Copyhype

How Can We Get Artists Paid On The Internet? A Chat With David Lowery — Perhaps you’ve seen David Lowery’s letter to Emily White, which lit up the internet this week. (My favorite headline in a response: Our Digital Innocence Just Died. And David Lowery Killed It…) Maria Bustillos of The Awl talked with Lowery about the piece and other issues relating to building a sustainable creative ecosystem in a digital age.

Changing copyright laws won’t solve everything — Helienne Lindvall reports on the “copyleft math” put to use by the UK’s Vince Cable regarding implementing that country’s Hargreaves Report. For example, according to the IPO, the proposed parody exemption would result in a £600m growth per year; quite astonishing in a country where the total value of the music industry is estimated “to be around £1.33bn.”

NMPA Inks Deal With Universal Music Group Over VEVO, YouTube Videos — Songwriters and music publishers will now get a cut of ad revenues from online music videos. According to Billboard: “The NMPA termed the agreement, which covers North America, a groundbreaking model licensing deal because it will allow  songwriters and music publishers to share in revenue from music videos. Up until now, while Youtube and VEVO were making money on their ad-supported services, indie music publishers had not shared in that revenue because the major labels long considered videos as promotional tools and never paid for licensing the songs used in the videos.”

Google moves to snuff sites that rip music from YouTube videos — PaidContent reports: “The company’s move against YouTube-Mp3 comes at the same time that it is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on partnerships to create new YouTube channels that will offer original programming. Google may thus be seeking to protect its investment and reassure its partners that it can control the new distribution environment. Or the dispute may signal a more permanent shift in which Google begins to adopt the outlook of a copyright owner.” Chris Castle has another take: “Always be wary of anything from the tech press that begins ‘the free ride may be ending’ because that is never true.”

Stats And Figures On 30 Years Of Sampling [INFOGRAPHIC] — Hypebot presents this look at sampling from Whosampled, a site that catalogs the pedigree of samples since their introduction in music decades ago. Most surprising: the prevalance of samples is at an all-time high, a stat at odds with much IP scholarship.

German Court’s Verdict in Kino.to Case Supports an Internet that Works for Everyone  — The MPAA offers its take on the recent conviction of the ringleader of a major German streaming portal. Said the Association, the decision “paves the way for an internet that works for everyone by clearly recognizing that those who illegally distribute content are not in business for the greater good. The Kino.tv business model worked for its operators who made millions from ads but not for viewers whose privacy was compromised and not for the many thousands of creators and makers whose content was made available for free, denying them the value of their hard work and of the economic incentive to keep creating and making it.”

Why Can’t We Be Friends? — Sandra Aistars reflects on the future of conversation in a post-SOPA world. “We all want the internet to mirror the kind of society we profess to be. One that allows us to gather and exchange thoughts online, one that supports democracy and does not threaten others with exploitation, whether they be the unwary misled by scams, children and women exploited for the pleasure of others, or artists and creators who we neglect to compensate for their work. Just as a vibrant, open and free society cannot exist without empathy for our fellow travelers and mutual respect for basic rights and privileges, so too a healthy internet society must accept basic rules of the road.”