Pirate Bay has agreed to be acquired for £4.8 million. Swedish company Global Gaming Factory (GGF) has agreed to buy the site, which has been at the centre of political, legal and cultural storms all its life. It was the biggest repository of links to pirated content, though it hosted none itself. Its founders were found guilty earlier this year of facilitating copyright infringement in Sweden. http://www.out-law.com/page-10139 Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.out-law.com/page-10139? Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:59 GMT Thomas publicly refused to pay the sizable damages, as each of the 24 copyright infringements carries a price of approximately $80,000. In a separate suit, lead lawyer Kiwi Camara is going after the RIAA for allegedly violating anti-racketeering laws by intimidating defendants into accepting settlements, rather than face legal costs of a lengthy court process. The RIAA allegedly offered to settle the first case for $25,000, although it is unclear... http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/07/02/riaa.defendant.to.appeal/ Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/07/02/riaa.defendant.to.appeal/? Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:51 GMT Microsoft, Yahoo and RealNetworks were hit this week with a copyright infringement suit filed on behalf of the composers of 950 songs offered by the companies through on-demand streaming or downloads that last only for the duration of a subscription. While the amount of damages available under the law if the composers win is very large — as much as $150,000 per violation deemed to be 'willful' — a more likely outcome is a settlement for less than the penny-per-play right recently established for streaming royalties... http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2009/07/music-copyright-holders-sue-microsoft-yahoo/ Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2009/07/music-copyright-holders-sue-microsoft-yahoo/? Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:47 GMT AEG can still generate revenue from its audio and video footage of the rehearsals, which it owns under its contract with Jackson. 'We own the intellectual property,' AEG's CEO says. 'It is our responsibility and fiduciary duty to the estate to monetize as much of these assets as we can under the original contract, because the majority of the profit would go to the estate.' http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i04299584a9f4430cf5f4c302d16510d9 Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i04299584a9f4430cf5f4c302d16510d9? Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:10 GMT Michael Jackson's stake in ATV/Sony which owns the copyrights to 251 Beatles songs is facing scrutiny. While his death is still shrouded in mystery, focus is also turning to the star's complicated estate, finances and mounting debts. One of the more lucrative and shrewd investments he made was in ATV Music in 1985... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1195744/Question-mark-Jacksons-stake-500m-company-owns-Beatles-songs.html Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1195744/Question-mark-Jacksons-stake-500m-company-owns-Beatles-songs.html? Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:42 GMT The Wall Street Journal reported that Jackson was earning $19 million a year at the time of his death, of which $7 million came from Sony/ATV. Yet Jackson was notorious for burning through cash, and in 2008 was in danger of losing his Neverland ranch in California... http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25697771-5012748,00.html Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25697771-5012748,00.html? Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:37 GMT During his life, Jackson sold hundreds of millions of records, and his musical legacy should easily have led him to amass one of the greatest fortunes in show-business history. But instead, a history of bad management, excessive personal spending, and big legal bills left him, at his death, facing continual rumors... http://www.newsweek.com/id/204011?from=rss Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.newsweek.com/id/204011?from=rss? Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:33 GMT The organisers of Michael Jackson's 50 comeback tour dates in London remained guarded on Saturday about refunds for ticket holders following the singer's death. Jackson fans from around the world had rushed to snap up tickets for the 'This Is It' performances at London's O2 Arena which were due to start on July 13. http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2009/jun/28/aap-jackson-concert-promoters-coy-on-refunds/ Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2009/jun/28/aap-jackson-concert-promoters-coy-on-refunds/? Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:27 GMT Family members told TMZ that Jackson had received his daily shot of Demerol at 11.30am, but the dosage was 'too much'. As thousands of shocked fans gathered outside the UCLA hospital, detectives from the LAPD's Robbery Homicide division conducted an initial search of his house at the behest of city police chief... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6585015.ece Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6585015.ece? Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:02 GMT The finances of Michael Jackson, the pop icon who died this week at age 50, remain largely a mystery after a riches-to-rags story of one of the leading figures in the music world. The music legend may have been a billionaire at the time of his death Thursday but his finances saw a roller-coaster ride that left him... http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Jackson+riches+rags+story+still+mystery/1736661/story.html Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Jackson+riches+rags+story+still+mystery/1736661/story.html? Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:13 GMT The Copyright Royalty Board has indicated that satellite radio will pay higher royalties, which jumped from 6% to 6.5% last year and will grow over time to 8% in 2012. There’s just one problem: the so-called 'U.S. Music Royalty Fee' of $1.98 per month for primary subscriptions or $0.97 a month for... http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10002363/sirius-xm-price-hike-using-royalties-as-income-boost-excuse/ Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10002363/sirius-xm-price-hike-using-royalties-as-income-boost-excuse/? Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:08 GMT Aussie pop icons Men At Work face an anxious wait to find out if they will be stripped of thousands of dollars in royalties from their 1980s smash hit Down Under. The band has been accused of stealing the song's famous flute riff from the children's tune Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, penned more than 75 years... http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/entertainment/men-at-work-accused-of-music-riff-ripoff-20090626-czpf.html Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/entertainment/men-at-work-accused-of-music-riff-ripoff-20090626-czpf.html? Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:58 GMT Michael Jackson insisted that his concert promoter's payroll include his personal physician, a financially troubled cardiologist who was with the entertainer when he collapsed. Dr. Conrad Murray was hired by AEG Live to accompany the pop star to London for his comeback series of concerts, said AEG Live President... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090627/ap_on_en_mu/us_michael_jackson Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090627/ap_on_en_mu/us_michael_jackson? Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:42 GMT I don't know of many pundits who think that the digital economy should be a new wild west at all. I think that many of them are actually just focused on preserving individual rights against a constant landgrab by an industry whose history has shown it to not be above removing right after right after right from people. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090623/1651345334.shtml Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090623/1651345334.shtml? Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:25 GMT U.K. retail store chain Woolworths, which shuttered its more than 800 stores after declaring bankruptcy late last year, has been relaunched as a retail site selling media including CDs, DVDs and video games. The site is operated by Shop Direct Group, which acquired the brand during administration... http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2009/06/25/u.k.-retail-brand-woolworths-becomes-web-media-store Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2009/06/25/u.k.-retail-brand-woolworths-becomes-web-media-store? Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:21 GMT The killer features of FriendFeed continue. Today, the service has just added a way to share files on the service. So now it’s just as easy to share a PDF or text file as it is to share a picture. 'You can attach (almost) any file to your FriendFeed posts via the web interface or by emailing file attachments to... http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/24/friendfeed-adds-file-sharing-no-movies-but-mp3s-are-fine/ Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/24/friendfeed-adds-file-sharing-no-movies-but-mp3s-are-fine/? Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:18 GMT A Swedish court ruled today that the judge overseeing The Pirate Bay trial earlier this year was not biased by belonging to various pro-copyright organizations. The unanimous decision means that there will be no retrial; the defendants must hope for a successful appeal instead. Judge Tomas Norstrom is a... http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/pirate-bay-retrial-denied-judge-declared-unbiased.ars Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/pirate-bay-retrial-denied-judge-declared-unbiased.ars? Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:16 GMT Michael Jackson's planned 50-show run at the O2 Arena in London would have been the highest-grossing single concert engagement. Now it's a major problem for the promoter AEG Live. More than $85 million worth of tickets have already been sold for the series of performances, which have the now sadly ironic title 'This Is It.' As much as $30 million has already been spent on production, according to sources close to the situation. So what's at stake for AEG, the world's second-largest concert promoter, can't be overstated... http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i07c5940218c277f489900a30200f6586 Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i07c5940218c277f489900a30200f6586? Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:11 GMT 'The FBI is a government organization. If we have to wait on them to create a new Anti-Piracy logo for us, it could be months before we are back online and releasing music again,' said Universal Music attorney William Levinson... http://moredigitaler.com/2009/06/24/universal-music-loses-fbi-anti-piracy-logo/ Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://moredigitaler.com/2009/06/24/universal-music-loses-fbi-anti-piracy-logo/? Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:42 GMT It's bad enough being dumped by a client. But imagine being publicly jilted on Twitter in front of your client's 19,305 followers. That's what happened to Atlanta-based celebrity attorney Randall Kessler, who was representing Tameka Foster-Raymond in a divorce initiated by her soon-to-be ex, R+B singer Usher. http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2009/06/client-dumps-divorce-lawyer-on-twitter.html Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2009/06/client-dumps-divorce-lawyer-on-twitter.html? Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:30 GMT Interested in purchasing seeqpod.com? The asking price is $125,000, but the buyer gets more than just and url and some residual traffic. According to information shared Friday morning by broker Sedo with Digital Music News, the transfer also includes about one million former user emails, an archive of 400,00 now-def http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/061909seeqpod Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/061909seeqpod? Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:28 GMT A High Court battle is looming between the big four companies in the music industry and two of Europes biggest telecoms firms. EMI, Universal, Sony and WEA have filed an action in the High Court against BT and UPC, which owns NTL and Chorus. The music companies claim that BT and UPC are refusing to clamp down on... http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=news-qqqid=42589-qqqx=1.asp Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=news-qqqid=42589-qqqx=1.asp? Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:10 GMT ASCAP (the sa­me folks who went after Girl Scouts for singing around a campfire) appears to believe that every time your musical ringtone rings in public, you're violating copyright law by 'publicly performing' it without a license. At least that's the import of a brief it filed in ASCAP's court battle with mobile phone giant AT+T. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/38104.php Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.cellular-news.com/story/38104.php? Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:39 GMT Thomas may be able to get out of the debt through bankruptcy court, something that was not an option until a recent San Francisco decision. The case, Barboza vs. New Form, made it clear that 'willful violation' is different in civil court than in bankruptcy court. In copyright cases, 'wilful' must imply intent to... http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/18254.cfm Delicious/mbtimes/lticker http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/18254.cfm? Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:33 GMT