THE WEEKLY SCOOP - 29.02

UK publishers tell Parliament: Stop AI using our content without permission

Executives from leading national news publishers have called on the Government to take immediate action to protect the industry from copyright infringement by AI companies.  Speaking before the House of Lords’ Communications and Digital committee on Tuesday, executives from The Guardian, News UK, Financial Times and DMG Media said action must be put at “the top of the agenda” for lawmakers. The executives were gathered to give evidence to an inquiry into “the future of news”, and touched on numerous ways the news industry’s business model is currently facing disruption. Read more on the story here.

‘All you can read’ magazine app Readly moves into profit

The chief executive of “all you can read” magazine and newspaper app Readly has set out a two-year plan for reaching long-term “robust” profitability.Philip Lindqvist told Press Gazette that despite the UK’s apparent low willingness to pay for online news, he believes there is still plenty of room to grow there and in Readly’s other European markets.Readly, which launched in its home country of Sweden in 2013 and in the UK a year later, has 7,370 magazines and 324 newspapers as part of its package, which costs £9.99 in the UK or SEK 149 in Sweden (£11.38) and €14.99 (£12.80) in other European markets.

Overall, it had 464,494 full-paying subscribers at the end of 2023, 2.7% higher than a year earlier but down 2.9% from a Covid-driven peak of 478,362 at the end of 2021. Average revenue per user is higher, however, up from a peak of SEK 93 (£7.11) at the end of 2020 to SEK 119 (£9.10) in Q4 of 2023.

In the UK, the newspaper publishers signed up include Reach (the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Daily Star and many local titles), The Guardian, Metro, the i, Evening Standard, City AM and The Independent. Magazine publishers signed up include Conde Nast (GQ, Conde Nast Traveller, Vanity Fair, Tatler), Hearst UK (Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Harper's Bazaar, Women's Health), Bauer Media Group (Heat, Closer, Take A Break, Empire), Immediate Media (Radio Times, BBC Good Food, Olive) Stylist, Gay Times, and many more. 

YouTube Shorts adds Music Remix Options

Sound: Use the sound of the video for the Short. 

Collab: A short alongside the video, similar to TikTok’s Duel feature. 

Green Screen: Use the Short as the background for your Short video. 

Cut: Cut a 5-second clip from a video and add it to a Short. 

This latest move from YouTube now follows similar features used on TikTok and Instagram Reels, where users can remix and create content based on other users’ content shared on the platform. 

TikTok fails to reach new agreement with Universal Music

Talks between TikTok and Universal Music over a new licensing agreement have failed, with Universal now pushing to have all tracks which its artists have contributed to the platform to be pulled from the app. 

TikTok has already began muting all Universal artists’ tracks in the wake of the dispute, and has started removing songs from the platform.  

In recent years, TikTok has become a key platform between fans and musicians, with up to 75% of TikTok users indicating that they found new artists through TikTok. 

But with talks being put on hold with Universal, it could see the platform lose ground to YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, where people can engage with the latest music trends.