Friday 27 February 2009, 11:40 | By

Isle Of Man speaks to Playlouder about blanket licence system

Business News Digital

London-based Playlouder MSP has confirmed it has been talking to the e-business division of the Isle Of Man about their plans to introduce a system whereby the music industry grants a blanket licence to all web-users for all their music, with a levy charged on each islander’s monthly ISP subscription to compensate content owners.

Such a system would mean, in theory, that the use of P2P file sharing networks would become legal on the island because all content shared would be covered by the blanket licence.

The Isle Of Man announced its intention to pilot such a blanket licensing system last month, and the boss of Playlouder has confirmed he has spoken to officials there about their plans.

Playlouder has been advocating the blanket licence/ISP levy system for years, and has been in talks with various net firms about launching a premium internet package which includes a music levy which is redistributed to labels and publishers and which legitimises any P2P file sharing activity customers of that package participate in. Most recently Playlouder was known to be working with Virgin Media on such a proposal.

The problem, though, remains the major record companies. Although some in the industry, including some major label execs, see such a blanket licence levy system as being the long term future of online music, some at the majors still worry about the impact such as system will have on short term revenues, and in particular on the increasingly vital digital revenues that come in from a-la-carte download services like iTunes and licensed on-demand streaming services like YouTube and Spotify.

Others worry that introducing such a system via premium services with one or another ISP – rather than across the board – would confuse consumers and imply that P2P file sharing across the board was now legitimised.

There are also concerns as to how money generated by the levy would be distributed to labels, publishers, artists and songwriters. All of which means that Playlouder have struggled to get all the majors on board, and that reportedly hindered the Virgin Media proposals.

Confirming he had spoken to the Isle Of Man’s Inward Investment Manger, Ron Berry, the boss of Playlouder, Paul Hitchman, gave Billboard his opinions on the island’s proposals, saying: “I think it has potential; I think there’s a danger with any project like that, that something gets parked in a non-threatening space for two years while, in the meantime, the business gets destroyed. But I think the Isle Of Man is genuine about wanting to help move the process along and I think it could certainly play a role”.

He continued: “It’s going to require all parties – Manx Telecom, the Isle Of Man, a service provider like us and the music rights owners – to come together and make it work. And so long as there’s good will on the part of all of those players, there’s no reason while the Isle Of Man couldn’t lead the way in this area”.

Berry himself, who initially announced his plans for the blanket licencing system at MIDEM last month, says there has been a lot of interest in his proposals since he made his announcement. He told Billboard: “As with any business, if you’re there to test a model and prove a model, then you have a role to play going forward. Going forward, it’s good for e-business in the Isle Of Man and shows we have got a very innovative approach to business”.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:35 | By

Send my wife flowers: Pirate Bay trial update

Business News Digital Legal

It was the turn of the academics to take to the witness stand in the ongoing Pirate Bay trial in Stockholm yesterday.

As previously reported, four men behind the rogue BitTorrent tracker are being tried for criminal copyright infringement, and could face fines, prison and damages claims if found guilty.

They are pleading not guilty governor, claiming the extent of infringement committed by The Pirate Bay users is exaggerated, that they weren’t personally involved in or aware of any major infringement, and that because they provide links to unlicensed content, rather than serving up the content themselves, they are no different than any other search engine.

The first professor to take to the stand (actually, he was on the phone) was Kristoffer Schollin, who is apparently an expert on copyright law, but spent much of his testimony explaining how BitTorrent file sharing works. That’s possibly because he wasn’t keen to give an opinion on the actual legality of The Pirate Bay.

He backed the defence’s claims that the Bay itself isn’t actually involved in the file sharing process, and not even necessarily the actual ‘tracking’ process, because the whole BitTorrent mallarky is quite complicated.

He also backed up the defence’s point that many of the BitTorrents linked to by the Bay are also linked to by Google, albeit in a generally less obvious way. However, he didn’t really comment on whether those facts were a useful defence against the actual infringement charges being made against the Pirate Bay Four.

The next professor on the stand came from Sweden’s Royal Institute Of Technology, and was called Roger Wallis. Despite the name of his college, he wasn’t there to talk about the technology of BitTorrent file sharing, but to give an opinion on the impact of P2P on the music business – possibly in his guise as chair of the Swedish Composers Of Popular Music association.

He argued that file sharing, though perhaps a bad thing for record labels, could be liberating for artists, while also lining up the arguments we outlined yesterday as to why IFPI boss John Kennedy’s claims that file sharing is single-handedly destroying the record business aren’t necessarily true.

Things got a bit heated when the prosecution started to question Wallis’ credentials, to which he responded: “Can you use Google? Then you’ll easily find my CV”.

In the day’s most comical moment, Wallis was asked, for reasons I’m not sure of, whether he wanted to be compensated for giving up an afternoon to the court. He joked that “You are welcome to send some flowers to my wife”, leading to reports that over 100 Pirate Bay supporters following the trial online promptly ordered flowers to be delivered to Mrs Wallis.

