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US Copyright Office Endorses Fair Play Fair Pay Act Calls Bipartisan Nadler/Blackburn Bill An "Excellent Legislative Framework" Lack of a US Performance Right for Sound Recordings is "Indefensible" and "Embarrassing" (Washington, D.C.) Today, the US Register of Copyrights offered a ringing endorsement of the bipartisan Fair Play Fair Pay Act, calling it an "excellent legislative framework" that would enact key reforms called for in her office's recent Music Licensing Study.

This Act may be somewhat overdue. In law school, I took an entertainment law class. I needed an elective and it seemed like it would be interesting. Little did I know that this one class would be the thing that determined what type of lawyer I would be upon graduation. At any rate, I remember learning the breakdown of the music industry: who the key players were, copyrights in sound recordings versus musical compositions, and basically just how everything flowed together. It

Check out today's New Radio Grooves "Your Music Busines Adviser' Interview with Kendall Minter on the release of his new book 'Understanding and Negotiating 360 Ancilliary Rights Deals' Free listening on SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/new-grooves-radio/your-music-business-adviser-interview-with-kendall-minter

There exists a growing movement in our country to base consumer decisions on whether or not the good or service being purchased is created under principles of fairness and justice. We pay extra for “fair trade” coffee harvested under conditions that treat agricultural workers fairly. We boycott brands of designer clothes manufactured using offensive labor tactics in faraway countries. Yet every day many of us consume a product that is founded on mistreatment of the people

Time is of the essence. Jay-Z’s former engineer, Chauncey Mahan (Mahan), just learned that the hard way. I’m not really sure what was going on there for him to wait for over ten (10) years to see what was up with his money; but, apparently Mahan worked with Jay Z from 1998-2002 on projects like Life and Times of S. Carter… Vol III., producing songs like “Big Pimpin”. When Mahan left Rockefeller, he took some masters and other unpublished works and told them that he did. A bun

So I’m sure by now you have heard all about this Robyn Thicke, Pharrell Williams, Clifford “TI” Harris, (Thicke) Marvin Gaye Estate (Gaye) legal fiasco. But just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past year and a half, I’ll bring you up to speed. Basically, Marvin Gaye’s kids contacted Robin Thicke about copying Marvin Gaye’s hit song “Got to Have It” in Thicke’s song “Blurred Lines”. The Gaye’s contacted Thicke demanding monetary compensation and threatening lit