T
WO MONTHS
after it passed the
U.S. Senate Judiciary
Committee, the
Copyright Alternative in
Small-Claims Enforcement
(CASE) Act passed the House of
Representatives Judiciary
Committee earlier in September
— clearing it to come to a vote
this year. The bill, which has
bipartisan support, would
create a copyright claims board
within the U.S. Copyright Office
that could rule on cases of
copyright infringement that
are too impractical to bring to
federal court.
The bill would give indepen-
dent creators a practical way to
enforce their rights without the
expense of federal copyright
litigation, which costs an average
of $397,000, according to the
American Intellectual Property
Law Association. Cases would be
decided by a three-judge panel of
experts, with statutory damag-
es limited to $15,000 per work
and overall damages limited to
$30,000 total.
Although a copyright claims
board would be significant for
photographers and illustrators,
who tend to own their creations,
it also would give indie musicians
a way to protect their art, and
the bill has support from the
music industry. “Federal court
has been prohibitively expensive,”
says Barton Herbison, executive
director of the Nashville Songwrit-
ers Association International.
“This is a cost-effective path that
adjudicates matters and leads
to discussion and a place where
people can have a forum to solve
their own problems.”
The bill could pass without a
floor vote as long as a senator
who objects to it doesn’t put
it on hold — and several have
already voiced concerns. Other
objections come from some
of the “digital rights” groups
that generally oppose strong
copyright protections, such as
the Electronic Frontier Foun-
dation and Public Knowledge.
The main fear is that “copyright
trolls” will exploit the bill to obtain
settlements. However, the claims
board has the authority to dismiss
frivolous claims and ban their
petitioners from filing additional
claims for a year.
If the bill passes Congress, it
could go to the White House,
which Copyright Alliance CEO
Keith Kupferschmid says has
expressed support for the idea.
“The hope,” he says, “is that we
can get this done by the end of
the year.”
CASE Act Gaining Steam
THE COPYRIGHT BILL CAN NOW GO TO A VOTE IN BOTH HOUSES
OF CONGRESS, BUT SOME SENATORS HAVE RESERVATIONS
BY CLAUDIA ROSENBAUM
I
N MID-SEPTEMBER,
Amazon became the most
high-profile company to launch
a high-resolution version of
its music streaming service, a
move that may mark a turning point
in the music industry. And with the
impending adoption of 5G technology
— which, while still some years away,
will make it much faster to stream
larger audio files — audio quality may
start improving for a large portion of
music listeners for the first time since
CDs gave way to digital downloads.
There are two options when it
comes to high-quality audio: 16-bit,
commonly referred to as “lossless”
or “CD-quality,” which is playable on
most smartphones and sound systems;
and 24-bit, usually branded as “hi-
res” audio or “Ultra HD,” as Amazon
has begun calling it. “Until we came
into the market, the only way to get it
was by buying high- resolution down-
loads from stores like HD Tracks,”
says Dan Mackta, managing director
of Qobuz USA, the first service to
offer 24-bit high-resolution audio
streams in the United States. “And
those albums are $20, $25, $30 each.”
So far, hefty prices, combined with
celullar networks that struggle to
stream bigger files on anything but a
near-perfect connection and a lack of
interest from younger consumers, has
kept high- resolution audio from find-
ing a larger audience. But as 5G nears,
and companies like Amazon enter the
market — sources say Spotify is looking
into high-resolution as well — hi-res
audio services could soon become a
part of the ecosystem.
First, that means educating consum-
ers. “We ended up with a generation
of people who never heard audio other
than MP3, and they just don’t know,”
says Mackta. “Our marketing is an edu-
cational process to let fans know there
is something better out there.”
The lack of knowledge around the
specifics of hi-res audio is evident,
according to MusicWatch manag-
ing partner Russ Crupnick, but that
doesn’t mean people aren’t interested
in improved audio quality. Accord-
ing to a MusicWatch survey, 28% of
internet users say sound quality is
important, that it’s not good enough on
mobile devices and that they would be
willing to pay more for better quality.
Even before the arrival of 5G,
high-resolution audio services are
growing across the board. Deezer
says it has increased its Hi-Fi users
41% year over year, and nearly 40%
of its Hi-Fi users listen to more than
5.5 hours of music per week. Thom-
as Steffens, CEO of classical music
streaming service Primephonic —
which offers a standard streaming
option for $7.99 and a hi-res option for
$14.99 (the same prices as Amazon)
— says nearly half of its users opt for
the higher-quality audio. “We see 40%
of our subscribers choosing the more
expensive, hi-res quality,” Steffens
tells Billboard, adding, “Classical fans
are on average older, and older people
care more about audio quality than
younger people do.”
“We’re seeing two trends converg-
ing,” says Tidal COO Lior Tibon. “On
one side is 5G, and on the other is the
development of streaming technology
and formats that will allow us to trans-
mit better files more efficiently.”
Price — and marketing — also will
be major factors. Tidal and Deezer
charge $20 a month for their high-
resolution tiers. But with Amazon
matching Primephonic’s pricing at
$15 a month — and including 24-bit
audio for the same price (Qobuz
charges $25 a month for its 24-bit
tier) — competing services may
have to rethink how much they’re
charging users if they want to fully
capture a potential audience that
MusicWatch says could reach 65 mil-
lion people in the United States.
The hi-res market could grow along-
side 5G — but major players like Apple
Music, YouTube and Spotify are still
on the sidelines, and the mass market
needs to be convinced it’s worth it. “If
there is something better, people are
going to want it,” says Mackta. “We’ve
got to prove that it’s better.”
The Tide Is Hi
With Amazon jumping into hi-res streaming and the promise
of faster mobile connections with 5G, audio quality could
improve for the majority of listeners for the first time in years
BY MICAH SINGLETON
ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN TOMAC
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.22 BILLBOARD • SEPTEMBER 28, 2019
● Big Deal Music signed a joint venture with RICKY REED’s Nice Life Copyright Company. ● WILL WARD’s Fourward launched a publishing division led by SHANNAN HATCH.