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

MUSIC BUSINESS MODELS – MAKING MONEY, FINDING INVESTMENT
How to make money out of music – both now and in the future, with a look at alternative investment and revenue streams, and a new approach to monetising artists and their music. Wed 7 Sep

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

TROIS-STRIKES REACHES STRIKE THREE
The French three-strikes system is about to reach, well, strike three, which I think is where those who continue to file-share despite receiving two stern warning letters, in French and everything, get their hands chopped off. Yeah, try file-sharing without hands you devilish digi-thieves.

Oh, no, hang on, not even under the French anti-piracy system - possibly the most draconian to date - are any limbs removed. Well, not yet. But the government agency overseeing the French version of the graduated response process for tackling illegal file-sharing, Hadopi, is due to interview just over ten suspected and persistent file-sharers who, web-monitors reckon, have continued to illegally access or share unlicensed content despite receiving two warning letters that doing so infringes copyright.

After said interviews Hadopi officials can choose to put each strike-three case before a judge who can in turn order the defendant's internet connection be disconnected (though a Hadopi spokesman seems to have told Billboard the defendant's internet service provider will actually have some discretion regards the penalty the file-sharer faces, perhaps implying the bandwidth throttling that has been considered in the UK might be acceptable, even though we were under the impression being hit by a third strike under the French system would mean full and automatic disconnection).

For fans of big numbers, Billboard also reports that to date the French content industries have filed 18,380,844 complaints against suspected file-sharers to Hadopi, who in turn have requested the names and addresses of the users of 1,023,079 IP addresses (which is so much less than the eighteen million complaints, because its common for multiple complaints to be linked to one IP address, and also because the Hadopi unit doesn't have limitless resources). From those requests, Hadopi is sitting on the names and addresses of 902,970 suspected file-sharers, of which 470,878 have been sent warning letter number one, and 20,598 warning letter number two.

The whole Hadopi process has been divisive, of course. On one side, some in the French music industry reckon far more than ten or so file-sharers should be facing court action by now, though Hadopi officials point out that the low number, although partly due to resources, is also a sign the first and second warning letters are having some impact in terms of stopping casual file-sharers from accessing illegal content sources.

On the other side of the debate, many still think trios-strikes is too draconian, and those people are likely to get more vocal again once the prospect of actual disconnections becomes a reality. Another potential challenge for Hadopi and the French content industries is if a significant number of the strike-three defendants dispute the allegation they file-share.

We know the web monitoring systems employed by content owners are not 100% reliable, plus of course there is the 'wi-fi defence' - ie "I have an open wi-fi network, someone else must have tapped into it and done the file-sharing", though said in French presumably. The wi-fi defence is one of the big issues for any three-strikes system, because assuming a file-sharer has evidence that they do indeed have an open wi-fi network linked to their IP address (and assuming a defendant is willing to give the defence under oath once it reaches court), then it's hard to disprove.

Does the three-strikes law imply an obligation on any ISP customer to password protect their wi-fi network to avoid liability for infringement undertaken by a third party via their net connection? One German court ruling said yes, but a more general application of that rule would prove very controversial.

So, interesting times ahead as strike three gets under way in France. Hadopi is also due to publish a report reviewing its progress and successes, or not, in September. As much previously reported, the British version of three-strikes, although technically put in place by last year's Digital Economy Act, is still being developed and is unlikely to go live, with warning letter number one, until next year. It is still not clear what form strike three might take in the UK, the DEA being very vague on that point.

Other countries are also considering a similar graduated response system for tackling online piracy. South Korea already has it, New Zealand has it in theory though, like in the UK, it's yet to really be put into action, and Ireland has it if you get your internet off Eircom. As previously reported, US ISPs recently voluntarily signed up to a sort of three-strikes system, though one mainly focused on warning letters rather than sanctions, and one that includes six strikes. Which is interesting, you'd think the Americans would understand the rules of baseball better than the rest of us.

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ARETHA SONGWRITING PARTNER SUES HER PUBLISHER
Aretha Franklin's long-time songwriting partner has sued the soul legend's publishing company, Springtime Publishing, over allegations relating to two songs he co-wrote with the singer.

