Heron's Eye: 27/10/08

Justice system should put victims first, says Jack Straw 27/10/08
“Jack Straw, the justice secretary, today signalled a more punitive approach to prisons by attacking the "criminal justice lobby" for putting the needs of offenders before those of victims.” [Guardian]

Police will use new device to take fingerprints in street 27/10/08
Every police force in the UK is to be equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners - handheld devices that allow police to carry out identity checks on people in the street. [Guardian]

Where the hell is parliament? 27/10/08
Henry Porter highlights how the CGHQ and Home Office are arguing for £12bn to collect data on telecommunications such as the Internet and phone calls and how the police are being issued with mobile fingerprint scanners to allow offices to carry out identity checks on people in the street. He goes on to criticise how this is occurring without having been debated in Parliament.

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 27/10/08

Music trade unites to fight against piracy October 27 2008
"A new umbrella organisation formed to represent Britain's entire music industry will today promise to deliver a five-year plan to plot a safer course for a sector that has been battered in the past decade.

UK Music intends to replace the disparate voices of the confusing tangle of bodies that previously represented the industry, frequently with conflicting viewpoints." [Guardian]

Behind the music at Musexpo: Can we fix a 'broken' industry?
"This week's conference in London brought into focus the lack of trust and transparency that is rife in the music industry

This week, the decision makers of the music industry rolled into London for the music conference Musexpo. Musexpo started out with three music executives having dinner in LA. Sat Bisla, one of the diners, realised that there needed to be more communication between the different areas of the music industry and started a yearly event." [Guardian]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 27/10/08

Cox To Internet Users: Three Strikes and You're Out October 1, 2008
Over the course of the last year, we've seen an intense, international lobbying effort on the part of the entertainment industry to craft policies that would boot alleged filesharers off of the Internet. The folks over at TechDirt have been keeping a close watch on this front and point to legislation and negotiations in the UK, France, Australia and Canada that would institute a "three strikes" rule. As proposed, this three strikes policy would require ISPs to filter their networks for copyrighted content and send out notices of infringement to users suspected of engaging in filesharing--effectively turning ISPs into "copyright cops". As implied by the three strikes moniker, users would receive two written warnings before having their contract with the ISP terminated outright, upon receipt of the third." [PublicKnowledge]

Music Like Water - Not October 27, 2007
"I originally wrote this post as a comment on Andrew Dubber's blog. Out of courtesy for Andrew, I am going to turn comments off on this post. Please go to Andrew's site to continue the discussion.

Andrew, you create the best scenarios on the Internet for discussion…

If the water analogy were as simple as turning on a faucet, and out comes music that everyone pays a flat fee for, then I would agree with you. However, sticking with the water analogy, there are thousands of brands of bottled water, fizzy water, flavored water, tap water, fountain water, toilet water, brown water, fruit water, mineral water, etc, etc, etc. Only a dolt would let their brand become commoditized, municipal tap water… The water utility thing will never happen anyways; innovation will outrun legislation." [UnsprungMedia]

Music News Bulletin - 25/10/08

Why Nokia's Comes with Music package comes with a price September 25 2008
"When Nokia announced their Comes With Music programme last year it was touted as a scheme that would give subscribers a year of unlimited downloads from a huge catalogue of tunes. What's more, they would be able to keep those downloads even after the subscription ends.

It sounded like an amazing deal for the consumer, but it surprised a lot of artists – and probably most record labels too. How would artists and labels possibly earn any money from the content that Nokia planned to give away? Well, I suspect that Nokia jumped the gun before realising they'd have to pay both the record labels and songwriters." [Guardian]

Invisible Listening September 23, 2008
"I came across an interesting study from Coleman Insights that was presented at the National Association of Broadcasters Radio Show last week.The study makes the distinction between intentional radio listening and incidental, or invisible, radio listening. From the study press release:
Coleman Insights defines Intentional listening as when people are aware of a station and intend to listen to it. Incidental listening is to stations that people are aware of and have some sense of, but that is driven by other forces that are generally out of their control (such as someone being exposed to a station played in an office environment). Invisible listening is completely unexplained listening that the PPM captures, but that the listeners have no recollection of. The findings demonstrate that there is very little a radio station can do to impact the amount of Incidental and Invisible listening it generates in PPM." [AdSupportedMusic]

