Exploration Weekly - American Music Fairness Act Reintroduced / The MLC to Host New Webinar Series / UK IPO Proposes New Rights for Musicians

Almost everyone listens to music via on-demand streaming. But what is it exactly?

In this video: On-demand music streaming is an interactive service, meaning the user is able to listen to any song in the Digital Service Provider (DSP)’s database without any restrictions on time or playback capabilities.

In this newsletter:

• Radio Royalty Proposals Reintroduced in US Congress
• The MLC Introduces New Webinar Series to Help Members Turn Data into Dollars
• IPO Publishes Study on Contract Adjustment and Rights Reversion
• Believe Generated €1 Billion in Digital Music Sales Last Year
• African Streaming Service Mdundo Reaches 23.4 Million Active Users
• An Annual Study of Kids’ Habits Found That They Average 107 Minutes Per Day on TikTok

The American Music Fairness Act was introduced again in Congress followed by the approval of the House Judiciary Committee last year. The legislation would mandate a radio royalty for sound recordings.

Starting from February to March, The MLC will be hosting a new webinar series to provide tips on how to use its Member Tools in order to register compositions and match them to sound recording uses accurately.

In the UK, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) released a study proposing two new rights for musicians on contract adjustment and rights reversion.

Now, the details...

Exploration Weekly - February 10, 2023
Compiled by Heidi Seo

Radio Royalty Proposals Reintroduced in US Congress

The US record industry has welcomed the reintroduction of the American Music Fairness Act in Congress, it being the legislation that would introduce a radio royalty for sound recordings for the first time in the country. Last year, the bill was passed by the House Judiciary Committee. With a new session of Congress convening itself last month, the proposals needed reintroducing. Which is what happened this week, in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The MLC Introduces New Webinar Series to Help Members Turn Data into Dollars

The MLC is hosting a new series of webinars in February and March that will demonstrate how to use the organization’s Member Tools to register new songs, claim shares of songs already registered and propose matches of sound recording uses to the songs they have registered. Each webinar will be led by The MLC’s Head of Customer Experience, Lindsey Major.

IPO Publishes Study on Contract Adjustment and Rights Reversion

The UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has published its research into proposals to create two new rights for musicians under UK law: a right to regain their copyrights after a certain time period, and a right to rework unfair contracts. As with other reports by the IPO, this research is not about saying what should happen and how, but rather drawing together the information that will help policymakers reach those decisions.

Believe Generated €1 Billion in Digital Music Sales Last Year

Paris-headquartered music distribution and services company Believe reports that it surpassed the milestone of €1 billion in digital music sales (DMS) for 2022. The announcement comes two months after Believe posted its Q3 2022 results (in November), reporting revenues of EUR €197.0 million for Q3 – a 36.9% YoY increase in revenues.

African Streaming Service Mdundo Reaches 23.4 Million Active Users

African music streaming service Mdundo saw a net increase of 10 million more users in 2022, with 23.4 million active monthly users by the end of the year. The company saw a 15% increase in unique active users in the last half of the year. Mdundo also reported strong growth in advertising revenue at 89%, from 2.3 million in 2021 to 4.3 million in 2022.

An Annual Study of Kids’ Habits Found That They Average 107 Minutes Per Day on TikTok

A recent survey published by parental control service Qustodio suggests that young consumers are spending more time on TikTok than ever before. According to the report, the average TikTok user between the ages of 4 and 18 spent 107 minutes per day on the app in 2022. In the realm of online video services, YouTube is thriving with survey respondents averaging 67 minutes per day in 2022. According to TechCrunch, that’s the most watch time YouTube has received since Qustodio started publishing its annual reports in 2019.

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