News archive items listed by month below (click here).
AIM OPPOSES WARNERS-EMI 'MERGER' 30/06/06
Alison Wenham, Chief Executive of AIM, the near 1000 strong association of independent labels in the UK, has told members at their annual AGM that the Association is fundamentally opposed to the new EMI-Warners tie up. Whilst both EMI and Warners are bidding to buy each others business, Wenham pointed out that if the popsed unification takes place, 75% of all worldwide recorded music copyrights would be owned by just three companies. Wenham pointed out that in no other industry would this be tolerated (pointing out the impossibility of three film companies globally - three TV broadcasters worldwide, three publishers globally or even just three political parties in the world) and that the concetration of copyrights could cause major damage to the music industry infrastructure. Saying that the summer of 2006 would be a critical time for the music industry Wenham, also added that the IMPALA court action against the Sony-BMG merger was still pending before the European Court of Justice. Wenham said that the Association was looking for fundamentally different business models to the majors which didn't rely on digital rights management (DRM) policies, copyright levies or litigation against consumers. Set against a backgrond of a 18% decline in sales in five years in the record industry, Wenham also commented on the recent Europe wide lobby to extend the copyright in sound recordings from 50 years to 95 years. Broadly accepting the move, Wenham added the rider that both artists as the creators of music and consumers as customers should be involed. Wenham said that that AIM was looking to develop a new stautory definition of copyright where a Digital Value Recognition Right replaced the current negative restrictive (protective) rights in copyright (the s16 restricted acts in the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988) allowing copyright owners to be rewarded for the commercial use of their work by business users, for example, internet service providers and mobile phone companies, without the need to litigate. Pointing out that technological changes were accelerating and that AIM did not support the BPI's refusal to accept certain basic unrestricted rights for consumers, AIM will launch the new copyright concept at a round table meeting with the Department of Culture Media & Sport and other interested parties mid July. AIM is now a member of the 23 nation indie labels association, the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN).
WOODSTOCK LEGACY OPENS 30/06/06
The spirit of Woodstock lives on with the opening of the $70M Bethel Woods Center for the Arts close to the legendary festival site.
SURVEY SHOWS GENDER IMBALANCE IN UK MUSIC INDUSTRY 30/06/06
Speaking at the Association of Independent Music AGM at London Calling on the 29th June 2006, AIM Chief Executive Alison Wenhan announced the results of an AIM sponsored survey of theUK music industry which showed that 96% of all employees where white and 67% male. Commenting that all nine candidtates for the elections for the AIM board were male, Wenham asked for more women candidates to put their names forward in future years.
AXL ROSE HELD IN STOCKHOLM 27/06/06
Guns 'n' Roses front man Axl Rose is being held in custody in Sweden today (27 June) after 08.00 incident in his hotel. The singer allegedly attacked hotel security staff and bit one guard. Rose, who performed in the Swedish capital Stockholm last night, was being held on suspicion of attacking and threatening the guard, as well as causing damage to the Berns Hotel where the alleged scuffle took place according to a police spokeswoman.
SANCTUARY'S WOES STILL NOT OVER 26/06/06
Sanctuary has admitted troubled times are still not over for the group behind Alison Moyet, Iron Maiden and Morrissey as it continues to pay the price for a costly acquisition spree including the disasterous Urban records division. Shares in the world's biggest independent music company tumbled 40% to just 23.25p yesterday after a newly appointed management team warned that trading at the records division would be worse than previously thought. In an unscheduled statement to the stock market, Sanctuary's chief executive, Frank Presland, said new management had discovered that the Recorded Product division was underperforming and that non-core asset sales would take longer than previously hoped. The poorer records performance meant the Group would post a loss for thr year. The planned payout to sacked former boss Andy Taylor, estimated at £640,000, is also said to be in doubt.
MARTIN-SMITH NOT WILLING TO TAKE THAT QUIETLY 26/06/06
Take That's former manager has spoken out to the Sunday Mirror of his fury at being dumped by the band just days after he masterminded their multimillion-pound comeback. Nigel Martin-Smith, who guided the band to more than 10 million record sales in the Nineties and reunited them last year told the paper "I can't believe how I've been treated after everything I've done" The four band members, Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald and Jason Orange - who are coming to the end of a hugely successful comeback tour - fired Mr Martin-Smith just days after the screening of an ITV1 documentary he had co-produced last year. Last night Mr Martin-Smith - who has been at odds with former Take That star Robbie Williams for years after the singer labelled him the "spawn of Satan" - said: "I'm under a gagging clause so I can't say too much until the end of the tour". Rumours are also circulating about another reunion - this time the Spice Girls - reuniting for the next Children In Need charity single.
