Photographer Adam Amengual recently wrote the Obama Administration noting that “the images I make are both an expression and personal property.” He said no one besides himself has the right to make money by using his images without his permission; they are “as important to me as if they were my children.” Here is his [...]

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Recently I read a very compelling book titled “Starving the Artist.” (I enjoyed the Kindle version and now have a hard copy given to me by a colleague of the author I met recently at the Music Publishers Association meeting in New York). The thesis of the book — that technology has advanced in ways [...]

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Kudos to The Washington Post for running this morning a letter I wrote decrying what the recent decision in the Viacom suit against YouTube means for individual artists and creators. If like me you receive the dead-tree version of the paper at home, the letter is on A16, the editorial page, second from the top. [...]

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Today, Hulu unveiled a new subscription service, Hulu Plus, offering consumers an opportunity for increased access to the content they want, when they want it. According to the New York Times, for less than $10 a month, Hulu Plus not only offers more content, but also makes that content available on a number of new [...]

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If you’ve ever eyed a magazine rack and been struck by a cover design with crisp, clean lines evocative of a 50s diner, a bold and distinctive use of color, and a font design that seems organic to the illustration, then you’ve seen the work of Daniel Pelavin. He can actually make the Fortune cover [...]

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This week, Microsoft announced that its search engine, Bing, now offers playable results when users search for music.  According to a CNET article, in addition to embedded playback for songs, search results also include artist biographies, discographies and licensed lyrics without having to click to a third party site.  Sounds great!
In Syn© is a regular update on [...]

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How did we find ourselves in a world where a group of venture-funded entrepreneurs can knowingly build a business model off of the display of unauthorized copyrighted works, be on the record as knowing that their cash flow would stem almost solely from this infringement, and still get off the hook as long as they [...]

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Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker Melanie Jeffcoat is our latest video addition to the Creators Across America series.

Melanie says her mother describes her as an “arts activist,” which seems an accurate description. She has produced documentary films to promote racial tolerance and voting rights education. She says being born in the Watts neighborhood of Los [...]

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As we noted at the time, yesterday was first-of-its-kind comprehensive strategic intellectual property enforcement plan, prepared by a White House team in the Obama Administration led by U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel. It’s a pretty broad report, and lots of people are pouring through it, but we were pleased to be a part [...]

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To ask if artists can truly come together and support each other as as individuals within a larger community may seem odd coming from me. After all, I’ve committed myself to bringing artists together in common support of our rights. But given the envy, sense of independence and embrace of isolation that comes naturally to [...]

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