Now there are four: EMI joins MySpace Music on eve of its launch* September 24, 2008
"On the eve of the launch of its new music site, MySpace said today that EMI Group, which counts the British band Coldplay (pictured above) among its jewels, is now part of the joint venture that already includes the other three top recording companies.

EMI was the missing link for the venture, which came out of a negotiation between MySpace and the recording industry over copyright infringement on the News Corp. social network. The music service, which will be available tonight at www.myspace.com/music, will include full songs streamed for free and personalized music management services. Through the service, which is powered by Amazon.com, MySpace users will be able to buy music downloads and ringtones as well." [LATimes]

For MySpace, a lot rides on music service launch September 17, 2008
"MySpace, the social networking site owned by News Corp., is hoping to reclaim its mantle as king of the digital music sites when it relaunches its music site sometime this month.

The launch is being closely watched by the music industry as well as by Internet companies, such as iMeem, iLike and Lastfm.com, that have built their businesses on letting people create playlists, share musical interests and connect with other fans. What will MySpace, with its audience of 61 million or so, do differently in this crowded space?" [LATimes]

SD: the new CD? 21/09/08
"With CD sales dropping despite a demonstrable increase in music consumption, you might think that music fans just aren't as interested as they used to be in paying for tunes. Or you could believe in the spirit of hope springing eternal, and that the problem is with the CD itself. If you're in the latter camp, then you should be cheered by the announcement this morning that the four major record companies plan to experiment with a new physical format for albums: microSD cards. See my colleague Michelle Quinn's piece about the deal here.

Now, if you're convinced that the CD is dying because there are a plethora of free sources of music online, you're probably scoffing at the prospects for albums sold on a microchip -- or any other shrink-wrapped container, for that matter. But Daniel Schreiber, a senior vice president at SanDisk (the company behind microSD cards and the prime mover behind the "slotMusic" initiative) has a question for the skeptics: how do you think people are going to load tunes onto their shiny new music phones?" [LATimes]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 24/10/08

IGC Consultations to Continue on Future Work Program
"The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Francis Gurry, and the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), Ambassador Rigoberto Gauto Vielman of Paraguay, said they would pursue efforts in the coming weeks to bridge differences among member states on the way to move international negotiations forward. The IGC wrapped up its 13th meeting late in the evening of October 17, 2008 after attempts to hammer out compromise texts on the future work program faltered. Despite intense negotiations, delegations were not able to agree on the working procedures required to deliver the concrete outcomes that many have called for from this Committee. The IGC’s mandate calls upon it to accelerate its work, and expectations remain strong that the Committee should produce a significant outcome by the time it is required to report back to the WIPO General Assembly in September 2009." [WIPO]

EC Legal Affairs Committee set to debate term
"No fireworks are expected, but some industry executives are already blocking out early November in their diaries as the next critical date in the copyright term story. The EC’s Legal Affairs Committee (LAC) meets in Brussels on November 4 to discuss the issue, which has so far been exercising a number of working groups.

According to one insider, the LAC is then likely to draw up a draft report, which will be put before the European Parliament.
“The word from the working groups is that Holland and the UK are currently not supporting copyright term extension. But, if the UK is isolated, it will not insist on being difficult,” he says. Poland was also thought to be against the extension of term, but another source suggests its ministers are sitting on the fence.

Once the European Parliament has looked at the work done by the LAC – and made its own amendments and readings - it will be sent down to the European Council for policy making. But the source is worried that, with the EU presidency due to change next year, the timing is tight if the Parliament goes for a second reading. “I think we are talking about the Parliament working on it in January and February, but March is really the last month that Parliament can vote,” he adds." [MusicWeek]

New Comms Minister plans report on Digital Britain
"Our new Minister For Communications, Technology And Broadcasting, former OfCom chief Stephen Carter, has announced he has commissioned a report on 'Digital Britain' which will inform government on what role it should play in the ongoing development of the digital and communications industries.

