Normally having someone talk you through a budget wouldn’t make for especially compelling reading, but when a DIY artist outlines the costs they are incurring releasing records, touring shows and keeping fans happy it’s usually a pretty interesting read, and the latest blog post from Amanda Palmer very much falls into that category.

Palmer, of course, recently launched a campaign on US-based crowd-sourcing website Kickstarter to raise money to fund a new album, art book and an ambitious tour, basically offering a wide range of packages to fans on a pre-order basis, so she can access now the cash required to make all that activity happen later in the year.

Such crowd sourcing by artists isn’t new, of course, with many other new and established acts working with platforms like Kickstarter, or music specific crowd sourcing services like Pledge, to generate cash now in return for providing fans with products or services down the line. But Palmer’s pre-order funded project is certainly one of the most ambitious.

Originally stating, at the start of 32 days of fundraising, that she’d need a minimum of $100,000 to make the project happen, that much was raised within hours and with a week to go her Kickstarter haul is currently standing at $817,055. With some reckoning she will break the million mark by the end of the month, one tweeter asked the former Dresden Dolls singer: “So, are you loaded?”

It’s a question that motivated Palmer’s budgeting blog, in which she explains how, actually, even if the million mark is passed by the end of her Kickstarter campaign, she will actually be lucky to pocket any more than $100,000 herself. And – given that any major project should probably allow 10% of contingency money for unforeseen expenditure – that could also be used up, so that Palmer will rely on the subsequent more conventional album and merchandise sales that the Kickstarter project ‘kick starts’ (via her website, at gigs and iTunes et al) to actually make a profit.

So, where will the million go? Well, she explains, it cost $250,000 to get to the point at which the Kickstarter campaign even went live, much of which was borrowed from friends and needs to be paid back (meaning if she had only raised the originally stated $100,000, the project would have made a loss). There are then costs in fulfilling the packages that have been sold via the Kickstarter initiative, and the more that are sold the more those costs go up.

Add the commissions that Kickstarter and Amazon take, the fees that need to be paid to the staff who help make everything happen, legal costs and any loss that might be made by the tour (that should break even, Palmer says, but she might have to take a hit if any shows don’t sell so well), and the million is soon gone.

The singer notes that she could save money by cutting corners with the products she sends to fans who have contributed to the million, but says she doesn’t want to, not least because if the products people pre-ordered on trust this time weren’t of a sufficiently high quality, people would be less likely to pre-order in that way in the future.

Of course traditionally all these upfront costs would be covered by a record label, which would then recoup the money it had spent through subsequent record sales (though without the flexibility to sell premium packages that incorporate live events, merchandise and related art).

Palmer stresses that she has always recognised that, in making that upfront investment, labels have traditionally played a crucial role in helping artists succeed, even if artist/label relationships were at times fraught, but adds that she hopes the direct-to-fan pre-order model enabled by Kickstarter and Pledge might offer an alternative to the label system for new artists and “major label refugees like me”. Which means, she says, this project will have been a huge success even if she only breaks even once all the bills are paid.

She writes: “[Because it will be] proof positive that [the traditional label system] is just not necessary any more. Paying now for value later is what historically would’ve been a label’s primary purpose. Now you are able to bankroll and finance and keep control with the artists. Showing that this works… that’s simply great art-karma, and awesome for everybody, including me. And all my art-making friends”.

Read Palmer’s full outline of where all that money will go here.

Another day, another digital royalties dispute. This time its one of the Doobie Brothers who is suing a major label for a bigger cut of download revenue.

As much previously reported, the major labels treat downloads as record sales, and pay artists the same royalty on iTunes revenue as they would on CDs. But many artists with pre-internet contracts that don’t mention downloading say that revenue generated by digital sales should be treated as licensing income, because it stems from licensing deals with companies like iTunes rather than the provision of records to retailers, which involves more risk for the label. It’s an important distinction because under most record deals the artist gets much bigger cut of licensing revenue that record sales money.

All four majors are now being sued on this issue after Eminem collaborators FBT Productions won a legal action against Universal. And Doobie Brothers singer Michael McDonald, who is suing Warner Music, is being represented by the same lawyer as FBT, Richard S Busch, who has also filed digital royalty litigation on behalf of Peter Frampton and Kenny Rogers.

Though the McDonald lawsuit has an extra interesting element to it, according to Billboard. Among the allegations made is that the majors have conspired together to pay all artists the lower royalty on digital revenue, because if one record company paid the higher rate it would put an obligation on the others to follow suit. Whether there is any actual evidence of collusion on this issue isn’t clear.

According to various sources, HMV’s live division, the MAMA Group, may be split up before sale after all, though it’s possible the flagging retailer might actually keep hold of some of MAMA’s operations.

As previously reported, HMV let it be known that it was planning on selling MAMA late last year in a latest bid to raise quick cash to cut the company’s debts. AEG Live was quickly tipped as a leading bidder, though many noted that the US-based live entertainment major was likely to be most interested in MAMA’s venue portfolio, and in particular the flagship Hammersmith Apollo.

