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 27 Jul

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OFFICES OF SPANISH COLLECTING SOCIETY RAIDED
The HQ of Spain's publishing rights collecting society - so the country's equivalent of PRS For Music - was raided by the Spanish police on Friday. Officers were investigating allegations that the Society Of Authors & Editors, or SGAE, has been misappropriating funds. According to local media reports, nine SGAE employees were taken in for questioning, including the organisation's president Eduardo Bautista, while the homes of some of the rights body's execs were also searched.

According to El Pais, the allegations relate to the Digital Society Of Authors, a subsidiary of SGAE that deals with digital rights. It's thought the police investigation stems from a complaint made over three years ago against the digitally-focused part of the society by a consortium of web and IT firms. Billboard note specific allegations against the boss of the digital division, José Luis Neri, who is accused of diverting society funds to a company called Microgénesis.

Like its counterparts in other countries, SGAE has been pursuing various new revenue streams from within the digital domain, and caused particular criticism from digital firms by extending the recordable media levy that compensates for private copying to digital devices. If any dodgy dealings are proven at the society, it will certainly hinder its efforts to win political support for more enforceable digital rights.

For its part, SGAE issued a statement this weekend saying it was collaborating with the authorities in their investigations, and that it believed its executives were innocent of all charges. It added that the organisation had not yet been given an official reason for the Madrid police's raid of its offices.

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BGT BLOGGER CAUTIONED
The blogger who claimed to be a Sony Music insider, and who said he had evidence that Simon Cowell's Syco company had been coaching one of the finalists on this year's 'Britain's Got Talent', has been cautioned by police.

As previously reported, the not especially genuine looking blog post claimed twelve year old 'BGT' contender Ronan Parke already had a professional relationship with Cowell, who was using the ITV programme to launch the young singer's career. Cowell strongly denied the allegations, reported the blog to the police, and threatened legal action against the anonymous claimer. A subsequent second blog post seemingly from the same blogger withdrew all the previous claims.

Police confirmed this weekend that they had cautioned a 52 year old man in relation to the blog, a spokesman for Scotland Yard saying, simply: "We can confirm that a 52 year old man has accepted a caution under the Malicious Communications Act. There will be no further police action".

Meanwhile a spokesman for Sony Music told The Guardian: "A man has now admitted responsibility for the wholly untrue blogs relating to Ronan Parke and the false allegations against 'Britain's Got Talent', Sony Music and Syco. He has admitted he has absolutely no connection with Ronan Parke, Sony Music, Syco, or 'Britain's Got Talent'. He has apologised both via the police and directly to those involved and the matter will not be taken further".

If I'd been Cowell I'd have played along with the malicious blogger, his untrue claims being pretty much the only interesting thing to come out of the last series of the ITV talent contest.

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JOE JACKSON WANTS TO ADD AEG LIVE TO HIS MURRAY LAWSUIT
Oh, well that's not especially original, is it? Joe Jackson has asked for AEG Live to be added as a defendant on his wrongful death lawsuit against Doctor Conrad Murray, the doc in charge of Michael Jackson's medical care at the time of his death two years ago.

As much previously reported, the late king of pop's mother and Joe's wife Katherine Jackson is already suing AEG Live over the death of her son, the logic being that if you can prove Murray caused MJ's death by negligently administering the drug propofol, then as AEG was paying his fees at the time, it should be partly liable for his actions.

Murray, of course, denies causing the singer's death, and is likely to claim in the criminal and both the civil court cases relating to his former patient's demise that the pop star self-administered the drugs that killed him. Even if Murray were to be found liable for negligence, AEG will claim that the medic was appointed by Jackson himself, and his work was out of their control, therefore, the live music conglom will say, it can't be held liable for the singer's death.

Joe Jackson's amended lawsuit against Murray and AEG will say the live music firm appointed the doc because the company was annoyed that treatment being given by his son's existing medics was interfering with rehearsals for the singer's mega-residency at London's The O2. Presumably Mr Jackson is following his wife's lead in targeting AEG after recognising that, even if he were to win his lawsuit against Murray, the doc's finances are limited, whereas the live music firm could afford substantial damages.

