Music News Bulletin - 16/01/09

Talent retains value in publishing: Companies look to grow alternative revenue streams as mechanical income falls
Financial worries may have continued to impact the music industry over the past 12 months but, while record labels have dealt with their diminishing returns through reduced A&R budgets, the big publishers have remained aggressive when it comes to securing new artists. The year’s most sought-after deals – names such as White Lies, Glasvegas and Iglu & Hartly - managed to enter the higher regions of the six-figure price tag, while some of the big songwriter deals eclipsed even this.

As revenue from mechanical royalties continues to fall, however, the publishing sector is beginning to evaluate the validity of those artists worth their signature in new ways. Areas that in the past may have merely supplemented income from record sales can today create key revenue streams for artists and publishers and an artist’s potential in this area can make or break a deal." [MusicWeek]

Sony could post losses of a billion
"I lost a ten pound note the other week and found the whole experience quite stressful, so imagine what it must feel like to lose $1.1 billion. Well, that's the losses Sony Corp might post for the current financial year, ending 31 Mar, according to sources cited by Billboard.

Although some analysts reckon the mainstream entertainment industry will probably be hit less than most by the recession (despite the current turmoil in music retail) as consumers turn to relatively cheap music, film, games and telly to cheer themselves up (instead of more expensive luxury goods or premium pursuits) the economic downturn is already having a big negative impact on those who make and sell consumer electronics, as consumers put off buying that new TV or camcorder amid fears of mounting job insecurity. For an entertainment conglom like Sony, whose electronics business is key, this is not good news." [CMUDaily]

Global digital music sales grow as music industry develops new business models
"The music industry has transformed its business models, offering consumers an increasing range of new services with leading technology partners. Yet generating value in an environment where 95 per cent of music downloads are illegal and unpaid for is still the biggest challenge for music companies and their commercial partners.

The digital music business internationally saw a sixth year of expansion in 2008, growing by an estimated 25 per cent to US$3.7 billion in trade value. Digital platforms now account for around 20 per cent of recorded music sales, up from 15 per cent in 2007. Recorded music is at the forefront of the online and mobile revolution, generating more revenue in percentage terms through digital platforms than the newspaper (4%), magazine (1%) and film industries (4%) combined." [RecordOfTheDay]

Music News Bulletin - 16/01/09

Legal free music service We7 has signed a deal with leading independent music label group, Beggars.
"The deal will allow We7 users access to around 20,000 tracks from Beggars’ catalogue. The tracks will be available on demand, for free, ad-funded streaming and users will also be able to buy them from the We7 online store in high-quality MP3 format.

We7 has music from all four major labels as well as hundreds of independents through deals with distributors including PIAS, The Orchard, Finetunes, InGrooves, Iris and Believe, with individual labels and now Beggars Group.

"Discussions with Beggars, and Simon Wheeler in particular, on digital music in the early days of We7, were both illuminating and significant to the development of our business,” says We7 CEO Steve Purdham. “As such, it is a great honour, to be able to sign a deal with such an influential label group, and to be able to offer our users access to their incredible music catalogue."" [MusicWeek]

One Little Indian/FatCat sign deal with PIAS
"One Little Indian and FatCat records are pleased to announce finalising a new deal with PIAS, who will be taking on UK-wide distribution for all new releases and back catalogue.

Renowned indie institution One Little Indian is currently home to Icelandic leftfield superstar Björk, collaborative ‘The Fireman’ project from Beatles legend Paul McCartney and cult producer Youth. Also of note is acclaimed singer-songwriter Jesse Malin, who has recorded with QOTSA front man Josh Homme and Bruce Springsteen amongst others.-
Since its inception in 1985 One Little Indian has always prided itself on working with artists it feels deserve a wider audience; musicians who make music for the simple pleasure of doing so – passionate about their craft and refreshingly free of pretence." [RecordOfTheDay]

New State ties up distribution deal
"Label group New State Entertainment has become the latest former Pinnacle client to sign a new distribution deal, putting pen to paper with EMI. The deal will cover the company’s physical distribution in the UK. New State will continue to handle its own label digital distribution and New State Digital aggregation business. New State co-director Tim Binns explains, “When Pinnacle went into administration it was a real shock and we had to move fast to tie up a deal for our 2009 and beyond release schedule." [MusicWeek]

Stock crisis for indie labels in warehouse war: “Unlawful” legal threat by Pinnacle creditor denies labels half their stock
"Independent label bosses pulling their hair out in frustration at the slowness of repatriating their stock from Pinnacle have been hit with another shock, after a warehouse landlord threatened to withhold millions of pounds worth of product because he is a major creditor of Pinnacle.

The move is a terrible blow for some companies, who are reporting that as much as half their stock is still held in Pinnacle’s four warehouses, more than a month after the distributor collapsed. Just before Pinnacle went under it held around 8m units of stock, with the majority thought to be at its Teardrop Centre in Swanley, Kent. However, it is now understood the landlord of that complex is owed £50,000 by the distributor and has attempted to put a lien on the stock until payment is made." [MusicWeek]

Anger at more Pinnacle delays and landlord stock claims

"With numerous indie labels increasingly frustrated that they have CDs they could and should be selling locked in the warehouses of defunct distributor Pinnacle, there is anger at the news the landlords of one of those warehouses are trying to claim ownership of some of their stock in lieu of fifty grand of rent they are owed by the collapsed firm.

Many labels are still having to wait to get CDs back, even though they technically own the stock. There are both legal and logistical reasons for the delays - one big problem is that staff who knew their way around the warehouses are long gone so even when labels have permission to get their CDs it's hard for the skeleton staff who remain at Pinnacle bases to find them." [CMUDaily]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 16/01/09

MA judge OKs streaming of music-swapping hearing
"A federal judge on Wednesday authorized the first online streaming of oral arguments in a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts in a copyright infringement lawsuit that pits a Boston University graduate student against the music recording industry.

U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner restricted the live streaming to a Jan. 22 hearing, saying she will decide later whether to make other proceedings in the case, set for March 30 trial, available online.
The lawsuit is one of a series filed by the Recording Industry Association of America since 2003 against about 35,000 people who allegedly swapped songs online. Most of those sued are college students, and many have defaulted or settled for amounts between $3,000 and $10,000, often without legal counsel." [Google]

DtecNet, the anti-piracy outfit replacing MediaSentry as the RIAA’s chief evidence collector, also operates in several other countries. The Danish company is working for the BPI in Britain in support of its drive to force a “3 strikes” regime, and helping in Australian investigations against alleged pirates. We take a closer look.
"Earlier this month it was confirmed that the RIAA was dumping its anti-piracy partner, MediaSentry. After five years of legal action and mass lawsuits it decided its relationship with the notorious tracking company should come to an end. Some commentators believed that this signaled the end of the RIAA’s legal action against file-sharers, but that is definitely not the case.

