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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COADEC CALL FOR HARGREAVES RECOMMENDATIONS TO BECOME LAW
The Coalition For The Digital Economy, which represents various digital firms mainly based around the Old Street and Shoreditch areas of London town (or the Silicon Roundabout, as idiots are oft heard to call it) has called on the government to draft legislation that would enact the copyright reforms proposed in the recent Hargreaves Review of intellectual property law.

As previously reported, although recommendations in the IP review undertaken by Prof Hargreaves were not as radical as some hoped or feared (depending on your stand point), he did propose some changes to copyright law, including relaxing rules on reworks and parodies, and the introduction of a private copy right without a levy for rights owners. Coadec (the Coalition's preferred nick name) is keen that those proposals are incorporated in British law sooner rather than later, perhaps aware that the Gowers Review in 2006 also proposed the private copy right and yet that has still to be enacted.

Ahead of a debate in parliament on Hargreaves tomorrow (albeit one instigated by back bench MPs and due to take place in Westminster Hall), Coadec said in an open letter: "Our organisations believe that the Hargreaves report represents a watershed for this country's digital economy. The report recognises - as many digital businesses and entrepreneurs have known for a long time - that the nation's intellectual property laws, and in particular copyright law, must adapt to business, social and technological change".

Meanwhile the group's Chairman, Jeff Lynn, who, it turns out, I've just called an idiot, added: "If the government fails to implement these reforms, it will show Silicon Roundabout that all their supposed support has been little more than hype, and that they won't even take the simplest of concrete measures to help enable a world-class digital economy in Britain. Given the importance of facilitating economic growth in this climate and the strong potential for digital businesses to do just that, such neglect would be tragic and really rather odd".

It remains to be seen if the government does turn Hargreaves into legislation and, if so, how the music business will respond. Self-harmers in the big record companies are already hatching a plan to call for a levy for rights owners to be added to digital music devices in return for the introduction of a private copy right (you no, like in Spain), which, as previously rambled upon right here, is an incredibly short sighted policy that will bring in nominal sums long term and which will further damage the reputation of music rights owners with the public at large. Which sounds like fun.

Elsewhere in politicians discussing copyright news, the government's Ed 'The Geezer' Vaizey, as no one, as yet, has called him, has noted in a speech in London recent efforts in the US to block access to websites that routinely infringe intellectual property rights, which may result in American internet service providers entering into a voluntary code on the issue.

Website blocking was, of course, covered in the Digital Economy Act, albeit with a clause that stopped any new measures actually being introduced without further consultation. Vaizey is currently undertaking that very consultation, though wouldn't comment on it at the Intellect Consumer Electronics conference this week, instead saying, simply, that if the US ISPs enter into a voluntary arrangement re blocking copyright infringing websites it could be "game-changing" on a global basis. Could be Ed, could be.

Of course, as well as the website blocking provisions of the DEA, the power of existing copyright law to force ISPs to block access to infringing sites is also currently being tested by the Motion Picture Association v BT legal battle.

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BRITISH RELEASES ACCOUNT FOR NEARLY 12% OF WORLD RECORD SALES
British artists accounted for almost 12% of global record sales in 2010, according to figures published by record label trade body the BPI ahead of its AGM later today. In the biggest music market, America, one in ten of all artist albums sold were from UK talent, while Brit acts accounted for 13.4% of sales in Canada, 17.9% in Germany, 14.5% in France and 20.2% in Australia. And in Japan, while British talent only accounted for 3.8% of sales, that's a fifth of all international sales in a market very dominated by native talent. Meanwhile a new survey by MORI reckons 83% of British people are proud of the UK music community's achievements.

All of which demands a quote from BPI CEO Geoff Taylor, I think. He told CMU this morning: "Britons are rightly proud of the fact that we are global leaders in music - one in five of the top 50 selling records released around the world last year featured British artists. As more people consume music online, we have the opportunity to get even stronger. In March this year, UK performers held the top three positions in the US Billboard Chart for the first time in 25 years".

He rambled on: "From The Beatles to Adele, the UK generates extraordinary talent that is backed by labels with digital knowhow and global ambition. Overseas success not only generates jobs and export income, it fosters a positive reputation for Britain around the world. It's time for government to match words with action [on piracy] and get behind creative industries like music that can power growth of the UK economy in the 21st century".

And look, talking of government, the BPI sent me a quote from Ed 'The Geezer' Vaizey, who's now set to get three mentions in today's CMU Daily. He told reporters: "These figures show what a great year it has been for the UK music industry. We have a proud history of producing music the world wants to listen to and I am delighted to see that continuing. This is not just about great artists but also highly talented people working behind the scenes. The UK music industry is an important part of our economy and I look forward to its continuing success in exporting British culture around the world".