According to reports, Murray's legal reps say they have no problem with AEG being named as a co-defendant, but the proposal still needs court approval. As previously reported, Murray's lawyers have already issued papers requesting Joe Jackson's lawsuit be dismissed, based partly on those allegations Michael Jackson self-administered the fatal drug dose, and partly on claims that - given he was estranged from his son - Jackson Senior is not eligible to claim.

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MORE DETAILS ABOUT NEW INDIE SECTOR AWARDS ANNOUNCED
More information now about the previously reported all new and slightly dazzling AIM Independent Music Awards, set up by the Association Of Independent Music to champion and celebrate all the fab dudes that work at or record for independent record companies.

Categories for the inaugural Independent Music Awards have been announced today, it being Independence Day and all, celebrating that moment when those ground-breaking Americans declared independence from the dastardly King George III, who I think headed up Parlophone Records at the time. Radio geezers Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens have also been confirmed as hosts of AIM's awards event.

Among the gongs that will be dished out in London on 10 Nov are prizes for best small label, entrepreneur of the year, best catalogue release and international achievement, and best independent festival and live act. A judging panel will select winners for most of the prizes, though some will be selected by other means, including public votes.

Commenting on the new awards show, AIM Chief Alison Wenham told CMU: "AIM has spent ten years focused on helping independent music to make the most of its huge creative assets, first in the UK and lately worldwide. We were always looking outward and upward. Now with the confidence which comes from our genuine and measurable achievements in the independent sector, we want to celebrate, in a distinct and indie fashion".

There will be more info about the awards at www.facebook.com/AIMIndependentMusicAwards. Tickets for the awards show will be £70 for AIM members and £150 for everyone else. Including George III, who likes to party with the best of them.

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MCFLY AND MCCARTNEY ON-THE-DAY WINNERS AT SILVER CLEFS
So, the much previously reported O2 Silver Clef Awards took place in London last week in aid of the rather excellent Nordoff Robbins charity. We already knew who most of the winners would be, you know, Annie Lennox, Biffy Clyro and Liza Minnelli, though there was still some new news on the day.

First McFly were declared winners of the Digital Innovation Award for their online fan community Super City. They said, in perfect unison (well, I suspect Dougie was slightly out of sync): "We're thrilled to be receiving the Digital Innovation Award at today's Silver Clef Awards. We took a risk with Super City, but we're always determined to be ground breaking in what we do. Nordoff Robbins is a great charity and the way they use music to help people is inspiring. It's an honour to be associated with them".

And second we had the results of the Best Live Act poll conducted by Absolute Radio, O2 and the Evening Standard ahead of the awards show. This wasn't an award mind, just a poll, so don't go getting things confused now will you? Not even if we previously referred to it as an award. And who is the best live act in the world as of July 2011. Well, Paul McCartney of course. It's a good job he's not dead, otherwise live music would be over.

Name checking more of this year's winners, Nordoff Robbins Chariman David Munns told CMU: "Each and every one of today's winners at the Nordoff Robbins O2 Silver Clef Awards has made a unique contribution to music - from Annie Lennox, one of the world's most successful recording artists, having sold 80 million records, to Tinie Tempah who, in the last twelve months alone, has had a number one album, two number one singles and won two BRIT Awards".

He continued: "Today we've also celebrated the incredible talent of many outstanding artists including Liza Minnelli, Arcade Fire, Alfie Boe, Biffy Clyro, McFly and Swedish House Mafia. All funds raised today for Nordoff Robbins will go towards providing essential music therapy services for children and adults across the UK".

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BEYONCE TOPS THE CHART
I'm pretty sure Beyonce's new album '4' would have gone to number one in this week's album chart anyway, so claiming it's all down to the 'Glastonbury Effect' is a bit of a non-starter, but it's a quiet news day, so whatever. Beyonce's new album '4' flew straight to the top of the UK chart yesterday thanks to the Glastonbury Effect. Well done her and it.

