Stairway To Heaven Case Forces RIAA To Twist Own Position. In another interesting twist in the high profile “Stairway to Heaven” copyright case, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed an amicus brief asking the Ninth Circuit to reconsider a September decision complaining that the current ruling “badly overprotects.” According to a report by Law360, the case now has RIAA making the rare argument that the current ruling “would allow infringement claims over the use of basic musical elements that have long been seen as unprotectable…Nearly every time a composer chooses to include a sequence of a few notes, an arpeggio or a chromatic scale in a composition, some other composer will have most likely ‘selected’ the same elements at some level of generality.”
EU Copyright Directive Threatens YouTube Community Of Creators. In a recent newsletter published on YouTube for Artists, head of music Lyor Cohen warned creators about the “disastrous effect” the EU’s Copyright Directive will have on fan videos and mixes. Cohen’s letter focused on the positive outcomes when artists have close relationships with their fan communities: “Remixes and covers, tutorials, fan tributes, parodies – these are such powerful promotional tools for the industry. Don’t get me wrong: I’m all in favor of protecting artists rights and compensating them fairly – I’ve been fighting for this for 38 years – but we should all realize that nurturing these kind of relationships with fans and creators is one of the best things that has happened to music.”
Australia’s Extreme Copyright Blocks Are A Warning, Not A Model. In a November 1 blog, Electronic Frontier Foundation Special Advisor Cory Doctorow revealed that, after three years, Australia’s “abusive” national copyright blocking system has failed to achieve its stated goals of preventing copyright infringement leading to a new proposal. Doctorow wrote that “Australia’s Big Content execs have demanded even more censorship powers, with less oversight, and for more sites and services” with the new proposal. He warned that Australia’s actions have put the country in danger of becoming a “copyright censorship exporter” if the nation’s laws are used as “proof that the entire world need subordinate its digital infrastructure to the parochial rent-seeking of a few entertainment companies.”
Actress Zoë Kravitz Helps Celebrate Magical Power Of Libraries. In a set of two new Public Service Announcements (PSAs), actress, singer and model Zoë Kravitz helped the American Library Association (ALA) promote the “magical power of libraries.” Kravitz urged members of the public to “visit libraries to discover and experience new worlds through literature and resources such as eBooks, games and 3D printers,” according to ALA, which has made the videos available for free to share online.
“Baby Shark” On The Billboard Charts. Last week children’s song favorite and now-viral sensation “Baby Shark” was No. 49 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart, reported the music magazine. A video version of the song from South Korean educational company Pinkfong has gone viral worldwide, with 1.9 billion total views on YouTube. However, users aren’t just listening to the catchy earworm on YouTube. Billboard noted on-demand audio streams like Apple Music and Spotify comprised about 20% of its total streams for the week.