A generous gesture, though presumably Bay users can spare a pound or two, them not having to pay for their music and all.

PS: Today’s interesting development in the Bay trial is The Register’s report on the politics of one of the Pirate Bay Four – financial backer Carl Lundstrom. More liberal file sharers may not be so happy at the far right politicians also supported by the BitTorrent Tracker funder. Read more at that here.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:32 | By

Calvin Harris video cut for TV

Artist News Top Stories

According to The Daily Record, Calvin Harris has been forced to cut part of his new music video after being told that the promo would be banned from TV if it remained as it was. The scenes in question depict Harris holding a knife, and are therefore considered inappropriate viewing, presumably especially given the spate of knife crime in recent years.

Harris explained that he’d been told: “I’m holding an antique knife in one of the scenes, therefore encouraging knife crime”. He adds that he’s not really the type to ever actually use one, explaining: “The only ever time I was in a fight I fell down instantly and I believe they had only verbally challenged me to one at that stage. I fight like a girl.”

Harris’s label, Sony’s Columbia Records, confirmed that the video would be re-edited, saying: “Calvin doesn’t actually use the knife in the video but we need to cut the scene for any TV programme that wants to show the video. Rules are stricter and a lot of artist videos get edited for TV nowadays”.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:31 | By

Ciara pulls out of Brown collaboration

Artist News Top Stories

Reports claim that Grammy winning Ciara has cancelled plans to release a duet with Chris Brown following his much previously reported alleged beating-up of girlfriend Rihanna.

Her track ‘Turntables’ was due to appear on her new album featuring vocals by Brown, but she’s now said that the song won’t be “as expected”, prompting speculation that his contribution has been ditched. She is quoted as saying: “Turntables will be on the album. Now you may hear it a little bit differently than what you’ve heard it, but in a cool way”.

As previously reported, rap star Flo Rida has pulled a collaboration with Brown from his new album in response to the altercation.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:30 | By

Jermaine seeks custody of kids

Artist News Legal

Jermaine Jackson has reportedly filed for sole custody of his two sons on the grounds that they are subject to physical abuse by their mother Alejandra, after he was notified by LA police that the children were being beaten.

Jackson, who recently claimed that he was unable to afford child support payments for his offspring, was given custody of his sons by police after a school teacher reported that one of the boys, Jermajesty, had said that his mother had been “slapping him repeatedly across the face”.

The case will go to court next week. Jackson’s lawyers say they are planning to allow Alejandra visitation rights, but will request that she only has supervised access.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:26 | By

Pylon guitarist dies

Artist News Obituaries

Randy Bewley, guitarist with influential New Wave outfit Pylon, has died at the age of 53 from a heart attack. He was apparently driving his van on Monday when the arrest happened, and the vehicle drifted off the road and turned over. He was taken to Athens Regional Medical Center, where he fell into a coma, and died on Wednesday.

Bewley co-founded Pylon in 1978 with fellow University Of Georgia art students Michael Lachowski, Vanessa Briscoe Hay and Curtis Rowe.

The new wave band are notable for their influence on a new generation of acts, most famously REM, who, when named ‘America’s best band’ by Rolling Stone in 1987, said that Pylon were in fact more deserving of the title. The group’s activity over the years has been intermittent, but they had been active again since 2004.

Bewley also taught art, but in recent years had concentrated on his own projects. As well as playing with Pylon, he worked with two other Athens bands, Sound Houses and Supercluster.

He is survived by two sons.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:25 | By

Elbow lose NME Award, Calvin gets his

Artist News Awards

Girl Aloud Sarah Harding has apparently lost Elbow’s Outstanding Contribution gong from the other night’s NME Awards. I’m not quite sure how Harding came to be guardian of the Manchester band’s award, but she seemingly lost it in the toilets at the aftershow party.

The Daily Mail quotes a source thus: “As she emerged from the toilets she said, ‘Fuck, where’s that award gone?’ It dawned on her she’d left it in the toilets, but it wasn’t there when she checked. Someone had nicked it. That’s when things got a bit too much for her and she decided to leave”.

No word on whether the award has since been found, though given how many gongs Elbow have been racking up of late, I’m sure they can do without this one.

Elsewhere in NME Awards news, the magazine’s editor, Conor McNicholas, has apologised to Calvin Harris who, as previously reported, was rather pissed off that he wasn’t invited to the awards despite the fact that his collaboration with Dizzee Rascal won Best Dancefloor Filler.

He Twittered: “What kind of award ceremony has you win an award yet still doesnt invite you?”, and claimed “They didn’t invite me because I am the worst producer on the planet and also a cunt, their words”.

But McNicholas says Calvin not being invited to his awards show was an administrative error. He Twittered yesterday: “Have just got off phone with Calvin Harris. Groveling apology from me. Administrative cock-up at NME. Quite boring, but email mix-up meant awards team thought Calvin had said he couldn’t come. As far as I knew he’d been invited. All a very big oops. Calvin — consider this a public apology. I owe you one. A physical NME Award will be sent very soon”.