The RIAA will now be working with DtecNet, a Danish anti-piracy tracking company which employs largely the same techniques as MediaSentry, but the aims will be slightly different in the majority of cases. The new tactic for the IFPI-headed music industry is to target ISPs instead, lobbying governments to implement the dreaded “3 strikes” or “graduated response” scheme reported so often in recent months." [TorrentFreak]

Universal digital chief on iTunes, DRM, and Android
"Rio Caraeff didn't come up in the music business scouring nightclubs and honkey tonks for talented new acts. Caraeff, executive vice president of Universal Music Group's eLabs, has a background in mobile technology and software. Nonetheless, he just might be the prototype for the label exec of the future.

Unlike more traditional industry suits, Caraeff doesn't believe litigation is the answer to piracy. He doesn't believe in copy-protection software. He doesn't believe that the music industry needs to find a strong competitor to Apple to flourish. What he does believe in nurturing new revenue streams and pruning 10-click online music shopping to one. He believes in the power of mobile devices to sell music (he says Google's cell phone, Android, is proving to be a powerful music-buying tool)." [CNet]

Longer copyrights for songs would deal a blow to our cultural heritage
"If Charlie McCreevy, the European commissioner for the internal market, has his way, the copyright on music will be extended from 50 to 95 years, making the Beatles' ‘Yesterday' and their other early hits ‘free' not in around six years' time but 50 or more years from now.

McCreevy's proposed directive, on which the European Parliament's legal affairs committee will vote in February, pleases the recording industry, which has long lobbied for it, but it has provoked fierce criticism from economists and lawyers. Their criticism is not surprising, for the industry's arguments are flimsy. The Commission has nonetheless been persuaded, aided probably by the idea of a ‘musicians' fund', which would receive 20% of the revenue from selling old recordings.
But most economists argue that a ten-year term should be enough to ‘incentivise' the creative muse. And, for those interested in Europe's culture, the downside of long protection would be that a large part of our heritage would be consigned to a commercial vacuum, with numerous works orphaned because their authors cannot readily be located.

The European Commission acknowledges the problem in the directive's ‘use it or lose it' clause. But this is so poorly drafted it would have little practical effect." [EuropeanVoice]

EU Commission - Education Training Culture and Youth: 16/01/09

European Border Breaker Awards honour European debut artists in TV-show at EuroSonic NoorderslagFestival, Groningen (NL)
"The 2009 European Border Breaker Awards (EBBA's) were presented in a spectacular TV-show on the opening night of the EuroSonic Noorderslag Festival in Groningen (the Netherlands), in the presence of European Commissioner Ján Figel', numerous VIP’s and 1200 visitors. The awards show, which featured live performances by five of the ten award winning acts and by special guests Gabriel Rios and the Jools Holland Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, will be broadcast throughout Europe.

In making these awards, the European Commission, in cooperation with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), rewards debut artists' and groups' who have successfully crossed national borders. At the same time the prizes highlight and promote the richness and diversity of European music, its creativity and its contribution to innovation." [Europa]

US Public Affairs - 16/01/09

10myths

"These writings originally appeared in a five-part series on the Copyright Alliance blog, blog.copyrightalliance.org, and cover topics ranging from the impact of copyright on innovation to whether content companies are embracing new business models. Proponents of these arguments will naturally find fault with my criticisms. Some will ignore my evidence that appear indisputable and instead seize on a phrase I may not have clearly articulated and present a counter-argument based on that misinterpretation. But some will make counter-arguments that are well-thought out and may be in some cases hard to rebut. I believe firmly that on the whole my themes here are sound but there could always be examples that I would have to consider at minimum exceptions to my theses. I don’t pretend to have all the answers.” [CopyrightAlliance]

The RIAA Ends Music Download War

"Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) fired MediaSentry, the Recording company it used to help it gather evidence for mass lawsuits it filed against people it claimed were illegally uploading copyrighted music. It would seem that the RIAA is finally coming to its senses and realizing that the way forward is not to use scare tactics or sue, but perhaps to accept the new technologies and maybe even embrace them." [IPWatchdog]

Music News Bulletin - 09/01/09

Bill Nguyen on digital music January 7th, 2009
"If you can get your hand on the latest copy of Billboard (10th January it says on the cover) make sure you read the Opinion piece on page 4. In addition to giving a good pitch, Lala.com’s Bill Nguyen wrote a short and well formulated article on listening to music online and business behind it. My favourite quote:

“The web is home to more new music each year than was released in many previous decades. Critics say the music is mostly junk - but the same could have been said for the Web before Google made the knowledge there accessible.”

I couldn’t agree more." [HeutePopMorgen]

Could this be the future of online collaboration? Tuesday January 06
"Minimum Noise is a new site offering users the opportunity to make money by contributing parts to other musicians' work, or pay to have others supply the missing parts to their unfinished projects. It's an intriguing idea, and the lure of cold hard cash is always a tempting one. So is this the way we'll make music together in the future, or a creative dead end?" [ComputerMusic]

Music News Bulletin - 09/01/09

Apple Changes Tune on Music Pricing
"Apple Inc. unveiled significant pricing and copyright changes to its iTunes Store, moves by the dominant online music seller that could spur similar action across the industry.The changes, announced at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco Tuesday, include a new three-tiered pricing plan for songs, instead of the 99-cents fixed price Apple has used almost exclusively. Apple also said it will drop copy protection from all of the songs in its digital store." [WSI]

Apple to end music restrictions
"Apple Inc has agreed to start selling digital songs from its iTunes store without copy protection software. At present, most music downloaded from Apple's iTunes store can only be played through an iTunes interface or iPod. The agreement with Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner Music will end digital rights management (DRM) software currently attached to iTunes music." [BBC]

iTunes Price Cut: Apple Announces Tiered System, DRM-Free Tunes January 6, 2009
"Apple Inc. is cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online store to as little as 69 cents and plans to make every track available without copy protection.

