第二十五期杂志选文——《索尼音乐反驳“美偶”对其“... - 树屋经典影视论坛

Five months afterthe record company founded by American Idol creator Simon Fuller brought ablockbuster lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment for allegedly cheatingartists such as Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken and Carrie Underwood, a New Yorkfederal judge is being asked to make an early determination about the claims.

由美国偶像的创始人西蒙福勒建立的唱片公司对索尼音乐娱乐公司提起的诉讼轰动一时。据唱片公司申诉，索尼欺骗了凯莉克拉克森、克雷艾肯和凯莉安德伍德等艺人。如今在立案5个月后，纽约的一名联邦法官被要求对索赔案做出早期判定。

The litigationexplores quite a bit of ground in the modern music business, from the way in which a music major like Sony accounts for revenueoff of platforms like Spotify and iTunes to how advertising expenditures aretreated. One topic that was largelyovershadowed when 19 Recordings filed its claims this past February was Sony'salleged duty to share the spoils of its proceeds from big battles on thecopyright front. For example, three years ago, Sony was among the record majorsthat extracted $105 million in settlement from file-sharing LimeWire. Does themoney trickle down?

这件诉讼案深入探讨了现代音乐业务领域的不同立场，从像索尼这样的音乐公司应该怎样将从声破天和iTunes这样的音乐平台赚取的收入入账，到如何处理广告支出。有一个话题被二月份的十九唱片公司索赔案蒙上了阴影，那就是索尼公司是否承担所谓的分享版权之争所得利益的责任。例如，索尼在三年前是在LimeWire案中获得1.05亿美元的赔偿的唱片巨头之一。而这笔利益到底惠及他人了吗？

上个月末，在一项申请驳回上诉的提案中，索尼辩称他们没有义务支付十九唱片的赔偿款项。

Sony says itscontracts pertaining to Idol alumni "provides for 19 to share in excess recoveries only from legal proceedings that SMEinstitutes 'in the name of [19] and/or Artist.' It does not apply toproceedings that are brought in SME’s name, including those aimed at stoppingbroad-based copyright infringement of a substantial portion of Sony’s catalog."

索尼方面称涉及往届美国偶像的合同中规定“只有当法律诉讼是索尼音乐娱乐以‘十九唱片和／或艺人’的名义提起的情况下，十九唱片才可以分享额外的追回款。这并不适用于以索尼公司名义提起的诉讼，也不包括对广泛侵犯对索尼名下产品版权的诉讼。“

The plaintiff'sattorneys responded on Thursday that the contract gives Sony the right to suein the artists' names and compel cooperation from them. The plain meaning of the contract, it's argued, necessitates thatartists be compensated from the proceeds of copyright infringement lawsuits.

周四，原告律师回应，这项合同给予了索尼公司权力，使得它有权以艺人的名义上诉，并且强迫艺人合作。据申诉，该合同的字面意思使艺人必须能分得部分索尼版权侵犯的诉讼赔偿。

"Sony hasmultiple ways to bring suit," says the plaintiff. "The manner inwhich Sony brings suit is of no consequence as to 19’s right to receive aportion of any money which is attributable to Artist’s Masters."

“索尼有多种方式来提起诉讼，”原告方说，“索尼提出诉讼的方式不会影响十九唱片得到归于艺人公司的部分收益的权利。”

In the lawsuit, theplaintiff alleges that Sony stiffs musicians by paying the lower of two royalty rates on streamingincome. Specifically, Sony treats music exploited on services like Spotify as"sales" or "distributions" rather than "broadcasts"or "transmissions." The effect of doing this, says the plaintiff, isto account for such deliveries as no different than downloads purchased.

在这次的诉讼中，原告宣称索尼在流媒体收入中通过支付两项版税率中较低的版税率来诈骗艺人。特别地，索尼把声破天这样的音乐的开发服务当成“销售”和“分销”，而不是“广播”和“播送”。原告说，这么做的影响是为了把这种递送和收费下载在入账时归为一谈。

"19's claimthat all streaming services must be accounted for as a 'broadcast' or'transmission' simply seeks to rewrite the plain terms to which it agreed overand over, in agreement after agreement," responds Sony.

“十九唱片的指控中提到的流媒体服务必须按“广播“或者”播送“入账就是为了改写已经反复通过的普通条款。“索尼回应道。

Sony says artistroyalties are "unambiguously" tied to the language used in the musicmajor's licensing deals with third party services. If that wasn't so, Sonyargues that there would be no purpose in setting up a contract with twodifferent royalty rates as Sony simply would be obligated to pay the higherrate. The defendant adds that in negotiating the contract, "19 was clearlysensitive to the possibility that it would disagree with the characterizationcontained in the streaming agreement," and so limitations were made forany streaming service operated by Sony or its affiliates.

索尼表示，艺人版税是“明确地”被音乐行业特许第三方经营使用的法律用语约束。如果不是这样的，索尼称签订有两个不同版税率的合同就没有任何意义了，因为索尼一定只会承担更高税率。被告补充在合同的谈判中：“十九唱片无疑对这种可能性很敏感，因而它不同意在流媒体协议中的特性描述，”所以这种限制是为所有索尼和其旗下公司的流媒体服务而设定的。

In other words,Sony says the limitations would be meaningless if never had the possibility oftreating streaming income as distributions.

In opposition, theplaintiff maintains that Sony can't in good faith "mischaracterize" what'shappening in streaming. "This robs 19 of the fruits of the RecordingAgreements by purposefully avoiding using the correct operative words when Sonyknew a 'broadcast' or 'transmission' was precisely what was occurring,"states the plaintiff's legal brief.

相反地，原告坚持称索尼不能善意“曲解”有关流媒体的内容。“索尼明知道‘广播’或‘播送’才是恰当的描述，而他们故意避免使用这些准确的关键词汇来剥夺19唱片在唱片协议中应得的利润，”原告在案情摘要中陈述道。

The lawsuitaddresses what happens when consumers go to iTunes and buy individual tracksoff an album. Though many of the songs weren't released as "singles"per se, Sony treats them as singles to allegedly avoid having them counttowards album sales that would trigger royalty escalators for the recordingartists.

诉讼案件还提到了一种情况，那就是消费者在iTunes商店里仅仅购买专辑中的某支曲目而没买整张专辑。虽然许多歌曲本身不是通过“单曲“方式发行的，但索尼被控通过把它们当做单曲来避免它们被计入专辑销量，从而避免了付给唱片艺人更高的版税。

Again, Sony pointsto the "unambiguous language" of the agreements. "If the parties intended multiple separate sales of Records that arenot Albums to count as an Album, they would havesaid so," says the defendant.

索尼再一次指出协议中的“明确的语言“。“如果当事人试图把多个单独的非专辑唱片销售算作一张专辑，在合同中应该会提到。 “被告方说道。