Calvin responded: “LOOKING FORWARD TO RECEIVING MY NME AWARD”.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:23 | By

Faith No More confirm reunion

Artist News

A lot of effort goes into promoting bands, but sometimes all you need is an off-hand comment at the end of a press release about something else. The words “the highly anticipated reunion tour with Faith No More in Europe this summer” were all that were needed to spark hundreds of publications into action. Well now Faith No More have officially confirmed that they are getting back together.

As expected, original guitarist Jim Martin will not be involved, despite reportedly being contacted about rejoining and expressing an interest in doing so. Instead the band’s most recent guitarist, Jon Hudson, who played on the band’s last album ‘Album Of The Year’, will re-join the core line-up of Mike Patton on vocals, Billy Gould on bass, Roddy Bottum on keyboards and Mike Bordin on drums.

In a statement, Gould explained that since their split in 1998, no members of the band had stayed regularly in touch with each other and none had seriously considered the idea of getting back together, particularly as, he said, “throughout our 17 years of existence, the mental and physical energy required to sustain this creature was considerable and relentless”.

However, he explained, a recent meeting changed their views of working with each other: “What we’ve discovered is that time has afforded us enough distance to look back on our years together through a clearer lens and made us realize that through all the hard work, the music still sounds good, and we are beginning to appreciate the fact that we might have actually done something right. … When it all worked, it worked really well, even if the chemistry was always volatile”.

The band are yet to confirm their exact plans, although Mike Patton’s publicist has, as previously reported, revealed that the band are set to play a number of European festival dates this summer.

As for anything beyond that, things seem unclear. Gould says: “We can only hope that the experience of playing together again will yield results erratic and unpredictable enough to live up to the legacy of FNM. Who know where this will end or what it will bring up… only the future knows. But we are about to find out!”

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:22 | By

More on Fortune INXS thing

Artist News

Aussie website Undercover has added an extra aside to the ‘JD Fortune was sacked from INXS’ story.

As previously reported, Fortune, who won the frontman role in the Aussie band through the ‘Rock Star’ TV show, claimed he was sacked at Hong Kong airport at the end of the their last world tour. But a sort of spokesman for the band (former manager, who has seemingly signed them to his new label), says they have no knowledge of the sacking.

But according to Undercover, the contract Fortune ‘won’ on the Rock Star show only covered one album and tour with the band, no more no less. So, in that respect, Fortune couldn’t be sacked from the band because his contract with them was up anyway.

Fortune may, of course, have been hoping or expecting more, but when the band said “goodbye” at Hong Kong airport in the way they did, they may have been merely referencing the fact he was at the end of his contract.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:21 | By

Beastie Boys finishing “weird” album

Artist News

Beastie Boys have revealed that they are close to finishing their eighth studio album, which will be released later this year.

Speaking to EW.com, Adam Yauch said: “It’s a pretty weird record. [There’s] a lot of rhyming and playing and sampling – all combined. We still have a good time working together. It’s fun to be able to reinvent yourself every time”.

He also also revealed that the album would possibly be called ‘Tad Lock’s Glasses’. Tad Lock being their tour bus driver and an owner of glasses. They can probably discuss this with Tad on their way to this year’s Bonnaroo festival, where the band will be playing.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:20 | By

Eminem beats Fiddy for Dre’s attention

Artist News Releases

50 Cent has revealed that his new album, ‘Before I Self Destruct’, is currently being delayed by Eminem’s comeback LP, ‘Relapse’.

The problem is Dr Dre, who is working on both albums in a producer capacity. It seems Dre can only cope with one protégé at a time, and he’s prioritising Slim Shady.

Fiddy told Associated Press: “Right now I’m on the train and the Em choo-choo car goes first. See, what happens is, I think that people forget that I’m actually Eminem’s artist because I’ve had so much success on my own and I moved away from it… I said my goal was to fit in with Eminem and Dr Dre”.

“I didn’t mean to fit in under Eminem and Dr Dre – I meant to fit in as an equal party. And that’s what I achieved over this time period. So, because Dre is mixing Em’s album, Em will be completed entirely before we get a chance to finish up the pieces me and Dre did together”.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:17 | By

Lightning Seeds are back

Artist News Releases

The Lightening Seeds have announced that they’re set to release a new studio album ‘Four Winds’ later this year, their first since 1999’s ‘Tilt’.

The tracklisting is as follows:
4 Winds
Things Just Happened
Ghosts
Said And Done
Don’t Walk On By
The Story Goes
On A Day Like This
All I Do
I’ll Be Around
I Still Feel The Same

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:13 | By

Chairlift re-release album, add tracks

Artist News Releases

American electro-indie-pop types Chairlift will re-release their 2008 album ‘Does You Inspire You’, originally released by New York indie label Kanine Records, via Sony’s Columbia label in April. There will be two new tracks on the re-release.

