CONSUMERS TARGET EMI FRANCE OVER UNPLAYABLE CDS 27/08/04
French authorities have launched an investigation of EMI France and music retailer Fnac over anticopying technology included on CDs that allegedly renders them unplayable on some systems. Labels use the technology to protect their copyrights but a magistrate judge on 31 July ordered the investigation following a review of consumer complaints by a local division of the Bureau of Competition's antifraud unit (DDCCRF).
The move is among the most threatening actions yet taken in Europe against record labels and retailers over anticopying technology.The DDCCRF carried out its own tests, and a judge subsequently ordered a judicial examination of EMI Music France and Fnac on charges of fraud. The charges carry possible prison terms of up to 2 years for company executives, and a fine of about $45,000 (25,000).
Source: news.zdnet.co.uk
BUGS BACK ONLINE IN KOREA AFTER AGREEMENT WITH LABELS 27/08/04
South Korea 's largest music streaming site www.bugs.co.kr will have up to 20,000 songs reinstated on its service. Bugs Music said that it has reached an agreement with the Korean Association of Phonogram Producers (KAPP), the lobby group representing about half of the music industry, on long-standing copyright rows.
This means Korean music enthusiasts will be able to enjoy 20,000 songs, of which the KAPP retains copyrights, at Bugs' website. Currently, Bugs is prevented from providing some 40,000 songs to its users. The KAPP holds copyrights for around 50 percent of the titles, with non-member recording labels owning the remaining half. The KAPP and other recording labels brought Bugs to court last year citing the firm's unauthorized use of copyrighted songs with the court proposing a settlement of 2.22 billion won.
The music industry initially opposed the mediation, saying Bugs earned much more by using their songs but the KAPP later changed its stance and accepted the proposal. However, non-KAPP member firms remained steadfast in rebuffing the offer, claiming the compensation amount should surpass 100 billion won. According to local Internet market research firm Metrix Corp., Bugs was the fifth most visited site in Korea with a total of 12.8 million users logged onto it in August.
WET WEATHER HITS READING FESTIVAL 27/08/04
Its usually Glastonbury which gets the weather headlines in the UK but after a week of heavy rain the weather has taken its toll on the Reading Festival site.
The site, whilst still not at Glastonbury 1998 levels, is on the muddy side. Fridays forecast is looking very cloudy and rainy with the added bonus of 12mph winds. However, the Saturday and Sunday are now expected to be virtually rain free, with spots of occasional sun and towards the end of the weekend the maximum temperature will be up to 20C.
Festival organisers Mean Fiddler have also issued a statement, warning festival goers to come along well prepared and asking punters to bring plenty of warm clothes along with wet weather gear and wellies. Punters are also asked to avoid driving down to the festival as the car parking facilities on site are out of order due to the heavy rain earlier in the week. The sister site of the Carling Weekender in Leeds is also facing rainy weather.
SAFETY WEBSITE TRIAL RECEIVES POSITIVE RESPONSE FROM LIVE INDUSTRY 26/08/04
The Initial website designed to help workers and concert organisers create safe working environments at European events has received positive feedback from event personnel on the ground. The website, which is part of a year-long project run by the ILMC Safety Focus Group and Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, with backing from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (OSHA), is due to come on line at the end of October 2004.
The draft website has been "piloted" at various European events during the summer including Exit Festival in Serbia, Roskilde Festival in Denmark, Germany's enourmous free Rheinkultur Festival, a concert by the Spanish teen idol David Bisbal near Barcelona and a series of concerts featuring Dido and the White Stripes at Marlay Park, Ireland.
The pilots have involved interviewing staff and production workers at every level of the concert and festival organisation. During the interviews everyone from production managers and technicians through to volunteers and stewards were able to view features of the website. Live music organisers can still have input into the content and layout of the site as there will be a second consultation phase in September this year. Anyone who wishes to take part in this consultation should email SFG administrator Mike Gartside on mike.gartside@wanadoo.fr.