In Apple's final appearance at the Macworld trade show, Apple's top marketing executive, Philip Schiller, said Tuesday that iTunes song prices will come in three tiers: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29. Record companies will choose the prices, which marks a significant change, since Apple previously made all songs sell for 99 cents." [CBS]

iTunes Price Cut: Apple Announces Tiered System, DRM-Free Tunes January 6, 2009
"Apple Inc. is cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online store to as little as 69 cents and plans to make every track available without copy protection.

In Apple's final appearance at the Macworld trade show, Apple's top marketing executive, Philip Schiller, said Tuesday that iTunes song prices will come in three tiers: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29. Record companies will choose the prices, which marks a significant change, since Apple previously made all songs sell for 99 cents." [HuffingtonPost]

Apple iTunes goes all DRM free, with three price tiers
"Apple announced today that effective immediately 8 million songs on iTunes would be DRM free, and that by the end of the quarter all 10 million songs on the popular music site would be DRM free. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, otherwise known as copy protection. DRM-free music can be shared between all your devices without complicated registration and proprietary software.

In addition, iTunes songs will no longer cost a flat $0.99. There will be three tiers: $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29 starting on April 1st. You can expect to see older releases at the lower price point, and newer releases at the higher one. The removal of DRM and the flexibility on prices is a compromise worked out between Apple and the music industry." [ZDNet]

Apple cuts copy protection and prices on iTunes
"Apple Inc. is cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online store to as little as 69 cents and plans to make every track available without copy protection.

In Apple's final appearance at the Macworld trade show, Apple's top marketing executive, Philip Schiller, said Tuesday that iTunes song prices will come in three tiers: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29. Record companies will choose the prices, which marks a significant change, since Apple previously made all songs sell for 99 cents.

Apple gave the record labels that flexibility on pricing as it got them to agree to sell all songs free of "digital rights management," or DRM, technology that limits people's ability to copy songs or move them to multiple computers. Apple had been offering a limited selection of songs without DRM, but by the end of this quarter, the company said, all 10 million songs in its library will be available that way." [AOL]

ITunes Price Change Leads Apple's Moves At Its Last Macworld; No Cameo From Steve Jobs; CEO's absence weighs on show; analysts rate slew of announcements as ho-hum
“In the two-and-a-half-year standoff between Apple and music publishers over song prices on iTunes, it appears that both sides blinked. In a major concession to the big recording labels, the iPod maker will sell song downloads for 69 cents and $1.29, in addition to the 99-cent price Apple had maintained since starting the iTunes service in 2003. Apple had come under mounting pressure from record companies for tiered pricing.” [ContentAgenda]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 09/01/09

Keeping the coins in a jar by the door; Musicians, including a player on 'Eleanor Rigby,' are trying to extend European royalty payments. January 5, 2009
“Patrick Halling is fighting to keep the few cents he earns every time the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" airs on the radio.

The Beatles song was released in 1966 and under European Union law will enter the public domain in 2016, meaning Halling's violin-led string background on the song will lose its copyright protection and the royalties will end.” [ContentAgenda]

Change? Obama Brings RIAA Attorney Into Administration
“Barack Obama is furiously assembling his administration, part of an urgent, pre-inaugural preparation. Obama has been praised for quick team-building, though critics have accused the change-candidate of drawing heavily from former Clinton staffers. That includes the most recent group of Justice Department picks, a group that includes former RIAA counsel Tom Perrelli.

Perrelli, co-chair of the entertainment and new media division at Jenner & Block, is being named to an associate attorney general post at Justice. The Perrelli background was highlighted Wednesday by Declan McCullagh of C|Net, who contrasted the Perrelli pick to the ideologies of Obama supporters like Lawrence Lessig and Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. Perrelli was involved in a range of RIAA suits, including those aimed at prying subscriber information from ISPs like Verizon and Charter Communications.” [DigitalMusicNews]

Music News Bulletin - 09/01/09

Remaining Three Majors Drop DRM at iTunes, and Why It Matters
"Apple has come to an agreement with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music that will give iTunes their songs in MP3 format. The majors get a three-tiered pricing structure (not dynamic pricing, and only slightly variable pricing) that finally gives them the ability to price according to demand. There is also word that iPhone users will be able to download from iTunes through their cellular carrier.

The news has been covered widely, and there has been some interesting opinion out there. One blogger thinks there is no reason to ever shop at anywhere but iTunes (I wholeheartedly disagree, compatibility with the iPod is only one reason to shop there). Another believes allowing iPhone users to download via cellular carriers could lead to explosive mobile music sales (if that happens they will probably just replace normal downloads and result in a wash). No, the important effects of this news are further under the surface." [Coolfer]

Changes Coming to the iTunes Store
"Apple today announced several changes to the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com/uk). Beginning today, all four major music labels — Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels, are now offering their music in iTunes Plus, Apple’s DRM-free format with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings. iTunes customers can also choose to download their favourite songs from the world’s largest music catalogue directly onto their iPhone™ 3G over their 3G network just as they do with Wi-Fi today, for the same price as downloading to their computer. And beginning in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available at one of three price points: 59 pence, 79 pence and 99 pence, with most albums still priced at £7.99." [RecordOfTheDay]

Apple vendra sur iTunes sans dispositif anticopie
"Le groupe informatique a annoncé qu’il allait supprimer d’ici à la fin mars les dispositifs anticopie de la musique qu’il vend sur sa plateforme. Les maisons de disque ont longuement milité pour que les internautes ne puissent pas acheter de chansons ou d’albums sans ces dispositifs qui lient le fichier à un seul utilisateur.

Apple vendra sur iTunes sans dispositif anticopie
L’annonce a été faite lors du salon Macworld Expo à San Francisco (Californie, ouest des Etats-Unis) à l’occasion de la présentation par le vice-président du marketing d’Apple, Phil Schiller, du nouveau modèle de l’ordinateur MacBook Pro et d’améliorations aux logiciels qui équipent la gamme Macintosh." [LeSoir]

Music News Bulletin - 09/01/09

Consolidated launch independent digital storage device
"Digital services company Consolidated Independent has announced a new service designed to streamline the workload for independent record companies who distribute their digital catalogue around the world through various partnerships with different distributors, aggregators and download stores. It would also mean that if one of those distributors went under - as distributors have a habit of doing these days - a label could immediately channel their digital content through an alternative distributor." [CMUDaily]

Consolidated Independent launches new digital service to help future-proof the independent music sector
"Consolidated Independent (CI), the leading independent provider of digital supply chain services for music companies, today announces details of a new service aimed at the independent music sector worldwide in response to turbulence in the physical music market, and the growing importance of maintaining a master digital archive.

