AIM AND IMPALA LAUNCH ONE-STOP ONLINE LICENSING SHOP 30/01/04
The Association of Independent Music (AIM) has launched Rightsrouter, a music administration company that hopes to provide a one-stop licensing service for music services in Europe in an attempt to sten complaints about the complexity of pan-European licensing for internet downloading. Both Apple and Napster have been frustrated in launching legal download services in the region because no pan-European agreement between record labels, music publishers and the disparate rights and royalty collection agencies at present (see RTC News 26/01/04).
Rightsrouter plans to serve both the Association of Independent Music (AIM) and the IMPALA record labels which account for 25 per cent of the UK and 22 per cent of the European music market respectively.
MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL ARCHIVE TO SEE LIGHT OF DVD 30/01/04
The Montreux Jazz Festival, now in its 38th year, has struck a deal with the UK's Eagle Rock Entertainment to release a DVD concert series from classic concerts from the Festival. Archive footage includes David Bowie, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and The Corrs and extends to over 3,500 hours of footage. Claude Nobs, founder of the Montreux Festival announced the deal at the 2004 MIDEM music trade fair in Cannes this week. The DVD series will be released alongside a global television series.
EU TO PROBE SONY-BMG MERGER 29/01/04
The European Commission will open an in-depth probe of the plans by Sony Music and BMG to combine their music units. a one-month probe of the deal was due to end on February 12. Instead, this will be extended for a four-month in-depth look.
The 50-50 joint venture combines Sony which is the worlds second largest label and is home to artists as Beyonce Knowles and Bruce Springsteen, with No. 5 BMG, a unit of German media firm Bertelsmann whose roseter includes Britney Spears and Elvis Presley. The new company will rival industry leader Universal Music Group and vault it ahead of Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Music Group (now being sold) and EMI Group Plc.
MINISTRY OF SOUND TO LAUNCH RIVAL TO i-POD 29/01/04
Ministry of Sound , the UK club, magazine and record empire has begun production of a digital music player to rival Apple's i-Pod. The device, the same size as a mobile phone, will be manufactured by Bush and will be launched in April in using windows software.
Ministry of Sound plan to sell the product pre-loaded with material already owned or licensed by their own record label (which is primarily a dance label). The player will cost about 150.00 (E200). It is expected that Ministry of Sound will join others such as Coke, Apple, OD2 and Napster in launching an on-line retail system in Europe.
AUSTRALIAN MUSIC WEEK 28/01/04
February 4th - 8th 2004
The Esplanade Hotel, St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia
Australia 's premiere annual music industry event, Australian Music Week caters to everybody from young, aspiring musicians through to veteran industry executives. Launched in 1997 as the Pacific Circle Music Convention, it was rebranded Australian Music Week in 2001 to better reflect its aim of showcasing the wealth of contemporary music in Australia, with a particular emphasis on new, unsigned talent.
Via a conference, numerous live showcases and a songwriting contest, the objectives of the week are to expose quality Australian unsigned artists to Australian and international music industry professionals, and to encourage these artists to plan their musical future professionally and creatively. In addition Australian Music Week will provide the general music industry with educational and insightful forums, allowing delegates to exchange ideas, share knowledge and catch up on national and global trends.
Check the website for full details of the conference and registration etc.
Download:Australian Music Week 2004 Media Release [Word]
Website:www.australianmusicweek.com
NAPSTER IN LICENSING ROW 26/01/04
Napster , the internet music provider, has hit out at European licensing agencies, accusing them of hampering the growth of legitimate web-based music companies across the continent. The US-listed company has claimed that failure to reach agreement on licensing music had helped increase instances of internet music piracy pointing out that every week where licensed music is not on the market it is replaced by unlicensed music - pirated music and illegal downloads.
Napster and Apple, the US technology group that developed the iTunes on-line service, have been forced to delay the launch of European services because of complex negotiations with national collection societies, which hold the rights to music in each country. Whilst the music industry is generally supportive of the RIAA's and IFPI's actions to reduce music piracy, the record label's and music publisher's failure to engage with the realities of the internet continuously provides a free source of amusing mocking stories for journalists and commentators and a cheap way to 'knock' the major labels.
