Music News Bulletin - 23/01/09

Sharkey talks though at MIDEM
"More MIDEM, and the boss of cross-industry trade body UK Music, Feargal Sharkey, often the consolatory voice in the room when the music industry feels it is being abused by government or the internet industry, delivered some fighting talk in his speech.

First the UK government. Despite Culture Secretary Andy Burnham putting pressure on the ISPs to take a more proactive role in combating online piracy, and more recently saying that the government were no longer completely against the idea of extending the sound recording copyright, Sharkey said British ministers should do more to help the music business.

Welcoming the French approach to online piracy (putting obligations on the ISPs to act - and to cut off file sharers - into law), and noting that the UK industry often relied on European legislation to protect label and artists' interests, he said: "Whether it's ensuring that a private copying exception is met with some sort of compensation mechanism, or term extension for sound recordings or simply protection of a creator's moral rights, why is it that UK creators are constantly having to seek support from Brussels and not on our own doorstep?." [CMUDaily]

Industry may start pushing for legislation on net-piracy policing as ISP negotiations falter
Whether it's led by UK Music or the BPI or another trade body, someone may need to step up their lobbying activity regarding making internet service providers take more responsibility for tackling online piracy.

As much previously reported, record label trade body the BPI and six ISPs last year signed a memorandum of understanding which saw the net firms commit send out warning letters to suspected file sharers as a way of preparing the ground for more detailed discussions on how the record companies and net firms could work together to combat piracy and collaborate on new digital music services that could be bundled into ISP's monthly subscriptions." [CMUDaily]

Illegal downloads don’t equate to lost sales, says U.S. judge
"A sort of interesting ruling in the US courts now which may have an impact on how content owners calculate their losses in online piracy cases.
The ruling comes from a criminal copyright action against Daniel Dove, who ran the Elite Torrents message board in 2004 and 2005, providing access to illegal sources of both music and movies. He's already been jailed for 18 months for his involvement in the infringing torrent group, and was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.

However, two parties, the Recording Industry Association Of America and movie makers Lionsgate Entertainment, have also made claims for 'restitution'; basically they want to be compensated for the losses they claim they suffered as a result of Dove's torrent service (legally speaking, restitution is subtly different to compensation, but that's in essence what they want)." [CMUDaily]

Rough Trade distribution has MBO
"More indie distribution news for you, and Netherlands-based Rough Trade Distribution, linked back in the day to the London based record shop and label but long since a separate entity, has been bought out by its management." [CMUDaily]

Survey Finds ISPs Number One Choice Of Music Provider
"An international survey of more than 1300 music fans has found that the music industry is offering them the wrong kind of new music services. In the research conducted by The Leading Question and Music Ally in the UK, US and France, music fans overwhelmingly backed Internet Service Providers as their favoured music supplier when asked to choose amongst a variety of possible providers.

46% of the survey chose ISPs as their number one music service provider, compared to 10% preferring cable/satellite TV providers, 5% opting for mobile operators while a meagre 3% considered handset manufacturers best placed to deliver music to them. ISPs were also rated top choice provider for ‘unlimited’ music services, this despite mobile operators and handset manufacturers currently offering more of these services." [MusicAlly]