CI’s Digital Archive Service offers labels and distributors a way to store their digital assets and metadata so that it always remains under their independent control and ownership, whilst at the same time enabling them to work with multiple digital partners worldwide. Once a client has provided its catalogue and data to CI, it is stored on their behalf and can be delivered on to any third party or back to the client at any time. Hence, for example, if a label needs to switch quickly from one distributor to another, this can be managed quickly, efficiently and seamlessly." [RecordOfTheDay]

Finally, Here Comes Bulk Music
"With the news of SanDisk's slotRadio, an extension of the slotMusic memory card and player, comes a new way of selling music: in bulk. SanDisk has teamed up with Billboard to release 1,000-song memory cards that will carry a $39.99 sticker price. Even the slotRadio player, a small music player with a FM tuner, comes pre-loaded with 1,000 songs (and has a $99.99). Tracks will come from Billboard's charts and will be of a variety of genres.

Even though $39.99 is a tall price, it offers a great bargain on a per-track basis. Each song costs only four cents. The involvement of Billboard gives the consumer an identifiable brand name and, one would assume, a well curated selection of popular songs." [Coolfer]

Music News Bulletin - 05/01/09

Digital Boosts 2008 Sales To New Mark
"Overall music sales hit a new record in 2008, with over 1.5 billion units sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The Nielsen Company's annual year-end music industry report, released today, reveals that combined sales of albums, singles, music videos and digital tracks increased 10.5% over 2007, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The report covers purchases made during the 52 weeks between Dec. 31, 2007 to Dec. 28, 2008.

Digital tracks posted a 27% gain on their own to over a billion units sold in 2008, a new record. Digital albums grew 32% to 65.8 million units, also a new high. The 2008 numbers dragged when physical product was accounted. Combined sales of albums on CD, tape, vinyl and digital download were down 14% over the year prior, from 500.5 million units to 428.4 million. When track-equivalent albums are figured in, with ten digital tracks counting as an album, the decrease comes to 8.5%.

On a brighter note, total music purchases across all product categories went over 65 million units in the last week of 2008, making it the biggest music sales week in Nielsen SoundScan history." [Billboard]

Scramble over Woolies’ stock
"Companies including EMI and Microsoft are preparing legal action against the administrators of Woolworths to claw back millions of pounds of stock. Although the shelves in its stores are emptying fast, Woolies’ distribution arm, Entertainment UK (EUK), still has CDs, DVDs and computer games worth tens of millions of pounds in its warehouses.

Under “retention of title” rules, suppliers can claim back their own stock if it has not been paid for but, more broadly, they can can claim stock that has been paid for in lieu of debts.
That gives them the chance to resell the merchandise and prevent the administrator, Deloitte, offloading it cheaply." [RecordoftheDay]

Music sales up 10% in 2008, thanks to downloads (and vinyl)
"The music industry finished 2008 with positive sales growth numbers overall, but the grim CD death march continues apace. Overall unit purchases of music in the US increased by 10.5 percent year-over-year since 2007, according to new data released by Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen BDS, and Nielsen RingScan, but the growth is coming completely from downloads—and from vinyl.

More than 1.5 billion songs were sold during 2008, accounting for the 10.5 percent growth since the previous year. One billion digital tracks were sold online, which indicated 27 percent growth since 2007. But the trend toward digital singles continues to hurt full CD album sales—428 million albums (including LPs, CDs, and online albums) were sold in 2008, down 14 percent from the year before." [ArsTechnica]

L’Internet ne compense pas la chute des CD
"L’industrie du disque a subi une nouvelle année difficile en 2008, le développement des techniques de téléchargement légal ne parvenant pas à compenser la chute des ventes de CD, selon l’agence spécialisée Nielsen.

Aux Etats-Unis les ventes totales d’albums sur CD, sur internet, et en vinyle ont accusé un recul de 14 %, à 428,4 millions d’unités, contre 500,5 millions en 2007. En prenant en compte la vente de chansons à l’unité sur internet, le recul atteint encore 8,5 % (535,4 millions contre 584,9 millions d’unités), selon Nielsen.

Les ventes de CD représentant encore plus de 80 % du chiffre d’affaires du secteur, la désaffection des consommateurs pour les disquaires est un véritable défi pour les éditeurs, qui doivent à la fois lutter contre le piratage et trouver une façon satisfaisante de monétiser les téléchargements." [LeSoir]

Facebook Removes Project Playlist
"Facebook today has also removed access to the Project Playlist service from the popular social networking site, citing a request from the RIAA. A Facebook statement says the company hopes to resolve the situation so that the Project Playlist service eventually can resume service on the site, but that it will block access until the proper label deals can be established.

Just days after getting banned from MySpace, Project Playlist has struck a licensing deal with Sony BMG. The deal gives Project Playlist users direct access to the Sony BMG catalog of both music tracks and videos. Financial details were not disclosed.
The major-label licensing deal is a big step forward for the playlist-sharing service, which is being sued by the other three major labels - Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI Music - as well as the RIAA for copyright infringement. Project Playlist allows users to upload music to create playlists that other users can then stream, but until the Sony BMG deal has done so without paying labels a licensing fee." [Billboard]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 05/01/09

Les producteurs belges contre les sites illégaux
"Les producteurs belges de musique, de films et de jeux vidéo, représentés par la Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), demandent mardi, dans un communiqué, que les sites illégaux de téléchargement soient bloqués « le plus rapidement possible » par les fournisseurs belges d'accès à internet.

Selon la BEA, les auteurs, les artistes mais aussi les consommateurs sont victimes de ces sites. Dans son édition de janvier 2009, Test-Achats passe au crible un certain nombre de sites musicaux qui proposent le téléchargement payant." [LeSoir]

Spanish Web Users Angry At Anti-P2P Campaign
"Spain's Association of Internet Users (AI) has demanded that the culture ministry cancel a national campaign against P2P file-sharing and illegal downloads called "If you are legal, you're legal." The adjective 'legal' in Spanish can also mean 'okay' or 'good' when applied to a person.
According to an AI statement, the campaign "recklessly offers information that lacks all legal basis, with the exclusive aim of re-educating public opinion."