Frontwoman Caroline Polachek told NME: “We have the opportunity to add more material that really should’ve been on there in the first place. So we get to add two new tracks to it, which we’re really excited about. Those tracks were really a part of the batch for ‘Does You Inspire You’ but we didn’t have the chance to finish them. Now the complete era will be documented”.

The two new tracks are ‘Dixie Gypsy’ and ‘Le Flying Saucer Hat’.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:13 | By

Billy Bragg announces commemorative strike tour

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Billy Bragg has announced that he’s planning a tour of Wales to commemorate the miners’ strikes of the early eighties. The singer, who will play nine dates in locations such as Brecon and Cardigan, explained that he thinks it’s important to convey to younger people how those historical events are relevant to the current political and economic situation.

Bragg says: “My political education really was the twelve months of that strike. Once you go out into the coalfields and do these gigs and then go back and kip on someone’s sofa, they rightly want to know if you’re just some pop star from London who’s come up to sell more records or if you can actually walk the walk as well as talk the talk”.

“If we look again at our history we’ll understand there are other ways to respond to this economic situation other than passively. Once, people resisted the layoffs and the cutbacks by organising. That message needs to be restated – it’s a painful lesson to learn and each generation needs to be reminded of that”.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:12 | By

Blur probably headlining Glastonbury

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Michael Eavis revealed at the NME Awards on Wednesday evening that he is close to confirming Blur as one of this year’s Glastonbury headliners. He told BBC 6music: “Yeah, you can look forward to that, but it’s not officially announced yet. Bit more work to do on that yet but you will not be disappointed, I can assure you”.

Whether it was Blur he was referring to when he spoke to Teletext’s Planet Sound isn’t clear, but another headliner would seem to be in the bag. Eavis said: “I’ve booked the Friday headliner after talking to someone’s agent an hour ago”.

One thing’s for sure, though, that Friday headliner isn’t Lily Allen. Speaking to 6music again, the Glastonbury organiser said: “We’ve got Lily Allen of course and she was practically born at the festival anyway, because her parents used to come. It’s gonna be lovely to get her back again with the new single. I think her new single is the best song she’s ever made actually so she’ll be very high up on the bill on the Friday night, not headlining though”.

As previously reported, Bruce Springsteen has been confirmed as Saturday’s headline act. As well as Blur, Neil Young is also rumoured to be a headliner.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:11 | By

New festival for under 25s gets creative

Artist News Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

A new festival aimed at and programmed by under 25s will take place at the Roundhouse in London from 8-10 May.

Zane Lowe, Noisettes and Tinchy Stryder are all booked to take part in the Turning Point festival, which will combine gigs and the like with daytime workshops on things like DJing, photography and fashion styling.

Amos Schonfield, one of the under 25s organising the festival, told reporters: “For us Turning Point represents more than just a chance to assemble a dream line-up of music and performing arts”.

“As the name suggests, it represents a Turning Point in our lives as well as the lives of all the other young people that will be involved. This unique opportunity gives us the chance to create an experience that aims to both entertain and inform, and where better than the Roundhouse?”

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:10 | By

Festival line up update – 27 Feb 2009

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

Rounding up the latest festival line-up announcements…

ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL, Seaclose Park, 12-14 Jun: Stereophonics and Razorlight to co-headline Saturday night, joining a bill already including The Prodigy, The Ting Tings, Basement Jaxx and Pendulum. www.isleofwightfestival.com

V FESTIVAL, Chelmsford and Weston Park, 22-23 Aug: The Killers to headline. www.vfestival.com

BESTIVAL, Robin Hill Park, Isle Of Wight, 11-13 Sep: Kraftwerk, Massive Attack, MGMT to headline, plus Fleet Foxes, Seasick Steve, Bat For Lashes, Klaxons, Friendly Fires, Florence & The Machine and more CMU favourites than you’d care to mention also announced. www.bestival.net

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:08 | By

Music Week Awards nominations out

Awards Business News

The short lists for this year’s Music Week Awards have been announced and look people, here they are. The awards take place at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on 8 Apr. More at www.musicweekawards.com.

Regional Promotions Team of the Year: Sony/Columbia, EMI, Universal/Mercury, Universal/Polydor Records, Sony/RCA.

National Promotions Team of the Year: Warner/Atlantic, Sony/Columbia, Hungry & Woods, Universal/Polydor, Sony/RCA.

Music Sales Force of the Year: [PIAS], Proper Music Distribution, Sony Music, Universal Music.

Distributor of the Year: Arvato Bertelsmann, Consolidated Independent, Music Box Leisure (MBL), Proper Music Distribution, Sony DADC.

Music Retail Brand of the Year: Amazon.co.uk, HMV, Play.com, Rough Trade.

Music Retail Store of the Year: Avalanche, Edinburgh; Fopp, Covent Garden, London; Rough Trade East, London.

Music Venue of the Year: The O2, Brixton Academy, Leeds Academy, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Roundhouse

Digital Achievement of the Year: Bacardi Online Music Influencers – Espionage; Lost Tunes – Universal Music Catalogue; Nokia Comes With Music; Omnifone; Songkick.com.

