EU Public Affairs Monitor - 19/12/08

10 debut artists to receive 2009 European Border Breaker Awards (EBBAs) in Groningen, the Netherlands
“The winners of the 2009 European Union 'Border Breakers Awards' (EBBAs) have been chosen. Their awards will be presented in a show to be presented by British TV personality Jools Holland in Groningen on 15 January 2009. The show will be attended by Jan Figel', the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth and will be covered on television. In giving these awards the European Commission, in cooperation with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) wishes to reward debut artists' and groups' success in crossing 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.

This years' winners of an European Border Breakers Award are:
* Adele (UK) - “19”
* Alphabeat (DK) – “Alphabeat”
* AaRON (FR) – “Artificial Animals Riding on Neverland”
* Cinema Bizarre (DE) – “Final Attraction”
* The Dø (FR) – “A Mouthfull”
* Kraak & Smaak (NL)– “Boogie Angst”
* Ida Corr (DK) – “One”
* Lykke Li (SE) – “Youth Novels”
* The Script (IRL) – “The Script”
* The Ting Tings (UK) – “We Started Nothing”” [Europa]

Audiovisual Media Services without Frontiers: Frequently Asked Questions
“One year ago, on 19 December the Audiovisual Media Services Directive came into force (IP/07/1809). It provides a modern set of rules for Europe's audiovisual industry that covers all audiovisual media services – traditional as well as online and on-demand audiovisual content. It also makes EU rules on TV advertising less detailed and more flexible and focused on future trends to make it easier for service providers to finance their programmes and for users to recognise commercial messages.” [Europa]

Music News Bulletin - 17/11/08

Glastonbury 2008 fails to make a profit November 3 2008
"Organiser Michael Eavis cites rising costs as the reason behind the festival's failure to make money for the first time in nearly four decades. For the first time since its inception almost four decades ago, the Glastonbury festival did not make any money this year.

The 2008 festival was known to be economically fragile, having failed to sell out in advance. The boom of UK festivals and a downturn in the economy may both have played a part, though some critics – including singers in over-the-hill rock bands – blamed a lineup that included Jay-Z." [Guardian]

Music still popular, says survey November 14 2008
"Bauer Media, the people behind magazines such as Q and Mojo, have released the results of a five-year study. And guess what? People still like listening to music. The music industry can breathe a sigh of relief for now at least: people still rather like it, a new study has found.

Bauer Media, the people behind magazines such as Q and Mojo, have released the results of a five-year study named Project Phoenix, delving into the habits of music consumers." [Guardian]

GRAMMY Northwest MusicTech Summit Keynote Nov 17
“It’s truly an honor to be asked by The Recording Academy to speak to you all today. Two years ago when I joined The Academy I was humbled. I’ve worked on the periphery of the music industry for fifteen years, building little music Web pages before there were even Web browsers for Windows or Mac, before Adam Curry’s MTV.com even, when there were just a couple of us who thought the WWW was a better Gopher. So to have finally merged lanes with the recording industry career-wise was a meaningful moment for me, regardless of the backdrop.

The backdrop, of course, is one we know well, a story we’ve heard ad nauseum at this point. Physical sales are decreasing (~20% Y/Y). The “two hit songs for $17 at Best Buy” business is over. Digital sales are increasing (~40% Y/Y) but it’s not making up the difference. Not only is digital not making up for physical sales, as the tracks are unbundled and the model is a singles-driven iTunes business, the actual value of a unit of music continues to plummet.” [TopSpinMedia]

Music News Bulletin - 16/10/08

Behind the music: How would you like your music served? October 16 2008
"Do you want to download it on your phone? Would you pay? Do you hate ads? I really want to know. Recently, I was sent an analysis of Radiohead's In Rainbows pay-what-you-like venture and Nine Inch Nails' digital giveaway of their album The Slip – including an account of how they fared against Torrent websites such as Pirate Bay. It was written by Will Page, chief economist for MCPS-PRS, with the help of Eric Garland who runs BigChampagne – a company that measures legal and illegal downloading – so it was quite heavy reading.

The odd thing about In Rainbows was that, even though people could have got the album legally for "almost" free, between October 10 (the date it was released on the band's website) and November 3 2007, it was still downloaded from Torrent websites to the tune of 2.3m downloads. Even though Radiohead have hesitated to give specific figures relating to the success of their venture, outsiders would say that those Torrent downloads far exceed the downloads from the band's official site. In fact, on October 10 alone, almost 400,000 people took the album from Torrents."[Guardian]

Behind the music, In the City October 10 2008
"Feargal Sharkey once said, and I'm paraphrasing: "When God handed out bullshitters, he gave an extra serving to the music business." I tend to agree with him, and at the In the City music conference this past weekend, there were a few of them lurking around.

In the City is a three-day event in Manchester, set up some years ago by Tony Wilson, where people from the music business have panel discussions during the day and spend the evenings checking out showcases by unsigned bands. This year the discussions focused on music's future in a digital world, and as is so often the case in this business, there were few artists present. But one panel centred on the rights of the people without whom the business wouldn't exist, as they discussed the launch of the Featured Artists' Coalition." [Guardian]

The Big Royalties Debate October 8th, 2008
"Congratulations! You have recorded a kick-ass song and a major label wants to sign it and distribute it to a worldwide audience. The trouble is, just how much will you be rewarded for your years of hard work?

The fact is that people don’t buy singles on CD or Vinyl for £3.99 anymore – they pay £0.99 (if you are lucky) for a download, so the record companies have a lot less coming to them (read: a lot less to share with you). Sales have gone crazy with the advent of the digital revolution, but that is just the tip of the iceberg; there has been no set royalty rate agreed with music publishers and the RIAA. No wonder everything is such a mess!" [UKMusicJobs]

Digital music royalties for songwriters left unchanged October 2, 2008
"A sigh of relief could be heard in digital music land today as the federal Copyright Royalty Board left unchanged the rate for royalties paid to songwriters and publishers for CDs and digital downloads.

Today's ruling is the first time that the board formally set the digital download rate. Previously, because there was no formal rate for downloads, companies such as Apple had used the CD rate -- a 9.1-cent payment to the songwriter and/or publisher for every track sold through iTunes and other download stores. The board today also set a new rate of 24 cents for each ring tone, which had been independently negotiated." [LATimes]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 30/09/08

Symposium Calls For End Of Binary Discussion Of Rightsholders Versus Pirates
"Copyright discussion has become a simplistic binary debate of “pirates that steal everything” versus “rightsholders that want to protect everything,” warned Japanese entrepreneur, blogger and CEO of the Creative Commons Joichi Ito in his opening remarks for this year’s Ars Electronica Symposium in Linz, Austria.

Ito was curator of the symposium on the “New Cultural Economy” that sought to get beyond the simplistic dichotomy and explore ideas and status of alternative content production and social action using digital networks." [IPWatch]