Tag: universal music

The copyright lawsuit filed against the Internet Archive in 2023 by Sony Music, Universal Music Group (UMG), and several other music labels has now come to an end. Both parties recently filed documents with the court confirming a settlement and expect to formally withdraw the lawsuit within 45 days. While details of the agreement have not been disclosed, the Internet Archive stated in an official blog post that both parties have reached a confidentiality agreement regarding all disputes and will not make any further comments. The focus of the lawsuit: The "Great 78 Project" At the heart of the lawsuit was the Internet Archive's "Great 78 Project." This project aimed to digitize and preserve nostalgic songs and music recorded on vinyl records at 78 rpm, including recordings of American singers such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and Louis Armstrong, and make them available online. The original lawsuit targeted 2749 recordings, later expanding to 4142, including classic songs such as "White Christmas," "Sing, Sing, Sing," and "The Christmas Song." The record company argued that these tracks were not at risk of being "lost, forgotten, or destroyed" because they had been sold and licensed for playback through various streaming services; therefore, the Internet Archive's public sharing constituted unauthorized infringement. If the court ultimately rules in favor of the record company, the Internet Archive could face damages of up to $150,000 per track, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. This is not the first time the Internet Archive has faced copyright litigation. Previously, the Internet Archive faced a lawsuit from several publishers for offering 1.4 million ebooks free of charge through its "National Emergency Library" service launched during the pandemic, and ultimately lost. The court ruled that the service did not comply with fair use principles and ordered its cessation. This settlement signifies that the Internet Archive has chosen to avoid further legal risks in the face of music copyright litigation. However, this move has also raised concerns about how future academic, historical, and music archiving projects will strike a balance between public interest and copyright protection. The tug-of-war between public archives and copyright protection...

Apple has announced a partnership with Universal Music Group to launch a "Healing Sounds" compilation on its Apple Music service. By adding subtle auditory beats to music content provided by Universal Music, the compilation aims to help users focus, relax, or fall asleep more easily. "Healing Sound Waves" is meticulously crafted by the Sollos team, comprised of producers, scientists, and audio engineers. It utilizes extended, instrumental, and reinterpreted versions of popular tracks by artists such as Imagine Dragons, Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves, Ludovico Einaudio, Aurora, Jhené Aiko, Chelsea Cutler, and Jeremy Zucker, incorporating enhanced sound beats or colored noise to stimulate specific brainwave responses. These include a "Focus" category using gamma auditory beats to help listeners achieve optimal focus, a "Relax" category using theta auditory beats to help listeners achieve deep relaxation, and a category using delta auditory beats... The "Sleep" category (Delta) promotes deep sleep through auditory beats or pink noise. The "Healing Sounds" compilation is now available on Apple Music, and Apple has also launched the new Apple Music Chill radio station, which will continuously play soothing music of various styles, interspersed with mindfulness segments, allowing users to find inner balance and peace while listening.

In response to a 2023 lawsuit filed by record companies such as Sony Music and Universal Music against the Internet Archive, Canadian twin indie rock band Tegan & Sara, American rapper Open Mike Eagle, and American singer Kathleen Hanna (former lead singer of the punk rock band Bikini Kill) have signed a petition urging the record companies to drop the lawsuit and advocating for the preservation of music culture through the Internet Archive's practices. This open letter, signed by the non-profit organization "Fight for the Future" (founded in 2011) and numerous musicians, demands that record companies like Sony Music and Universal Music drop their lawsuit against the Internet Archive and other organizations that digitally preserve music-related content. "Fight for the Future" argues that the Internet Archive is beneficial for preserving music culture and believes that record companies should not sue on behalf of musicians. Therefore, they call for cooperation with the Internet Archive to preserve original record materials and related music culture content. Prior to this, the Internet Archive, in collaboration with the American video copying service provider George Blood LP and the non-profit music library and archive ARCHive of Contemporary Music, launched the "Great 78 Project," aiming to digitally preserve nostalgic songs and music recorded on vinyl records at 78 rpm. However, record companies such as Sony Music and Universal Music argued that the Internet Archive's project clearly violated copyright, particularly regarding tracks like "White Christmas," "Sing, Sing, Sing," and "The..."

The Financial Times reports that YouTube is in talks with companies like Sony Music, Universal Music, and Warner Music to acquire licenses for copyrighted music content for use in AI training. Sources indicate that YouTube plans to acquire large volumes of music content through single-purchase agreements, but no final decision has been made, partly because the final decision rests with the music creators. However, given the recent protests by many music creators against AI-driven content creation, hoping to reduce its influence on their work, the proportion of creators willing to cooperate with YouTube may be low, and they may not agree to single-purchase agreements. For example, Sony Music previously demanded that technology companies not use its copyrighted music for AI training, Universal Music's music licensing deal with TikTok ended due to insufficient copyright protection, and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) recently accused music generation services Suno and Udio of copyright infringement, demonstrating that music companies still prioritize protecting their copyrighted content to avoid impacting their profit models.

The Internet Archive, which was found guilty of copyright infringement by the court for lending out a large number of e-books during the COVID-78 pandemic, is now facing another lawsuit from record companies such as Sony Music and Universal Music, who allege that the Internet Archive deliberately uploaded and disseminated audio content that infringed on copyright. ▲Louis Armstrong, known as the "Father of Jazz" (Image/Taken from Wikipedia) This audio content mainly covers sounds recorded on vinyl records before 1972. The reason for the lawsuit from the record companies is the "Great 78 Project" initiated by the Internet Archive, the American video duplication service provider George Blood LP, and the non-profit music library and archive ARCHive of Contemporary Music, which aims to preserve nostalgic songs and music recorded on vinyl records at 78 rpm in digital form. Record labels including Sony Music and Universal Music believe the Internet Archive's project clearly violates copyright, arguing that songs such as "White Christmas," "Sing, Sing, Sing," and "The Christmas Song," as well as performances or instrumental music by American artists like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and Louis Armstrong, are illegally reproduced. They further argue that this music is already available on major streaming services and music download platforms, thus posing no risk of content loss. However, the Internet Archive emphasizes that its content preservation is not only to ensure these nostalgic songs can continue to be listened to and studied, but also to ensure fair and easy access for everyone, preventing the disappearance of this music due to commercial interests. According to a Bloomberg News report, record companies are now seeking statutory damages of up to $15 (approximately NT$450 million) for each copyrighted piece of music. Therefore, the Internet Archive could face claims of up to $3.72 million (approximately NT$118.7 billion). Prior to this, the Internet Archive also faced claims from Hachette...

Facebook recently confirmed a multi-year global music rights agreement with Universal Music Group, allowing Facebook to use licensed music content from Universal Music across its platforms, including Instagram and Oculus VR. Under this agreement, users can upload music-related videos to Facebook, and Facebook can use Universal Music's licensed content on its services. This marks Facebook's first collaboration with a major record label, and it's likely that more record labels will join in the future. The partnership with Universal Music is also expected to add more content to Facebook's recently launched Watch video service, and may even allow users to share music through services like Messenger. Besides Facebook, Google's YouTube service has also secured a long-term license agreement with Universal Music, and companies like Apple and Amazon have also signed agreements with the company, all of which are expected to attract more users to music and other content.