The report comes as one key digital media platform - digital audio broadcasting - faces an uncertain future following the decision by Channel 4 to bail out of its ambitious plans to launch a second national DAB network, and past decisions by some of the major radio firms who were instrumental in setting DAB up in the first place to sell off or close down their digital-only stations. The BBC remains committed to DAB, and with internet capacity issues already a concern as more people start to use rich media services like BBC iPlayer, the wider radio sector is probably advised to continue investing in a digital radio system that doesn't rely on the internet for delivery. Though with ad revenues from digital services still somewhat less than the cost of operating them, and with ad budgets set to be even further slashed in the coming year, it's not surprising commercial radio chiefs have lost their enthusiasm for DAB. Carter will also have to consider what to do about internet piracy. Although the ISPs have this year reluctantly agreed to take a more proactive role in helping record companies distribute warnings to those who access illegal sources of music online, if the warnings campaign doesn't prove to be a success and the labels start to push the ISPs towards taking more extreme action against copyright infringers - maybe even the 'three strikes and then you're cut off' proposal being considered in France - then they may need the government to come good on their promises to legislate in this area, and Carter may have to oversee that." [CMUDaily]

French Culture Minister Launches Cultural Independents Conference
"French minister of culture Christine Albanel has launched the "Arenes europeennes de l'independence" (European Arena Of Independence), a two-day conference session gathering European independent companies from the cultural field - mainly music, cinema and literature. The event will take place in Paris on Oct. 23 and 24.

"Creation is largely supported by independent companies," said Albanel, "which are largely impacted by online piracy." Albanel stressed that independent companies release 80% of new music records in France and generate 44% of the recorded market revenue and 67% of the industry jobs.

Albanel named several measures taken by her ministry during the past 18 months to support the recording industry, namely a €12 million ($15.7 million) tax-credit scheme allowing record companies to offset part of their investments on new records and a dedicated advance fund to help record companies borrow money.
"We need to go further," she added, in terms of financing and distribution. Albanel also reminded her audience about the importance of the EU to preserve fair market conditions and to rule on a more consistent VAT scheme for online cultural business."" [Billboard]

EU Parliament Monitor - 24/10/08

MEPs approve new EU trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton (UK)
"The European Parliament voted 538 in favour, 40 against and 63 abstentions in favour of new EU trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton from the UK. Baroness Ashton faced a hearing at the European Parliament on Monday. She has been nominated to replace Peter Mandelson as Trade Commissioner following his appointment to the British government. MEPs questioned Baroness Ashton on the future of the Doha Round, the financial crisis, bilateral trade negotiations - and on her own experience.

Baroness Ashton will be Commissioner until the end of the current Commission's mandate - 31 October 2009." [Europa]

Summary of the hearing of Catherine Ashton (United Kingdom), Commissioner-designate for Trade
"Commissioner-designate Catherine Ashton faced a hearing at the European Parliament on Monday. She has been nominated to replace Peter Mandelson as Trade Commissioner following his appointment to the British government. MEPs questioned Baroness Ashton on the future of the Doha Round, the financial crisis, bilateral trade negotiations - and on her own experience. The outcome will be considered on Tuesday by the Conference of Presidents, with the full Parliament due to vote on Wednesday." [Europa]

Ashton wins emphatic endorsement from MEPs
MEPs back the new trade commissioner; Ashton wants better co-ordination of trade policy.
Members of the European Parliament yesterday (22 October) endorsed the appointment of Catherine Ashton as the European commissioner for trade. MEPs voted 538 in favour, 40 against, with 63 abstentions during their meeting in Strasbourg. From there, Ashton went directly to Geneva for a dinner with Pascal Lamy, the director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to discuss the prospects of reviving the Doha round of world trade talks.
Ashton had told MEPs on Monday evening (20 October), at a scrutiny hearing, that she would be assuring Lamy that “the WTO and pursuing a successful Doha round remain absolutely central to Europe's trade policy”. [EuropeanVoice]