MUSIC GROUPS LAUNCH FRENCH PRO-MUSIC WEBSITE 26/01/04
Music groups and rightsholders' associations in France have set up www.promusicfrance.com - the national French-language version of the international www.pro-music.org website.
The site was launched at Midem in Cannes yesterday by the French Ministry of Culture Jean Jacques Aillagon. Pro-music is part of the recording industry's ongoing public awareness initiative to promote legitimate online music and confront the myths surrounding online music piracy.The French website is an initiative by the country's major and independent record producers (SNEP, UPFI, SCPP, SPPF), authors, composers and publishers (SACEM, UNAC, SCDEM), retailers (SDSD), music managers (MMF France) and live music promoters (Prodiss).
NEW WARNER POACH UNIVERSAL CHIEF 26/01/04
Even before Edgar Bronfman Jr. and his Wall Street partners complete their purchase of Warner Music Group they have hired Lyor Cohen, longtime head of Universal Music Group's Island Def Jam label, as chairman and CEO of U.S. music operations for WMG. The deal will close once Bronfman and backers Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital and Providence Equity Partners close their $2.6 billion purchase of WMG from Time Warner in the next month. In a separate matter staff in Universal's UK HQ were bracing themselves for a round of job losses as UMG's cost cutting bites in their territory. A minimum of 35 staff members are expected to go.
JACKSON AND UNIVERSAL ROYALTY HEARING DELAYED 26/01/04
A judge has delayed a hearing in Michael Jackson's ongoing lawsuit against Universal Music Group that claims the world's largest record company owes the pop star royalties for the re-release of songs he made in the 1970s.
California Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias has now set a March 9 hearing date to rule on UMG's motion for summary judgment on the case. The judge dismissed two of the singer's claims, and the company is asking her to rule against him in the remaining eight claims. The judge also said she would rule at the hearing on a request from Jackson's side to review UMG's accounting records.
SIMON & GARFUNKEL,
BARENAKED LADIES TOURS ANNOUNCED 26/01/04
Plans are under way for another leg of the hugely successful Simon & Garfunkel reunion tour, Billboard.com reports. The 2003 outing, dubbed Old Friends, wrapped Dec. 21 in Tampa, having grossed $53 million after playing to 500,000 people. It was the pair's first major tour since 1983. The duo have tentative plans to play more arena dates, beginning in the latter half of June and running through to August 2004.
The Barenaked Ladies have scheduled a North American arena tour kicking off on Feb 11 in Grand Rapids, Mich. The 32-date trek will stretch into spring, with a finale targeted for April 1 in Calgary. Gavin DeGraw will open most shows on the first half of the run, with Howie Day supporting the majority of remaining dates. The tour supports the band's latest Reprise album, "Everything to Everyone".
RIAA BRINGS MORE ACTIONS AGAINST FILE SWAPPERS 24/01/04
The Recording Industry Association of America has filed a further 532 lawsuits against music pirates. Since loosing the appeal in their action against Verizon the RIAA now have to file 'John Doe' suits in the US identifying their alleged downloader by their Internet Protocol address. Once a 'John Doe' suit has been filed, the plaintiffs (RIAA member labels) can subpoena the information necessary to identify the defendant by name.
The RIAA - Verizon case resulted in a decision by the federal appeals court that the subpoena process allowed by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) cannot be used in infringement cases involving peer-to-peer networks in the US. In the UK the British Phonographic Industry have said that they would also now consider taking legal action against the 'worst offending' internet file swappers.
RYAN ADAMS BREAKS OFF TOURING 24/01/04
Ryan Adams has suffered a suspected broken wrist after falling off stage in Liverpool last night (January 22). The singer-songwriter was playing a show at the Liverpool Royal Court when the incident happened.
Fans at the show say Adams fell six feet near the end of his set. He tried to continue, but was unable to because of the pain. He was later taken to the nearby Royal Liverpool Hospital for treatment and members of his band confirmed that he had a broken wrist.
Source:www.nme.com
CUT-PRICE CDS BARRED FROM UK 21/01/04
The recording industry has won an important battle against parallel importing after Hong Kong-based online retailer CD Wow! agreed to stop sourcing CDs from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), in particular from Asia. The move will add 2 to its retail price.
The British Phonographic Industry said on Wednesday that it had settled its legal action with CD Wow!, one of the internet's biggest success stories in the UK with a turnover last year estimated at 100m ($181.7m).