Norman West says that Springtime allowed 'Put It Back Together Again' to be released on Franklin's recent album 'A Woman Falling Out Of Love' without having signed a royalties agreement with him as co-writer. He also claims Springtime have acting improperly regarding royalties on another song he wrote with Franklin, 'Watch My Back'.

West's lawyer says his client retains much respect for Franklin herself who the plaintiff sees as his "mentor and guiding force", but adds that he was forced to take action against her publisher after private attempts to settle the dispute failed. The legal man says his client wants to ensure the future payment of royalties he is due.

Neither Springtime nor Franklin's people have responded to the lawsuit.

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DIDDY SUED OVER SHOOTING AT HIS RESTAURANT
P Diddy only recently settled legal claims made against him relating to a shooting that occurred in a New York club where he was socialising in 1999, and now the hip hopper is again being accused of liability for a shooting that he wasn't really involved in.

As previously reported, after the 1999 incident an associate of Diddy's was jailed for involvement in the shooting, which was the basis for the claims made by victims of the shoot out that the rapper should be liable for their suffering. The cases never got to court, with settlements being reportedly reached earlier this year.

In the new case Diddy is facing action from a man who was injured during a shooting in the car park of an Atlanta restaurant owned by the hip hop mogul. Leroy Austin, a cousin of former Universal and Warner exec Kevin Liles as it happens, claims that Diddy's company should have provided better security at the eatery to protect its customers from any violence. It adds that the restaurant's management knew there were "dangerous and hazardous conditions" around their property when the shooting occurred in November 2010, but failed to warn him of that fact.

Neither the restaurant's management nor owner Diddy have responded to the lawsuit as yet.

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FBI ARRESTS ANONYMOUS HACKERS
The Feds have arrested over a dozen hackers in America all allegedly linked to the cyber-attacking Anonymous group, which, assuming the FBI has the right people, slightly damages their claims to be 'anonymous'.

The cyber-attackers, of course, have been responsible for various Distributed Denial Of Service and other hacking attacks against the servers of companies and organisations which they perceive to be infringing freedom of speech or, more commonly, which they accuse of a heavy handed approach to protecting their intellectual property rights. The latter means various music and entertainment companies have been targets, most notably Sony Corp, whose entire PlayStation and Qriocity networks were forced offline.

According to reports, somewhere between fourteen and sixteen hackers were arrested during raids in New Jersey, New York, California and Florida. It follows arrests in Spain and one here in the UK against people accused of participating in cyber-attack campaigns organised by Anonymous, or similar organisations.

Earlier this week, one UK-based group of hack-attackers, LulzSec, resurrected themselves from a self-inflicted retirement in order to attack the websites of News International, presumably after wondering why nt other hackers had gone after such an obvious target since the phone hacking scandal blew up.

You get the impression the cyber-attackers think what they do is funny, as well as making some sort of political point. Though nothing any cyber-attacker has ever done is as amusing as this online protest, enabled by simply registering a URL that looks like it might belong to the Rupert Murdoch organisation: www.foxnewsuk.com. You have to read the source code to get full enjoyment.

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PJ HARVEY FAVOURITE TO WIN MERCURY
So, as a handful of you may have noticed, the shortlist for the Mercury Prize was announced yesterday. By Lauren Laverne and everything. But what, I hear you ask, are the odds currently being offered by those only slightly evil bookies with regards who might win? Well, these are the odds being offered by Ladbrokes as I write this:

Adele - 21 (6/1)
Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi (6/1)
Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys! (25/1)
Everything Everything - Man Alive (16/1)
Ghostpoet - Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam (12/1)
Gwilym Simcock - Good Days At Schloss Elmau (20/1)
James Blake - James Blake (6/1)
Katy B - On A Mission (12/1)
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine (14/1)
Metronomy - The English Riviera (8/1)
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (2/1)
Tinie Tempah - Disc-Overy (18/1)

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BLINK 182 BROKE UP FOR "STUPID" REASONS
Blink 182's Tom DeLonge has said that the reasons for the band's break up in 2005 were "stupid".

