PLAYLOUDER SIGN UP EMI TO NEW BUSINESS MODEL 29/03/07
Playlouder MSP and EMI Music UK today announced a deal to make available music from EMI’s extensive catalogue via Playlouder's bundled subscription and ISP service. Playlouder MSP subscribers will be able to access and share DRM protected music as part of a single monthly subscription fee. In return Playlouder MSP will share the subscription fees with EMI Music UK. As well as receiving all the standard broadband services (such as fast internet access and email), Playlouder MSP customers are also able to enjoy the unlimited legal subscription of music and can freely share licensed and DRM protected music with other Playlouder MSP subscribers for no extra cost. The EMI licence follows agreements with Sony BMG, the Association of Independent Music (AIM), which represents more than 800 UK indies, leading US indies including Nettwerk and Epitaph, and MCPS-PRS, the UK collection society representing the music publishers.

GLASTO ON FOR NEXT 4 YEARS AT UPPED 177,500 CAPACITY 29/03/07
Glastonbury has secured a new four-year licence, starting this year. It has also been granted an increased capacity from 150,000 to 177,500.  And whilst on UK fetsivals, the Mean Fiddler, the organsiers of Reading/Leeds festival are hosting a series of fan forums on the future of the music festival. They take place in Sheffield (24th April), Leeds (25th April) and Oxford (9th May).

NEW APPOINTMENTS AT LIVE NATION 27/03/07
Live Nation have announced a number of senior appointments. Kevin Morrow is named SVP of club and theater programming; Ben Weeden moves up to SVP of arena and amphitheater programming; Ryan McElrath becomes VP of arena and amphitheater programming; and David Pennington becomes director of finance for national touring:
www.billboard.biz

SNOOP AND P DIDDY UK TOUR CANCELLED 27/03/07
P Diddy and Snoop Dog's UK tour has been cancelled after Snoop was refused a visa to enter the UK. UK officials refused Snoop a visa in relation to that fracas at Heathrow airport last year, when the hip hop star was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and affray. Arcade Fire have also had to canmcel the remainder of their European tour due to
singer Win Butler's health troubles. Butler has apparently been suffering from sinus and bronchial problems for the last three months, and has been trying to continue despite the advice of doctors. But Church leaders in Trinidad & Tobago have failed to have Elton John's performance at Tobago's Plymouth Jazz Festival in April stopped. The Republic's House Of Assembly has dismissed concerns about Elton's sexuality and the performance will go ahead.

EC DELAY SONY BMG DECISION 26/03/07
The European Commission has temporarily halted its competition (antitrust) investigation into the Sony BMG merger which came about after the European Court Justice annulled the EC's original approval.  It states that Sony and Bertelsmann must submit the "complete and accurate information" that has been requested of them, meaning the re-examination of the 2004 merger (now based on current market conditions) could be delayed by two weeks. It's original deadline for a decision was 2nd July. The two companies could face significant fines if they do not submit the requested information within the extended timeframe.

UK LICENSING ACT A WASTE OF TIME? 16/03/07
The Stage reports that Feargal Sharkey is to tell the government that the Licensing Act has failed to deliver the “explosion” in live music promised by ministers, and has in fact made no difference whatsoever to the UK music scene. The Stage says that the report by the Live Music Forum, is expected to, in effect, call for a return to the days when smaller gigs did not require licensing - perhaps with an exemption for “incidental” music or an exemption for venues of 100 capacity or less. The Forum's vewi, based on surveys by pollsters MORI and from the Musicians Union, says that whilst there seems to have bee no noticeable change in the live music scheme, 7% of small venues had stopped promoting music - hardly unexpected as Government ministers were warned of this when the Act was passed and then chose to ignore the lobbying by groups such as the Musicians Union. MU General Secretary John Smith told The Stage that the Act was a disspointment and that " Kim Howells, Richard Caborn and James Purnell all promised me, face to face, that it would be good for live music". There is good news -  60% of smaller venues had now been licensed for live music, but in contrast to this was the wide ranging anecdotal evidence on the effect of crippling licensing conditions from certain local authorities, a reaction to the bureaucracy to the act and a collapse in the promotion of music at the grass roots level in small venues.

