Music Advocacy Groups Challenge Tech Platforms Following Release Of Copyright Office Report

Lorie Hollabaugh | Music Row | 5/22/20

The American Association of Independent Music, the Music Artists Coalition, the National Music Publishers Association, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Songwriters of North America, and SoundExchange have issued a statement in response to the release of the U.S. Copyright Office’s report on Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The U.S. Copyright Office released the report on Thursday (May 21). The report focuses on Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), questioning whether the balance that Congress devised in section 512 more than 20 years ago working for all concerned parties. The Copyright Office surveyed copyright holders as well as online digital service providers and taken more than 92,000 comments into consideration.

“The Copyright Office concludes that the balance Congress intended when it established the section 512 safe harbor system is askew,” the report concludes. “There is no doubt that the internet, in all its various component parts, has grown successfully and exponentially over the past two decades. However, despite the advances in legitimate content options and delivery systems, and despite the millions of takedown notices submitted on a daily basis, the scale of online copyright infringement and the lack of effectiveness of section 512 notices to address that situation remain significant problems. While the Office is mindful of those creators who have been able to leverage new technologies to their benefit, their economic success does not provide comfort to the many other creators who have seen their livelihoods impacted drastically by ongoing infringement of their works online and for which they can achieve no relief.”