Read more: click here.
MEAN FIDDLER INKS DEAL WITH UNIVERSAL FOR CONCERT DOWNLOADS 24/08/04
Mean Fiddler has signed a deal with Universal Records that will let fans download live tracks from bands who are playing events such as the Reading Festival.The deal will also cover concerts at Mean Fiddler venues in Britain, which have hosted Universal artists including the Scissor Sisters, Black Eyed Peas and Queens of the Stone Age.
Subject to approval from the Universal artists, songs will be sold for 99p (E1.50) to 150p (E2.25) each. Mean Fiddler Media already has its own download service for recorded tracks from a number of labels including EMI and Warners.
JACKSONS SUPPORT MICHAEL AT COURT HEARING 18/08/04
Michael Jackson 's parents and siblings LaToya, Jermaine, Janet and Jackie all arrived at a Californian court house yesterday dressed in dazzling white to support Michael's attempts to prove that he is the victim of a vendetta by Tom Sneddon, the Santa Barbara District Attorney who has been pursuing Jackson on child molestation charges over the last ten years.
Jackson , who is on $3 million bail, did not need to attend the court hearing. The claim by Jackson focuses on a raid by the Sherrif's department on the offices of a private investigator employed by Jackson's previous legal team (who were dismissed by the singer) and Jackson is seeking to have this evidence barred from the court claiming that the raid was illegal.
In a seperate claim the court dismissed charges that Jackson had been 'manhandled' by sheriff's officers when he was arrested. In the main case Jackson has pleaded not guilty to charge of committing a lewd act on a child, administering intoxicating agent, false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit child abduction.
LIL' KIM FACES CONSPIRACY CHARGES 18/08/04
Lil' Kim faces charges of conspiracy, obstruction and perjury after a gun battle outside a rap radio studios in Manhattan. She has denied the charges and has been released on $500,000 bail. Lil' Kim, her manager and a group of friends were leaving Hot 97 on February 25 when the encountered Capone and his entourage.
Police say that during an altercation a total of 22 bullets were fired leaving Efrain Ocasio, an associate of Capone, seriously injured. Lil' Kim has not been charged with the shooting (which was caught on seurity cameras) and has pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against her. Police say she misled them about who was involved in the shooting.
Source: The Times 17 May 2004
US RECORD INDUSTRY ANTI-TRUST SETTLEMENT TAKES A NEW TURN 17/08/04
In 2002 US District Judge D Brock Hornby approved the settlement of a lawsuit filed on behalf of millions of record club members who alleged they had been overcharged in a price-fixing conspiracy. The sum $143 million and was agreed by the five major record companies (Sony, BMG, EMI, Universal and Warners and, yes, those moral guardians of the internet and champions of legal downloading!) and three large music retailers in settlement of anti-trust claims that they had been conspiring to set minimum music prices. Under that settlement, 3.5 million people received cheques for $12.60, and libraries and schools across the country will due to get $75.7 million worth of music CDs. The lawsuit was signed by the attorney generals of 43 states and territories.
However, all is not well with the settlement. In Kansas City, Missouri the Attorney General Phil Kline has witheld 1,600 of the state's alloted 51,000 discs, because they are contrary to his "concept of decency". He will not allow any albums that "promote violence or illegal activity" to go into public libraries or schools.
The 25 offending artists include Outkast, Notorious B.I.G., Rage Against The Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Lou Reed and Devo. The American Civil Liberties Union director in Kansas, Dick Kurtenbach has said of Kline's action "what he is doing is enforcing his concept of decency on the libraries in the state of Kansas and that's not his business". Attorney Generals in several other states have also taken action; in Indiana AG Steve Carter removed 5,300 discs, or 5 percent of the 107,000 his state was scheduled to receive.