CD Wow! Chairman Philip Robinson has pointed out that it is the consumer who would loose out. The BPI admitted that the CDs imported by CD Wow were genuine products bought from subsidiaries of UK record companies but argued that they had been sold outside of Europe without the consent of the companies.
COKE LAUNCH FLAT 21/01/04
Coke 's launch of its new online download retail service lacked a bit of fizz when its new website failed to operate on the first day of the launch. My Coke Music, which offers more than 250,000 songs from 80p per track, was offline for most of Monday and Tuesday. Coke is aiming to use the site to benefit from the recent growth in online music services, which have been spearheaded by iTunes. The website is powered by Peter Gabriel's company OD2, which is also behind services from Virgin and HMV.
Source:www.bbc.co.uk
SANCTUARY SHINES AGAINST INDUSTRY GLOOM 20/01/04
Sanctuary Group , the UK based music recording, publishing,
mechandising and management group have announced a rise in profits for the
year to September 2003 with profits of £10.3 million on revenues of
152 million. Profits were up 5.2% even against the background of the rise
in internet piracy. The Group predicted strong growth in 2004. Chairman Andy
Taylor added 'piracy is, of course, a problem, but the real
problem with the music industry is the lack of great acts'.
Source; The Times 20/01/04
OASIS SACK DRUMMER 19/01/04
The Noel and Liam Gallagher Show rolls on with another drummer sacked by Oasis. The band say they have asked the drummer Alan White to leave. White joined after original drummer Tony McCarroll was fired before the recording sessions for classic second album 'What's The Story (Morning Glory)' in 1995. White is the closest thing the Gallaghers have to a founder member besides themselves, having played on four albums and numerous tours and festivals. Alan's brother Steve White has ruled himself out as a replacement.
RIAA'S PIRACY PLEA'S FALL ON ISP'S DEAF EARS 19/01/04
Having now lost the critical battle with Internet Service Providers (when Verizon won the right to keep the names and addresses of its subscribers private even if they did download music illegally) the Recording Industry Association of America's plea to ISP's to warn their members of the illegality of downloading has fallen on deaf ears. perhaps not surprisingly, the 50 ISP's written to, who represent the major internet providers in the USA , have all failed to respond to the RIAA.
Education of consumers is now a major part of the recording industry's fight against piracy although many commentators suggest that the ill conceived and badly carried out early policies which originated from the recording industry have done little in real terms and have alientated a hard core of downloaders who will continue to illegally acquire copyrighted material. Commentators also point out that it took a computer company, Apple, to design a successful legal download company.
MYSTIKAL GETS SIX YEAR SENTENCE 19/01/04
Rapper Mystikal was sentenced to six years in prison after he was found guilty of forcing his hair stylist to perform sex acts. He pleaded guilty to sexual battery at the court in Baton Rouge. The victim accused the rapper, born Michael Tyler, and two bodyguards, Leland 'Pokie' Ellis and Vercy 'V' Carter, of forcing her to perform the acts in his apartment in July 2002, after they claimed she had stolen $80,000.
The victim denied she had stolen any money from the rapper. After watching a videotape the men had made during the incident, Judge Tony Marabella said that the woman had been "terrorised". Ellis was sentenced to three years in jail, while Carter received four after the pair also pleaded guilty to the sexual battery charge. Mystikal's 2001 album 'Tarantula' was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2003 Grammy Awards.
Source;www.nme.com
PINK TO ADDS A DASH OF COLOUR WITH EUROPEAN TOUR 19/01/04
Pink has confirmed final details of her forthcoming European tour, which will see her playing 30-dates across the Europe.
Kicking off on February 19th at The Point in Dublin, the same day her new single 'God Is A DJ' is released, the tour will see Pink playing venues in Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and the UK, amongst others, before the final date in Oberhausen, Germany, on April 10th.
German dates include the Arena Hanover and Schleyerhalle Stuttgart followed by two Swiss dates and the Hallenstadion Zurich at the end of February.
More German dates in March include the Festehalle Frankfurt, Olympiahalle Munich, Arena Leipzig and the Maxschmellinghalle Berlin before moving on to Scandanavian dates at the Spectrum Oslo and The Hovet Stockholm. UK dates are at the NEC Arena Birminghan, Wembley Arena London, ManchesterMEN Arena, the Hallam Fm Arena Sheffield and Telewest Arena Newcastle.