Speaking to Zane Lowe on Radio 1, Delonge said: "The reason the band broke up was really stupid in the first place; it's not like anybody had sex with each other's wives. Though, for how bad we hated each other, that should have been what happened. The band got so big that the machine running the band took over. We were burnt out, we needed a break, but the machine won't let you do that. The band had stopped communicating because the machine was so big".

Now they're back together, the band have recorded a new album, 'Neighborhoods', which is due out later this year. You can hear the first single from it, 'Up All night', here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkoCkva-rBc

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BMG SIGNS EMPIRE STATE OF MIND PRODUCER
BMG Chrysalis yesterday confirmed it had signed a publishing deal with songwriter and producer Al Shuckbergh, aka Al Shux, who's written songs from Tinie Tempah and Cheryl Cole among many others. He was also producer of and co-writer on the Jay-Z and Alicia Key's mega-hit that was 'Empire State Of Mind'. He is also due to head into the studio with, among others, Plan B in the coming months.

BMG said yesterday, simply: "We gladly welcome Al to the BMG family!"

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NEW TOOL COMING WHEN IT'S READY, DUMMIES
Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan has said that although the band are working on new material, he can't guarantee when it will make its way into the public domain. He also berated the band's fans for not being able to read.

Keenan told The Pulse Of Radio: "We're just always writing and it's just progressing as it progresses. We normally don't say anything about anything until it's actually happening, because there's a lot of people online that apparently can't read very well. I put an April Fool's notice up there for the album release, and it was this year, 2011, I said, 'New Tool album, such-and-such a date, 2009', and everybody ran around like, 'Oh, really, the new Tool...?' God, you guys are dumb. I swear to God. You've got to read. Please, read".

The band's last album, '10,000 Days', was released in 2006.

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BJÖRK RELEASES BIOPHILIA APP
Björk has made the previously reported iOS app for her new album, 'Biophilia', available via the Apple app store. The free app features an introduction from David Attenborough, and the track 'Cosmogony', plus makes another track, 'Crystalline', available for in-app purchase.

All ten tracks from the album will eventually be made available through the app, and each comes with its own accompanying interactive elements, including a game, musical animation of the song, an animated score, lyrics, and an academic essay. 'Cosmogony' itself is hidden in the galaxy that makes up the app's main screen, allowing the user to move through the sound in the three dimensional kind of way. Trust me, it's all very clever.

itunes.com/apps/biophilia

'Cosmogony' and 'Crystalline' are also both available as standard downloads from iTunes. The album will be released by One Little Indian on 27 Sep.

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ST VINCENT UNVEILS NEW TRACK
Having announced her new album, 'Strange Mercy', last month, St Vincent has now made a track available from it as a free download. To unlock it, you just need to tweet the hashtag #strangemercy and then head over to strangemercy.com to watch a few videos and claim your track.

'Strange Mercy' will be released by 4AD on 12 Sep.

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M83 ANNOUNCES ALBUM DETAILS
M83, aka Anthony Gonzalez, has announced that he will release his sixth album, 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming', on 17 Oct via Mute.

Gonzalez says a key influence on the two disc album was Smashing Pumpkins also over-long 'Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness'. He said: "I saw when I was a teenager that I could dig into [that album]. It was like a treasure. If I were a teenager nowadays, I would try to find something as creative as this album. They had so much to say in their songs".

You can get a free download of a track from the new M83 album, 'Midnight City', in exchange for your email address here: www.ilovem83.com/midnight-city.