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VIRGIN ANNOUNCES SPOTIFY DEAL
Virgin Media has announced its long expected partnership with Spotify, which will see the ISP offer the streaming music service to its customers, with subscriptions bundled in with net access fees.

Virgin customers will be able to choose between the standard online only package or the premium mobile version, seemingly for the same price as if they bought them from Spotify direct. The main innovation is that Spotify will also work via a Virgin customer's TV set, though it's not clear whether that will be available with the cheaper subscription package, or only the premium version.

Confirming a deal was now done with Spotify and the record companies (who had to be consulted about the incorporation of the streaming service into Virgin's platform), Virgin Media's Jon James told reporters: "We are delighted to have united the Virgin Media brand with the world's best music service. Spotify will help our customers to fill their world with music, whether it's at home or on the go, and provide a unique way to get even more out of Virgin Media's leading digital services".

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PETE DOHERTY FACING GERMAN JAIL
German police this week said that they plan to charge Doherty with "careless intoxication", which carries a maximum sentence of five years, in relation to allegations that he was involved in a burglary in the city of Regensburg earlier this year.

The Libertines and Babyshambles frontman was in Regensburg in March to film the movie 'The Confession Of A Child Of The Century', in which he stars. A witness told a local paper Mittelbayerische Zeitung that she saw three men, who were all drunk and speaking in English, standing outside the shop in question at the time the break in is believed to have taken place, when a guitar and a number of records were stolen. She added that she saw one of them reaching through a broken window and that "it was Doherty, I clearly recognised him".

Doherty later admitted to being outside the shop when the window was smashed, but said he had been drunk and had no further recollection of the event.

If Germany's law enforcers want to lock him up though, they'll have to wait until August, when he is due to complete a six month sentence for drug possession back in England.

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ADELE GIVEN ALL CLEAR TO SING AGAIN
Adele has been told by doctors that she can sing again following throat problems brought on after a bout of laryngitis, which resulted in the singer postponed her planned US tour. She will now be able to fulfil her upcoming UK live commitments, including a performance at the iTunes Festival in London this Thursday. She will then return to the States next month.

She told Radio 1: "[The condition is] basically a hole in your vocal cord but I sang through it so that's why it popped. I'm better now, it's fine, I got the all-clear".

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MERCURY NOMINATIONS OUT LATER THIS MONTH
The Mercury nominations will be announced on 19 Jul. Yes, that is about the same time that they're announced every year, but I thought you might like to know so you can get ready to complain about them. Lauren Laverne will take to the stage in the basement of The Hospital Club in London at 11.30am and read out the list of names. There will also be performances from some of the nominees.

Laverne told CMU: "There's been so much great music released this year. I'm sure the judges will have an even more challenging job than usual choosing the final shortlist of twelve albums of the year. It's certainly looks like it should be a really strong line-up".

The winner will be announced on 6 Sep. Unless the world ends, or everyone gets bored and just doesn't bother.

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BRITS-LINKED NEW TALENT COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
Details have been announced of a new young talent competition that has been in the works for sometime linked up to those pesky BRIT Awards. Organisers of Next BRIT Thing - ha, see what they did there, brilliant - is encouraging aspiring rock stars, classical musicians and composers aged eleven to nineteen to put themselves forward.

There will be various stages of judging and voting on all who decide to compete, with the overall pop, classical and songwriting winners getting stuff to keep in their cupboards and lots of big-ups in the run up to next year's BRIT Awards. The initiative is backed by the government, as well as the music business, pop stars and radio giants Global Radio. Which means I have a bucket of great quotes for you. Who do want first, Gary, Ashley or yet another series of words from Ed? Well, despite being slightly over-exposed today, Ed has used today's winning word "thrilled", so he should probably go first.

Government culture dude Ed 'The Geezer' Vaizey: "I'm thrilled to welcome the launch of the Next BRIT Thing which will bring together the music industry, education and young people to celebrate the very best in musical talent across all types of music from all across the UK. It is a really exciting opportunity to showcase yourself to the industry and I hope it inspires all young people to get involved with music either as competitors or supporters".

Global Radio top man boss guy Ashley Tabor: "Global's entire ethos is centred around world class music and talent. So, we're proud to have been associated with Next BRIT Thing from the very start of its development. With a musical focus that ranges right across the spectrum from urban to classical, each of Global's radio networks is uniquely placed on-air and online to connect with the next generation of young British music talent".

'X-Factor' star Gary Barlow: "I would have loved there to have been a nationwide music competition like this when I was at school. The Next BRIT Thing will give young musicians a chance to get themselves heard, to be creative and show off their talents to the whole country. I'm really looking forward to hearing some great songs. Good luck and get involved if you haven't already!"