The campaign launched in late November on TV, radio and in the press. It shows people downloading, with comments from some who defend legal or paid downloads, and criticises those who download illegally, without paying. The campaign also specifically criticises P2P file-sharing." [Billboard]

EU Commission - 05/01/09

Success for the Commission’s Register for Interest Representatives
"The Commission’s Register for Interest Representatives, launched on 23 June 2008, is progressing well. European citizens now have direct access to information on the existence, diversity and multitude of represented interests; less than six months after the Register was begun, more than 700 organisations are now registered[1], with more being added every day.

There has been a steady and constant flow of some thirty additions per week to the Register. More than 400 organisations representing business and professional organisations are registered, along with more than 150 NGOs. Specialised consultancy firms and law firms lobbying the European institutions are still not signing up." [Europa]

Telecoms: Commission clears amended nationwide Spanish broadband regulations; maintains concerns on lack of high-speed remedies
"The European Commission has, with reservations, given its green light to the Spanish draft regulation on wholesale broadband access, notified by the Spanish regulator, the Comisión del mercado de las telecomunicaciones ("CMT") on 4 December 2008. The Commission believes that the revised version of the draft measures addresses some of the issues on which the Commission had expressed serious doubts (IP/08/1704). However, the Commission still believes that regulation of wholesale broadband access should not be limited to speeds of up to 30 Mb/s. On the basis of the Commission's presently limited powers of oversight, it can only invite the CMT to change its regulatory approach in this regard.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said: "I welcome CMT's efforts to address the Commission's serious doubts. We need to ensure that alternative operators can compete effectively with Telefónica while setting the right incentives for investments in new generation networks. This would result in more innovation and better prices for consumers."" [Europa]

Judicial Review of Merger Control Decisions After the Impala Saga: Time for Policy Choices?
"Shortly following the adoption of the first EC merger regulation, a question arose among legal scholars and practitioners: will the EC courts make a sufficiently swift and thorough review of the Commission's merger decisions?1 Or, in other words, will judicial review be both effective and expedient enough to be compatible with the constraints of commercial life? The Court of First Instance (the CFI) and the Court of Justice (the ECJ, together with the CFI, the EC Courts) did not shy away from addressing these legitimate concerns. The timeliness of judicial review was significantly enhanced in 2000 when the Rules of Procedure of the CFI and the ECJ were amended to establish an expedited procedure allowing the EC Courts to give priority to certain types of cases.2 Merger control is by far the field of law that has benefited the most from the new procedure.3 As to the thoroughness of the CFI's review, it invites much less criticism now that the CFI has demonstrated its readiness to control Commission decisions extensively and annul them if need be, as illustrated inter alia by its three famous judgments of 2002 annulling prohibition decisions.4 In 2005, the importance of a thorough substantive review was confirmed by the ECJ itself in its no less famous Tetra Laval judgment (Tetra Laval II).5 All these cases were decisive milestones in the coming of age of the judicial review of merger control decisions in the EU." [GlobalCompetitionReview]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 31/12/08

Orphan works - a Sterling solution? 4 December 2008
"Over the years, few members of the IP fraternity can have won as many friends as Professor Adrian Sterling, a distinguished international copyright lawyer and a dedicated teacher of his craft. Adrian's legendary kindness, the IPKat notes, extends beyond his students and colleagues and reaches as far as orphans and their copyright works ... [at this point Merpel interjects: "silly Kat! It's orphan works, not works of orphans! We're talking about works that are metaphorically orphaned because their 'parentage', in terms of authorship or ownership, cannot be traced"]. "As I was saying", continues the IPKat, "Adrian has been working on a scheme for resolving the orphan work problem, which traps many otherwise exploitable works in a sort of commercial limbo". This scheme has been adopted by the British Copyright Council in its Response on the Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy, and the paper will be circulated tomorrow at the 8th IBC Annual Conference on International Copyright Law.

As a special treat, readers of this weblog, whether orphans or sufficiently parented, can get a preview all of their own, which can be read here. If you'd like to have a look at it and tell Adrian and/or the IPKat what you think of it, please feel free to do so. Comments to the IPKat can be posted below. Emails to Adrian can be directed here." [IPKitten]

Web Radio Royalty Battle Takes New Turn December 31, 2008 Wednesday
“The battle over radio royalty rates will likely continue into 2009, with the latest issue tackling how and when cable, satellite, and Internet stations should report their playlists to copyright holders in order to determine payment.The Copyright Royalty Board, a government body that sets royalty rates, released a notice on Tuesday that suggests altering the reporting requirements for stations." [ContentAgenda]

New York state may begin taxing music downloads Dec 17th 2008
"New York, the state that brought us taxes on items bought over the internet is at it again. This time governor David Paterson is considering a 4% tax on music and other digital media downloads." [DownloadSquad]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 31/12/08

RIAA graduated response plan: Q&A with Cary Sherman December 21, 2008
"On Friday, major news broke: the RIAA would (largely) abandon its widespread lawsuit campaign against individuals in favor of a "graduated response" partnership with ISPs. The outlines are clear enough—the RIAA will identify infringers, pass that information on to ISPs, who will notify (and eventually sanction) users without turning personal information over to the music industry.

But details, in some cases hugely important details, remained unclear. Chief among these was the lack of any talk about an oversight or appeals process for users who want to contest the RIAA's claims in some way. We checked in with EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann, one of the leading non-industry voices on these issues; he suggested five potential "gotchas" that need to be scrutinized as the plan goes forward." [ArsTechnica]

No more lawsuits: ISPs to work with RIAA, cut off P2P users December 19, 2008
"In a stunning turn of events, the US music industry has ceased its long-time litigation strategy of suing individual P2P file-swappers. Instead, with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo acting as a broker, the RIAA has signed voluntary "graduated response" agreements with major Internet service providers. Those currently on the receiving end of an RIAA lawsuit, though, will have to see it through to the (very) bitter end.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription) broke the story, and Ars has confirmed all details given in the piece." [ArsTechnica]

ISP to RIAA: Pay up or do your own dirty work December 22nd, 2008
"I love stories of the little guy going head-to-head with the big guys, especially when the big guy looks like a fool in the end.

