MUSIC RIGHTS – INSIDE & OUT
A beginner's guide to music copyright – everything you need to know about copyright law, licensing, monetising copyright, the fight against piracy and the future of the music rights industry. Wed 18 May 2011

PROMOTING MUSIC - MEDIA, SOCIAL MEDIA AND MORE
How to build a profile for your artists - the state of the music media, traditional and new publicity techniques, social media and the future of music PR. Wed 1 Jun 2011

For more information or to book visit www.theCMUwebsite.com/training

MUSICTANK TO LAUNCH REPORT AT THE GREAT ESCAPE
The fourth music business report from the University Of Westminster's MusicTank has been written by Tony Wadsworth, Chairman of the BPI and the former Chairman and CEO of EMI UK & Ireland, and will be officially launched at The Great Escape in Brighton on Friday, where Wadsworth will give a keynote address. 

The report puts record companies under the spotlight, looking back at the record industry's tumultuous last decade, and at how both major and independent record labels are evolving to cope with and benefit from the challenges and opportunities of the digital age. As well as bringing his own quarter century of record industry experience to the table, Wadsworth also spoke to the chiefs of various UK record companies to gather insights and opinions for his report, which will be published next Monday. 

On Friday, at The Great Escape, Wadsworth will give delegates at the CMU-programmed music business convention an overview of his report, before joining a panel that will consider what the music company of the future will look like, where he will be joined by Cooking Vinyl chief Martin Goldschmidt and artist managers Iain Watt and Catherine Haridy. 

Commenting on the report, John Reid, CEO of Warner Music Europe, who was interviewed by Wadsworth for his paper, told CMU: "The music industry continues to evolve and record companies are at the heart of that change - nurturing the latest talent, forging new ways to reach fans and creating exciting music experiences. Tony's knowledge and insight means he is well-placed to explore these themes and articulate emerging trends too". 

Meanwhile Keith Harris, Chairman of MusicTank, commented: "I am delighted that Tony agreed to write this report for MusicTank and it will provide some food for thought about the way forward for recorded music". 

The report will be available for £45, including a year's membership to MusicTank, from Monday, although if you pre-order by 5pm tomorrow you can get it for £30. More details at www.musictank.co.uk. Delegates passes for The Great Escape, which kicks off at 10.30am in Brighton tomorrow, are still available at escapegreat.com - you can check the full convention programme and CMU's previews of the convention and accompanying festival at www.theCMUwebsite.com/thegreatescape.

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SCOTTISH WOMAN CONVICTED FOR FILE-SHARING
A 58 year old Scottish woman has been convicted for copyright crimes after she made 30,000 music files, over two thirds of them karaoke files, available online without a licence via a P2P file-sharing network. 

Strathclyde Police investigated Anne Muir after receiving complaints from record label trade bodies BPI and IFPI. They raided her home in Ayr in 2008 and found over 30,000 files on her hard drive which were being made accessible to others via the DirectoConnect P2P file-sharing network. 

She pleaded guilty to distributing content without a licence from copyright owners  "to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright". She won't be sentenced until the end of the month, so it remains to be seen how severe the penalty for this file-sharing crime will turn out to be. 

It is relatively rare for individual file-sharers to be pursued through the criminal courts, more commonly those who illegally share music online face civil action from the record companies. That said, the UK industry, which quickly discarded the sue-the-fans approach of its US counterpart, has looked for assistance from the authorities before, most notably in targeting those in the Oink file-sharing community, albeit with mixed success. 

Aside from saving the music industry the expense of pursuing civil legal action, arguably you target individual file-sharers through the courts primarily to deter others from file-sharing, and the thought you could be prosecuted for file-sharing, rather than being sued for damages, is undeniably a stronger deterrent. 

Muir's legal rep told the court his client did not file-share for commercial gain, and became such a prolific file-sharer because she suffered from a severe obsessive personality disorder. Defence lawyer Lorenzo Alonzi said: "It has to be stressed that this offence was not committed from any desire to make money. Mrs Muir was not in any way trying to distribute on a large scale, she had a very big quantity of these files because she was hoarding - a symptom of the severe obsessive personality disorder that she suffers from".

He continued: "She has, for many years, suffered from bouts of depression, which causes her to have extremely low self-esteem. Learning this new technology and picking up new skills gave her self-esteem a boost. But to be allowed into the [file-sharing] network she had to have a certain number of files already. She suffers from an obsessive behaviour disorder, which has been heightened recently because of problems within her family and the stress of this case. The obsessive behaviour is the explanation for Mrs Muir having so many of these files, it causes her to hoard things. She has expressed genuine remorse for this and is severely embarrassed about it". 

Commenting on the case, Mirian Watson, District Procurator Fiscal for Ayr, told reporters: "Illegally flouting copyright laws is tantamount to theft and not only deprives legitimate companies and artists of earnings, but also undermines the music industry as a whole. We will continue to work effectively with law enforcement in this area and to apply our robust prosecution policy". 