EU parliament formally approves new trade commissioner
"MEPs have formally endorsed the appointment of Catherine Ashton as the EU’s new trade commissioner.
Deputies meeting in Strasbourg on Wednesday voted 538 in favour of her appointment, with 40 against and 63 abstentions. She replaces Peter Mandelson, who stepped down after four years in the job to become the new business secretary in the UK. Ashton faced a hearing in parliament on Monday in which is she is generally thought to have given a good account of her grasp of the notoriously difficult trade portfolio.She was also questioned on the future of the Doha round, the financial crisis and bilateral trade negotiations.

The conference of presidents, or group leaders, endorsed her appointment on Tuesday ahead of today’s vote by the full parliament." [TheParliament]

Alliance of Civilisations: Jorge Sampaio addresses MEPs
"Building bridges and altering misguided perceptions of other cultures are crucial in a globalised world, according Jorge Sampaio, UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations and a former President of Portugal, who addressed a formal sitting of the EP on Wednesday on the subject of cultural diversity, in a speech given as part of the EP's series of guest speeches for Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

In his introduction, the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, stressed the shared outlook between the UN Alliance of Civilisations and the EP, with their emphasis on the importance of cultural interaction, and argued that there was a need in the modern world for practical not just symbolic steps on this front, such as the many projects the EP had supported in the context of Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

At the start of his address, Mr Sampaio read out a short statement on behalf of the UN Secretary General, which said that "Like many other regions of the world, Europe faces multiple challenges in promoting intercultural dialogue. Migration, economic uncertainty and political tensions are putting strains on relations between different cultural, ethnic and religious groups. But it is precisely in your region, where constructive contacts over the centuries have allowed humanity to take major leaps forward, that opportunities for reconciliation and cooperation exist." Ultimately, "Cross-cultural tolerance, dialogue, respect and understanding must be pillars of the better world we are trying to build."" [Europa]

Row flares over EU commission's link with business group
"A furious row has flared over allegations of an “intimate” relationship between the commission’s trade directorate and the organisation representing European SMEs. It follows claims by a left-wing Swedish MEP of a possible conflict of interest between the influential directorate and Businesseurope. GUE/NGL member Jens Holm sets out his allegations in a letter to new EU trade commissioner Catherine Ashton.

But Philippe De Buck, director general of Businesseurope, hit back on Thursday, telling this website, “What is the problem?
“Yes, we have a close relationship with DG trade – they need us but, equally, we need them. I make no secret of that.
“However, I want to stress that all dealings between my organisation and the commission are done openly, publicly and transparently, and I object to these comments,” said De Buck, formerly the organisation’s secretary general." [TheParliament]

Click here to read the European Parliament Monitor

EU Commission: Competition - 24/10/08

Mergers: Commission revises Remedies Notice and amends Merger Implementing Regulation
"The European Commission has revised its guidelines on remedies in merger control in order to ensure that competition concerns are dealt with more effectively and to clarify to companies involved in merger cases how best to address competition concerns. Remedies are modifications to a proposed transaction suggested by the parties involved with a view to eliminating possible competition concerns identified by the Commission. The main changes include the introduction of a form for submitting information on remedies, details on divestiture and access remedies and clarifications on the role of the Trustee. The Commission has also modernised the Remedies Notice in the light of the revised Merger Regulation (EC) No. 139/2004 (see MEMO/04/9), the Commission's experience in a large number of cases, the Commission Mergers Remedies Study (see IP/05/1327) and recent judgements of the European Courts. The Remedies Notice also takes into account comments received from the public consultation held in 2007 on a draft Notice (see IP/07/544). In addition, the Commission has adopted amendments to the Merger Implementing Regulation (Commission Regulation (EC) No. 802/2004) in line with the changes to the Remedies Notice." [Europa]