Or stream it here: soundcloud.com/m83/midnight-city

Here's the full trackslist:

CD 1:
Intro (feat Zola Jesus)
Midnight City
Reunion
Where the Boats Go
Wait
Raconte-Moi Histoire
Train to Pluton
Claudia Lewis
This Bright Flash
When Will You Come Home?
Soon, My Friend

CD 2:
My Tears Are Becoming a Sea
New Map
OK Pal
Another Wave From You
Splendor
Year One, One UFO
Fountains
Steve McQueen
Echoes of Mine
Klaus I Love You
Outro

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

FESTIBELLY, Lymington, The New Forest, Hampshire, 27 Aug: New Young Pony Club are fresh on the Festibelly bill as this year's headlining act, with fellow subjects of the latest announcement being Howard Marks, James Yuill, Channel Swimmers, Figures and Francis May. Man Like Me, Ghostpoet, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, She Keeps Bees, Lulu And The Lampshades and Drums of Death make up a good portion of the existing line-up. www.festibelly.com

PURE FESTIVAL, The Garage, 20-22 Highbury Corner, London, 24-25 Sep: Presenting a select line-up across two nights at London's Garage, this booze-based bash will welcome Danish dark-pop duo The Ravonettes, laptop-toting folk troubadour James Yorkston, Electric Soft Parade, Steve Mason, Smoke Fairies and Kassidy, with future acts in collaboration with Fierce Panda and Rockfeedback still TBA. Sure to be an experience to savour, the event bears the slogan "whiskey, not wellies", based on the inclusion in ticket prices of educational opportunities to sample premium single malts and blends. www.purefestival.com

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ALBUM REVIEW: Omar - Sing (If You Want To) (Tru Thoughts)
Omar Lye-Fook, the British nu soul star who shot to fame 20 years ago with 'There's Nothing Like This', re-releases his sixth album, 'Sing', via Tru Thoughts, with two added bonus tracks.

The album is diverse and still sounds fresh, and from the sunny intro of 'Lift Off' we have an idea of where we are heading. The title track is more typical of what you might expect from Omar, featuring lush vocals over a pleasant R&B backdrop. But elsewhere he steps it up a gear with tracks like 'It's So', which has some afrobeat elements to it. The highlight for me, though, is 'Feeling You', featuring Stevie Wonder in a polished funky number.

There are other collaborations too. 'Be A Man' features JC Bentley in an odd form of duet which kind of works. Estelle helps out by delivering an anti-gun message over very heavy beats on 'Lay It Down', which is well crafted and not condescending. 'Stylin' features Angie Stone on vocals, but is probably the weakest of the album's tracks, and their combination works better in the laid back funk of 'All for Me'.

On the bonus tracks, Zed Bias (aka Maddslinky) goes tribal tech on 'Dancing' (a track which is tearing up 1Xtra's playlists), but the Bob Sinclar remix of 'Its So' isn't that exciting, as Sinclar opts for his same ol afro-house formula. Still, there are no complete flops on this album, even in its expanded form.

I missed this record the first time, so I am very glad Tru Thoughts have had the sense and passion to give this quality work wider exposure. Recommended. PV

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CAN WARNER AFFORD TO BUY EMI?
The New York Post has questioned whether Warner Music could afford to bid for the whole of EMI, despite rumours one of the motivations for selling the Warner music company to Access Industries earlier this year was to fix the major's balance sheet so to enable a Warner/EMI merger, a long held ambition of Warner CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr.

The Post cites Anthony Canale of Covenant Review, who says that a covenant agreement linked to a bond sale instigated by the major's new owners to raise funds to pay the music company's outgoing shareholders prevents them from entering into any further billion dollar plus acquisitions if and when Warner's debt-to-earnings ratio exceeds 4.6 to 1 which, Canale reckons, it nearly has.

No, I don't know what that means either. But Canale told The Post: "My initial conclusion is that means it cannot buy EMI". Though, it's worth adding, another source told the New York paper that cost savings a merger with EMI would allow within the existing Warner business might be enough to make the figures work so to allow a merger bid.

Of course, all this assumes current EMI owner Citigroup would sell to Warner, given the regulatory hurdles any EMI/Warner merger will face.

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SONY MARKETER LAUNCHES OWN CONSULTANCY
Sony Music marketer Claire Horseman, who has most recently worked within the major's Deconstruction label, has announced she is leaving the music giant to set up her own consultancy.