MADONNA'S TICKETS STALL IN UK? 26/06/06
Tickets for Madonna's shows at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff have stalled according to the Sun newspaper. The paper admits that London shows at Wembley Arena have sold well but says that high ticket prices are keeping fans away from the Welsh capital.
MYSPACE CHANGES MUSIC RULES 26/06/06
After singer-songwriter Billy Bragg removed all of his music from MySpace.com after reading the website's small print, the website has agreed to change its terms and conditions to favour artists. Bragg objected to the site's ownership clause, giving MySpace control over all tracks on the site with no obligation to account to artists for commercial use. MySpace is now owned by News International.
LONDON TICKET TOUT FINED £9000 23/06/06
A London ticket tout has been fined £9,000 after he admitted six charges at London's Marylebone Magistrates Court. Clive Moss, 51, traded as Albany Tickets from a doorway kiosk in London's Liecester Square. Mr Moss was also ordered to pay £8,780 in costs. Moss sold tickets for West End shows with up to 500% mark ups on the face value of the ticket.
THE TROUBLE WITH PETE 23/06/06
Pete Doherty has announced a new £150,000 book deal - the Babyshambles and ex Libertines singer is writing up his diaries, poems, drawings, lyrics and personal reflections. But Pete then failed to turn up at the launch party for the book in a North London pub on the 21st June - he was due to recite poetry. It may be because the singer is now car-less - Doherty's Jaguar was towed away as he had over £3000 in unpaid parking fines.
IDOL TOPS US CHARTS 23/06/06
Season five American Idol winner Taylor Hicks first single, "Do I Make You Proud" has ended up on top of the Billboard Hot 100 this week. Hick's moved 190,000 physical singles and another 38,000 digital downloads of the track. Three of the prior four "Idol" winners have made the Hot 100 - Carrie Underwood, Fantasia and Kelly Clarkson.
KYLIE'S BACK 23/06/06
Kylie Minogue will resume her 20-date Australian leg of her Showgirl tour in November, Frontier Touring have said. The London-based, Australian-born singer cancelled the tour on May 17, 2005, after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Patrons were asked to hold on to their tickets. The rescheduled set of dates, now titled the Showgirl Homecoming tour, begin November 11th at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. The tour will conclude December 17th at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena. Frontiers' Michael Gudinski said Minogue's health was on the up. "I spent the weekend with Kylie. She's looking great. She's definitely through the worst of everything". Everyone at the ILMC really really hopes so - luv u Kylie!
MOBILES OFFER HOPE TO LABELS IN CHINA 23/06/06
PwC projects the Chinese media and entertainment industry will grow at an average rate of 18% from 2006 to 2010 (equalling $137.4B) but that recorded music will only grow 2.3% over the same period. However mobile is being hailed as the 'great saviour' for the record labels in China - as sales of tracks to mobiles will become the norm. At present China is seen as a major piracy promblem for films and music and in 2005 the IFPI reported that the pirate music market in China was worth $400M (a 90% piracy rate). However the two leading mobile operators in China having 421 million subscribers between them out of a population of 1.3 billion offering new hope to legal sales of music.
UK ARTS MINISTER ISSUES GUIDANCE ON LICENSING 23/06/06
The recently appomnted UK Arts Minister Shaun Woodward has called on local authorities to ensure that their local music scene prospers under the new licensing laws. In a new guidance, local authorities are asked to place only proportionate conditions on live venues and to consult local musicians and venue owners regularly, monitor the impact of the new licensing laws on live music and regulalry review licensing policies to promote live music. The guidance also offers further advice and clarification for councils and police on a range of issues surrounding the 2003 Licensing Act. The guidance states that Councils should ask landlords for advice when drawing up their late night transport plans, as they know the habits of their customers best. Secondly, local residents and police do not need to produce a catalogue of evidence when they ask for a review of a licence. Thirdly the minister has made it clear that personal licence holders do not need to be on the premises at all times to supervise sales of alcohol - they can authorise someone else to be in charge. This had been an area of contention with one pub in Yorkshire threatened with a closure order by police - forcing the the landlady to cut short a holiday in Spain. Pointing out the importance of groundroots venues to the development of bands, Live Music Forum Chair Feargal Sharkey emphasised the economic importance of music to commuities saying "music fans don't just go to a gig, have a pint and go home. They might go to a bar first, have a meal or get a taxi. That's all good news for the local economy. The full revised Guidance will be published for consultation in the summer. In a busy week for the Department of Culturev Media and Sport The Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, has also announced a new £12 million initiative to promote excellent in management in the cultural industries.