EUROKIDS PREFER GAMES TO
MUSIC 19/01/04
European kids spend more time playing games on the Internet than sending e-mails
or downloading music, according to SAFT, the EU-backed body
that monitors and advises on how children use the Internet. SAFT's
conclusion derives from a survey carried out in the five European countries
in which it's active: Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Ireland. In the
Nordic regions, 90 per cent of children aged between nine and 16 play online
games, the survey found, compared to 64 per cent in Ireland. Some 4,700 children
were surveyed between January and March last year. On average the children
asked play online games 2.3 hours per week. Girls play games almost as much
as boys, but boys play more online. Boys favour action, sports and war strategy
titles.
SONG PIRACY UP DESPITE LAWSUITS 18/01/04
Another US study has shown that music fans are still downloading tracks despite the actions of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) in issuing law suits against individuals who download music. The study of over 5000 US households showed increased downloading using both Kazaa and Groskter peer to peer software wit an estimated 12 million Americans using the internet to get free music. However the RIAA and IFPI believe that the worse piracy is now behind them and whilst persistent downloaders are continuing to infringe copyright, the bulk of the general public, employers and academic institutions are now aware of the issues of piracy and illegal downloading.
RIVALS OBJECT TO BMG MERGER PLANS 18/01/04
Rivals of BMG and Sony who plan to merge their recorded music division into a single unit with nearly 30% of the global record market, have objected to the proposal and are lobbying EU officials reports the Times. The report says that representatives of market leader Universal and the independent labels association Impala met with the EU to express concerns over market concentration and the lack choice for consumers as the market shrinks to just four majors. The Sony-BMG merger will also have to satisfy US regulators.
FRANK ZAPPA'S WIDOW REACHES SETTLEMENT IN COPYRIGHT CASE 18/01/04
A Canadian furniture store has apologized to the widow of Frank Zappa, Gail Zappa, for using one of the late musician's signature songs without consent in a television commercial. Ameublements Tanguay issued a letter of apology to the Zappa family, which owns the rights to all Zappa's work. Other terms of the out-of-court settlement which would normally include monetary compensation, were not disclosed. The store had maintained that it had innocently used the music.
JACKSON AND WHITE BOTH ENTER NOT GUILTY PLEAS 18/01/04
HUNDREDS OF ACTS AT SOUTH BY SOUTH WEST 18/01/04
The annual South by South West conference will attract over fifteen thousand participants from the music, film and internet industries in 2004. Held in the Austin Convention Center in Texas between March 17 and 21 SXSW has evolved into a unique global event focused on the creative side of the entertainment business.
Bands featured in 2004 include Liz Phair, Junior Senior, Mission Of Burma, N*E*R*D, The Walkmen, TV On The Radio, Papa Roach, The Thrills, Athlete, Matthew Dear, British Sea Power, Cex, Cooper Temple Clause and The Delgados.
See: www.sxsw.com
UK STARS FOR BARFLY BENEFITS 15/01/04
From 1st - 6th March 2004, an exceptional line up of artists will be playing
gigs in the name of Charity. In aid of Warchild and Shelter, well known artists will return to their roots and play small gigs in the intimate environment of the Barfly venues in Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, York and Birmingham.
To win a pair of tickets, fans will text to enter a competition. Depending on the venue, 200-500 fortunate winners will be notified via their telephones.
Using their Passports, they will gain entry to the exclusive show of their choice. The text messages will raise a significant amount of money, which will go straight to the Charities.
Motivated by the shocking circumstances under which many kids have to live these days, all proceed of Passport will go towards children:
Supported by MTV, AOL and the Daily Mirror, Passport - Back to the Bars aims to bring the fans an opportunity of a lifetime- but more importantly, it aims to use a small effort by an individual to make a big difference in many childrens lives.
The London Barfly will host David Gray, The Darkness, Big Brovas, Craig David and The Cure [pictured] ...
The soon to be opened Barfly Birmingham will present So Solid Crew...
Cardiff will see Supergrass, the Superfurry Animals...
In Glasgow, Travis, Texas will play as part of the line-up...
Liverpool will present Starsailor, The Sugababes, Atomic Kitten...
And York will host Badly Drawn Boy, Gary Numan...
