Artist Rights Alliance
Musicians Criticize Jeff Bezos’ ‘Willful Blindness’ to Twitch Music Royalties
While testifying at a congressional hearing late last month, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos admitted that he wasn’t sure whether or not the company pays royalties for the music users stream on Amazon-owned livestreaming platform Twitch (it doesn’t). His response angered artist-run non-profit Artist Rights Alliance, which has sent a letter to Bezos challenging him to pay artists their fair share, as music streaming on Twitch continues to surge. “We were appalled […] by your inability or unwillingness to answer even the most basic question about Twitch’s practices in this regard,” the letter reads. “As Twitch uses music to grow its audience and shape its brand, the company owes creators more than the willful blindness and vague platitudes you offered du...
Mick Jagger, Lorde, Pearl Jam Sign Open Letter Demanding Politicians Stop Playing Unauthorized Music
Mick Jagger (photo by Jaime Fernandez), Lorde (photo by Ben Kaye), and Pearl Jam (photo by Lior Phillips). Over 50 artists, including The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Lorde, and Pearl Jam, have signed an open letter demanding that American politicians request permission before using songs for campaigns or events. The letter was organized and written by the Artist Rights Alliance. The group is asking that Democrats and Republicans “establish clear policies requiring campaigns to seek consent of featured recording artists, songwriters, and copyright owners before publicly using their music in a political or campaign setting.” Other signatories include Amanda Shires, B-52s, Blondie, Cyndi Lauper, Elvis Costello, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Jason Isbell, Linkin Park, Lykk...
Twitch Users Are Getting Takedown Notices En Masse for the First Time: Here’s Why
A flurry of copyright takedown notices hit Twitch users last week, causing a storm on social media. Here’s what’s really going on and what to watch for next. Over the last week, users on gaming-focused livestream platform Twitch received a sudden flurry of takedown notices for clips of old videos using unlicensed background music. The more than 2,500 notices — which the RIAA filed on behalf of rights holders for recordings including Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” and DNCE’s “Cake By The Ocean” — caused a storm on social media, with users complaining on Twitter they felt blindsided by the requests, some for clips dating as far back as 2017. Contrary to some users’ claims, Twitch’s Music Guidelines — which explicitly prohibit users from incorporating music into their streams wit...