Source: www.cnn.com
STAR PRESENTERS LINED UP FOR MTV VIDEO AWARDS 17/08/04
Jennifer Lopez , Hilary Duff, Gwyneth Paltrow and Will Smith have been confirmed as presenters at this year's MTV Video Music Awards. Nelly, Christiana Aguilera and Alicia Keys have also been added to the list of performers for the show, set for Miami's American Airlines Arena on August 29. Rapper JAY-Z leads this year's nominees with six nods for his '99 Problems' clip, including Best Video of the Year, Best Male Video and Best Rap Video.
PHOTOGRAPHER SUES AGUILERA BODYGUARD 14/08/04
Christina Aguilera and a bodyguard were sued by a photographer who says the bodyguard punched and spat on him after he took the singer's picture outside a Hollywood nightclub last year. According to the lawsuit, David Keeler was attacked after he photographed Aguilera leaving the club at about 2 a.m. on May 21, 2003. After Aguilera and the bodyguard got into a car, Keeler said the guard told him he "needed
to learn respect" and punched and spat on him. The suit skees unspecified damages.
Source: www.billboard.com
BLACK EYED PEAS HIT BY BLAZE 14/08/04
A fire broke out early morning on Aug 11th at the Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California where the Black Eyed Peas were recording a new album, destroying about $500,000 in gear and instruments, fire authorities and band members said. Band members lit candles during the recording session and forgot to blow them out, causing the 3 a.m. fire at the studios, Captain Ron Bell said.
Damage to the building, where the group was recording the Interscope album "Monkey Business", was estimated at a further $50,000. No one was injured.
CLUB DOORMAN CLEARED OF KILLING 14/08/04
A club doorman has been cleared of killing a sports teacher at the Central Criminal Court in London. The doorman, 29 year-old former reserve soldier Robert Demitrou, was charged with killing Philip Mesner who hit his head after being knocked down by Demitrou outside the Roadhouse venue in London's Covent Garden.
But Old Baily Judge Peter Fingret held that the defendant had no case to answer after determining that the blow was a shove (a push) rather than a punch. Mesner, 31, had been out celebrating with teaching colleagues in July 2003 when he was asked to leave the venue but continued to remonstrate outside. The London Evening Standard reported that the defendant had denied manslaughter.
LILES TIPPED FOR TOP WARNERS JOB 12/08/04
Kevin Liles , who recently resigned as president of Def Jam Records, is expected to take on a high-level post at Warner Music Group. It is expected that will be named executive vice-president of Warner Music, reporting directly to his old boss Lyor Cohen. Liles' expertise is in branding and marketing and it's expected he will focus on those areas at Warner. Liles recently left Def Jam, the industry's biggest hip-hop label, after disagreements with Antonio "LA" Reid, the former Arista boss who earlier this year became head of Universal Music's Island Def Jam label. Lile's hiring by Warner reunites him with Cohen, the chairman and CEO of Warner Music U.S. and the former head of Island Def Jam and points to Warner's new management interest in growing their stable of urban artists.
MTV TO ADD NEW CHANNEL 12/08/04
MTV Brasil , the local Portuguese-language version of the music net, will launch a second channel in Brazil in May, said the company's programming director, Zico Goes. The move follows MTV's recent developments in Europe and elsewhere where the music broadcaster has been focusing on local language programming as well as more music genre focused broadcasting.
Source: Variety
02 IRELAND LAUNCHES DIGITAL MUSIC SHOP AND SERVICE 12/08/04
Mobile operator O2 Ireland has announced availability of the first 'music over mobile' service in Ireland. Using the existing O2 network, the new service enables customers to select, retrieve and store music via their GPRS-enabled mobile handset onto a specially designed digital music player.
Record labels Warner Music, Universal, BMG and independent labels from AIM will provide track listings for new chart releases, which can be downloaded to O2's digital music player. Further record companies are expected to come online in the coming months. Customers connect the digital music player to their handset via infrared, and select the 'get new music' option to view a menu of track listings. Customers can then select a track and choose to either hear a free 30-second clip or purchase the entire track. The track can be listened to as it is downloading and once it has been downloaded the digital music player can be unclipped from the mobile handset and used as a regular personal music device. Up to 70 tracks can be stored on the 64MB memory card for as long as they are required, and customers may choose to download the music files to their data card, which can then be transferred to a PC for additional storage. Customers can also purchase additional memory cards.
