Pictured (l-r): Songwriter Josh Kear, Tenn. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, co-chair of the Congressional Songwriters Caucus, songwriter Dan Wilson and ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board Paul Williams Taken from the press release: Nashville, Tenn., February 27, 2013: ASCAP presented a performance and Q&A session with hit songwriters Josh Kear and Dan Wilson on Tuesday, February 26th [...]

The National Music Publishers’ Association, which aims to protect its music publisher and songwriter members in copyright issues, announced yesterday a groundbreaking music video licensing agreement with Universal Music Group. The agreement allows U.S. songwriters and music publishers with NMPA memberships to profit from their music videos, making UMG the first record label to compensate [...]

On Thursday at the Grammy/NARAS building in Nashville, Denise Stevens and Tiffany Dunn, both Senior Counsel for the Nashville-based Loeb & Loeb, LLP, introduced a panel on copyright termination issues. The panel was one of SoundLand’s special “field trips.” The nuanced issues discussed have come to the forefront of music industry concern, with the upcoming [...]

“Cliff’s Law” increases copyright protection for European musicians. The European Union has agreed to add 20 years of copyright protection for recorded musical performances, extending the rights from 50 to 70 years. “Cliff’s Law,” named for British Rock pioneer Cliff Richard, will allow European artists to continue profiting from their early recordings well into retirement. [...]

Music publishers and artists may finally be seeing some money from the plays their songs get on YouTube. After a four-year legal battle, the National Music Publishers’ Association reached a settlement in its class action suit against YouTube for copyright infringement. The resolution means music publishers can receive royalties from YouTube for music appearing in [...]

Musicians and songwriters’ “termination rights” could mean more dollars and cents for artists like Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Bob Dylan. United States copyright law was revised in the mid ’70s, granting artists the rights to their work after 35 years, provided they applied two years in advance. Albums and singles issued after January 1, [...]

The Bellamy Brothers’ lawyer questions Dr. Luke’s “track” record. “Gotta be a song left to sing, ’cause everybody can’t of thought of everything,” sang Gillian Welch on 2007′s “One Little Song.” But, really, how many hooks are left? Recently news came from Florida’s Bellamy Brothers that they would seek legal action against Britney Spears for [...]

[photo courtesy of J. Michael Krouskop Belmont Photo] Gov. Phil Bredesen, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper and Nashville Mayor Karl Dean at Belmont University on Monday. A distinguished group of Tennessee’s political powers – Gov. Phil Bredesen, U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, and Nashville Mayor Karl Dean – were brought together [...]

This photo is used under a Creative Commons Attribution license, courtesy of duziem on Flickr. Share has become an important word in the Information Age. For musicians, especially, it’s become a bittersweet concept, as an artist’s main product (audio recording) has lent itself – because of its small file size – most rampantly to sharing. [...]

The days of crossing your fingers and hoping YouTube doesn’t flag your video’s sweet soundtrack for copyright infringement may be nearing their end. On June 29, Rumblefish launched Friendly Music, a service that lets users buy the license to a copyrighted song for $1.99, as long as it’s used for noncommercial purposes, i.e. wedding videos, [...]

What does MyWerx do? We want to make it easier for artists to manage their catalog at all points in their career so that they can get back to doing what they’re best at- creating. MyWerx is a tool that allows creators to manage their catalog, protect their work and connect their portfolio with the [...]

The selection of a band name creates a host of legal issues. Obviously, this brief article cannot touch on every legal and intellectual property issue that relates to a band name.