The new gTLD .MUSIC could launch before year’s end, DotMusic CEO Constantinos Roussos told Domain Incite. DotMusic is a Cypriot registry that manages .MUSIC. The domain was a hot topic long before the launch of the first stage of the new gTLD program. Many companies sought .MUSIC, including giants like Google and Amazon, but Roussos started an active campaign in support of creating a music domain and succeeded in winning over many famous performers, record producers and labels. He also registered the domain names music.co and music.biz.
However, all of these efforts did not help Roussos to prove that he was the voice of a nonexistent global music community or had the rights to the term “music.” The domain’s fate was decided in a private auction in March 2019. Strangely enough, DotMusic prevailed. The price of the domain (and the company’s financial sources) was not disclosed. It was speculated that the domain could launch in 2019, but the slow process of signing contracts with ICANN and then the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays.
Finally, the contract was signed, and DotMusic may be able to launch .MUSIC before the year ends. The registration in the gTLD will be subject to many tough restrictions. For example, there is a list of domains matching the names of well-known music industry companies, organizations and performers reserved for them specifically. Also, registrants will have to confirm that they are members of one of the registry’s pre-approved music community member organizations. The domain will also have a special dispute resolution procedure, .MUSIC Policy & Copyright Infringement Dispute Resolution Process (MPCIDRP), which will review intellectual property rights, among other factors. The National Arbitration Forum will be responsible for hearing such disputes.
The registry also intends to combat piracy. For example, it will prohibit the registration of second-level domains that have been used to infringe on copyright in other TLDs. Both domains used to publish infringing content and domains containing links to such content will be banned. All these rules could make .MUSIC a gTLD with the toughest registration rules in the world. It should be understood that registrars will be primarily responsible for ensuring compliance with all these restrictions, so they will be quite reluctant to work with such domains. This policy will hardly be popular among registrants either. .MUSIC will likely become a low-volume gTLD and will try to compensate with high registration fees.