State aid: Commission consults on three year extension of film support criteria
"The European Commission has launched a public consultation on plans to extend the state aid assessment criteria of its Cinema Communication (see IP/01/1326) until 31 December 2012. Under the current criteria, state support for film production can be exempted from the EC Treaty's ban on state aid under certain conditions. In particular, such support must concern cultural films, while respecting certain thresholds regarding territorial requirements and aid intensity. Schemes must also comply with the EC Treaty rules and cannot focus on specific film-making activities. The Commission proposes to extend the validity of these criteria for three years and invites interested parties to submit their comments by 30 November 2008." [Europa]

For more information on the European Commission please click here

Music News Bulletin: 24/10/08

UMG Bundles Tunes With Dell
"Universal Music Group is teaming with Dell to give customers the option of adding pre-loaded MP3s from the label's catalog to new computers purchased from the company.The deal does not provide access to the full UMG catalog, but rather a collection of curated playlists organized by various themes - No. 1 songs, Rock Titans, Blues Masters, etc. - as well as music featured in films that Dell also offers as bundled content. A 50-song playlist for $25, and a 100-song playlist for $50, which works out to about half the cost per-track from music purchased online. All files will be DRM-free.

The pre-installed music bundles will be organized under a "Music" icon in Dell's system, which customer can then move to their preferred music management software as they like. UMG says it plans to expand the number and themes of the playlists, as well as update the songs added to each, on a regular basis." [Billboard]

Microsoft celebrates antipiracy day
"Microsoft plans on Tuesday to announce "Global Anti-Piracy Day," an effort to gain attention for the steps the company undertakes in order to thwart those who would profit from illegitimate software. As part of the event, Microsoft is highlighting recent antipiracy efforts in 49 countries, ranging from the filing of lawsuits in the U.S. to a seminar for journalists in Pakistan.
It's the kind of thing that Microsoft does all the time, although the company is aiming for some added ink by grouping together so many actions at once.

"One of the things we want to illustrate with this announcement is the diverse nature of the work," associate general counsel David Finn said in an interview from Singapore" [CNet]

Baidu launches legitimate music channel
"BEIJING - Baidu has partnered with seven record companies to launch a music-streaming channel in an attempt to better combat illegal downloading.

According to Chinese reports, the channel, called New Song Debut, legally pairs Baidu with labels including EMI Music, Emperor Entertainment Group and Rock Records & Tapes to offer albums from nine Chinese artists for streaming.
This comes nearly a year after Beijing courts ruled that Baidu’s music search - which linked to sites that allowed users to illegally download music - was not classified as copyright infringement.
The ruling cleared the Chinese search engine of lawsuits issued in 2005 by seven international record labels, including EMI and Warner Music." [BrandRepublic]

MySpace Music adds more indies
"MySpace Music has signed a deal with leading indie distributor IODA, adding more than 1m tracks from independent labels to the service. The deal, announced this morning, adds labels such as Cooking Vinyl, Demon Music Group, Fat Cat Records and Cherry Red to MySpace Music, which already has content from all four major labels and aggregator The Orchard.
However, Merlin, which represents leading indie players such as Beggars Group and Domino, has still yet to agree a deal with MySpace after a very public war of words, and the announcement is likely to put more pressure on its CEO Charles Caldas MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe re-affirms the company’s commitment to indie music, saying, “The independent music community has been a cornerstone of MySpace Music. We remain fully committed to building an economy for artists and providing them with the necessary tools to further their careers and better connect with music fans everywhere." [MusicWeek]

MySpace Music Adds IODA
"MySpace Music added thousands of independent labels to its service today (Oct. 23) through a new deal with independent digital distributor IODA. Details of the agreement were not disclosed. MySpace Music has drawn criticism from some in the indie community for striking equity deals with major labels while not offering the same terms to indies.

