Continuing Conversations on Performance Rights: Political Campaign Music

Blurred Lines: Uncertainty in the Legal Framework of Music Sampling

Support for the Music Industry during COVID-19 in Canada

Backdraft: 12 Years Later, UMG Discloses Specifics on Works Lost in 2008 Vault Fire

Modernizing the Copyright Act – A Look Back on 2019

The Future of Music Publishers’ Rights in the US and UK

Recently, I sat in on a well-attended speaker event at Cassels Brock. The first speaker at the event was Erich C. Carey, Vice President and Senior Counsel of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), which is the trade association that represents American music publishers and their songwriting partners. The NMPA often advocates for music publishers […]

Remuneration Models for Musicians: A Focus on the Reversionary Right

This past fall, Canadian music icon Bryan Adams presented in front of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to propose an amendment to the Canadian reversionary right [1]. Adams recommended altering section 14(1) of the Copyright Act from twenty-five years after death to twenty-five years after assignment. The goal of such an amendment is to […]

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make (Your Own) Lemonade: Beyoncé Sued for Her Latest Album Trailer

Beyoncé’s Lemonade left a sour taste in at least one person’s mouth. Matthew Fulks, a Louisville-based filmmaker and creative director at the WDRB Kentucky news station, is taking the singer to court for copyright infringement. The plaintiff claims that Lemonade, Beyoncé’s trailer for her latest album, copies “visual and sonic elements” from his short-film “Palinoia.”

New Developments in Trademark Dispute of Asian-American Rock Band "The Slants" Reignite Free Speech Debate

Recent developments in the ongoing trademark dispute involving Asian American dance rock band "The Slants" have reignited discussion regarding disparaging marks and free speech. Last month the band argued before a U.S. appeals court that the government’s rejection of its trademark application pursuant to "the provision in the Lanham Act that bars disparaging trademarks violates the First Amendment and should be […]

A Tidal Shift for the Digital Economy?

A decade and a half since music industry titans like the rock group Metallica launched legal action to shut down the largest (unauthorized) distributor of recorded content, the ways that fans and audiophiles are able to access music and other cultural resources appear, once again, to be in flux. 2015 has already seen the headline […]