Regional Radio Station of the Year: 102.5 Clyde 1, 97.4 Rock FM, BBC Radio Kent, London’s Heart, Radio City 96.7.

National Radio Station of the Year: BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 1, Classic FM, Planet Rock.

PR Campaign of the Year:
Barbara Charone from MBC PR for Duffy: The Rise of Little Big Voice
Richard Dawes from Universal/Polydor for Take That Album Launch 2008
Ben Harris from Run Music for Neon Neon
Duncan Jordon from Bella Union for Fleet Foxes
Sophie Williams from Some Friendly for Ladyhawke

Artist Marketing Campaign of the Year:
Sarah Boorman & Warul Islam from Universal/Island for Paul Weller ’22 Dreams’
Darina Connolly, Steve Milbourne and Matthew Reynolds from Sony for AC/DC ‘Black Ice’
Liz Goodwin from Universal/Polydor for Elbow ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’
Dan Duncombe and Claire O’Brien from EMI/Parlophone for Coldplay ‘Viva La Vida’
Ben Townley from Sony for The Script

Catalogue Marketing Campaign of the Year:
Sue Armstrong & Andy Street from Universal for Paul Weller At The BBC
Stephen Kersley from Proper Music Distribution for That’s Proper Folk
Will Nicol and Hayden Williams from Sony for Michael Jackson at 50
Rachael Paley from Universal/Mercury for Stereophonics – Decade In The Sun – Best Of
Elyse Taylor from simplyred.com for Simply Red The Greatest Hits 25

Music & Brand Partnership of the Year: Bacardi & Groove Armada – Euro RSCG KLP; The Nokia Green Room – Whizz Kid Entertainment; Orange RockCorps; RoAR (Rock Against Racism) – Bauer Media; The Secret World of Sam King – Universal Music & Bebo; Vodafone TBA & Vodafone Live Music Awards.

Music Sync of the Year: Barclaycard – ‘Waterslide’ (Arlon Music, Leap Music, Minder Music), John Lewis Christmas 2008 Campaign (Sony/ATV), Boots ‘Here Come The Girls’ (Universal Music), Rexona ‘Upside Down’ (Warner/Chappell).

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:07 | By

Ticketmaster chief says AEG will leave if Live Nation deal is done

Business News Live Business

Ticketmaster chief Irving Azoff recently told a Senate hearing on his company’s proposed merger with Live Nation that he expected some other major US promoters to look for other ticketing providers if and when the merger goes ahead.

He made the admission in a bid to fight arguments the merger would give Live Nation/Ticketmaster too much dominance in the ticketing market, leading to a rise in prices.

He argues that because Ticketmaster is likely to lose some of its clients as a result of the merger, the deal will, in fact, be an opportunity for their rivals, and motivate them to be even more competitive.

Anyway, in another hearing Azoff has confirmed that one of the promoters likely to drop Ticketmaster’s services if they merge with Live Nation is their new business partner’s biggest rivals, AEG Live.

Azoff: “AEG has notified us by letter that they believe they have the right to terminate our agreement in connection with this merger. Others will most certainly leave if this merger is consummated. If that’s not competition, I don’t know what is”.

AEG have not commented on Azoff’s remarks.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:06 | By

Another US Megastore goes

Business News Retail

Two more Virgin Megastores are to go in the US. As previously reported, Virgin offloaded its US record stores to Related Cos in 2007.

While the shops continued to operate as Virgin Megastores (unlike in the UK, of course, where the store’s new owners changed their names to Zavvi before jumping into liquidation), it’s been widely known Related Cos saw the value of the chain it its property rather than its operations, and has been planning to close down the shops and lease out its outlets to other retailers.

As a result the flagship Megastore in New York’s Time Square is in the process of closing down. Now it’s been confirmed the other New York Megastore, on Union Square, plus the Market Street store in San Francisco will now close by the end of May. That leaves three Megastores in the US.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:05 | By

RIAA downsize

Business News Labels & Publishers

The Recording Industry Of Association has reportedly initiated a not inconsiderable downsize which will see about thirty people leave the infamous trade body.

The job losses may be the result of the recession, though the trade body has been under pressure to streamline for a while, in particular from EMI where owners Terra Firma questioned the need for both the RIAA and International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry after they acquired the London-based major.

Plus, of course, the trade body recently announced it was ending its campaign of litigation against individual file sharers which had seen hundreds of music fans sued every month.

They ended the litigation programme because, of course, file sharing had been successfully sued out of existence. Oh no, hang on, the lawsuits had made no different whatsoever. Yeah, that’s it.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:04 | By

Spiralfrog speculation

Business News Digital

There could be some job losses coming up at US-based ad-funded download service Spiralfrog, though gossip to that effect seems to be linked to reports that the company has some big loan repayment commitments coming up.

