The Artist Rights Watch

Inside Royalty Audits with Keith Bernstein What really happens inside a music royalty audit? In this episode of the Artist Rights Institute Podcast,ARI Director Chris Castle sits down with royalty auditor and industry veteran Keith Bernstein for a deep dive into one of the least understood — but most important — areas of the music business. Keith walks through how royalty audits actually work, wha...

In this episode, we break down the little-known but sweeping amendment buried in the Senate version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) being debated this week.  The amendment--which is now characterized as a "temporary pause" to make the 10 years seem trivial--would block states, cities, and even school districts from regulating artificial intelligence for ten years—if they accept federal b...

Brought to you by the Artist Rights Institute www.artistrightsinstitute.org Host: Chris Castle In this episode of the Artist Rights Watch Podcast, we dig into a story that affects artists, fans, and the entire music ecosystem—how outdated U.S. trade policy is quietly strangling America’s vinyl pressing industry. While demand for vinyl continues to climb, independent U.S. manufacturers face steep t...

Congress’s biggest bill—the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—is a must-pass package President Trump campaigned on. But buried inside is a sweeping AI moratorium, crafted by a Google-funded think tank, that would block states from enforcing AI laws. In this episode, we explore the moratorium’s constitutional flaws, the bipartisan backlash it’s triggering, and what its passage could mean for the future of...

Can the AI Moratorium Survive the Byrd Rule on Germaneness https://musictech.solutions/2025/05/22/now-what-can-the-ai-moratorium-survive-the-byrd-rule-on-germaneness/ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Latest Version https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/91 Meet Adam Thierer, an architect of the AI Safe Harbor https://musictechpolicy.com/2025/05/29/meet-adam-thierer-an-architect-of-the-...

Planning the release of your record is one of the most consequential events in an artist's career. Music marketing expert Jay Gilbert of Label Logic gives you tips on planning that release https://www.jaygilbertconsulting.com/label-logic/ Go to the ARI Financial Education vertical for the slides and release planner https://www.artistrightsinstitute.org/financial-education/an-artists-guide-to-recor...

Music attorney Chris Castle presents the record release checklist.  In part 2, he covers artwork, credits and legal lines.  For the part 2 checklist, visit the ARI website https://www.artistrightsinstitute.org/financial-education/an-artists-guide-to-record-releases-part-2-1 , and also listen to Episode 4 https://www.artistrightsinstitute.org/financial-education/a-artists-guide-to-record-releases-p...

Music attorney Chris Castle presents the record release checklist.  In part 1, he covers sound recordings and songs, work for hire agreements, union issues, guest artists and step outs, courtesy credits, song split agreements and producers.  For the checklist, visit the ARI website https://www.artistrightsinstitute.org/financial-education/a-artists-guide-to-record-releases-part-1 The information p...

AI Legislation, A View from Europe: Helienne Lindvall, President of the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) and ARI Director Chris Castle in conversation regarding current issues for creators regarding the EU AI Act and the UK Text and Data Mining legislation. The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance: http://www.composeralliance.org EU Artificial Intelligence Act: https://artific...

Artist Rights Institute Director Chris Castle and music attorney Kevin Casini discuss union organizing, collective bargaining and health care issues for songwriters. The information provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or a solicitation for legal services. The views and opinions expressed are those of the hosts and guests and do not neces...

Attorney Tim Kappel won the landmark copyright termination case for his client Cyril Vetter who got a reversion of the worldwide copyright in his song Double Shot of My Baby's Love. He discusses the case with publisher Abby North and music lawyer and Artist Rights Institute director Chris Castle. For court documents see https://musictechpolicy.com/2025/02/13/mtp-interview-attorney-tim-kappel-and-a...

On the this episode of the Artist Rights Watch, Nik, David, and Chris sit down to talk about the recent developments with the CRB and mechanicals with lawyer and advocate, Kevin Casini. The Copyright Royalty Board who herein will more than likely be referred to as the CRB, ‘is a US system of three copyright reality judges who determines rates and terms for copyright statutory licenses and make det...

On the this episode of the Artist Rights Watch, Nik and David sit down to talk about the MLC with Entertainment Lawyer, Stephen Carlisle. The MLC administers blanket mechanical licenses to eligible streaming and download services in the United States. The MLC will then collect the royalties due under those licenses from the DSPs and pay songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers. In t...

This episode was a conversation spurred from our talk with Abby North on songwriting agreements. Abby North primarily works in the music publishing space as a publishing admin and so this podcast is about her experience in admin. This episode goes a little deeper than our previous episode on songwriting/publisher agreements so you may want to check that episode out first.   Below are our social li...

This week, Nik and David are going to continue the ARW publishing series with songwriting/publishing contracts. Whether you’re trying to write songs for major publishers or you’re just getting started, this episode will help you understand the content to look out for when being handed a songwriter contract. In a sense, songwriting contracts are the counterpart to record contracts. Record contracts...

On the this episode of the Artist Rights Watch, Nik and David sit down to talk about the basics of music publishing with the University of Georgia Music Business Director, David Barbe. This episode start the ARW publishing series where we’ll have a couple episodes directed to songwriters and publishers. Music publishing is all about the publishers and the writers of the underlying composition. Whe...

On the first series 2 episode of the Artist Rights Watch, Nik and David sit down to talk about Record contracts with Entertainment Lawyer, Stephen Carlisle. Record contracts can be very daunting for a lot of artists and this episode is to help artists and anyone else understand the key clauses of a record contract. Often, record contracts touch on defining parties, term and ownership, territory, r...

On this sixth bonus episode of the Artist Rights Watch, Nik, David, and Chris sit down to talk about Facebook and its latest issues with the recent whistleblower and how it relates to music licensing. We cover content ID in other social platforms as well as give a quick update on Twitch.    Below are some links for further reading on Facebook and music licensing: Twitch Makes Deal With NMPA, But S...

Nik Patel, David Lowery, and Chris Castle feature in this podcast where they discuss the current issues of artists’ rights in the music industry. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and share!   In the final episode of series 1 of the Artist Rights Watch Podcast, Nik, David, and Chris sit down to discuss antitrust laws and consent decrees in the music industry. Antitrust laws are regulations that enc...

Nik Patel, David Lowery, and Chris Castle feature in this podcast where they discuss the current issues of artists’ rights in the music industry. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and share!   On this episode of the Artist Rights Watch, Nik, David, and Chris sit down to talk about Twitch and its latest issues with music licensing. With the new development of the Soundtrack application, Twitch attem...

Nik Patel, David Lowery, and Chris Castle feature in this podcast where they discuss the current issues of artists’ rights in the music industry. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and share!   On this episode of the Artist Rights Watch, Nik Patel, David Lowery, and Chris Castle sit down with Alan Graham to talk about the latest trend in musicians releasing NFTs. NFT stands for non-fungible token. P...

Nik Patel, David Lowery, and Chris Castle feature in this podcast where they discuss the current issues of artists’ rights in the music industry. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and share! On this episode of the Artist Rights Watch, Nik Patel, David Lowery, and Chris Castle sit down with music advocate, Mala Sharma to talk about the latest legislations in music policy in the state of Georgia. Mal...

Nik Patel, David Lowery, and Chris Castle feature in this podcast where they discuss the current issues of artists’ rights in the music industry. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and share! On the first episode of the Artist Rights Watch, Nik Patel, David Lowery, and Chris Castle sit down with Ivors Academy Chair, Crispin Hunt to talk about the frozen mechanical royalties crisis currently playing...