NEW MARKETS, NEW MODELS 20/06/06
In the UK, Universal has announced a tie up with Channel 4 to bid for new digital radio licences. The label is hoping to become a 'strategic partner' with C4 and to develop opportunities to promote its artists on any stations C4 launches. The label developed a 'fly on the wall' TV series featuring Girls Aloud this year for Channel 4 sister TV station E4. in China Warner Music has forged a groundbreaking union to distribute its digitalised catalogue to users of mobile operator China Unicom, which claims to be the third largest such company in the world. Warner Music will make available recordings as master ringtones and ringback tones, and will offer artist greetings featuring its acts via China Unicom's CDMA and GSM networks. According to a statement from Warner, its artists will receive "significant marketing support" across China Unicom's network, through SMS marketing, menu listing, a dedicated Warner Music zone and cross-selling links on WAP sites.
MUSIC TANK TACKLES LIVE! 20/06/06
Music Tank have announced a new event in london titled the Great Gig Grab on July 11th at Bertorelli’s in Frith Street in London's Soho.
All places MUST be booked and paid for in advance via http://www.musictank.co.uk
EMI SETTLE PAYOLA CLAIMS 16/06/06
New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer has said that EMI Music North America has settled a pay-for-play probe into radio air time involving artists sych as Norah Jones, Coldplay and Rolling Stones. In a statement, Spitzer declared that, "When a record label engages in an elaborate scheme to purchase air time for its artists, it violates state and federal law and presents consumers with a skewed picture of the country's proclaimed 'best' and 'most popular' music" He added that payola smites struggling artists, who aren't being judged on their talents. EMI agreed to pay $3.75 million to a music charity. In its own statement, which neither confirmed nor denied Spitzer's allegations, the music label said, "EMI is pleased to have resolved these radio promotion matters with the New York State Attorney General with this agreement." It added, "In addition to voluntarily adopting strict policies last year, we have been working cooperatively with the attorney general to reinforce these policies." The reported settlement is the latest victory stemming from Spitzer's two-year probe. During the course of his payola crackdown, several settlements were reached including Sony who agreed to pay $10 million, Warner Music Group agreed to a $5 million settlement and in May Vivendi owned Universal Music Group, agreed to pay $12 million to settle allegations that bribes and gifts were used to gain airplay for tracks.
ANOTHER STATE PROTECTS HERITAGE ACTS 16/06/06
The Governor of Illinois, Govenor Blagojevich, has signed legislation to stop copycat musical groups from performing as original artists. The new law was promoted by original Supreme Mary Wilson, who traveled to Springfield last spring to push the "Truth in Music" legislation designed to crack down on musical imitators. Under the measure, which was part of a nationwide push by Wilson, performers using the name, music or personalities of another group have to describe their acts in advertising and promotions as a 'salute' or tribute band or risk civil penalties of up to $50,000. Groups are exempt from the law if at least one original member is performing. "If you're sold a ticket to see the Supremes, you should see the Supremes," Blagojevich said. "Unfortunately, that isn't always the case. But hopefully this new law will stop that from happening". In February 2006 former Sha Na Na lead singer Jon “Bowzer” Bauman introduced the bill in Connecticut.
NEW PAPERS ON FILE SWAPPING 16/06/06
The Journal of Law and Economics has pubished a number of papers addressing the battle between copyright owners and copying technologies. Together, these essays by some of the leading researchers working in the field offer new perspectives on the economic and social impact of sharing sound recordings over the Internet, including a groundbreaking analysis of the impact of well-publicized legal threats against individual file sharers. Of particular note is an exploration by Rafael Rob and Joel Waldfogel (University of Pennsylvania) of the sales displacement induced by downloading, incorporating consumer valuation in dollar terms of purchased albums vs. downloaded music. In a sample of college students at four U.S. colleges, the researchers found that downloading reduces per capita expenditures by $25, but increases the amount of music each individual consumes by the equivalent of $70. Thus, among their sample group, $45 worth of music – three albums – would have otherwise been forgone. "While perhaps paradoxical to the law-abiding citizen, illegal downloading may actually alleviate the monopoly deadweight-loss problem" write Rob and Waldfogel. "Indeed, downloading allows consumers to engage in a crude "do-it-yourself" form of price discrimination." Other articles inclide Stan L. Liebowitz on "File Sharing: Creative Destruction or Just Plain Destruction?", Alejandro Zentner "Measuring the Effect of File Sharing on Music Purchases" and Sudip Bhattacharjee, et al. "Impact of Legal Threats on Online Music Sharing Activity: An Analysis of Music Industry Legal Actions"
US MOBILE MARKET TO EXPLODE 16/06/06
The market for over-the-air (OTA) downloads to mobile phones will be worth staggering $1B by 2010 in the US. These latest predictions come from Boston-based research company IDC who says over 50M people will use OTA services and that the growth in both revenues and users will challenge the dominance of online by the end of the decade. The IDC survey found that 22% of respondents would buy a track from their network within three months of being available while 8% of those aged 25-44 would buy four or more tracks. The market for OTA hinges entirely on compatible handsets going mainstream and offering a real alternative to the iPod. IDC suggests that 60% of handsets shipped in the US by 2010 will be music-enabled.