I think I’m right in saying that if Spiralfrog can’t repay its loans it will have to hand its lenders equity. Assuming they’d want it. Execs at the firm though seem to be suggesting the upcoming repayment commitments are routine and should not impact on the company’s operations.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:02 | By

Topman CTRL sponsors Xfm X-Posure

Brands & Merch Business News Media

Topman will sponsor John Kennedy’s X-Posure show on Xfm as part of its previously reported Topman CTRL promotion. As previously reported, the CTRL programme will see different artists take control of a music website owned by the retail brand, and curate Topman sponsored club nights. The promotion will be further publicised via the Xfm hook up.

Xfm Programme Director Adam Uytman says this: “We are delighted to be working with Topman again, especially on this campaign as we have a great track record of getting under the skin of new and exciting acts across the UK. The X-Posure sponsorship will activate and amplify Topmans’ CTRL campaign perfectly, speaking to Xfm’s passionate listeners in an engaging way”.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:01 | By

Skins song too raunchy for Radio 1

Business News Media

The third series of ‘Skins’ is in full flow, and I’ve managed to totally avoid it this time. Well done me.

Though I do now know that a recent episode featured a storyline where a fictional reality show were looking for members for a new girl group, and the fictional show was presented by Radio 1’s Scott Mills.

One ‘Skins’ character auditioned for the group by singing a rather raunchy song called ‘Ass 2 Ass’. Mills reportedly planned to play the song when ‘Skins’ actors guested on his Radio 1 show but was overruled by station bosses because of the track’s lyrics.

The Guardian reports: “Apparently producers got cold feet because of its risque lyrics, which include the memorable line: ‘He wants to see me going ass to ass with you’. Nice”.

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Friday 27 February 2009, 11:00 | By

Noel Gallagher not keen on contemporary music

And Finally Artist News

Noel Gallagher, currently on tour in Europe, has been blogging about how current rock and pop is crap, presumably because it was all better back in the day when he was a young man, or something.

He wrote: “Spent the day in bed yesterday nursing a bad head. For some reason I watched MTV’s European Top 10. Fuck me, it was painful. Leona Lewis doing Snow Patrol? Ouch! Kings Of Leon doing U2? Ouch! The Killers doing fancy dress? Ouch! Lady Gaga? (I may be showing my age here but who’s Lady Gaga?). It made my teeth hurt! MY TEETH!!”

You can see why he won an NME award for that blog, can’t you?

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Thursday 26 February 2009, 12:00 | By

More of the same – industry takes to the stand at Pirate Bay trial

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

While I have little sympathy for the Pirate Bay Four, or their in-court claims of ignorance (“what, people use the service we decided to call ‘The Pirate Bay’ to access pirated content, I don’t believe it”), nor their out-of-court suggestions that being able to infringe someone’s copyright is some sort of basic human right, it has to be said that the record industry rarely do themselves any favours when they line up to deliver their protestations over illegal file sharing.

Ignoring the fact they often demonstrate ignorance as to how different file sharing systems work (which leads them to make technically incorrect statements that plays into the hands of the pro-P2P lobby), they nearly always present that same argument against illegal file sharing: that illegal file sharing has grown hugely in the last ten years; that CD-sales have slumped in the last ten years; that one caused the other; that file sharing is therefore leading to a slump in record companies’ profits; which prevents them from investing in new talent.

While there are elements of truth in all those statements, there are a number of other reasons why CD sales have slumped in the last decade – eg the boom in back-to-back music media, the growth of on-demand music services, the arrival of new music-based products like ringtones, increasing competition from other entertainment sectors and the tendency to sign quick-win but short lived pop acts in the nineties. Meanwhile, many file-sharers continue to buy music as well as accessing it for free via illegal file sharing networks.

And while CD sales may have slumped, the costs of producing, distributing and marketing music has also come down. And other music-related revenue streams have grown in recent years – publishing, merchandising, brand partnerships, live. If record companies had spent less time employing clueless lawyers and DRM-makers ten years ago and more time honing the strangely out of fashion 360 degree business model, perhaps they could be benefiting from those growing revenue streams by now. And if they’d more quickly embraced the sales potential of the internet – ie before Apple chief Steve Jobs forced them to – digital revenues may now be higher too.

Unfortunately, the representatives from the Swedish record industry who took to the witness stand in The Pirate Bay trial in Stockholm yesterday again showed ignorance as to how the BitTorrent tracker worked, and again relied on the ‘file sharing equals CD sales slump equals less money for investing in new talent’ argument. Which allows the defence and pro-P2P lobby to pick the above mentioned holes into the industry’s argument.

To be fair, the boss of the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, John Kennedy, did an OK job of explaining why it was particularly irritating when services like The Pirate Bay helped distribute albums ahead of their official release.

He told the court: “In any industry when you are bringing a product to the market there is a critical stage at which you choose to make your connection with the public – it’s a particular stage at which you launch your product. And all marketing spend, particularly in the music industry, is designed to make an impact, particularly in week one after release”.

He also made an effort to distinguish search services like The Pirate Bay from mainstream search engines like Google, which will, of course, also bring up links to illegal content sources if you search for an artist’s name.