CNET’s Greg Sandoval tells the story of a small Internet Service Provider in Louisiana whose owner has refused to play ball with the Recording Industry Association of America - at least on the RIAA’s terms. Last week, the RIAA announced that it was going to shift strategies to fight piracy. Instead of filing mass lawsuits, the RIAA said it is partnering with ISPs to identify, serve notice and potentially disconnect file-sharers." [ZDNet]

RIAA drops mass lawsuits, recruits ISPs to crack the whip December 19th, 2008
"The headlines across the blogosphere make it sound like the Recording Industry Association of America has thrown in the towel and decided to stop going after music pirates on the Internet. That’s not exactly the case.

Instead, the RIAA is teaming up with Internet Service Providers to identify and, potentially, blacklist offenders from obtaining an Internet connection in the future. That keeps the RIAA from having to subpoena the ISPs for user information and instead puts the ISP into the hot seat to crack the whip on the customer. OK, maybe blacklisting would be an extreme, last resort after repeated warnings - but I could see it headed that way." [ZDNet]

Update on Capitol Records v. Thomas: Motion to Certify an Appeal Denied; Petition for an Extraordinary Writ May Follow 12.31.2008
"Earlier this fall, the Court adjudicating Capitol Records, Inc. v. Thomas, vacated a $222,000 jury verdict because the Court found it had erred by instructing the jury that U.S. law provides a "making-available right." I have discussed the profound and numerous flaws in that ruling here (http://pff.org/issues-pubs/pops/2008/pop15.16thomasmaright.pdf). I discussed the downright disturbing flaws in Section K of that ruling, (which contains the Court's associated advisory opinion on copyright reform), here (http://pff.org/issues-pubs/pops/2008/pop15.18thomasreform.pdf).

After the ruling, the Thomas Plaintiffs did just what they should have: They filed a motion to certify the Court's making-available-right ruling for an interlocutory appeal. Thomas is an ideal case for an interlocutory appeal: the recent self-reversal in Thomas would require the parties to re-try the entire case because the Court used internally inconsistent reasoning to adopt a minority position on a pure question of law that admittedly causes the United States to violate nine international agreements. Stronger grounds for an interlocutory appeal are scarcely conceivable." [IPCentral]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 30/12/08

Choruss: legal file sharing on campus 11th December 2008
"The plan to provide US students with compulsory flat-fee music finally has a name, it emerged this week. Choruss LLC will provide participating universities with a replacement for their current subscription services such as Rhapsody, and has the backing of the the EFF and the tacit support of the RIAA. That alone indicates the magnitude of the initiative. When have those two lobbying groups ever agreed on music policy?

This, the worst kept secret in the music business, leaked out in April, when Jim Griffin confirmed he had been engaged by Warner Music to seek deals that would help end the litigation strategy against students, and replace it with a steady pool of income for the rights holders. (Griffin has spent a decade campaigning to "monetize the anarchy" of digital music - see our 2004 interview)." [TheRegister]

Has Boston University Left Its Safe Harbor and Become Liable for Students' Piracy? 12. 2.2008
"Defenders of the most egregious, blatant forms of online copyright piracy often suffer from what could be called Wile-E.-Coyote syndrome: They can become so fixated on throttling the roadrunner of copyright protection that they fail to notice that they have just run off a cliff and begun plunging downward.

For example, a federal judge has reportedly held that Boston University (BU) is such an incompetent internet-access provider that it cannot disclose the identities of allegedly infringing users of its network. In London-Sire Records, Inc. v. Does 1-4, Judge Gertner's recent order granted BU's "Motion to Quash" because "[BU] has adequately demonstrated that it is not able to identify the alleged infringers with a reasonable degree of technical certainty."

Continue reading Has Boston University Left Its Safe Harbor and Become Liable for Students' Piracy? . . ."

New Op-Ed December 30, 2008
"Rick Carnes and I co-wrote an op-ed on ISP music licensing (as exemplified by the Choruss operation) for Content Agenda that might be of interest.

http://www.contentagenda.com/article/CA6625534.html?industryid=45173t

Coolfer published a couple comments on the op-ed. Let it be known that I dig Glenn and Coolfer and I'm just clarifying a couple things he mentioned (also just speaking for myself here and not for my co-author).

One of the points we made is that an unlimited download service at below market rates undermines the investment that legitimate services have spent and committed. (I refuse to use "all you can eat" to describe these services as that phrase grates on me as comparing music to, let's say, a potato, which I won't do.) The point (which I made in more detail in a recent article for the ABA) is that users are already paying for the very Internet connection they use to buy their music from legitimate services. If you tell them that they only need to pay $5 a month more for all the music they want from what were once illegal "services"--well, I think you see where that goes. The idea seems to be that students could get rid of their Rhapsody accounts, which appears to make EFF very happy." [MusicTechPolicy]

Don't Make Kids Online Crooks December 29, 2008 Monday
"Seventy-five years ago, Prohibition ended. Just 13 years after launching an extraordinary experiment in social reform, the nation recognized that the battle against "intoxicating liquors" had failed. Organized crime had exploded. Civil rights had been weakened. And an enormous number of ordinary Americans had become "criminals" as they found ways to evade, and profit from the evasion of, this hopeless law.

We're about a decade into our own hopeless war of prohibition, this one against "peer-to-peer piracy." The copyright industry has used every legal means within its reach (and some that may not be so legal) to stop Internet "pirates" from "sharing" copyrighted content without permission. These "copyright wars"--what the late Jack Valenti, former head of the Motion Picture Association of America, called his own "terrorist war" in which apparently the "terrorists" are our kids--have consumed an ever growing amount of legal resources. The Recording Industry Association of America alone has sued tens of thousands of individuals. These suits allege millions of dollars in damages. And schools across the nation have adopted strict policies to block activity that the Supreme Court in 2005 declared presumptively illegal." [ContentAgenda]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 30/12/08

Music copyright extension - strings attached: Sort yourselves out, warn Burnham and McCreevy 12th December 2008
Culture Minister Andy Burnham gave clear backing to extending the copyright term for sound recordings yesterday - but called on the music business to make sure it benefits musicians, not industry fatcats.

"We want the industry to come back with good, workable ideas as to how a proposal on copyright extension might be framed that directly and predominantly benefits performers – both session and featured musicians," Burnham said." [TheRegister]

UK ignores logic, backs 20-year music copyright extension December 12, 2008
"After a UK government-led commission said that the current 50-year term for musical copyrights was fine, and the government last year publicly agreed that there was no need to extend the term, culture minister Andy Burnham yesterday made the logical follow-up announcement that yes, the government would now push for a 20-year extension on copyright. Turns out, it's the moral thing to do.

