A Weekly Review of Artists Rights, Copyright and Technology News for Creators from Around The Web.

BILLBOARD:
* ASCAP President Paul Williams, Songwriters Josh Kear, Dan Wilson Make Royalty Case to Congress

As songwriters, we need to ensure that Congress hears our side of the story as they review how digital music royalties are paid. The way it works now, songwriters are being forced to become unwitting investors in unsustainable businesses that undervalue our music.

* Inside the IFPI’s Digital Music Report 2013
* House Representatives Form Creative Rights Caucus

“A number of key Hill leaders are taking an interest in creators’ rights and we hope they will help influence new members about the importance of protecting copyright.”

MUSIC TECH POLICY:
* The Fallacy of “Incremental Revenue” Part 1
* Shocker: Ad Networks Profit from Piracy
* Thom Yorke on Google the Commoditizer
* Sharing is Caring: What is Google’s Position on Data Sharing with Artists?

THE GUARDIAN:
* Thom Yorke: ‘If I can’t enjoy this now, when do I start?’

…the band seemed like evangelists for the revolutionary possibilities of a digital world, self-releasing 2007’s In Rainbows on a pay-what-you-want download. Yorke is a bit more sceptical about all that now.

Having thought they were subverting the corporate music industry with In Rainbows, he now fears they were inadvertently playing into the hands of Apple and Google and the rest. “They have to keep commodifying things to keep the share price up, but in doing so they have made all content, including music and newspapers, worthless, in order to make their billions. And this is what we want? I still think it will be undermined in some way. It doesn’t make sense to me.

DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS:
* An Open Letter to the CEOs of Brands Advertising on Infringing Sites…
* ‘Have Music Sales Finally Hit Bottom?’ (Billboard Asks In 2004…)
* The Industry Isn’t Good at Paying Artists. So I Invented ‘Copper…’
* Citing Burdensome Royalty Costs, Pandora Caps Its Listening Hours…

THE HUFFINGTON POST:
* On Empowering Artists

It is not surprising that the companies (and their surrogates), whose business model largely consists of monetizing the stolen intellectual property of creators, are also proselytizing the virtues of “reforming” copyright. And of course it would be just these websites, ad networks, and search engines that would profit most from the types of “reforms” they suggest.

AD EXCHANGER:
* New Pressure For Networks And Exchanges To Shun Piracy Sites

“It’s difficult to advertise online at scale and not wind up on pirated content, at some point, as you’re buying through various exchange and remnant inventory sources,” Luttrell said.

DAILY PAUL:
* Libertarians Must Stand Together on Copyright

I am a passionate member of the liberty movement. But I do think many libertarians are wrong (the ones I have spoken with), when they A) Believe in market-based capitalism and principles, but B) believe all music, journalism, artistic work, and similar creative content should be “free”, no matter how much time, money, or talent went into them. This is an enormous contradiction, and many do not understand just how far the rabbit hole goes.

HYPEBOT:
* Shazam Drives $300 Million A Year In iTunes, AmazonMP3 Sales

POLITICO:
* Pandora turns up volume on royalties debate

ANDREW ORLOWSKI:
* “The price of nothing”

“All these businesses do is take something digital and reduce the value of it to the value of storage. That’s not particularly smart. Imagine, perhaps, a food market where everything cost a dollar a kilo. Suppliers would soon learn that they needed to produce at 50 cents, or find another way to do business.”

THE ATLANTIC:
* The Enduring Myth of the ‘Free’ Internet

Yes, it is certainly the case that the devices that connect us to search engines, countless websites, social media, and e-mail bring us vast amounts of content for which we do not pay separately. But access to this “free” information on the Internet, as everyone acknowledges as soon as it is pointed out, is not gratis. Monthly charges for broadband Internet service, plus cable television fees and smartphone bills that together comprise the range of household pleasures and obligations as well as work-related communication that are so embedded in our lives amount to hefty sums.

MUSIC WEEK:
* Google streaming could provide ‘biggest route to legal music consumption’

PANDO DAILY:
* What’s good for Silicon Valley might not be good for America

While Silicon Valley hasn’t directly taken away jobs from the media industry in the same way it has from the retail sector, the disruption created by Internet distribution has still resulted in declining financial performance and massive job losses in journalism, television, motion pictures, and the music industry. The tech sector will of course argue that the developments have been beneficial to consumers, but even if we accept that position without debate, it still doesn’t change the fact that a lot of people in the press, media, and entertainment industry have been hurt by Silicon Valley’s success.

TORRENT FREAK:
* U.S. Government Wins Appeal in Kim Dotcom Extradition Battle
* Cablevision Disconnects Persistent Pirates for 24 Hours
* High Court Orders UK ISPs to Block Kickass Torrents, H33T and Fenopy
* Japanese Police Arrest 27 File-Sharers in Nationwide Show of Force
* Comcast Punishes BitTorrent Pirates With Browser Hijack