No streaming of K-pop songs over Licensing Dispute, Disney shuts stores for eCommerce Business, Box office collection in China like never before, Pandemic causes David Crosby to sell his IP rights, Twitter introduces new e-marketing feature, Square acquires Tidal for USD 297 Million.
No streaming of K-pop songs over Licensing Dispute
A month after Spotify, the global music streaming application, was launched in South Korea, it was noticed that Korean popular music was taken down from the app leaving the fans worldwide completely shaken. The license between Kakao M, the distributor of the music to Spotify and other music streaming apps in South Korea, and Spotify came to an end even after continuous negotiations to renew the license were futile. This has resulted in a drop in the membership count of Spotify as the K-pop fans have cancelled their Spotify membership.
Disney shuts stores for eCommerce Business
Disney has around 300 stores worldwide out of which one-fifth of it is in North America and Canada. Owing to Covid-19 in the year 2020 and the lockdown that followed it, there has been a shift in the manner in which consumers are willing to shop, resulting in a surge in eCommerce platforms as compared to physical shops. Thus, Disney is also closing almost 60 stores in North America by the end of 2021 and wants to focus more on e-commerce shopping. This will help the consumers to have more options and quality products.
By the end of November 2020, Disney has opened eCommerce facilities in countries like India, New Zealand and Australia whereas the reports say that the brick and mortar stores in Japan and China will not be affected.
Box office collection in China like never before
China has seen an increase in the number of people going to theatres post-Covid 19 lockdown. During lockdown, the only source of entertainment anyone could have was through online platforms as the theatres were closed everywhere. China was successful in keeping a check on spread of coronavirus and it helped the gradual opening of various entertainment centers around the country. China’s movie market made a collection of almost USD 1.73 billion only to surpass US box office collection for the first time where the theatres are yet closed. With 50% seating restrictions and other safety protocols, box office of China is at all time high. This has provided a new market and consumer base for local movies.
Pandemic causes David Crosby to sell his IP rights
The havoc caused by pandemic is also seen in the music industry as a number of artists are selling their copyrights and related rights to become financially stable. David Crosby, a song writer and singer of American music industry and also a part of music groups like Crosby, Stills & Nash etc., is also one among them. His intention to sell his music catalogue was seen in December and the sale came through in March. The agreement was signed with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group who look forward to uphold the legacy of David.
David Crosby is only one of the examples where IP rights in music industry was sold. Other transactions include Stevie Nicks & Primary Wave Music, Shakira & Hipgnosis, Lindsey Buckingham & Hipgnosis etc.
Twitter introduces new e-marketing feature
Social media platforms like Instagram, Tik Tok, Pinterest etc. have been coming up with new and innovative ideas to market and commercialize products and to provide a unique way for sellers and influencers to engage with their loyal consumer base. So is twitter. Twitter’s new feature of e-commerce friendly platforms by introducing new twitter cards which have shop button along with shop name, price of the product and a small description of the product and a link to directly guide the consumer to the purchase option of the product. This is a part of twitter’s larger feature of super follow subscription where subscribers get exclusive content like newsletters, discounts etc. for a small fee. The feature is yet in its early stages of exploration.
Square acquires Tidal for USD 297 Million
Square, a fintech company owned by Jack Dorsey also the CEO of twitter, acquired Tidal, a music streaming app owned by Jay Z a rapper, for a deal worth USD 297 million in cash and stock. The action took place due to global giant competitors like Spotify, Amazon and Apple of the music app are doing good and also the pandemic has caused financial instability. The intersection between finance company and music company shall look forward to bring about new marketing strategies and also new aspect into cryptocurrency community through the CashApp of Sqaure.
Authored and compiled by Neharika Vhatkar (Associate, BananaIP Counsels) and Anagha S S (Legal Intern)
The Licensing and E-Commerce News Bulletin is brought to you jointly by the E-Commerce Law and Consulting/Strategy Divisions of BananaIP Counsels, a Top IP Firm in India. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to contact@bananaip.com with the subject: eCommerce News.
Disclaimer: Please note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to contact@bananaip.com for corrections and take down.