For info get yourself to www.nextbritthing.com

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EMINEM ALBUM DOWNLOADED A MILLION TIMES IN US
Following last week's stats on how well digital albums are selling in the UK this year, a landmark has been passed in the US in the same domain, the first million selling digital album Stateside. Chart bosses in America have confirmed that Eminem's 2010 long player 'Recovery' has now been sold over a million times digitally, in addition to any physical sales.

Commenting on the achievement, the hip hopper's manager Paul Rosenberg told reporters: "We are thrilled to congratulate Eminem on the history-making digital sales success of 'Recovery'. Over the years we've made a concerted effort to engage Em's online fan base so this achievement is especially rewarding. Eminem made an amazing album with 'Recovery' and the fans responded in record numbers".

Eminem has beaten Adele to the first ever million selling digital album in America prize, but only just. Her album '21' is expected to pass the million downloads mark later this month. Sales of digital albums, of course, were much slower to take off than single track downloads, but that does now seem to have turned on both sides of the Atlantic.

Elsewhere, the continued growth of digital music sales, coupled with the apps fad and the finally-taking-off ebooks market, has led US analysts Global Equities Research to predict the market leader in digital content - Apple's iTunes store - could have revenues of $13 billion a year by 2013.

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MILLI VANILLI MAN PLANS COMEBACK VIA COLLAB WITH EMINEM'S DJ
Talking of Eminem, Slim Shady's current DJ - hip hop producer type The Alchemist - has revealed he is working with Fab Morvan, one half of 80s pop outfit Milli Vanilli, who were disgraced, of course, after it was revealed the singers fronting the group - Morvan and his late bandmate Rob Pilatus - were both lip syncing to session singers.

The Alchemist, Alan Daniel Maman to his mother, told gossip site TMZ: "I'm working on a joint with Vanilli ... Vanilli's making a comeback... It's real shit dude... Alchemist-Vanilli".

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MADONNA RECORDING TWELFTH ALBUM
Madonna is recording her twelfth album. Look, her manager, Guy Oseary, tweeted this on Monday: "It's official... Madonna's first day in the recording studio for the new album... Very exciting..."

So there.

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MATTHEW HERBERT'S PIG ALBUM RELEASE DATE SET
The third instalment of Matthew Herbert's 'One' trilogy, 'One Pig', which has been created from recordings of the life and death of a pig, will be released by the producer's own Accidental Records label on 10 Oct, it has been announced.

The album was condemned by animal rights organisation PETA when it was originally announced, accusing Herbert of believing that "cruelty is entertainment".

Herbert later told CMU: "This project is in part about dealing head on with the conditions and realities of a modern food industry. As I eat meat, I would have thought PETA would have been pleased that I am confronting the consequences of that choice", adding that the pig was "kept in excellent conditions".

The first record in the trilogy, 'One One', was created using over 2000 samples created by around 350 people on a single day in various cities around the world. The follow-up, 'One Club', was created entirely from sounds recorded in one night at the Robert Johnson nightclub in Frankfurt, with microphones rigged up all across the building, from the cloakroom to the DJ booth to the toilets.

Ahead of the final instalment's release, Herbert will present a live version of 'One Pig' at the Royal Opera House in September, as part of Mike Figgis's Just Tell The Truth festival. No pigs will actually be killed during the show, it's alright.

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ERASURE ANNOUNCE ALBUM AND UK TOUR
Erasure have announced that they will release a new album on 3 Oct via Mute. Entitled 'Tomorrow's World', the album was produced by Frankmusik.

They will also head out on tour the same month. Tickets go on sale on Saturday and the dates are here:

12 Oct: Leicester, De Monfort Hall
13 Oct: Glasgow, Academy
15 Oct: Edinburgh, Corn Exchange
16 Oct: Newcastle Academy
17 Oct: Grimsby Auditorium
19 Oct: Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall
20 Oct: Manchester Apollo
21 Oct: Preston, Guildhall
23 Oct: Wolverhampton, Civic Hall
25 Oct: London, Roundhouse
28 Oct: Southampton Guildhall
29 Oct: Bristol, Colston Hall
30 Oct: Cardiff, St Davids Hall
1 Nov: Cambridge Corn Exchange
3 Nov: Reading Hexagon
4 Nov: Brighton Dome

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

LATITUDE, Henham Park Estate, Suffolk, 14-17 Jul: The Heartbreaks, The Phantom Band and 'Yeah, Right' Winehouse protégé Dionne Bromfield lead the newest additions to this year's sprawling Latitude bill, with performances from Sea Of Bees and Clock Opera and sets by Goldierocks and the Moshi Moshi DJs also on the cards. They bolster an overall line-up that boasts a headlining triple-threat of Paulo Nutini, The National, Suede, plus Bombay Bicycle Club, Foals, Eels and many, many more. www.latitudefestival.co.uk

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HEINEKEN SONG CHOICE CRITICISED
Drinks firm Heineken has been forced to remove one of the songs it had selected for a Spotify-based marketing campaign for its Kronenbourg 1664 brand after booze industry marketing watchdog the Portman Group upheld a complaint that it encouraged binge drinking.

