Entertainment and Media Group Hosts Luncheon with TuneCore, Audium Founder Jeff Price
Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP Entertainment and Media Law Practice Group hosted a lunchtime presentation last week with Jeff Price, founder of TuneCore and Audiam.
Price founded TuneCore “to change the music industry and provide artists access to distribute their music into the world’s largest digital music stores while keeping their rights and get 100 percent of the money when their music sold.” He thereafter formed Audiam, a music royalty collection agency for publishers and songwriters, which licenses, polices, audits, researches, collects and distributes interactive streaming mechanicals and YouTube royalties to its members.
More than 50 Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP attorneys and guests joined Price as he discussed:
- The recent shift from physical sales and downloads to streaming services, and how that has impacted artist revenues.
- How YouTube actually works, and how money is made from this platform.
- How more money is being made from music not that at any point in history, while creators are making less (and less) now than anyone else.
- Problems inherent in the licensing and payment distribution systems implemented by streaming music services, and the litigation resulting from these issues.
Price’s presentation was the firm’s second Entertainment and Media Law Practice Group luncheon for outside guests. Last year’s presentation featured Judith Finell, the musicologist and expert witness in the "Blurred Lines" case for the Marvin Gaye estate. She discussed new forensic challenges posed by music technology, effective uses of music experts, and strategies for avoiding copyright infringement risks.