Artist Rights Institute Newsletter

The Artist Rights Watch podcast returns for another season! This week’s episode features Chris Castle on An Artist’s Guide to Record Releases Part 2. Download it here or subscribe wherever you get your audio podcasts.

New Survey for Songwriters: We are surveying songwriters about whether they want to form a certified union. Please fill out our short Survey Monkey confidential survey here! Thanks!

Texas Scalpers Bill of Rights Legislation

Can this Texas House bill help curb high ticket prices? Depends whom you ask (Marcheta Fornoff/KERA News)

Texas lawmakers target ticket fees and resale restrictions in new legislative push (Abigail Velez/CBS Austin)

@ArtistRights Institute opposes Texas Ticketing Legislation the “Scalpers’ Bill of Rights” (Chris Castle/Artist Rights Watch)

Streaming

Spotify’s Earnings Points To A “Catch Up” On Songwriter Royalties At Crb For Royalty Justice (Chris Castle/MusicTechPolicy)

Streaming Is Now Just As Crowded With Ads As Old School TV (Rick Porter/Hollywood Reporter)

Spotify Stock Falls On Music Streamer’s Mixed Q1 Report (Patrick Seitz/Investors Business Daily)

Economy

The Slowdown at Ports Is a Warning of Rough Economic Seas Ahead (Aarian Marshall/Wired)

What To Expect From Wednesday’s Federal Reserve Meeting (Diccon Hyatt/Investopedia)

Spotify Q1 2025 Earnings Call: Daniel Ek Talks Growth, Pricing, Superfan Products, And A Future Where The Platform Could Reach 1bn Subscribers (Murray Stassen/Music Business Worldwide)

Artist Rights and AI

SAG-AFTRA National Board Approves Commercials Contracts That Prevent AI, Digital Replicas Without Consent (JD Knapp/The Wrap)

Generative AI providers see first steps for EU code of practice on content labels (Luca Bertuzzi/Mlex)

A Judge Says Meta’s AI Copyright Case Is About ‘the Next Taylor Swift’ (Kate Knibbs/Wired)

Antitrust

Google faces September trial on ad tech antitrust remedies (David Shepardson and Jody Godoy/Reuters)

TikTok

Ireland fines TikTok 530 million euros for sending EU user data to China (Ryan Browne/CNBC)

May 8, 2025May 8, 2025 by Trichordist Editor

@ArtistRights Newsletter 4/14/25

The Artist Rights Watch podcast returns for another season! This week’s episode features AI Legislation, A View from Europe: Helienne Lindvall, President of the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) and ARI Director Chris Castle in conversation regarding current issues for creators regarding the EU AI Act and the UK Text and Data Mining legislation. Download it here or subscribe wherever you get your audio podcasts.

New Survey for Songwriters: We are surveying songwriters about whether they want to form a certified union. Please fill out our short Survey Monkey confidential survey here! Thanks!

AI Litigation: Kadrey v. Meta

gov.uscourts.cand_.415175.525.0 Download

Law Professors Reject Meta’s Fair Use Defense in Friend of the Court Brief

Ticketing
Viagogo failing to prevent potentially unlawful practices, listings on resale site suggest that scalpers are speculatively selling tickets they do not yet have (Rob Davies/The Guardian)

ALEC Astroturf Ticketing Bill Surfaces in North Carolina Legislation

ALEC Ticketing Bill Surfaces in Texas to Rip Off Texas Artists (Chris Castle/MusicTechPolicy)

International AI Legislation

Brazil’s AI Act: A New Era of AI Regulation (Daniela Atanasovska and Lejla Robeli/GDPR Local)

Why robots.txt won’t get it done for AI Opt Outs (Chris Castle/MusicTechPolicy)

Feature Translation: How has the West’s misjudgment of China’s AI ecosystem distorted the global technology competition landscape (Jeffrey Ding/ChinAI)

Unethical AI Training Harms Creators and Society, Argues AI Pioneer (Ed Nawotka/Publishers Weekly)

AI Ethics

Céline Dion Calls Out AI-Generated Music Claiming to Feature the Iconic Singer Without Her Permission (Marina Watts/People)

Splice CEO Discusses Ethical Boundaries of AI in Music (Nilay Patel/The Verge)

Spotify’s Bold AI Gamble Could Disrupt The Entire Music Industry (Bernard Marr/Forbes)

Books

Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company by Patrick McGee (Coming May 13)

April 17, 2025 by thetrichordist