Ms Knowles' celebrated headline slot at Glasto also ensured her new single 'Best Thing I Ever Had' sped up the singles chart to, erm, number three. Though there were five older Beyonce tracks also in the singles top 75 this week, that'll be down to Glaston-telly, I'll give you that.

Other artists apparently benefiting in the charts from Glastonbury exposure, according to the Official Charts Company, were Coldplay, Chase & Status, Mumford & Sons, Noah & The Whale, Plan B, Elbow and U2. Though strangely no Tricky to be seen anywhere. I really expected him to be filling the top five. Major disappointment.

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PIL BACK IN THE STUDIO
According to The Quietus, John Lydon is back in the studio with the current Public Image Limited line up working on some new material. Lydon previously said the recent PiL live reunion was designed to fund some studio time to put down new material, telling Billboard "I've got piles [of new songs], I never stop writing".

The Quietus says that Lydon is working with Lu Edmonds, Bruce Smith and Scott Firth on new recordings at a studio "in the outskirts of nowhere".

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RADIOHEAD REMIXES STREAMING
The first edition in the previously reported series of Radiohead remixes is out today. Various remixes of tracks off the band's 'The King Of Limbs' album will be released over the next few weeks ontwelve-inch vinyl, starting today with Caribou's rework of 'Little By Little' and a Jacques Greene remix of 'Lotus Flower'. The next release will feature the remixing talents of Nathan Fake and Mark Pritchard.

You can listen to both of the remixes released this week here: radiohead.com/deadairspace/

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MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES TO CELEBRATE THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY
Here's some upfront notice, super indie label Memphis Industries will celebrate its thirteenth birthday with a party at Koko in London on 30 Nov, with The Go! Team, Field Music, Dutch Uncles and Colourmusic among those set to appear. The party has been planned ever since the label sort of forgot to mark its tenth anniversary with a big bash. Tickets are on sale now. More info and such like at www.memphis-industries.com

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TOWER FALL LEADS TO FATALITY AT ROSKILDE
A young woman died at this weekend's Roskilde festival in Denmark after falling from a tower in the event's camping area that was part of an aerial cable ride run by one of the festival's sponsors. Another festival-goer fell but suffered only light injuries.

It's the first fatality at the mega-festival since the crowd surge in 2000 which led to the death of nine festival-goers. The Danish festival is generally considered one of the safest since the 2000 incident, after a series of safety and crowd control systems were introduced after that tragedy.

A spokesman for the event said this weekend's accident was "very tragic", adding that organisers were waiting for more information from the police regarding the incident before making any further comment.

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ALBUM REVIEW: The Deer Tracks - The Archer Trilogy Part 2 (The Control Group)
This second album from the longtime CMU favourites is, if not quite a summer album, certainly slightly less glacial and wintry than their debut, 'Aurora', if only due to the splashes of colour that suggest the Swedish duo's sonic influences on this album also extended to early 90s trance and techno.

Thankfully it hasn't lost the things that made 'Aurora' so compelling - the Múm playfulness, Sigur Rós-style ethereal melancholy and glitchy 'Vespertine'-era Björk beats, all held together by the endearingly elfin boy-girl vocals of David Lehnberg and Elin Lindfors.

And whilst 'Meant To Be' has some jarring almost grungy guitars amid its crystalline beauty, it simply reflect a growing confidence and desire to break new ground.

And so, the majestic 'Dark Passenger' is a slow-building epic that unfurls in a similar, albeit more controlled, vein to their 'Yes, This Is My Broken Shield', whilst the anthemic chorus of 'Fa Fire' could almost make the track an electro Smashing Pumpkins (though infinitely better if only for the absence of Billy Corgan).

Elsewhere we get The Deer Tracks' take on slightly euphoric dance pop, redolent of a less scary The Knife, whilst 'Fall With Me' is impossibly lovely, with a plaintive melodica refrain that radiates a beautiful sadness you just can't help but drown in.