Meanwhile the BPI's anti-piracy chief David Wood said: "The defendant illegally distributed music on a massive scale, causing significant harm to legitimate music companies. We will not comment further since the case awaits sentence. We would like to thank the Strathclyde Police and the Procurator Fiscal Service in Ayr for their diligent work on this investigation". 

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SUE-THE-FANS LAWYER FINED JUST A GRAND OVER DATA SPILL
Andrew Crossley has been fined by the Information Commissioner's Office in relation to that mega data-spill that occurred from his former company ACS:Law's servers, which revealed personal details about over 6000 suspected file-sharers. Though the fine is considerably less than most people expected - a mere £1000. 

As previously reported, ACS:Law, which specialised in anti-file-sharing litigation, accidentally published private data about the people they were going after when their servers were targeted by a Distributed Denial Of Service attack by those who opposed the law firm's tactics. 

Experts say that ACS:Law could have expected a fine of up to £200,000 for the data-spill, given that the ICO's investigation showed Crossley had taken no professional advice when setting up his server, had no firewall and was relying on a web package designed for domestic use. However the much lower fine was applied because ACS:Law no longer exists and its owner, Crossley, seemingly pleaded poverty. Well, pleaded not having much money. 

Torrentfreak quotes Information Commissioner Christopher Graham, who was very critical of ACS:Law's woeful IT systems, as saying: "Penalties are a tool for achieving compliance with the law and, as set out in our criteria, we take people's circumstances and their ability to pay into account". 

Some doubt that Crossley is really so broke that he couldn't afford a fine more substantial than a grand. Torrentfreak notes that his claims late last year to be running a successful busy legal business, while PC Pro magazine has reportedly asked the ICO how they verified Crossley's "circumstances". 

That said, given the once bullish legal man was basically portrayed as an incompetent fool in court, while his business went crashing under, some might think Crossley has suffered enough. Though those whose private data was made public via his incompetence, and those who were targeted by his company's questionable legal letters and paid up, might disagree. 

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COKE SUED OVER RELENTLESS BRAND NAME
Coca-Cola has reportedly been sued as part of a long running dispute between Media Village Entertainment and the drinks giant over the Relentless trademark. 

Media Village founded the Relentless record company, which now operates as an EMI subsidiary, while Coke make that Relentless energy drink thing. 

According to Music Week, MVE believes Coke has infringed its trademark in the Relentless name through the drinks brand, possibly because of its strong association with music via its marketing and sponsorship activity. 

Attempts to reach a settlement through mediation have seemingly failed, and now MVE has launched legal proceedings.

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BRIAN WILSON MAY RETIRE FROM PERFORMING AGAIN
Brian Wilson has said that his upcoming shows in London at the Royal Festival Hall in September may be his last in the city. In a new interview he has said that he is considering quitting live performance as he feels he is too old to carry on much longer. He added that he also often finds touring difficult due to the anxiety and hearing of voices that he has suffered with for decades.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Wilson said: "[Touring is] very hard work. I'm always afraid just before I go on stage because I'm not sure how the concert's going to work. As I get older it gets harder for me, but when I'm sitting down at the keyboard and my band's behind me, I can do it. [I'll carry on for] another year, maybe. This could be the last time I play here [in London, though]. I'm going to miss it but I'm getting a little bit old for touring".

Describing the voices he hears, he said: "What the voices say is still pretty much the same, negative things, 'You're going to die', or, 'You better watch out', life-threatening kinds of things. Performing helps, but I'll still have the voices there when I'm on stage. They're always with me".

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MORRISSEY COMPLETES TENTH SOLO ALBUM
Morrissey has revealed that work on his tenth solo album is finished, though he is currently without a label to release it. And before you say it, he doesn't want to do it himself.

Writing on his True To You fansite, the singer said: "The follow-up to 'Years Of Refusal' is ready and fluttering wildly against the bars. There is still no record label and the years shuffle like cards. My talents do not lie in DIY".

The former Smiths frontman is due to tour the UK in June, starting in the highlands of Scotland and working his way down to Plymouth, before headlining the Hop Farm festival in July.

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GRIZZLY BEAR BEGIN WORK ON FOURTH ALBUM
Grizzly Bear have announced that they are about to begin recording their fourth album, the follow-up to 2009's 'Veckatimest', in Texas.

In a message posted to Facebook on Tuesday, the band said: "Towards the end of this month we head to Texas and continue writing new songs and begin recording [our] new album!"

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LISTEN TO THE NEW FRIENDLY FIRES ALBUM
You can listen to the new Friendly Fires album online right now ahead of its release on Monday. So that's good, isn't it?

