Every revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind and when the same thought occurs to another man, it is a key to that era.
Ralph Waldo Emerson From History, Essays First Series (1841)
This has been a tough week for anyone whose living in the United States who relies on income from copyrighted works. First was the case Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC [https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-571_e29f.pdf] which held that in order for a copyright owner to file an infringement lawsuit, the copyright owner not only must apply for registration, but wait until the registration has been accepted by the Copyright Office, with few exceptions.
Second was the reported intended appeal by Spotify, Google, Pandora and Amazon to the Copyright Royalty Board's recent decision to raise digital services payments by 44% over 4 years. According to a Billboard article, Spotify, Google, Pandora & Amazon Plan to Appeal Copyright Royalty Board Rates by Colin Stutz and Ed Christmas posted on March 7, 2019, the mechanical rights rate increase is "only their second meaningful increase in 110 years." [https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8501588/spotify-google-pandora-amazon-plan-appeal-copyright-royalty-board-rates]
What do you think about these new monetary and legal threats to creativity?