Source: www.DMEurope.com
DOHERTY FINALLY SURFACES 12/08/04
After two no-shows this week, Pete Doherty finnaly turned up for a gig in Bristol.The estranged Libertines singer left fans in London disappointed on two consecutive nights, when he failed to appear for scheduled solo appearances. The Libertines had previously cancelled festival dates including Glastonbury after the split with Doherty. However, the August 4th gig at the Bristol Louisiana went ahead as planned.
Previous reports had Doherty, who has a well publicised drug problem, leaving a rehabilitation centre and playing 'gigs' in his flat to raise cash. Prio to his re-hab Doherty was previously jailed after he broke into and stole from a fellow band member's house.
RICK JAMES DEAD AT 56 09/08/04
Funk legend Rick James was found dead on August 6th at 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time at his Los Angeles home by a caretaker, according to a police spokesperson. He was 56. The cause of death was believed to be natural. The artist had a history of drug problems that led to poor health in recent years, including a 1998 stroke.
Source: www.billboard.com
R KELLY DOMINATES BILLBOARD URBAN AWARDS 09/08/04
R. Kelly was the big winner at the Billboard-American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) 2004
R&B / Hip-Hop Awards held on August 6th. Leading the field of finalists at the outset with eight nominations, Kelly finished
the evening with seven statuettes, including top R&B/hip-hop songwriter
and producer. Also joining the winners' circle were OutKast and Beyonce.
AUSTRALIAN REGULATORS CONFIRM SONY-BMG MERGER 06/08/04
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has followed the lead of its counterparts in the Europe and the United States and has approved the proposed merger of Sony and BMG. Sony and BMG are two of the world's five biggest record companies but ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel says he considered the competitive impact of the merger on the Australian music industry and concluded that it is unlikely to substantially lessen competition.
THE DARKNESS PULL OUT OF JAPANESE DATE 06/08/04
The Darkness have pulled out of a summer festival appearance in Japan due to illness.The band have just completed a tour of European festivals and were scheduled to head out to Japan to play at the Summer Sonic festival in Osaka and Tokyo on August 7th and 8th.
According to a doctor's note, lead singer Justin Hawkins has been suffering from "diarrhoea associated with abdominal pain and discomfort", thought to have been a bout of gastroenteritis. Following his illness, Hawkins was said to have suffered from being "tired and out of sorts".The doctor concluded that the illness, combined with a heavy work load led to lethargy, tiredness and occassional dizziness. An official statement has reads Justin Hawkins has been diagnosed with 'a bout of gastroenteritis' and it has been recommended by his consultant to take at least one week to rest and recuperate before recommencing his busy work schedule'."This, regrettably, has meant the band have had to pull their appearance at the festival. They will recommence their European Tour in Austria on the 12.08.04 and will headline at the Reading & Leeds Festivals in the United Kingdom on the August Bank Holiday as planned."
Source: www.nme.com
BETABAND SPLIT AND CANCEL SCOTTISH DATE 06/08/04
The Beta Band have announced they are to split and have pulled out of a scheduled appearance in their native Scotland. The group, who released their album 'Heroes To Zeros' this year, will now no longer perform at the T On The Fringe event at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange (scheduled for August 24). A statement about the split reads: "All
good things must come to an end. And so it is that after eight years of creating
consistently innovative music, releasing three critically acclaimed albums
and staging some legendary live shows, the Beta Band have
decided to call it a day". However the band are planning a farewell UK tour in the autumn. A DVD of the band's videos and films planned.