NORWAY TAKES A BITE OUT OF APPLE 11/06/06
Norwegian consumers were already up in arms about iTunes' digital rights management (DRM) system and the lack of interoperability between Apple and other platforms. But then some brave Norwegian souls read the iTune’s end user licence agreement (EULA). The Norwegian Consumer Council called the EULA "grossly unreasonable" pointing out that (amongst other complaints) it required Norwegian consumers to consent to English law while the music store reserves the ability to change the rights to the downloaded music even while disclaiming all liability for possible damage their software may cause. The Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman ruled that certain of Apple’s terms were illegal under Norwegian law and the Company has been given to June 21st to amend its rules. The company has also been told that it must defend its DRM system, Fairplay, which restricts downloaded songs to being played on the consumer’s iPod.
UK BAR FINGERPRINTS CLUBBERS 08/06/06
In a move to stamp out trouble and bad behaviour, a high-tech fingerprint security system is being insalled in the Black Sheep nightclub in Croydon, Surrey. Patrons will need to give their fingerprint, name, address and age before entry. The data and any incidents of anti-social behaviour, drug taking and violence will be logged onto a computer system. However similar moves in Canada have fallen foul of privacy laws - in the UK both issues of privacy and data protection could become potential problems for the club's system. Last year the Alberta Privacy Commissioner found that the scanning of patrons’ identification at the door of a nightclub violated the province’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). The Commissioner found that the owner of the nightclub failed to demonstrate that the collection of personal information would address this issue of criminal behaviour in clubs. In the same province, The Director the Alberta Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner also held that two tyre retail companies who took details of driving licences on the grounds this would deter fraud when customers returned goods were in breach of PIPA. In the USA a car hire firm was hauled up before the courts for using an onboard cimpoter system to track customers to see if they were speeding in hired cats. The UK's Data Protection Act 1998 includes the provision that data must be collected lawfully and fairly, held only for specified and lawful purposes, kept no longer than necessary and that data must be accurate and properly updated. The data held also has to be adequate, relevant and not excessive. On top of this all citizens have a right to privacy under article 8 of the the UK's Human Rights Act 1998 which may presxent problems for the new security system.
T IN THE PARK WINS RIGHT TO BLOCK FREE ACCESS 08/06/06
The organisers of T in the Park have won a ruling to close a loophole which would have let any member of the public enter the festival site free of charge. Recent changes in the law meant the public would have had the right to freely enter the Festival site. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 was designed to protect the right-to-roam for ramblers - but a side effect was that the freedom to roam could have led to chaotic scenes at the Kinross site with fans demanding free entry. However backed by the Scottish Executive, Perth and Kinross Council issued an order to make the site exempt from the law from June 19 until July 16 "in the interests of safety and security." The Festival contributes approximately £17 million (E24 million) to the local economy according to recent reports.
MEAT WANTS HIS BAT BACK 08/06/06
Meatloaf is taking legal action against long term collaborator Jim Stienman to secure the use of the name 'Bat Out of Hell. The two collaborated on Bat Out of Hell I and Bat Out of Hell II - Back To Hell and they albums have sold over 50 million copies worldwide. But it is Stienman's company, Bat Out of Hell Inc, which owns almost all of the trademarks for the name in the US. The singer has one US trademark for the name in connection with CDs and DVDs only and has applied for a European Community Trade Mark.