Actually, by framing the issue as a "moral case," Burnham gets to sidestep the entire issue of logic. Critics have already begun to charge that he is ignoring actual evidence and the well-regarded conclusions of the Gowers Report, not to mention previous government policy. But when the issue becomes a moral one and the livelihood of aging performers is at stake, it's suddenly easier to avoid cost/benefit analysis. Doing the right thing isn't always logical or economical." [ArsTechnica]

Are Performers A Special Case? 23rd December
"While almost every serious commentator in the field of contemporary copyright law takes the view that no case has been established for the extension of copyright term in respect of sound recordings, the case for the extension of the protection term enjoyed by performers themselves has at least one doughty advocate.

IPKat reader and copyright specialist Professor Amanda J Harcourt writes:

"While Andrew Gowers' article (Copyright Extension is Out of Tune with Reality) makes a number of useful and pithy points, it does not fairly, in my view, state the case for the performer.

While the record companies in the 1990s indubitably "missed the boat" when attempting to debate and adjust their commercial practices to accommodate the developments of the internet - and now are suffering the consequences - there are moral arguments surrounding this new development. The songwriter and performer occupy the only moral high ground in the economic environment that is the music industry. This economic model of copyright has been taken to extreme by record companies. Guy Hands's early pronouncements about executive and administrative waste soon after his purchase of EMI were on point, but an understanding of the way artists are contracted by record companies demonstrates that those at the bottom of the royalty food chain - in this case the artist - have reasons for moral outrage." [IP Kitten]

Thomas on Copyright Reform:An Injudicious Threat to Consumers and Artists
"Recently, the Court in Capitol Records, Inc. v. Thomas vacated a $222,000 verdict awarded by a jury of the peers of Defendant Jammie Thomas.1 The Court held that it committed a “manifest error of law” by instructing the jury that U.S. law gives copyright owners the “making-available right” required by nine international agreements supposedly implemented by U.S. law. But Thomas did not confine itself to an analysis of whether U.S. law provides a making-available right.

After adjudicating the motion to vacate the jury verdict, the Court appended a gratuitous final section—Section K—that used Thomas as a platform to attack the wisdom of both the jury and Congress. Section K, by casting off judicial conventions, by opining on jury questions, and by mischaracterizing the conduct of a party to a pending case—tried to present the Defendant as a poster child for an ill-conceived advisory opinion on copyright reform. In Section K, looting thus became a nonprofit avocation and deterring deceit became “oppressive.” Worse yet, these characterizations supported “reforms” that would only encourage piracy, endanger consumers, and further undermine the vitality of copyrights." [PFF]

Triennial DMCA Review at US Copyright Office December 30th, 2008
"Has it been three years already? The US Copyright Office is again hearing arguments for exceptions for, as the December 29 Federal Register notice puts it, “certain classes of works from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. The purpose of this rulemaking proceeding is to determine whether there are particular classes of works as to which users are, or are likely to be, adversely affected in their ability to make noninfringing uses due to the prohibition on circumvention.”

In other words, when is OK to ignore the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and hack DRM? (You’ll find information on how to participate in this democratic process at the end of this post.)" [CopyrightAlliance]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 24/12/08

Internet Piracy: No, Virginia, There Really Is No "Competing" Against Yourself for "Free"
"CNET and others report about a charming new steal-don't-buy browser extension that reminds Amazon.com shoppers that much of Amazon's legal content can be downloaded illegally "4 Free" from The Pirate Bay. If correct, such reports expose the truly self-destructive venality of Internet piracy. They also expose the vacuity of an argument favored by defenders of piracy--the claim that content creators (and law-abiding distributors) can or should "compete against free." Usually, persons spouting this claim cite the case of "bottled water" as a real-life example. For two reasons, this example refutes their vapid claim.

First, this claim understates the achievement of commercial creators of bottled water and content. They compete not only against "free"--but against competitors whose goods seem free because their production costs and risks are subsidized by non-market sources like taxation. Creators of works like movies, music, and books, like creators of bottled water, have long competed successfully against "free" tax-subsidized alternatives (like tap water). In other words, private companies produced bottled water because they concluded that if they incurred the costs and took the risks needed to create high-quality water, taxpayers who have already paid for the "free" water produced by the County Water Board would pay again to purchase higher quality water from a private source." [IPCentral]

The hitman, the Pirate Bay and the freetard prof 10th December 2008
“Since Duchamp's urinal, a great deal of modern art has been a "prank" against the art establishment. Maybe that's why now, state-funded "pranks" like the Pirates plug-in - designed to preach to the converted - feel so stale. Or it could be Cramer's own deeply conservative (and misanthropic) outlook. By design, the course ensures his students fulfill a narrow set of ideological obligations - all of which are de rigeur in modern media theory.

And that, we must conclude, is exactly what the modern state requires from its "radicals". Rather than being outside the tent pissing in, they're quite content to be on the inside, launching Firefox browser plug-ins outwards. Repressive regimes once persecuted dissidents - now they merely need give them cushy jobs on Media Theory courses to render them useless. They'll do the rest.” [TheRegister]

Hollywood wants in on ISP "graduated responses," too : December 24, 2008 - "Graduated response" isn't just for music
"Ars has learned that the Motion Picture Association of America has been having similar discussions with US ISPs for some time and has already been involved in trial projects. The results of this limited testing have been encouraging to the movie business, as they show that most people do in fact stop sharing files illegally after receiving a simple warning from their Internet provider.

The recording industry made waves last week by announcing a set of voluntary agreements with American ISPs to pass warnings (and eventually sanctions) to users accused of sharing files illegally over P2P networks. The scheme is similar in concept to the recent deals in the UK and France, but such graduated response mechanisms are actually under consideration all over the world." [ArsTechnica]

"Can I resell my MP3s?": the post-sale life of digital goods: Second time's a charm December 17, 2008
"The Castaway" is not a very good book. Published in 1908, Hallie Ermine Rives' novel opens with these deeply unpromising sentences:

"A cool breeze slipped ahead of the dawn. It blew dim the calm Greek stars, stirred the intricate branches of olive trees inlaid in the rose-pearl facade of sky, bowed the tall, coral-lipped oleanders lining the rivulets, and crisped the soft wash of the gulf-tide. It lifted the strong bronze curls on the brow of a sleeping man who lay on the sea-beach covered with a goatskin." [ArsTechnica]

UK talks mashups, DRM, CD ripping as it opens copyright overhaul December 17, 2008
"The UK's Intellectual Property Office has some odd ideas. In thinking about the "future agenda on copyright" in Britain, the agency recognizes the disconnect the law and common actions like CD ripping, feels the pain of mashup artists who have no real way to clear rights, knows that DRM can currently override statutory copyright exemptions, and wants to hear especially from creators and users. David Lammy, the minister in charge of higher education and intellectual property, even puts quote marks around "online music 'piracy'."