But, as Kennedy said, Google will bring up millions of varied references to any one artist, while services like the Bay hone in on BitTorrent sources of audio and movie files. And, of course, those mainstream services which offer search functions more akin to the Bay – China’s Baidu in particular – have also been targeted with legal action by the music business.

But core to Kennedy’s testimony was the text book record business argument. There had been a 38% drop in CD sales between 2001 and 2007. That was a period which saw a sharp rise in file-sharing. Music industry research shows a definite link between the two trends. File sharing – and The Pirate Bay in particular – costs the record companies money, which means less profits to invest in new talent. On that logic, Kennedy says, the 2.1 million euros in damages the record labels want from the Bay is justified and maybe even conservative”.

While trade bodies obviously can’t use the kind of language employed by Abba man Bjorn Ulvaeus in his recent opinion piece on The Pirate Bay trial – in which he asked why is it “so damn hard to understand” that creative ideas only see the light of day when creators and their financial backers can be sure of payment, before concluding “Is it really so damn difficult to pay your way?” – Ulvaeus’ more simplistic and brutal argument seems much stronger to me.

That argument goes like this. Good content costs money to develop and distribute (less money than it used to, but it still costs mone). Most artists start off poor, they need a rich person (or company) to loan them the money. The investors will want to secure and profit from their investment. While there may be performance revenues to share in, intellectual property is a more secure security. Therefore, copyright enables the investment good content requires.

A copyright is only of any value if the law provides an owner with the tools to protect it. Of course, given the intangible nature of copyright, you can only protect it to a point – at some point you have to draw the line and accept it’s not commercially viable to block all infringement. But when a company or group of people launch and promote a website that exists primarily to enable others to infringe, and make no efforts – technical or communicative – to stop it being used for infringement, and if said company shows little interest in compromising with content owners to develop a licensed service, surely the law has to do something to stop them?

Anyone from the prosecution in the Pirate Bay trial is welcome to use that paragraph in their summing up statement next week. I promise not to sue you for copyright infringement.

The trial, meanwhile, continues

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Thursday 26 February 2009, 11:59 | By

Burnham outlines government’s five point plan for music

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Culture Secretary Andy Burnham was on a bit of a charm offensive at a BPI/ACM organised meeting the other night, which isn’t that surprising. After a year of getting up close and personal with the music business, talking up his support for the industry and making vague commitments to help it tackle its biggest issues of the moment, Burnham’s colleagues haven’t really delivered.

Yes, the government has reversed its position on extending the copyright term – the UK will support European moves to increase the term from the current fifty years – but IP Minister David Lammy has made it very clear he’s no interest in extending the term beyond 70 years (the industry wants 95 years), and that he’s only doing it for the benefit of aging musicians; record labels he has little time for.

And then there’s the ISPs and internet piracy debate. While Burnham has been putting pressure on the internet service providers to take a more proactive role in policing online piracy, hinting at possible new laws to force them to take that role if they won’t do so voluntarily, Communications Minister Lord Carter, in his much anticipated Digital Britain report, proposed the record industry sue anyone they suspect of file sharing. A strategy considered, adopted and then sensibly dropped by the UK record industry several years ago.

But Burnham remains confident he’s the man to help the music business survive these tricky times, and used the BPI/ACM event at the Houses Of Parliament this week to outline his five point plan to help the industry in the next twelve months. Though three of those points are basically educational initiatives which, while important, are hardly anything new, and with cross-sector trade body UK Music already developing a number of new education programmes, I’m not sure we need any more just yet.

The other two points of the plan deal with the aforementioned ‘big issues’. Copyright extension and piracy.

On the first point Burnham reconfirmed the government’s position. Lammy will support extending the European recording copyright when it reaches the EU’s Council Of Ministers, though only to 70 years, and with stepped up measures to ensure musicians benefit most from the extension. With some European countries against extension, and others supporting the 95 years that EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy proposed and the industry is asking for, presumably Lammy sees his proposals as being a neat compromise.

On the second point, Burnham turned attention away from the somewhat lacklustre recommendations in ‘Digital Britain’ regarding getting ISPs more involved in the fight against piracy, and instead stressed that this was also an international issue. Covering much of the same ground as at the Music Tank debate on the issue late last year, he said he would dedicate time in 2009 to speaking to his European and US counterparts

He told the meeting: “I am working towards an international memorandum of understanding, it is time for much more serious dialogue with European and US partners. No solely national solution will work. It can only be durable with international consensus”.

He added that he hoped to use the global creative industries conference he’ll stage in October (what he insists on called the “Davos for creative business”, though with less snow presumably) as a forum for debate on this issue. Record labels would presumably like it if the French and New Zealanders got to speak most at any such debate, them being most hardline to date when it comes to forcing ISPs to act on online piracy, mainly by introducing the sometimes controversial three-strike system.

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Thursday 26 February 2009, 11:59 | By

Brown/Rihanna update

Artist News Top Stories

So, how about another quick Chris Brown update? Word has it that the disgraced R&B star has signed up for anger management classes after allegedly beating up superstar girlfriend Rihanna.

