EU Parliament Monitor - 05/12/08

Future price cap proposals for mobile phone roaming services debated
Price caps for sending text messages abroad and other data roaming services such as video downloads or mobile TV were debated at a hearing of Parliament's Industry Committee on Tuesday. MEPs also discussed with mobile operators, regulators and consumer organisations whether there was a need to set voice-call roaming price caps for 2010-13.
"Retail and wholesale price caps for roaming calls are unfortunately still necessary", said Parliament's rapporteur Adina-Ioana Vālean (ALDE, RO) because "many charges remain disproportionately high". Regulation should, however, "continue to be an exceptional measure" as "a healthy roaming market will not be able to prosper under a long-term regulation", she said. [EuroParl]

Highlights of Brussels plenary session 3-4 December
[EuroParl]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 24/10/08

Two Arrested in Japan Over Illicit Mobile Music Site 24/10/08
"The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) announced this week that two men have been arrested for operating an unauthorized mobile music download site that attracted more than a million users, Ars Technica reported. Daisan Sekai ("The Third World") was "one of the most popular illegal mobile music sites" in Japan, according to RIAJ. Japan's digital music market is dominated by mobile, as most Japanese have advanced handsets and many are avid mobile music consumers." [DWMMedia]

Music News Bulletin - 24/11/08

Mobile Music - how unlimited, how free? 24 Sep 08
Yet another digital music offering has been unveiled this morning. This time it's from Sony Ericsson, in conjunction with Britain's Omnifone, and it seems designed to steal the thunder from Nokia's "Comes With Music" service which arrives next month.

Sony Ericsson will launch a number of Walkman phones with a service called PlayNow Plus, allowing users "unlimited" downloads of tracks onto the phone or to a computer if they sign up to a contract." [BBC]

Music News Bulletin - 21/08/08

What does the future hold for songwriters' royalties? August 21 2008
"In the Guardian's In Praise of ... songwriters blog on Monday , I read that "Songwriters are being feted by the European commission which wants to extend musicians' royalty rights from 50 years to a very generous 95 years."

This is a misunderstanding that I've come across quite often, especially when the European directive was applauded (or, more often, criticised) in the recent media coverage. The misunderstanding arises from people confusing musicians with songwriters." [Guardian]

Back to the Future? (LP) August 21st, 2008
"All this new music at our fingertips and all these new ways of buying and selling it. Aren’t we all so lucky. I recently reported how Madonna’s album was available for mobile phone downloads prior to the physical CD release (We’ve also had Bryan Adams selling his album exclusively through Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in the US (not quite as Rock n Roll, but you gotta take what you’re offered, right Bry?)).

Yet, amongst the digital revolution and traditional record shop mass-exodus, us dance music fans still like to buy physical products. It sure is hard for the retailers to keep on making money, times have changed, and a few vinyl junkies aren’t enough to keep a business afloat, but it was a very pleasant surprise to read about the recent RISE in sales of vinyl (RIAA 2007 Year-End Shipment Statistics - PDF). I’m not saying it’s saved, or making a comeback (especially after one year’s rise compared to nine years decline), but i realised that my own buying habits have changed over the years. I still go hunting for the odd 2nd hand bargain, or an old release with a killer B-side that everyone looked over at the time. But, i’m afraid i feel it hard to pay more than 8 quid for a piece of wax. Unless…. it’s an LP." [UKMusicJobs]