The service opened Sept. 25 as a joint venture partially owned by the four major record labels, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing. The partners in the joint venture will profit not only from a cut of the same ad and sales revenue, but also in the underlying revenue the venture receives, even from content contributed by other labels.
The service has deals in place with indie digital distributor the Orchard, as well as the indie distribution arms of the four major labels. Merlin, the indie global rights organization that spoke out publicly about what they perceived as unfair treatment by MySpace Music, still has not signed a deal. Merlin says its represents labels that have a 9% share of the U.S. digital recorded music market." [Billboard]

TuneCore, iLike Bundle Indie Services
"TuneCore and iLike have teamed up to offer independent and unsigned artists a package deal on both distributing and promoting their music. The partnership is more of a bundled product than it is a new service, as both companies offer their core services independently. But together, the two hope to present a more complete message than they could marketing their services separately.

TuneCore brings to the table a wide digital distribution platform, which can post clients' music to all the major digital retailers and subscriptions services. Once the music is available, iLike then lets users promote it through full-song streaming applications on social networks like Facebook, Bebo and other channels. Each time their music is played, artists get a royalty from the corresponding service hosting the file.
The partnership between the two firms lets artists sign up for both services at the same time, rather than requiring separate agreements." [Billboard]

Facebook Music Redux
"Facebook doesn't seem ready to give up its music-service aspirations just yet. After first approaching the major labels with the idea back in March of this year, the company is now reportedly reaching out to existing streaming services as part of an outsourcing strategy.

The New York Post, citing unnamed sources, reports that Rhapsody, Imeem, iLike and Lala are all potential targets.
Tapping an existing provider to turnkey its music strategy would allow Facebook to avoid striking its own licensing deals with labels, not to mention give the winning service a huge marketing boost by promoting it via the massive Facebook platform." [Billboard]

Click here to read more from the Music News Bulletin

Music News Bulletin: 24/10/08

What lies ahead for Sony Music?
"Since Sony purchased BMG's half of the companies' joint venture, people have wondered what Sony will do to make the acquisition pay off. Leadership under one roof is a good start. That should have a positive impact by itself. Integration was brought up in the Sony Corp. press release that announced the acquisition. Said Sir Howard Stringer,

This acquisition will allow us to achieve a deeper and more robust integration between the wide-ranging global assets of the music company and Sony's products, operating companies and affiliates. It enables us to offer a total entertainment experience to consumers." [Coolfer]

Sony seeks to harmonize music, electronics
"Now that Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG have broken off their troubled relationship, known as Sony BMG, the Japanese company hopes to harmonize its consumer electronics and its music, a duo that was badly out of sync.

The music business combination four years ago made Sony BMG the world's No. 2 record label, generating savings and pre-empting other industry consolidation. But the venture's cost-cutting didn't keep pace with falling CD sales, and the two companies' digital strategies didn't jibe. So they called it quits, and Sony bought out its partner for $900 million in a deal that closed Oct. 1.

Selling its 50 percent stake will let Bertelsmann refocus on its growing TV, magazines and book publishing businesses. And full ownership of the music venture gives Sony control of a medium it can use to drive electronics sales, just as it is using wholly owned Sony Pictures to help sell the Bravia line of TVs. The new company is called Sony Music Entertainment Inc.

"It's nice to see Sony at least trying to line up some of their content efforts with their hardware," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of global strategy for Jupiter Media. "Up until now, the left hand never seemed to know what the right hand was doing."" [RecordOfTheDay]

Click here to read more from the Music News Bulletin

Music News Bulletin: 24/10/08

Indies Point to Continued Barriers to Radio
"The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) has conducted a study that looked into indie labels' feelings about radio and changes since a settlement brought an end to Elliot Spitzer's payola investigation. You can get get a PDF of the 17-page report here. I encourage you to read the executive summary after reading the rest of the report. The harsh tone of the summary -- the press release is more balanced -- is out of line with the limited and often benign information found in the report.