BPI TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST ALL OF MP3.COM 08/06/06
The BPI have said that they will begin proceedings against AllofMP3.com, the hugely popular Russian seller of music downloads. The BPI says that the site is illegal. AllofMP3.com undercuts iTunes by enormous margins, was accused today of paying nothing to artists. But the website claims everything on the site is licensed by the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR). Site owner MediaServices says that it pays licence fees "subject to the Law of the
WIRELESS MOBILE TICKETS TAKE OFF 08/06/06
Over £100,000 of mobile tickets were sold in the first week for the O2 Wireless Festival in London and Leeds later this month. This is the first time mobile tickets have been used for an event of this scale in the UK. O2 customers can also gain access to the exclusive Blue Room at the events by texting the oreganisers
T
IN THE PARK CLAWS BACK TICKETS IN ANTI-TOUTING MOVE AS UK
GOVERNMENT LOOKS AT NEW TICKETING CODE 02/06/06
Organisers of the T in the Park festival are releasing 12,000
extra tickets for sale after a successful anti-touting operation and
an increased capacity. Some of the tickets are cancelled sales after customers
flouted a two-ticket-per-person rule. Event operator Big Day Out has
also been given permission to increase capacity at the Perthshire venue with
a daily capacity of 75,000 music fans each day. Also in the UK the Government
and the ticketing industry are close to finalising a code of practice designed
to limit the effectiveness of ticket touts. The code of practice is an
attempt to tighten the law on the resale of tickets for cultural and sporting
events making touting illegal. Key proposals likely to make up the code
include a limit on the number of tickets that can be sold in a single transaction,
the creation of a blacklist of known touts and the banning of the sale of 'futures' (the
sale of tickets to events that have not been formally scheduled). A recent
series of 'summits' have taken place representatives from the Department
of Culture Media & Sport (DCMS,) Ticketmaster, Clear
Channel Entertainment, the Society of Theatre Agents and Retailers (STAR)
and various sports and music promoters. The DCMS has announced that, assuming
the code of practice is adopted by the industry in July, a review of it will
be conducted next year to examine its effectiveness. It is likely that the overall
set of principles for primary and secondary ticket selling will be supported
by sector specific codes of conduct. Only the resale of football tickets is illegal
in the UK although new legislation with govern the sale of tickets for the 2012 Olympic
Games in London.
PIRATE
BAY SHUT DOWN BY SWEDISH AUTHORITIES 02/06/06
Pirate
Bay, a major file-sharing site,
has been shut down by Swedish police, and
three individuals affiliated with the site were taken
in for questioning on suspicion of infringement
of copyright law and/or abetting others in infringement
of copyright law. John Kennedy,
chairman & CEO of the International Federation
of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) said that the
Pirate Bay network was the world's largest search index
using the vastly popular BitTorrent software,
which allows for easy (but illegal) downloads of movies
and music. From July 1st 2005 Sweden amended its
copyright laws to specifically make the unauthorised
downloading of copyright material an infringement. Previously
whilst it was prohibited in Sweden to make copyright
material available for others to download, downloading
itself was legal. Sweden does not forbid making
a copy of a CD or DVD for personal use but there is
a 24% tax on recordable CDs and DVDs. http://www.musiclawupdates.com/05Julylawupdates.htm
TOP
JOBS SHUFFLE AT SONY-BMG 02/06/06
Two top executives have resigned from Sony BMG in the wake
of the recent shake-up by new CE, Rolf Schmidt-Holtz. Don
Ienner (chairman/CEO of the US Sony Music label group) and Michele
Anthony (president/COO) . Sony BMG also announced that Rob
Stringer (chairman and CE of its UK business) would take over as president
of Sony Music US from 1st September. Until then, the unit
will report to Tim Bowen, Sony BMG's COO.
THE
GREATEST ALBUMS EVER, MAYBE, DEFINATELY, ERMM, WHATEVER
02/06/06
40,000
music fans who voted for best album ever in the Guiness
Book of British Hit Singles and
Albums have put Oasis's 1994 Definately,
Maybe as their all time number one. The
Beatles get the number two and number three
slots with Sgt Pepper and Revolver whilst Radiohead pick
up fourth place for OK Computer.
At five is another Oasis album, What's The
Story (Morning Glory), Nirvana get six
with Nevermind, The Stone
Roses seven with Stone Roses, Pink
Floyd eigth with the gigantic Dark
Side of The Moon, The Smiths are
at nine with The Queen is Dead and Radiohead tenth
for The Bends. The
Joshua Tree (U2), London Calling (The
Clash), The White Album (The Beatles), Abbey
Road (The Beatles), Up The Bracket (The
Libertines), Never Mind The Bollocks (The Sex
Pistols), Four Symbols (Led Zepplin), The
Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from
Mars (David Bowie), A Night At The Opera (Queen) and Is
This It (The Strokes) complete the top
twenty.
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