Do online music providers need a license? The Second Circuit logs on and weighs in

Description

Abstract: Are music downloads also public performances of the musical work, for which the copyright owners must separately and additionally be compensated? That was the issue facing a U.S. Circuit Court after a district court held that they weren’t, and that public performance licenses for download services were not needed. This article shows how, in rendering its decision, the circuit court made a distinction between downloading and streaming — and a sidebar shows how the court determined what it felt to be a proper royalty rate for streaming music. U.S. v. ASCAP, 09-0539-cv (L), Sept. 28, 2010 (2nd Cir.)