New issue of Music & Copyright with Japan country report

The latest issue of Music & Copyright is now available for subscribers to download. Here are some of the highlights.

Spotify pivots toward a tailored podcast business, but where’s the music?
Music streamer Spotify has officially declared its much-vaunted and highly expensive foray into podcasting as something of a flop. It has, by its own admission, overpaid for production expertise and content and failed to make a decent return on investments. The company is now bent on reinventing the way it develops, markets, distributes, and monetizes the spoken word. Part of that involves shedding its one-size-fits-all approach to making podcasts and instead customizing the process to suit the creator and the content. There’s also a shift away from exclusives, with programming now allowed to stray beyond the Spotify platform to build audiences. However, the company needs to take a leaf out of Amazon Music’s book and lean on its core capability—there’s certainly opportunity to add music to the podcast pot.

Ye files motion to dismiss Phase One Network Life of the Party copyright infringement claims
Rapper and entrepreneur Ye (previously known as Kanye West until a legal name change in October 2021) has hit back after being sued last year at a New York district court for copyright infringement. The plaintiff, Phase One Network (PON), had accused the artist of using certain parts of the track South Bronx by Boogie Down Productions for his track Life of the Party. According to a filing with the court, representatives for Ye requested that PON sign a licensing agreement to allow for the use of the track parts, but no agreement was ever signed. In addition to copyright infringement, Ye and several music companies are accused of contributory and vicarious infringement. However, Ye has now filed a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that the use of a sample during the experimentation stage of his track creation did not infringe PON’s copyright. Also, the motion said the modest size of the sample used qualifies for fair use under US copyright law.

Live return boosts collections for Czech authors’ society OSA
Czech authors’ society OSA has reported a second consecutive year of growth in royalty collections, with the total topping the previous record high set in 2019. Although broadcasting income was down, a sharp rise in public performance receipts and a jump in digital collections more than offset the losses. Public performance benefited from the full return of live music in the Czech Republic, with collections more than trebling. Background music and cinema also benefited from the removal of COVID-19–related restrictions of movement and business limits. Digital was again the best-performing subsector, with increased streaming sales and subscriptions in the country generating significantly higher collections. Although digital remains one of OSA’s smaller revenue sources, the share of the total is rising. Distributions were up for a second straight year, with total just edging past the previous record high set three years ago.

Japan country report
In addition to the usual set of music industry statistics and news briefs, the latest issue of Music & Copyright includes a detailed Japan music industry report. Japan is the third-richest country in the world after the US and China. According to the IMF, the country’s GDP stood at $4.23tn last year, with GDP per capita estimated at $33,822. Measured quarterly, GDP was up 0.7% in the first quarter of this year after edging up 0.1% in the final three months of 2022. In terms of population, Japan ranks 11th in the world and is the sixth largest in Asia. For recorded-music, the country is the second-biggest market in the world, behind the US and ahead of the UK. However, unusually for a leading market, physical formats still dominate trade sales. Streaming is growing in popularity, and subscription levels are rising annually. Collections for the authors’ society JASRAC increased to a new record high last year. The society suffered a dip in receipts in 2020 but has now registered two straight years of growth. The live sector experienced a major bounce back after the COVID-19 difficulties, with spending on events and the number of live performances in 2022 breaking new records.

The blog question
Over the last couple of weeks, we asked visitors to the Music & Copyright blog if they were more likely to subscribe to a music streaming service if they could pay for it via their mobile bill. Some 82.05% of voters said it made no difference to the service they chose, with 17.95% saying they were more likely to subscribe if the billing option was available to them.

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