Source:www.thecure.com
HEADLINERS ANNOUNCED FOR COACHELLA 14/01/04
The fifth Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, held on the 1st and 2nd May at the Empire Polo Field, Indio, California will feature Air, Prefuse 73, The Thrills and Electric Six - Billboard.com report. Radiohead and a reunited Pixies are strongly rumored as headlining acts. Last year's event, promoted by Goldenvoice, attracted 68,000 fans.
BRITNEY CHECKS OUT 14/01/04
Britney Spears embarks on a major US tour in March 2004 before moving on to to Canada and the United Kingdom in April with further UK dates in May. The tour is followed by a live slot at the Lisbon's Rock In Rio in Portugal in June. The tour is based around the mythical 'Hotel Onyx' and Britney steps out to promote her latest studio album, "In
the Zone." The Jive album debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 1.6 million copies in the U.S.
AND THE BRIT NOMINATIONS ARE... 13/01/04
The nominations for the annual Brit Awards from the British Phongraphic Industry has given spandex rockers The Darkness and Daniel Bedingfield, the chance of four and three gongs respectivley and includes an outstanding contribution award to Duran Duran. Other nominations include:
Best British Male Solo Artist:
Best British Female Solo Artist:
Best British Album:
Best British Group
Best International Male Solo Artist
Best International Female Solo Artist
Best International Album
Best International Group
Best British Single
Best British Rock Group
Best British Urban
Best British Dance Act
Best British Breakthrough Act
Best International Pop Act
Best International Breakthrough Act
Outstanding Contribution To Music
SONY-BMG MERGER FACES COMPETITION REGULATORS 13/01/04
Germany 's Bertelsmann and Japan's Sony have notified European Union competition authorities of their plans to merge their music businesses. The 50-50 joint venture would create the world's second-largest record label (to Universal), combining the recorded music units of Bertelsmann's BMG and Sony Music and Beyonce Knowles and Bruce Springsteen with Britney Spears and Elvis. The deal excludes music publishing and CD production. The deal needs competition clearance in the United States and Europe.
NAPSTER LAUNCHES PENN STATE UNIVERSITY SERVICE 13/01/04
Napster 's online music service for Penn State students generated about 100,000 downloads or streaming-audio requests three days after its debut. A first in higher education, the service is designed to curb students' use of illegal music sharing and piracy. As the spring semester started, more than 2,600 students had registered for the Napster 2.0 service, which comes free with their tuition.
All 17,000 on-campus resident students are eligible to use it. For a fee, students also can burn music onto compact discs.The school plans to offer the service to all of its 83,000 students this fall. Faculty, staff and alumni will qualify for reduced-price Napster memberships.
BPI TO INVESTIGATE ONLINE CD RETAILERS 09/01/04
The BPI has announced that it is investigating a number of Web retailers, including Amazon.com to determine whether they were breaking the law by selling CDs from overseas rather than product sourced within the European Economic Area in accordance with European laws.
A BPI spokesman said the group recently began looking into whether Amazon, among others, is selling to British consumers CDs obtained from overseas wholesalers and The BPI has already begun lawsuits against two online music retailers CDWow and Play.com arguing that they are able to undercut retailers by sourcing product from cheap overseas suppliers.
LONDON'S DOME FIASCO CONTINUES 09/01/04
The UK public will have to fund the Millennium Dome for three more years even though the facility is passing into provate ownership to be redeveloped as a sports, concert and entertainment arena. The Government has insisted that all costs will be refunded from the sale proceeds and future revenue shares.
SONY TO LAUNCH ONLINE MUSIC SERVICE IN EUROPE 09/01/04
Sony plans to launch a new download service in Europe to compete with the existing service offered by independent OD2 with an initial catalogue of 500,000 songs available for download for a payment of $1. Napster and Apple's i-tunes also plan to launch in Europe in 2004. Sony will also launch hardware to compete with Apple's i-pod.
EMI SHARES RALLY 09/01/04
EMI 's shares jumped nearly 6% yesterday (8 January) as the market digested reports in the US that illegal downloading was declining after recent actions by the Recording Industry Association of America and that Apple's i-Tunes service had sold its 40 millionth download. The company's share price has risen by almost a third since a low twelve motnhs ago.