Source: www.nme.com
HALLYDAY WINS BACK CONTROL OF MASTER TAPES 05/08/04
Johnny Hallyday partially won legal battle with his record company, Universal, when a Paris court awarded him control of more than 1,000 master tapes recorded during his 40-year career. But the artist who hs sold more than 80 million records, will not know until next March whether his E50m (33m) damages claim against Universal Music France is justified. This win will be viewed with some alarm in the music industry, which traditionally tries to retain control of artists' original recordings at all costs.
Hallyday argued that he had been "robbed" and "swindled" by Universal, which had lent him E16.3m since 1978 and used the debt to impose "unfair and unjust" conditions in successive recording contracts. Since the loans were repaid directly from Hallyday's royalties, the court yesterday appointed an expert to examine every contract between the two parties and establish whether the singer had been charged too much interest or pressed into signing recording deals which were plainly disadvantageous to him.
The star claims that the record company loans set him on an "infernal spiral", forcing him to work simply to repay his debts and to cede to Universal ownership of two houses in Paris and all profits from merchandising bearing his name. And in each new recording contract, the singer's royalties were lower, he alleges. The tribunal refused to declare the singer's latest contract void but shortened it to one album. Universal argued that the loans were made at Hallyday's express request, and that without the company the star would be bankrupt and possibly in jail for failing to pay income tax.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
FORD TESTS OUT TOO LOUD 05/08/04
Sound tests near the new Ford Amphitheatre showed noise from the stadium last weekend slightly exceeded acceptable levels in four nearby neighborhoods, a spokesman for the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission said Monday. The commission sent teams of investigators during Friday night's Rush concert and Sunday evening's 311 performance to areas where residents have complained about concert noise levels since the amphitheater opened July 23. Some residents have said the noise is so loud they can't sleep or watch television.
The EPC's Air Management Division said the commission recorded five sound readings that "marginally exceeded" acceptable levels. The commission plans to send a warning letter to amphitheater officials and request a meeting to discuss what measures are planned to reduce noise. The EPC can impose fines if the noise continues to violate acceptable limits, depending on the severity and number of violations and how many residents are affected. The amphitheater said its own tests showed no breach but staff will continue to make technical adjustments to reduce noise. The amphitheater's next concert is August 18, when the Projekt Revolution tour comes to town with Linkin Park, Korn, Snoop Dogg and The Used.
MCPS AND BPI AGREE DVD TERMS 03/08/04
The Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and British Phonographic Industry (BPI) have finally agreed the terms of a 2 year licensing agreement for the copying of musical works to be released in DVD format.
In 2003 MCPS informed BPI that it was going to introduce a DVD Licensing Scheme. Some of the proposed terms were rejected by BPI and the matter was referred to the Copyright Tribunal - the hearing was set for March 2005. But the two sides have now agreed rates for DVDs.
Taken from Pictons Solicitors "In The Know"
Source: www.mcps.co.uk
FARM AID HEADS WEST 03/08/04
The annual Farm Aid benefit concert will be held on the West Coast for the first time this fall. The event is set for Sept 18th at White River Amphitheatre on the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation outside Seattle, and will feature performances by Farm Aid co-founders Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, as well as Dave Matthews.
Source: www.billboard.com
AUSTRALIAN DJS FOUND GUILTY OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT 03/08/04
Five Australian DJs who used CD burning equipment to create CDs for their own use in clubs but also sold or gave copies of the CDs to the public have been found guilty of copyright infringement and ordered to pay damages of AU$18,000 to Universal Music and other applicants. A sixth respondent was joined in the case for selling the CDs online.
The respondents were also ordered to pay additional damages pursuant to section 115 of the Act - in that the respondents had knowledge that their act constituted an infringement and that they benefited from it - in totalled AU$30,500. Justice Wilcox applied an approximate cost of AU$8.50 per CD in determining the loss of income for the copyright holders, and, in turn, the sum of damages to be paid by the respondents. Costs of AU90,000 were awarded against the respondents.
Source: www.zdnet.com.au