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
Pittsburgh’s so-called jock tax, which levies a 3% tax on income earned by visiting athletes and performers at publicly funded stadiums, discriminates against nonresidents, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday....more
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
Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed SoundExchange's $150 million lawsuit against SiriusXM, finding that the performance rights organization lacks legal...more
Professional swimmers have reached a settlement ending their claims accusing the sport’s international governing body of organizing a group boycott against an upstart league, while the league’s antitrust claims against the...more
On June 30, 2025, the Supreme Court granted a petition for certiorari from Cox Communications Inc. and agreed to weigh in on one of the most consequential digital copyright cases in recent memory....more
Mechanical Licensing Collective v. Spotify USA Inc., Case No. 24 Civ. 3809 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 29, 2025) - On January 29, 2025, the Southern District of New York dismissed a lawsuit filed against Spotify for allegedly failing...more
A New Jersey father lost nearly $1 million he stole from his wife and two kids due to a gambling addiction, which his family claims was deliberately encouraged by the online sportsbook, DraftKings. ...more
The New Orleans Collector of Revenue (“Collector”) failed in its attempts to subject music streaming services to the City’s sales tax. In Apple, Inc. v. Collector of Revenue of the City of New Orleans et. al., Docket No....more
The Dartmouth men’s basketball team voted to unionize Tuesday in an unprecedented step toward forming the first labor union for college athletes and another blow to the NCAA’s deteriorating amateur business model....more
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (“MLC”) was created to make paying songwriters and publishers easier. Just as performance rights organizations issue blanket licenses to music users (radio stations, television, venues,...more
Over the last few years, state and local governments have drastically increased their efforts to tax streaming services, including online video, music, and gaming services, especially as consumers cut the cord on cable...more
In today’s digital economy, exactly how are musicians, songwriters, and other music industry players paid? And what impact will emerging technologies have on those payment streams? In this episode, Hillel Frankel hosts a...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded a $1.7 million award of attorneys’ fees, finding the amount unreasonable compared to the benefit the plaintiffs received. Lowery v. Rhapsody International,...more
The Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, or Music Modernization Act (“MMA”), signed into law on October 11, 2018, has transformed the music streaming industry in the years since its implementation. The...more
In the cloud-based age where numerous tech giants such as Google, Amazon, and Apple have launched cloud music services, many kept abreast of ongoing legal battles over online service providers’ liability for users’ music...more
Welcome back to the "Spotlight," and as a University of Wisconsin alum, allow me to be among the first to welcome the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins to the preposterously named Big Ten conference (it hasn’t had 10 member...more