For example, 98.1% of respondents said their relationship with radio stations were the same or better than at the time of the settlement (which was only 18 months ago). When asked if stations' willingness to play indie label music had changed, 78.4% said there had been no change while 7.8% said it is now better and 13.7% said it was worse. That small 5.6-point difference between better and worse does not leave much open to interpretation or nuance." [Coolfer]

Indies beating credit crunch
"The Association of Independent Music annual members’ survey has shown indies are bearing up well in the credit crunch.
Chairman and chief executive Alison Wenham says that of around 300 companies, which responded, some 75% of them have reported increased turnover year-on-year despite the worsening economic conditions.
Further, Wenham says that a similar number expect that improved trend to continue in the next year. “This is some really good news in the current climate and shows our sector is bucking the trend and holding up well,” she adds." [MusicWeek]

OCC launches Coalition chart
"Alternative music tastes and the shape of independent retailing will become much clearer today (Monday) with the launch of the first Official Coalition Retail Charts.

The weekly charts count down singles and album sales and are compiled by the Official Charts Company from sales at the 26 independent record shops that form the Coalition. These include many of the UK’s most high-profile indie retailers, such as Edinburgh’s Avalanche Records, London’s Rough Trade and Manchester’s Piccadilly." [MusicWeek]


Can we really compete with free? ? A RATHER LENGTHY MUSICTANK THINK TANK ROUND UP
"The unnamed kid who took part in that previously reported 'kids and their music' survey for UK Music (then British Music Rights) and who admitted to having 72,000 illegally acquired music tracks on his hard disk became something of the star of last night's MusicTank debate on the state of the digital music sector. If the music industry is going to continue to sell recordings - and the latest four-talk Think Tank series from MusicTank is called 'Lets Sell Recorded Music', so that's the aim here - the question remains: what can you sell to a guy who's managed to acquire 72,000 songs, more than he could ever really listen to, without paying a penny?" [CMUDaily]

CD income slips into third place at MCPS-PRS
"Not much of a surprise really, but the MCPS-PRS Alliance has revealed that the wider songwriter community is set to make more from broadcast royalties and public performance royalties this year than from physical record sales. Alongside its third quarter financial report, the Alliance made projections for its full year revenues this year, predicting that money earned from radio and TV airplay and online streaming and downloads would bring in £173 million, while public performance royalties, from music played at gigs and in public spaces, would top £143 million.

By comparison, songwriter royalties paid on physical album sales are expected to slump from £152 million last year to £131 million this year. It will be the first time both broadcast and performance royalty income is higher than that generated by the mechanical royalties paid on physical record sales." [CMUDaily]

MCPS-PRS predicts physical slump
"The MCPS-PRS Alliance is predicting that 2008 will see songwriters earn less money from physical product than any other revenue stream. The collecting society today announced its third quarter results, as well as predictions for the full year 2008.
Revenue from physical product is expected to amount to £131m this year, behind broadcast and online (£173m), public performance (£143m) and international (£135m).

This shift is reflected to an extent in Q3 figures: physical product brought in £108m over the quarter, behind broadcast and online (£123m, up 20%) and public performance (£110m, up10%) but ahead of international (£94m).
The Alliance called the results “strong” despite the challenging market." [MusicWeek]

RIAA Wants Second Look At Mechanical Late Fees
"In a move to change issues related to the timing of late fees on mechanical payments - established by the U.S. Copyright Board in its Oct. 2 determination on royalty payments - the RIAA has filed a motion for the court to reconsider its decision to establish such penalties. As part of its Oct. 17 filing, it asked the court to hold its motion in abeyance for 20 days while it negotiates with copyright owners, like the National Music Publishers' Assn., the Songwriters Guild of America and the Nashville Songwriters Assn. International, and the Digital Media Assn.

The parties may be able to resolve issues related to the timing of the late fee through negotiation, the filing said. If the negotiations produce a settlement, the motion would be withdrawn; if not then the motion argues that late fees should be eliminated." [Billboard]

Click here to read more from the Music News Bulletin