The One Big Beautiful Bill has one clear benefit to US-based independent recording artists for calendar year 2025. As of January 1, 2025, the first $150,000 of recording costs incurred by a recording artist in creating sound recordings and released this year can be deducted...
When Sean Combs / P. Diddy / Puff Daddy went on trial for sex trafficking, racketeering, and related charges, it consumed the media, and many were curious about how the conviction would impact his sprawling businesses in entertainment, fashion, and liquor. The folks at ABC...
The Producer’s Guild of America, a non-profit trade organization, with 8,500 members, and which represents, protects and promotes the interests of all members of the Producing team in film, television and emerging media, recently issued a comprehensive Code of Credits which seeks to define who...
In May 2024, the Supreme Court determined that the US Copyright Act entitles a copyright owner to obtain money damages for any timely filed infringement claim, no matter when the infringement occurred. The three-year statute of limitations begins when the claim accrues. But there is...
The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is a federal law that became effective on January 1, 2024 (the “Effective Date”). Generally speaking, the CTA obligates “for profit” companies, such as an LLC or corporation that was formed in the USA by filing papers with a state,...
I am asked this question all the time. My answer is registration at the Copyright Office is much better, and significantly more valuable. With apologies to my friends and colleagues who work at the WGA, I wouldn’t bother registering at the WGA East or West,...
With more songwriters administering their own catalogs, and the growth of the music publishing industry generally, songwriters and publishers should be aware of their responsibilities and opportunities for sub-publishing. It may be even more important to know the consequences of not having a subpublisher on...
Establishes Group Registration for Works on an Album of Music (“GRAM”) By Marc Jacobson, Esq. Under a new rule, the US Copyright Office will allow an applicant to register between two and twenty musical works or sound recordings, found in an album, with one application. To do...
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was enacted in response to a very difficult decision made in May 1995 by a trial court judge in Nassau County, NY. Nassau County was, and probably still is to a large degree, a bedroom community for New...
VideoAge asked me to write a few words about the loss of jobs in Hollywood due to the pandemic. The article appeared in the January 2021 issue, for this year's NATPE. The article, in both print and audio, can be found here: https://www.videoageinternational.net/2021/01/18/cover-stories/hollywoods-exodus-put-displaced-tribes-at-a-job-crossroads/...