We are used to seeing class actions taken by rights holders against tech firms who have used their works to train large language models. But recently there has been a succession of individual copyright claims brought by authors against Meta.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
It seems 300 claims were filed on October 19 and another 1,000 are in the offing. As with the Anthropic class action, these claims center on the use of shadow libraries. And it seems claimants are seeking the full “statutory damages.” This, you may remember, is $150,000 per title. It was the eye-watering nature of the total liability that would have led to in the Anthropic case that at one point led to worries it would derail the claim because it would have bankrupted the company. I find it hard to imagine any claim actually succeeding in achieving and then actually being paid this amount, simply for the ripples it would create if that happens. But the size of any payout, as well as the success or otherwise of the cases, will be worth watching.
Spotify Memberships Launch
News also from Spotify. You may recall the platform had announced new ways for podcasters to make income from their relationships with loyal listeners. Spotify Memberships has now launched, as of October 20.
Memberships are exactly what you would imagine. Listeners can pay to access special extra content for a monthly fee. Creators can offer a range of such content types: according to the announcement, “exclusive audio or video, bonus episodes, fewer ads, early access, access to a show’s archive—or all of the above.”
Eligibility for Memberships requires three barriers to be met. Podcasts need “three published episodes, 100 listeners or viewers, and 100 consumption hours on Spotify in the previous 30 days,” according to Spotify’s blog. The initial rollout of Spotify Memberships is across thirty-four markets including the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?
If you’re an ALLi member, head over to the SelfPubConnect forum for support from our experienced community of indie authors, advisors, and our own ALLi team. Simply create an account (if you haven’t already) to request to join the forum and get going.
Non-members looking for more information can search our extensive archive of blog posts and podcast episodes packed with tips and advice at ALLi’s Self-Publishing Advice Center.
