Ask Music Lawyer

Is the Law Finally Catching Up to Music and Technology? The people have spoken, and the legislators are all ears and we could be on our way to a win for music composers and publishers nationwide. I present to you – the Music Modernization Act (“MMA”)! Let’s be real, the Copyright Act is antiquated. Originated in 1906, revamped in 1976 and here we are over forty (40) years later, with major advancements in science, technology, math and engineering that have had huge effects on

You remember the girl group, 3LW? The one that Ghost’s wife used to be a part of? Yea, them. So apparently, the writers of their song “Playas Gon’ Play” (hereinafter the “Song”), Sean Hall (“Hall”) and Nathan Butler, (“Butler”) just heard the Taylor Swift song “Shake it Off” earlier this year, and decided that it was infringing on their copyright in the lyrics to the Song. Hmmmm… The 3LW song goes like this “Playas, they gonna play. And haters, they gonna hate.” And everyone

Good Morning Beautiful People! "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." - Helen Keller I know we all like to think we can do it all. We even get down on ourselves when we are unable to do it all because we buy into the false notion that we are inadequate if we can't get shit done all by ourselves. We're told, you were born alone, you gon' die alone, and the implication is that in-between time, we should be alone too. But I'm here to tell you that couldn't b

CREDIT: REX/SHUTTERSTOCK WASHINGTON — A group of Democratic and Republican senators introduced legislation to extend copyright protection to music sound recordings before 1972, giving artists a way to receive royalties when their works are played on satellite and digital radio services. Almost 50 years ago, federal copyright protection was extended to sound recordings, but it applied only to music made after Feb. 15, 1972. Artists and labels have pressed for changes in the co

So, do you remember back in 2014 when BMG and Cox Communications (an Internet Service Provider) were in litigation because Cox was allegedly not in compliance with the safe harbors of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)? Cox was essentially knowingly permitting its customers to use its services to infringe the copyrights of others. The DMCA’s safe harbor provisions shield ISPs from liability for unknown infringement, where they have put procedural safeguards in place