The New York Daily News reports he has enrolled in classes in Glendale, California. With police investigations ongoing, there’s no legal obligation for him to do so – yet – though cynics says his decision to take the classes may be linked to reports he’s hired a new publicist to help him repair his career, which is looking even more fragile since those pictures of a beaten Rihanna circulated on the internet.

Talking of that damaged career, rapper Flo Rida has dropped a highly anticipated collaboration with Brown from his upcoming album ‘Roots’.

The track, called ‘Sweat’, was likely to have been a single release off the album, and given Brown’s popularity pre the Grammy weekend altercation should have delivered Rida a big hit. But he told reporters this week: “I recorded a great song with Chris. But I won’t be releasing it now because of what’s going on with him and Rihanna. It could have been my next No1”.

But more important than all of that, what does 50 Cent think about the whole Rihanna/Brown escapade? Well, the aforementioned photos of Rihanna have changed his attitude. Fiddy admitted he had made light of the couple’s fight when news of Brown’s arrest first broke, but says he’s changed his ways since he saw pictures of the bruised singer on TMZ.com.

Speaking to MTV, he said the incident initially seemed like something “you could use for humour”, which is why he posted a short animated video depicted the pair as characters from the ‘Street Fighter’ videogame.

But he adds: “I didn’t have any information on it. You’re just going on what the public actually had. It [the photo] shifts the whole thing. Even if you’re saying you’re in a dysfunctional relationship, I understand that. There’s a point when you’re already past a woman fighting you back”.

“You look at [that photograph], and it’s obviously past that point. There’s some issues there that definitely gotta be addressed. Not to take any shots at Chris or Rihanna or take sides in any way, [but] it’s really not cool. It’s not funny anymore, so there will definitely be no more reference to that from me in any way”.

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Thursday 26 February 2009, 11:58 | By

EMI sue SeeqPod

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EMI has filed a lawsuit against SeeqPod, the MP3 search engine which lets you play tracks found on a search through its own player.

Although SeeqPod’s owners claim they are just a search engine which offers a useful content preview function – ie the player – which is technically speaking true, in reality the website provides a user-friendly one-stop player that taps into numerous illegal sources of music files (as well as some legal ones) for its content.

Warner started legal action against the service way back in January 2008. EMI’s action not only sues SeeqPod directly, it also names its CEO, founder and a major investor, Shekhar Lodha of eSynergi Ventures, in its legal papers. Not only that, but they are also suing another service called Favtape, which utilises SeeqPod technology to deliver music content.

A spokesperson for SeeqPod said they still believe their service is legal, and that they will continue to operate and fight the action against them.

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Thursday 26 February 2009, 11:55 | By

Former Trinity Street directors deny company under-performed under their leadership

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A spokesman for the two former Trinity Street directors who are suing the company’s financial backers have responded to allegations made about the performance of the music-focused e-commerce firm under their leadership.

As previously reported, David Robson and Andy Murray, who acquired Trinity Street back in 2004 and who formed an alliance with music investment firm Ingenious in 2007, were fired from the company and pushed off its board at the end of last year.

They announced last month that they planned to sue the e-commerce firm’s parent company, Trinity Universal Holdings, claiming they were unlawfully removed as directors in what they describe as a “boardroom coup”.

When Ingenious announced they were putting Trinity Street into administration earlier this month, Robson and Murray issued a statement saying their former company had been allowed to collapse after new managers put in place by the investment firm “failed to secure new business and allowed loyal, long-term clients to take their business elsewhere”.

Sources at Ingenious said Robson and Murray’s claims were a “grotesque distortion”, insisting that the plaintiffs had been removed because of concerns about Trinity Street’s financial performance, and that since their departure a more thorough investigation had revealed the company’s situation to be worse than originally thought, hence the decision to close it down.

There are rumours the firm has debts to the tune of £5 million, much of that owing to Ingenious.

But a spokesman for Robson and Murray has hit back, reaffirming the two former directors’ original claims that the company was doing fine prior to their removal, and that they were unlawfully removed from the firm’s board.

Arguing that the £5 million in debts that has been rumoured relates to Ingenious’ investment in the company, for which they receive equity, rather than actual debts, he told CMU: “As late as last month Ingenious, via their lawyers, confirmed [to Robson and Murray] that the company was solvent and also continued to positively represent the company’s stability and future to clients since they took command of the company last year right up until unexpectedly ceasing trading on Friday 13 February”.

On the suggestion that their investors weren’t fully aware of Trinity Street’s financial position until after their departure, Robson and Murray’s spokesman adds: “Since their investment in 2007, `Ingenious have had continuous financial visibility via their board position, management accounts and weekly reviews”.

So, very differing opinions on either side then. Our sources at Ingenious stand by their claims that Trinity Street was “under-performing” before the departure of Robson and Murray, and that that fact was the reason for them being removed. Expect some lively debate if and when the Trinity Two’s lawsuit reaches court.

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