The latest on: NFL Anti-Trust decision; Record Labels Sue Over Generative AI; Copyright Office clarifies Termination Rights, Royalties, Transfers, Disputes, and the MMA.
Nota Bene Episode 111: Charting the New World of Music Royalty Investment with Sid Fohrman
The Pitch newsletter is a monthly update of legal issues and news affecting or related to the music, film and television, fine arts, media, professional athletics, eSports, and gaming industries. The Pitch features a diverse...more
In what is becoming an exciting copyright lawsuit season, Federal Judge Jeffrey S. Frensley recently ordered Spotify Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek to sit for a deposition in the long-running copyright infringement suit...more
Hope is in the air (not to mention copious amounts of tree pollen) here in New York – and that’s to say nothing of the Knicks’ hardwood resurgence, the Giants’ highly-acclaimed moves in last week’s NFL Draft and the Yankees’...more
Happy Spring! After an especially long winter throughout several parts of the country, it is a welcome sight to see many of the familiar hallmarks of this time of year (even as our daily lives remain markedly different from...more
This post is part of our ongoing series on issues that municipalities may face in 2020. Will digital streaming services such as Netflix become a source of revenue for municipalities this year? Recent legal decisions may...more
The NYSE proposed in November changes to its listing standards to allow “primary” share offerings through a direct listing. To date, direct listings have been in the form of stockholder share resales (a “secondary offering”)...more
What Rights Does Your Music License Agreement Give You? Many people believe that when they pay for a subscription to a music subscription service, such as Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, or Google Play Music,...more
Spotify, the popular music streaming service, just launched its service in India– but without the support of Warner Music Group (WMG). ...more
Regional lenders BB&T and SunTrust have announced plans to “unite in an all-stock deal” that would value the combined bank at $66 billion. The new lender would be the sixth-largest in the US, and, if allowed, would be created...more
The music business is financially stronger than it has been in several years, thanks to streaming, which now makes up 75% of the industry’s revenues in the United States. Revenues from streaming in the first half of 2018 grew...more
Spotify Technology S.A. went public on April 3, 2018 through a direct listing of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Key Points: ..A direct listing is an innovative structure that provides companies with an...more
Latham & Watkins recently advised the largest global music streaming subscription service in the world, Spotify, on its successful New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listing using a novel direct listing process. Spotify’s...more
First Spotify changed the music industry. Now it might change the way we think about public offerings. On Wednesday, February 28, 2018, Spotify filed its prospectus to go public through a direct listing on the New York...more
As has been buzzed about for several months, music-streaming startup Spotify has officially filed [directly] a prospectus for its listing on the New York Stock Exchange....more
More trouble for the embattled British PM Theresa May. We learned yesterday that Britain’s second-largest construction firm—Carillion—was forced into liquidation after amassing a staggering $1.35 billion in debt. The downfall...more
Spotify, the world’s largest music streaming service, was sued last week for over $366 million by two music publishers, Bluewater Music Services in Nashville and a group of companies affiliated with Bob Gaudio, the...more
Spotify will pay up to $43.5 million to end a lawsuit filed by a class of song owners who claimed the music streaming giant failed to pay the mechanical rights for songs offered through its service....more
In March 2016, the popular music streaming service, Spotify, reached a settlement with the National Music Publishers Association (“NMPA”) to cover billions of unlicensed streams from member publishers dating back to the...more
Spotify USA Inc. (“Spotify”), the popular music streaming service with over 100 million active users and 30 million paying subscribers, continues to grow as an industry leader. Spotify launched in 2006 and reached over 20...more
In a putative class action alleging widespread copyright infringement commenced in December 2015 against Spotify, Plaintiff, the lead singer for the bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, recently moved pursuant to Federal...more
Taylor Swift has been in the news a lot over the last year or so. She is phenomenally successful. Her hit album “1989” concert tour was the highest grossing tour in the world in 2015 (over $250 million) and the highest...more
Users of Facebook no doubt have seen at least some of their friends post the “copyright” update. In brief, the post states “I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details,” including photos,...more
In this edition, we reflect upon the key digital media events of the first half of 2015 and present the major deals, developments and trends across video, music, gaming and virtual reality....more