It's housed in a handy player, here: wearefriendlyfires.com/widgets/pala/

Friendly Fires are also one of this year's headline acts at The Great Escape, and their producer Paul Epworth will also be interviewed as part of the CMU-programmed conference's 'In Conversation' strand.

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TAKE THAT WRITE SONG FOR NEW X-MEN MOVIE
Take That have written a song for the new 'X-Men' move, 'X-Men First Class', which is due to hit cinemas on 1 Jun.

Entitled 'Love Love', the track is released today, but if you don't want to commit to listening to it in full just yet, you can hear a 30 second clip on the band's website, here: www.takethat.com/news/2011/05/love-love-teaser-clip

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PINK FLOYD BACK CATALOGUE TO UNDERGO MAJOR RE-RELEASE 
EMI are planning a major Pink Floyd reissues campaign, which will include all the classic albums, plus a greatest hits package, previously unreleased tracks and a trendy iPhone app. There'll also be mega six disc live versions of 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' and 'Wish You Were Here'. 

EMI top dog Roger Faxon said about the releases: "This is a unique collaboration between EMI and one of the most creative and influential bands in history. We have worked together for more than a year on this programme which incorporates all the elements that have made Pink Floyd one of the most inspiring forces in modern music. Why Pink Floyd? Because their music is without equal and these exciting new releases will allow music fans to rediscover their incredible legacy and demonstrate that an appreciation for artistic quality never goes out of fashion".

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BILLY CORGAN WRITING MEMOIRS
That Billy Corgan, he just won't stop announcing that he's doing stuff. Already busy with the upcoming Smashing Pumpkins re-issues series, he's now revealed that he's working on what he's calling a "spiritual memoir". By that, I think he just means a normal memoir, but maybe I'm missing something.

He told Rolling Stone: "It's a very interesting take inside my personal life and my band life. I've decided to write this on my own, which is complete insanity. I try to spend about an hour a day on the book, which is the time I would usually put towards music writing. So that means I have to find that hour, because I won't give up that music writing time. It's a journey, for sure". I think we'll judge if it's "very interesting" or not, thank you very much. 

He added that the book possibly wouldn't include some of the incidents of his earlier life already retold via blogposts on MySpace, mainly because of some of the reactions those blogs caused. He continued: "It's totally fresh material. When I started talking about child abuse stuff [previously], and people started saying, 'You have no right to talk about that stuff', it was a total turn off. Because people start saying, 'Well, my dad ripped my arm off, so you can't talk'. Well, I'm just talking about my journey. I apologise that I didn't get beat more. Talking about child abuse in public brings out a lot of weird stuff from other people that haven't healed from it, so I just got really bummed out, said 'Fuck it', and stopped".

Entitled 'God Is Everywhere', the book is due to be published by St Martin's Press in 2012.

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

SHORT CIRCUIT PRESENTS MUTE, The Roundhouse, London, 13-14 May: With 200 weekend tickets just released, it's a race against time to snag a place at this multi-arts extravaganza. New bookings for the impending fest are producer Flood and DJs Richard Warren, Gudrun Gut and Barbara Preisinger, who join Erasure, Moby, Beth Jeans Houghton, Big Deal and Liars in exhibiting alternative appeal on the final bill. www.roundhouse.org.uk/short-circuit

GET LOADED IN THE PARK, Clapham Common, London, 12 Jun: Organisers have confirmed The Rifles, About Group, Six Nation State and psych-popster Connan Mockasin. Ex-Les Incompetents poseur Frederick Macpherson's new band Spector will also play alongside a bill of existing acts such as Razorlight, The Cribs, Noisettes, British Sea Power and Patrick Wolf. www.getloadedinthepark.com

ØYA, Middelalderparken, Oslo, Norway, 9-13 Aug: A host of names including Aphex Twin, Q-Tip, Noah And The Whale, Hercules & Love Affair and Wu Lyf are fresh on the supercool Øya roster, which prior to this latest announcement already boasted Kanye West, Pulp, Lykke Li, Janelle Monae and Warpaint. www.oyafestivalen.com/pages/eng/

V FESTIVAL, Hylands Park, Essex/Weston Park, Staffordshire, 20-21 Aug: This sold-out pop celebration will welcome late additions Professor Green, Labrinth, Chiddy Bang, Wretch 32 and Example, who take their place on the line-up with heavyweights like Eminem, Rihanna, Arctic Monkeys and Dizzee Rascal. www.vfestival.com

WATCHET LIVE, Parsonage Farm, Watchet, West Somerset, 26-28 Aug: Aimed at a family crowd, this Somerset-based bash will host a trio of co-headliners in Dreadzone, Dodgy and The Wurzels, the latter of whom make a triumphant return after their last cider-swilling set in 2009. Hobo Jones, The Junkyard Dogs and Lily Allen tribute act Smile will also perform. www.watchetfestival.co.uk

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SINGLE REVIEW: Redlight - Source 16/Progress (Digital Soundboy)
When Redlight's track 'MDMA' was used in Ms Dynamite's frenetic and aggressive comeback single 'What You Talking About?' last year, it was quite evident that he has the ability to make a special brand of bass music, glitchy and weird but also well structured and impossibly catchy. 