Ironically, the offending Kronenbourg 1664 campaign operated under the strapline "slow the pace", and suggested consumers should go slow when consuming the advertiser's product, which doesn't sound like a binge to me. The drinks firm's marketeers selected chilled out cover versions of songs that are normally a bit raucous.

Unfortunately, one of the tracks selected was an albeit rather fine Nouvelle Vague cover of the Dead Kennedys track 'Too Drunk To Fuck'. A complainer felt that was inappropriate for any marketing campaign promoting a lager brand and The Portman Group - while recognising Team Heineken did not intend to promote drinking to excess - upheld the complaint.

Said Portman Group boss David Poley: "This demonstrates just how careful companies have to be when marketing alcohol. We were pleased that the company took immediate action to remove the track from the playlist as soon as the complaint was brought to its attention. Heineken has also introduced more rigorous approval procedures as a result".

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[PIAS] APPOINTS NEW DIGITAL PR
[PIAS] in London has announced the appointment of a new Head Of Digital, Tasha Anderson, previously a senior digital PR at Anorak London. Anderson will head up a new digital PR team within the [PIAS] group, working in particular on artists signed to the [PIAS] record labels.

Confirming the appointment, [PIAS] UK MD Peter Thompson told CMU: "We are delighted to welcome Tasha to the [PIAS] team to head up our online digital PR. We feel this is an incredibly important area in the launch and development of any artist in today's market and it feels increasingly necessary to have this function in-house and close to our marketing and A&R teams. So after a long search we were delighted when Tasha agreed to join us, especially in light of her successful background and history in this area".

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SYCO ANNOUNCES PR REJIG
Talking of PR, Simon Cowell's Syco business recently announced it had taken on PR agency Hackford Jones on a retainer basis to spearhead publicity campaigns for all of its artists. The agency's co-founder, Simon Jones, will work on a consultancy basis planning campaigns, and liaising on Syco's behalf with other PR agencies hired on a project basis.

On the TV side of the Syco business, the Sony division's existing Global Head Of Media, Ann-Marie Thomson, will focus primarily on the launch of 'X-Factor USA', while Polly Ravenscroft of PR Squared has been retained to oversee the publicity for Syco's UK TV shows, including 'X-Factor' and 'Britain's Got Talent'. UK PR operations will have an in-house coordinator also, in the form of existing staffer Russell Eslamifar.

In related news, Hackford Jones have also announced the launch of a digital division, which, as well as some Syco clients, will work with other pop acts, including the boys Jedward and the apparently still active Blue.

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POSSE.COM TO LAUNCH IN UK
An Aussie-based web service called Posse.com, which enables fans to sell tickets and merch related to their favourite artists and celebs and earn commissions and rewards, will launch in the UK in August with a real focus on music. The firm has hired Brett Volker, who formerly ran V2 in Australia and has more recently been working elsewhere in the Virgin Group in the UK, to head up the British operation.

Posse.com co-founder and CEO Rebekah Campbell told Billboard: "We've spent the last six months refining the platform, which we launched last August in Australia. We now have something which is working very effectively. We now want to it out into other markets".

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COVER STAR BIEBER FAILS TO SHIFT MAGAZINES
Take note magazine editors, the Beliebers don't like paper. According to reports, a recent issue of Vanity Fair in the US which had Justin Bieber on its cover was the worst selling issue in a decade.

You might not find that surprising, Bieber was a strange choice of cover star for a monthly magazine aimed at grown ups. But even when Bieber appeared on Teen Vogue last year he failed to shift the units, that edition reportedly selling 12% less copies than normal.

So there you have it, if feel to urge to diss the Bieber but can't face tweets and spam and website comments from his nutty twelve year old fans, simply write down your grievances on a piece of paper. It's a crazy communications system for circumventing the kids.

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SONY IRELAND WEBSITE HACKED
So, these increasingly frequent cyber-attacks on the servers of big business are generally tedious and inconvenient. But sometimes they can be funny.

In the latest hack of a server owned by Sony, the home page of Sony Music in Ireland was hijacked, with spoof news stories added that reported Irish band The Script were dead, Rebecca Black was marrying "paedophile singer" R Kelly and that scientific research had proven Sony owned TV show 'X-Factor' was only for "the stupid".

Sony Music Ireland quickly redirected its Irish URL to its Facebook page while dealing with the hack, as well as issuing an important statement to the press to assure us none of the stories posted on the website that day were true.

So, a stressful day in the IT department of Sony's Dublin office yesterday I assume, though once one part of your company has let the personal details of the entire Sony PlayStation Network be published online, one assumes Sony Corp HQ is somewhat immune to panic for minor website breaches like this.

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