An album of contrasts, at its best, 'The Archer Trilogy' is captivating listening. You'd be hard pressed to hear better music released by anyone else this year, frankly. MS

Physical release: 22 Aug

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WILL JAY-Z OPEN AN EXCLUSIVE SPORTS BAR WITH ASHLEY COLE?
There have been rumours for a while that Jay-Z has been meeting with footballer and ex-and-possibly-future-husband-of-Cheryl Ashley Cole to discuss music business ventures, and now The Sun reckons the two men will launch a restaurant and nightclub in central London together.

According to the tab the new club venture will be a London outpost for Jay-Z's 40/40 Club venture, which has a sporty theme so that would figure. The tabloid adds that the new venue will be "ultra-posh".

Perhaps if Cole is planning on bringing in his footballing palls, they could have a 'cheat-on-you-wife' room at the back, and an in-house representative from Schillings, the super injunction specialists.

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DEPUTY AND CHAIR SWAP ROLES AT MPA AGM
It was the Annual General Meeting of the Music Publishers Association last week and we've not yet got round to telling you about the game of swapsy done at the top of the trade organisation. Chris Butler from Music Sales Ltd was elected up from his previous role as Deputy Chairman to the top job of Chair, while the outgoing Chairman Nigel Elderton was re-elected into the Deputy role. Good times.

Elsewhere, Peter Barnes (Pink Floyd Music Publishers), Paul Connolly (Universal Music Publishing), Jane Dyball (Warner/Chappell), James Fitzherbert-Brockholes (Kobalt Music Publishing) and Andy Heath (4AD Music) were re-elected as pop reps on the MPA board, while Chris Butler (Music Sales), Richard King (Faber Music) and Ben Newing (Universal Edition) will represent all things classical.

Elsewhere, the CEO of the trade body, Stephen Navin, called for a faster implementation of the Digital Economy Act's copyright provisions, debated the logic of a global repertoire database, and dissed the corrupt nature of too many publishing rights collecting societies around the world (though not ours in the UK, obviously).

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GROOVESHARK CHIEF SAYS ARTIST DEVELOPMENT A PRIORITY
The boss of sometimes controversial US-based streaming music service Grooveshark, Sam Tarantino appeared on Bloomberg recently - I think because of rising interest in the streaming content sector in the States post the silly money Pandora IPO - to discuss his business's plans and legal status.

As previously reported, Grooveshark insists its business is legal, even though users can upload audio content meaning the platform will sometimes host music that is not licensed by rights owners. Deals are in place with EMI and many smaller labels and artists, and the company does operate the takedown system set out in America's Digital Millennium Copyright Act, though the other majors - Universal in particular - say that is not enough for Grooveshark to avoid liability for copyright infringement in relation to any unlicensed content they host pre-takedown notice.

That debate will be heard in the New York courts eventually thanks to a lawsuit pursued by Universal. In the meantime, Grooveshark insists its platform is no different to YouTube - a point CEO Sam Tarantino made several times in the Bloomberg interview - and therefore, the company argues, its service is no less legal than the Google-owned video platform. Universal might counter that YouTube has licensing deals in place with many more content owners, including all four majors.

Although much of the Bloomberg interview is made of talk about licensing - Tarantino mainly focuses on how hard it is to licence digital services, though at one point says a major problem is that labels have "margin issues" - perhaps more interesting is the brief discussion about the Grooveshark business model. Although admitting his company's main revenues currently come from advertising and, for the mobile version, subscriptions, he described both of those income streams as "low margin", and indicated that he sees his business's future being in artist development and management.

Noting recent partnerships with bands like Quiet Company, Tarantino distinguished himself from his digital competitors by saying "we are very much about breaking new artists as a platform ... we see artist development as being core to our business", adding that Grooveshark's artist relationships might see the company getting involved in touring and other revenue generating projects. Of course, that's the one revenue stream which isn't subject to major label licensing talks, which might be the reason behind the new focus, though it's an interesting development, providing MySpace Records isn't used as a model.

You can see the interview here: www.bloomberg.com/video/71365614/

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TIMBERLAKE'S MYSPACE GIG AGREED VERY LAST MINUTE
Talking of MySpace, how is Justin Timberlake planning on restoring the social network he's just been put in charge of back to its former glory? With a talent contest, of course.