YOUTUBE FACE FACE MASSIVE COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT 14/03/07
Media giant Viacom (parent company of MTV and Paramount) is seeking $1B in compensation against YouTube, claiming that 160,000 unauthorised clips have been uploaded and watched over 1.5B times on the video-sharing service. It is also seeking an injunction to prevent YouTube users from illegally uploading any more of its content. Viacom has alleged that YouTube has failed to implement sufficient filtering safeguards and that negotiations were "unproductive". The legal battle is now moving up a gear as Viacom accuses YouTube of increasing user traffic and upping ad revenues as a result of the use "unlicensed content [which] is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws". YouTube is now owned by Google.

UNIVERSAL PROFITS UP 08/03/07
Universal Music  has reported that its Q4 earnings dropped slightly, but its overall 2006 numbers were up. Its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) figures for the full year were E744M, which is a 9.3% jump from 2005 Five Eight magazine reports.  For the final quarter of the year EBITDA figures slipped slightly (1.5%) to E311M. The massive international success of albums by acts such as Snow Patrol, The Killers, Nelly Furtado and U2 - alongside higher sales, higher margins and legal settlements - were behind the full-year upturn. Universal's parent company Vivendi posted an 18% rise in adjusted full-year net profits. The figures (E2.6B) were in line with expectations.

HENDRIX COMPANY SUE OVER VODKA BRAND 08/03/07
The family of Jimi Hendrix have filed a lawsuit against a Seattle company who have been marketing Hendrix Electric Vodka. Janie Hendrix, CEO of the late guitar legend estate's company Experience Hendrix, has called the drinks, which come with Hendrix's face and signature on the packaging, a "sick joke" given that her brother's death was tied to alcohol consumption.

IRISH COURT CALLS FOR EMINEM EVIDENCE 08/03/07
An Irish court  has requested that Eminem give evidence to a US Judge for use back in Dublin as part of the long running legal action by concert promoter MCD in relation to a concert the rapper was due to headline in September 2005, but which was cancelled when he pulled out of his touring commitments because of "exhaustion".  MCD are suing three British insurance companies who they claim have failed to meet their commitments to cover the promoter's costs of E1.5 million (£1 million) relating to the cancelled concert, which was due to be staged at Slane Castle.

GLASTONBURY PRE-REGISTRATION CLOSES AT 395,000 07/03/07
395,000 people have registered for Glastonbury Festival's - using the post and the internet - all now in a lottery for 145,000 tickets. Glastonbury's latest initiative to combat ticket touts means that anyone wanting to buy tickets for this year's event had to register with the festival last month, supplying contact information and a photo of themselves. When tickets go on sale next month anyone registered will be able to buy up to four tickets via the ticket hotline or website, but each ticket must be assigned to someone who has registered. Photos will appear on the tickets themselves to (hopefully!) stop tickets being sold on internet aucton sites.

IFPI SUES YAHOO! CHINA 07/03/07
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has confirmed it is suing Yahoo! China for copyright infringement based on the search engine's practice of providing links to unlicensed music download site. IFPI's Asia Regional Director Leong May-Seey has confirmed that Beijing 's Intermediate Court has accepted the case, being brought against the web firm by eleven music companies, including all of the majors. It is worth noting that the IFPI is taking the action against Yahoo! China despite ultimately losing a similar previously reported case against China 's leading search engine Baidu last year. While the Chinese courts initially ordered Baidu to pay compensation to EMI for its MP3 search service which provided links to illegal sources of music, an appeal hearing in November overruled that decision ruling that Baidu could not be held liable for any copyright violation because it did not, itself, host any of the unlicensed content, it merely linked to the illegal sites.

HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS FREE TO RECORD FOR EMI 07/03/07
CMU Daily repotrs that Emo rockers Hawthorne Heights have secured a rare win in their ongoing legal tussle with their record label, US independent Victory Recprds. Hawthorne Heights are trying to get out of their recording contract with the independent claiming, among other things,
that Victory used "tactics" and "scheming" that damaged the band's reputation and their fan relationships, and that the label acted fraudulently in financial reporting to the band, and that as a result the band should no longer be committed to recording for the indie (The Judge didn't rule on this matter saying more evidence would be needed). The band have also
claimed that the copyright on their first two albums should revert to them (again, no judgment here). Victory countersued alleging amongst other things that EMI had interferred with a binding agreement they had with the band and last year a US court ruled that the Victory recording contract stood. However a Chicago judge has ruled that the band's relationship with the independent is not exclusive because their contract does not include an exclusivity
clause. That means that whilst still committed to provide recordings for Victory there appears is nothing to stop the band also signing another contract with EMI and releasing albums via the major.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT WANTS EU LAW FOR ONLINE MUSIC 03/03/07
MEPs have called on the European Commission to come up with binding legislation for the online music market to ensure European cultural diversity in the music sector. Deputies in the European Parliament's legal affairs committee voted in favour of an own-initiative report by Hungarian socialist MEP Katalin Levai on the cross border management of copyright for online music services, criticising the EU executive's non-binding recommendation put forward in 2005. The MEPs in the committee instead want an EU law to be proposed under the co-decision procedure – meaning that both member states and the parliament are involved in shaping the law. At present thew EC has focused on competition issues when looking at the music industry - MEPs think culture needs to be considered too. "This new proposal should guarantee the protection of EU cultural diversity and safeguard small artists and local repertoires," the committee said in a statement after the vote.

JARVIS COCKER APPOINTED CURATOR OF THE SOUTHBANK MELTDOWN 2007 AND THE BARBICAN ANNOUNCES 12TH 'GREAT PERFORMERS' 03/03/07
London's Southbank Centre has announced that Jarvis Cocker, one of the UK’s best-loved rock stars and cultural figures, is the Artistic FDirector of the annual Meltdown festival. The speccy icon, and latter-day pop sage has been given the opportunity to curate his very own festival of events to be staged across the venues and spaces of London’s Southbank Centre between 16-24 June. At the Barbican, Robert van Leer, Head of Music, has announced a stunning array of concerts and festivals for the 12th Great Performers season, 2007-2008. The Barbican is at the forefront of commissioning and producing new work with international partners and this season there are four major co-commissions, including a new opera by John Adams, Mark Morris’ Mozart Dances, an oratorio by Kaija Saariaho and a new work by Philip Glass based on poems by Leonard Cohen for his 70th birthday. In total, there will be 11 premieres

CANADA MUSIC WEEK - LEAVE NOW - GET BACK IN TIME FOR THE ILMC 03/03/07
If you rush and get a ticket now - you can get to the Canadian Music Week and back before the ILMC starts - well nearly. Between March 7th and Matrch 10th over 600 bands will be featured at some 44 live music venues in downtown Toronto alongside what is sure to be a heated debate over illegal downloading in Canada. Rather like the USA, there is growing concern about the actions of the majors and the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association of America) who recentlY described the Canadian economy as a, "marketplace that has been infiltrated by counterfeits and pirated goods, endangering consumers and compromising our prosperity". But on hand to comment on the situation are Canadian law expert and commentator professor Michael Geist and Netwerk Music's Terry McBride in what promises to be a fascinating review of Canad's music scene in the last year and where its going in 2007.

http://www.cmw.net/cmw2007/index.asp

MINISTRY LIVID AT IMPALA DEAL WITH WARNERS 02/03/07
News is seeping out that a number of UK independent labels includng Ministry of Sound are furious with their own trade association, AIM, for allowing the European indie label group  IMPALA to sign a settlement with Warners which seems to say that the indies will not oppose any attempts by Warners to merge with EMI in return for conessions made to indie labels. Those who attended a meeting with Warners appear to be bound by the terms of a somewhat draconian Non Disclosure Agreement preventing any terms being revealed. At the same time, EC regulators have said they will now take a full look at the Sony - BMG merger - their original approval was annulled by the European Court of Justice - after a case brought by IMAPLA! The exercise is expected to take four months with a new date for reporting of July 4th 2007.

LIVE NATION REVENUES UP 02/03/07
CMU Daily report that Live Nation has announced fourth quarter revenues for 2006 were up 39.8% on 2005 - up $299.7 million to $1.05 billion - though the company still recorded an overall loss of $33.1 million for the period. Those figures mean that in its first year of trading as an independent entity  apart from the Clear Channel media company, the live music conglom saw full  year revenues rise from $2.94 million to $3.96 million, but with overall losses of $31.4 million.