Horseman told CMU: "After ten brilliant years at BMG/Sony/Columbia/Deconstruction, I've decided it is time to step out on my own, so I've set up my own marketing consultancy, Strutt Music Marketing Management, named after the infamous acid house club I ran with some friends back in the day!"

The new company will offer brand partnership and product placement services, working for both brands and artists, plus marketing consultancy to both labels, and those artists and managers looking to market releases out with the label system.

More at www.facebook.com/struttmusic

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BACKSPIN ISSUES STATEMENT ON NINJA TUNE LEAKS
Backspin has issued a statement with regards the accusations made by Ninja Tune that leaks of two the label's upcoming releases were traced back to watermarked CDs sent to the German music magazine's offices.

As previously reported, the label said in a statement: "It was with considerable disappointment that we learnt in the last week that two records we have been working on have been leaked, despite the use of watermarked CDs. Toddla T's 'Watch Me Dance' and Thundercat's 'The Golden Age of Apocalypse' were both leaked from copies sent to the journalist Benjamin Jager at the offices of Backspin magazine in Germany".

But yesterday, Jager told CMU: "Since its founding days ... Backspin Magazine [has been renowned] for its professional and trustworthy relationship with artists, labels and partners. Therefore, we distance ourselves from allegations made against the magazine and its staff. Never in the history of Backspin Magazine have members of the staff leaked confidential information and data on the internet or other media".

He added: "The first leaks [of these albums] appeared on the net days before we received the CDs in the mail. Further leaks appeared one week after the incident was reported. Both CDs are watermarked and mention the recipient by name. Therefore, releasing the CDs via Backspin is highly illogical. Moreover, we reserve the right to take legal measures against damage of Backspin's reputation".

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APPLE ANNOUNCES YET ANOTHER RECORD QUARTER
Apple published its quarterly financial results yesterday. Revenues were $28.57 billion. Yes, for a three month period. That's a lot of iPods. Profits were an equally impressive $7.31 billion.

Says the Apple man Steve Jobs: "We're thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82% and profits up 125%". He added, with a look to the rest of the year: "Right now, we're very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall".

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BAUER RADIO APPOINTS NEW DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT CHIEF
Bauer Media's radio division has announced the promotion of Bruce Mitchell, who currently leads the firm's Kiss and Magic digital teams, to the role of Digital Product & Innovation Director, Radio. In his new job Mitchell will continue to directly oversee the Kiss and Magic websites, but will also have a remit for developing new digital products around the rest of Bauer's radio brands.

Bauer's Digital Director, Lifestyle & Radio, Andrea Kilbourne, told CMU: "I have no doubt Bruce will bring great energy and expertise to this critical growth role. The commercial edge he delivers every day at Kiss and Magic 105.4, alongside his deep technical knowledge, will prove invaluable as we develop and refine our radio offer in this exciting and evolving area of our business".

Mitchell himself added: "I'm delighted to be given the opportunity to drive forward Bauer's Digital platforms and create exciting, innovative products for our advertisers and consumers. I'm looking forward to continuing to work with the award winning team on Kiss and Magic 105.4 and now with our radio brands across the Bauer portfolios to deliver further innovations in the coming months".

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GAGA'S MERMAID ANTICS NOT A MIDLER RIP OFF
Lady Gaga doesn't steal routines off Bette Midler, OK? And besides, she's a big fan of Midler. Which I'm sure will mean a lot to the singing actress, who I bet loves being referred to as a "woman from the past".

This all began when Gaga took to a stage in Australia recently dressed as a mermaid and sitting in a wheelchair, seemingly a logistical move on the pop queen's part, as it's quite hard to walk in a mermaid costume. But Midler recognised that routine, having done the same in 1980, and she took to Twitter to say so.

But Gaga insists she had no idea about Midler's mermaid act, though is happy to see her own mermaid routine as a tribute to that "woman from the past" now she does know.

Gaga told Access Hollywood: "I had no idea that she did that and I'm a huge Bette Midler fan. It was not a Midler tribute in the beginning ... because I didn't know that she'd done it, but I do now and I think it's great. Obviously I feel connected to women in theatre and women from the past".

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