The occasion for all this attention do digital copyright issues is UK IPO's new "© the future: Keeping ahead of the game" consultation. The government has a wide-ranging scheme called Digital Britain that various ministries have been at work on for several months, and the chance to think about copyright's future is part of the UK plan to make Britain a hub for the digital and creative industries. Government statistics already show that the creative industries generated 8.2 percent of GDP in 2007 and are growing twice as fast as the overall economy." [ArsTechnica]

Music News Bulletin - 23/12/08

Amazon MP3 fuels indie gloom: Not exactly retail therapy 5th December 2008
"Do you remember when the internet was supposed to "empower" new businesses, sweep away cartels and monopolies, and give a voice to the little guy? Well, unless you view increasing concentrations of power as a good thing, this week has been a bad one for the music economy.

Amazon finally launched its MP3 download service in the UK on the Wednesday, stealing the headlines with cheap deals. Yet popular acts who chose to opt out of the major label system received a kick in the teeth, with the front page carved up between the majors. Best-selling acts such as The Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand (both signed to PIAS group label Domino) are nowhere to be found." [TheRegister]

Amazon launches music downloads: The online bookseller has branched out into digital music sales
"Online retail website Amazon has launched a UK music download service. Amazon MP3 will sell tracks from 59p and albums from £3. The new music store will offer more than 3 million songs that will work on any digital music player, including Apple's iPod. The move puts Amazon in direct competition with Apple for a stake in the growing market of online music sales, which in Britain alone was worth an estimated £163m in 2007." [BBC]

Rumor: Music labels want to create Hulu for music videos Dec 23rd 2008
"There's been a lot of buzz over the last few days about how all of Warner Music Group's music videos have gone missing from YouTube. Now Alley Insider reports that Warner, BMG, EMI, and Universal are talking about building their own site for music videos.

The idea would be to create a single destination where be able to find music videos from popular artists. There's some reason to think the site could work. After all, Hulu has become one of the top destination for online video by providing full length, ad-supported streaming episodes of TV shows and movies with the cooperation of several major networks and studios." [DownloadSquad]

EU Parliament Monitor - 19/12/08

European Parliament questions Sony BMG merger
"The indie sector has been given renewed hope that the Sony BMG merger story hasn’t ended following the European Parliament’s decision to ask the EC competition commissioner to justify her decision to approve the merger of the two majors in 2004.

The European Parliament has fired off three questions to Neelie Kroes challenging the Commission about competition in the music market. The questions are:

- Why did the Commission not carry out an in-depth investigation when it adopted its last approval decision?
- What is the Commission's strategy for making sure that SMEs have market access in concentrated sectors like music?
- Will the Commission adopt new rules or guidelines on how competition policy should be adapted to cultural markets such as music?

The commissioner has six weeks to provide a written explanation, although it is unclear what action Parliament can take if it doesn’t like her answers. Meanwhile, European indie organisation IMPALA is still appealing the original EC decisions allowing Sony and BMG to merge, which led to an appeal in the Court of First Instance. An IMPALA spokesman says that the move by Parliament is quite rare and it means Kroes has to justify her decision.
SonyBMG were not commenting." [MusicWeek]

European Parliament questions Sony BMG approvals
"The elected European Parliament has challenged the European Commission about it's speedy decision earlier this year to allow Sony Music to buy Bertelsmann out of the two companies' joint venture record company, SonyBMG, which put the second biggest music firm in the world into the ownership of one organisation, Sony Corp.

They also question the Commission's wider policy regarding allowing such big companies to be created in the music and cultural industries without safeguards to protect smaller independent firms - in essence questioning the approval of the SonyBMG merger in the first place.

As much previously reported, the merger of Sony Corp and Bertlesmann's respective record companies to create SonyBMG in 2004 was not without controversy. Pan-European indie label trade body IMPALA said the creation of a company as big as SonyBMG was anti-competitive and should not be approved by the Commission (who have the power to block such deals). When the Commission then OKed the merger, without conditions, IMPALA went to the European Courts who ruled in the trade body's favour, agreeing that the Commission had failed to sufficiently investigate the merger before giving it the green light and ordering them to reinvestigate the proposals. That they did, subsequently approving the merger for a second time. IMPALA are currently appealing that Commission decision too." [CMUDaily]

European Parliament challenges the Commission again about competition in the music market and the SonyBMG merger, as independents’ appeal continues without new action over Sony buy out
"The European Parliament has challenged the European Commission for the third time over SonyBMG. The EC Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes has six weeks to provide a written explanation regarding:

1. Why the Commission did not carry out an in-depth investigation when it adopted its last approval decision?
2. What the Commission's strategy is for making sure that SMEs have market access in concentrated sectors like music?
3. Whether the Commission will adopt new rules or guidelines on how competition policy should be adapted to the specificities of cultural markets such as music?

In the meantime IMPALA will continue its initial appeal regarding SonyBMG. In September the European Commission approved the buy out by Sony of Bertelsmann's shares in the joint venture SonyBMG and IMPALA objected because no remedies were put in place and there was no detailed investigation. As IMPALA is still in litigation over the creation of SonyBMG in the first place, however, it will not launch a new appeal over the buy out. IMPALA's concerns mainly relate to the market power of SonyBMG (and the other majors) rather than who owns it. IMPALA's appeal in the European courts will be heard again by the judges next year. IMPALA also appealed the EC's second approval decision and this case is on hold while the appeal against the first approval is being dealt with." [RecordOftheDay]

Christa Prets MEP on media literacy in a digital world: MEP Christa Prets wants more "digital education"
"We all need to better understand the media we are touched by daily, especially the young, says Austrian Socialist Christa Prets. MEPs backed her report on "media literacy in a digital world" on Tuesday. In an exclusive interview Ms Prets explained to us what media literacy actually is, how we can improve it and how it can be used to teach the young." [Europa]