NORWAY WINS 'WORLD IDOL' TITLE 06/01/04
Kurt Nilsen , winner of Norway's "Pop Idol" competition, took the top honor in the first public-voted "World
Idol" competition with the voice of an angel and, as one judge put it, the face of a hobbit. American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson finished second in the contest an the Uk's Will Young fifth. The Tv show featured a field of 11 international "Idol" winners and voting in all of the 11 territories where the show was screened. ratings in the UK were low at under 5 million.
ILLEGAL FILE-SHARING AND DOWNLOADS SHOW MARKED DROP IN US AFTER RIAA ACTIONS 06/01/04
The percentage of Americans who downloaded music from the Internet fell to 14 percent over the four weeks ended Dec. 14, from 29 percent in a 30-day sample conducted in March, April and May, according to a telephone survey of 1,358 Internet users conducted by the Pew
Internet & American Life Project.
Since September the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed about 400 lawsuits claiming copyright infringement and seeking up to $150,000 per violation. However more than half of the cases have been settled usually for $5,000 or less. Other potential defendants have mounted legal challenges to the lawsuits ranging from mistaken identity to constitutional issues such as privacy rights under the US consitution. It is estimated that the number of downloaders fell to about 18 million people in the winter period from 35 million in the spring. Parents with children at home, students and broadband users showed large drops in downloading. The research showed that the use of peer-to-peer file sharing programs fell significantly in November from the year earlier. The user base of leading platform Kazaa shrank by 15 percent while Grokster's declined 59 percent. However just before Chrismas the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit eliminated a powerful tool used by the RIAA under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 to learn the identities of computer users and sue them for downloading music (see RTC News 21/12/2003).
HONG KONG MOURNS ANITA MAU 02/01/04
The Asian pop world is mourning the death of the Queen of Cantonese pop, Anita Mau, who has died from cancer at the tragically early age of 40. Anita first sang publicly at the age of 18 at the inaugural New Talent Singing Contest in Hong Kong which she won before going on to a successful film and pop career.
During the eighties Anita sold more than 10 million albums and in 1987 she performed live for 28 sucessive nights in Hong Kong. Her 1986 album 'Bad Girl' went platinum eight times. In the early nineties Anita reduced her acting and performing roles but still appeared at a number of charity concerts and took on a quasi management role supporting young asian talent. She died on December 30th.
CORPORATE ROCK BREAKS INTO THE JAPANESE CHARTS 02/01/04
A song written by an employee of a Japanese demolition firm, Nihon Break Kyogo, has entered the Japanese charts at a festive No 22. The song was only released by the firm after they say they were plagued by internet and telephone requests. The song exhorts the listener (originally company employee's) to demolish buildings and is also available as a ringtone with a karaoke release planned to follow. The songs author, Manzo, an aspiring pop singer and lyricist, is now a star on the internet where the track was first heard by the public.
SCOTLAND'S NEW YEARS EVE PARTY A WASH OUT 02/01/04
The December 31st celebrations in Edinburgh were cancelled at the last moment after wind, sleet, snow and high winds forced the organisers to halt the street party and concerts over health and safety concerns. Acts who were due to play live included The Coral and Erasure whose stage roof was in danger of collapsing.
Over 8,000 people had paid 30 each to attend the Princes Street Gardens Concert. Over 50,000 people were thought to have travelled to the city. Organisers are left with unused fireworks worth 100,000 and the Local Authority with a large bill. Elsewhere London, Moscow and Sydney all enjoyed succesful outdoor celebrations to see in the New Year.
BRANSON TO BID FOR VIRGIN? 02/01/04
A number of UK publications including the Sunday Observer and The Scotsman reported that Richard Branson had made an approach to EMI chairman Eric Nicoli in November to buy back Virgin Records, which launched Branson's sprawling business empire in 1973 in order to merge this with his successful small music label V2, whose artist roster includes White Stripes, Moby and the Stereophonics.
It has been reported that Branson would plan to build on such a successful merger, by trying to snap up some other smaller record labels. These could include Sanctuary, the music group behind Ozzy Osbourne, and Epitaph, which specialises in punk and rock artists. However the approach was made at the time when EMI was unsuccessfully trying to buy Warner Music and may have needed to sell Virgin to allay competition regulators fears and it is difficult to see the logic for EMI now.