'Progress' and 'Source 16' deviate from this formula, and opt for a more conventional approach, though the brain-crushing basslines remain just as enjoyably overwhelming. 'Source 16' is good, the intro delicately shimmers before the onslaught begins. 'Progress', however, has opted for a more Eurodance-y Jersey Shore fist-pump vibe, which is unfortunate. 

Even so, Redlight obviously has a lot to give, and I welcome his new material with open ears, as should you. JJB

Digital release: 9 May

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WARNER REVENUES UP, BUT SO ARE LOSSES
Warner Music saw its revenues rise for the first time since 2009 in the first quarter of this year, buoyed by further digital growth, though overall losses were up. Net losses were $38 million, up from $25 million in the same period last year. Not that anyone cares anymore, everyone's eyes are now on Access Industries' takeover, which will give the currently debt-laden Warner Music a much more healthy balance sheet. 

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GOOGLE MUSIC ANNOUNCED
As expected, Google yesterday announced it was launching a music-orientated digital locker service without the support of the record industry. 

Called Music Beta and aimed primarily at Android users, the new service is very similar to Amazon's music locker, which also launched without the support of any music companies. As much previously reported, there is much dispute as to whether digital firms need licences from music companies to allow consumers to store their MP3 collections remotely and then stream them back through a bespoke player. Both Amazon and Google have decided no such licence is needed. 

While Amazon's locker is linked to its existing MP3 store, Google will not have an accompanying download platform, initially at least. 

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BJÖRK UNVEILS NEW WEBSITE
Björk has unveiled a new website as part of her previously reported 'Biophilia' project, which will see her take up residency at the Campfield Market Hall in Manchester for three weeks in June and July to premiere a new show as part of this year's Manchester International Festival.

A statement explaining the project reads: "Björk introduces 'Biophilia', her most ambitious and exciting work to date. A multi-media project encompassing music, apps, internet, installations and live shows, Biophilia celebrates how sound works in nature, exploring the infinite expanse of the universe, from planetary systems to atomic structure. Release dates and further answers will be confirmed shortly".

The website is online now at www.bjork.com, while an iPhone app will also be released in the near future.

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OFFICIAL.FM GAINS $8 MILLION OF FUNDING
DIY music platform Official.fm has announced that it has raised $8 million in funding to aid the next stage of the site's development. The site is very similar in many ways to SoundCloud, allowing users to upload their music to be listened to without geographical restrictions, as well as offering some social functions.

CEO Jeremie Abihssira said in a statement to users: "Official.fm's team has raised in excess of $8 million that will go directly into the development of our platform. With your help we hope to build the world's most advanced do-it-yourself platform for music creators and content owners ... Now we have the means to realize our ambition, the next challenge is to build a sustainable business. We'll launch premium accounts in the coming months, giving you access to new ways for you to live off of the music you create and control".

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STRAWBERRY FIELDS GATES TO BE REPLACED
Hey, you know what, I don't care if stuff the Beatles wrote songs about or touched disappear. I know I'm supposed to care because they have some historical value, but I don't. If we went around saving everything related to things bands had done, the world would be full of all kinds of rubbish we don't need.

Still, I realise some people do care about this stuff, which is why the gates at Liverpool's Strawberry Field, formerly the Strawberry Field Salvation Army Children's Home, and the inspiration for the Beatles song 'Strawberry Fields Forever', of course, are being replaced with replicas. The originals will then be hidden in a secret location to stop them from being damaged by fans who keep coming up and touching them and stuff. The new gates have been donated by local gate maker Jim Bennett.

Major Ray Irving, director of social services for the Salvation Army, which still owns the site, said: "Although care has been taken to ensure the original gates to the site have remained in good condition, inevitably time has taken its toll. When Mr Bennett got in touch with us in 2010 and explained that he was creating a set of replica gates as a project, we were very interested. This means that the original gates can be kept safe from further deterioration and, with the replica gates in place, allow for an authentic experience for the many thousands of people who come on a musical pilgrimage to Strawberry Field".

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ADELE'S EX WANTED MONEY FOR BEING "A PRICK"
Adele has revealed that the ex-boyfriend who inspired a number of songs on her latest album '21' after he broke up with her, tried to claim a cut of songwriting royalties upon its release. 

The singer told The Sun: "For about a week he was calling and was deadly serious about it. Finally, I said, 'Well, you made my life hell, so I lived it and now I deserve it'. He really thought he'd had some input into the creative process by being a prick. I'll give him this credit - he made me an adult and put me on the road that I'm travelling".

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