Well, that's one of the ideas being considered, according to the singer-come-actor's longtime manager Johnny Wright, who has told the Associated Press: "Whether it becomes a talent competition or something like that, those are things that we will still flesh out. We definitely want to bring the industry back to MySpace to really look at the talented people that have put their faces there".

To be fair, if that sounds like a pretty flimsy plan, Timberlake has only been on board to lead the all new MySpace, which was bought by Specific Media last week, for the last fortnight. The link between Timberlake and Wright and Specific owners Tim, Chris and Russell Vanderhook - a branding executive - only put the two parties together, via conference call, on the Friday before last. A face to face meeting took place last Tuesday, and a deal was done between the two parties just half an hour before Specific announced its acquisition of the flagging digital company.

Which all sounds rather speedy and exciting. Let's hope they can pump some of that speed and excitement into the lacklustre website they now own.

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MOYLES RENEWS RADIO 1 CONTRACT FOR THREE YEARS
Many thought Chris Moyles would be bumped from the Radio 1 breakfast show later this year, as the 37 year old, erm, voice of youth's contract with the nation's favourite came to an end.

But those who thought the BBC's youth-focused pop station would use this contract break to refresh it's daytime programming so to better meet its reason for being - to champion new mainstream music and engage young listeners - were not factoring in the youth station's 52 year old chief Andy Parfitt and his ratings-before-remit approach. Parfitt's certainly a fan of the familiar.

And so Moyles has been signed up for another three years. And while that new BBC deal does not necessarily guarantee the DJ the primetime Radio 1 breakfast slot, many note a three year run takes you up to the Moyles-at-breakfast franchise's tenth anniversary, which is something current Radio 1 management would probably like to celebrate, it being a great excuse for a big expensive party.

Confirming the new deal, reportedly worth a million, Parfitt told reporters: "Chris is a real talent and I believe he has a long future ahead of him here at the BBC". To be fair, Moyles' chat-heavy approach does always fair well in the radio ratings - assuming you trust the RAJARS - so if you believe Radio 1 should be constantly aiming to be the biggest, then the new Moyles contract does make sense.

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GLOBAL REQUESTS FORMAT CHANGES FOR CAPITAL FREQUENCIES
Global Radio has asked media regulator OfCom to change the licensing terms of the FM frequencies in Scotland and Birmingham currently being used by the radio giant's Capital FM franchise.

Capital was launched in central Scotland and the Midlands at the start of the year using frequencies previously occupied by the Galaxy network. The Scottish frequency had also previously hosted both Beat 106 and Xfm. Both sets of frequencies come with programming obligations linked to the stations that were originally broadcast on them, which is a pain for Global who want to broadcast one set of programming across its Capital network outside of prime time.

According to Radio Today, Global has asked that existing format restrictions associated with the two licences be replaced with the Capital FM format, which it describes as "a rhythmic-based music-led service for fifteen to 29 year olds supplemented with news, information and entertainment. The service should have particular appeal for listeners in their 20s and at least twelve hours a week of identifiable specialist music programmes".

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MOSS AND HINCE MARRY
So, The Kills man Jamie Hince married his long-term girlfriend Kate Moss this weekend at a church in the Cotswolds. Apparently Moss had fifteen bridesmaids, which seems a bit excessive. Hince made do with just one best-woman, his bandmate Alison Mosshart. After the ceremony the couple and their guests returned to Moss's country home for a music festival-style party. Well, there were lots of tents in her garden.

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CARTER SAYS JACKO CLAIMS MADE UP BY OK!
Aaron Carter says he was seriously misquoted by a journalist working for the Aussie version of OK! magazine, which doesn't come as much of a surprise. As previously reported, the one time teen star was reported to have said that, after becoming friends with Michael Jackson at the peak of his pop fame, the late king of pop offered him cocaine and alcohol, so much so his mother phoned the police. A representative for Carter told TMZ that "nothing was said that was reported", adding that legal action was being considered against the title.

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