That led some to wonder whether MAMA’s other operations, including festivals, sponsorship, youth marketing and artist management, might be bought by a separate bidder, or be subject to a management buy out.

However, reports earlier this week in the Independent, that claimed AEG now had preferred bidder status and was in the final stages of talks with HMV to acquire MAMA, made no mention of a second bidder, perhaps suggesting AEG would takeover the whole of HMV’s live music business, even if it intended to sell some of the assets on down the line.

But, according to Sky News and City AM, there is a rumour that AEG is indeed only interested in the MAMA venues business, and that HMV is considering keeping hold of the other parts of its live division, in the short term at least. As previously reported, some of MAMA’s periphery units have begun to wind down since HMV put the company up for sale, as key executives have departed, though the festivals division remains substantial, if dependent to an extent on some key partnerships with third parties.

HMV is yet to comment on any of this speculation.

US-based distribution company Alliance Entertainment has acquired Audiolife, an American direct-to-fan fulfilment company that is utilised by more familiar names like Topspin and Reverbnation to get product sold via D2F websites to fan’s homes.

Both Topspin and Reverbnation have welcomed the acquisition and say they will continue to work with Audiolife, with the former’s CEO Ian Rogers telling Billboard: “This is a tremendous step towards bringing world-class fulfilment to the direct-to-fan world. Now artists using Topspin’s customised marketing and commerce platform will continue to get the benefits of a boutique fulfilment solution along with Alliance’s operational sophistication and their vast retail distribution network. It’s a win-win for our clients, putting artist-created products in front of millions more potential customers worldwide”.

Confirming the takeover, Alliance Entertainment’s top man Mike Davis told reporters: “Audiolife will be an ideal complement to Alliance’s expanding business model as we seek to diversify and deepen the range of services and products we offer our customers. Since launching in 2009, Audiolife has made its mark in the exploding e-commerce marketplace thanks to superlative direct-to-consumer technology, and a savvy understanding for what artists need and fans desire”.

Meanwhile, Audiolife CEO and co-founder Brandon Hance added: “The affiliation with Alliance Entertainment will allow Audiolife to significantly increase its resources, logistical capacity and distribution reach – and ultimately re-define direct-to-fan fulfilment and retail distribution for the industry at large”.

Alliance provides entertainment stock to a plethora of online and high street retailers, and the acquisition of Audiolife in theory offers opportunities for smaller labels and self-releasing artists who primarily sell direct to fan to get some key stock onto more traditional retail platforms. Earlier this month Alliance also announced a partnership with CD Baby which again offers artists selling their music via the independent music distributor opportunities to get some products stocked by bigger retailers.

Following the acquisition, Audiolife will continue to operate an HQ in LA with its existing management team still in place, though fulfilment operations will be moved to Alliance’s distribution centre in Kentucky.

George Clinton has reached an out of court settlement with The Black Eyed Peas over the use of a sample in one of the group’s remixes.

As previously reported, Clinton sued BEP in December 2010, claiming a remix of their 2003 hit ‘Shut Up’ sampled his band Funkadelic’s classic hit ‘(Not Just) Knee Deep’ without his permission.

When the case reached court earlier this month the Peas claimed that they believed (albeit incorrectly) that they had licensed the sample. The judge in the case then lowered the threshold for any damages Clinton could claim. This seemingly prompted the settlement.

Neither side has commented as yet, but the mediator in negotiations told Reuters that the settlement had “fully” resolved the matter.

Australian band The John Butler Trio have won a legal battle with a US advertising agency, Poptent. The band sued after the company sampled their 2003 song ‘Zebra’ for an advert for Dannon Oikos Greek yoghurt, which first aired on American TV during the Super Bowl in February.

Poptent has now been forced to remove the sample from the advert, though it’s not clear what, if any, financial reparation is due for plays of the advert up to this point.

A spokesperson for the band said: “The advertisement will no longer contain this particular piece of music and both parties are happy this issue is behind them. We thank all JBT fans worldwide for their support on this matter. No further comment will be entered into”.

The ruling comes after Beach House spoke out against a new VW advert which uses a piece of music apparently written to sound very similar to their 2010 song ‘Take Care’, after they refused to allow the original to be used itself. News of the copycat track came, much to their dismay, just as the band were releasing their new album, ‘Bloom’. Hence, when commenting on it last week, they said: “We will release a proper statement weeks fom now when we don’t have more interesting things to do/talk about”.

It’s not clear at this stage if Beach House plan to launch legal action, but it would be an interesting case if they did.

I think it’s generally known that, with a few exceptions, the European festivals market is having a bit of a wobbly year, and now that Vince Power’s festivals company is a PLC we get to have that confirmed in the form of an official statement.

As previously reported, Power floated his latest festivals company on the Alternative Investment Market last June to create Music Festivals plc.

In a statement to investors in the company this week, according to The Independent, Power has admitted ticket sales for his firm’s two flagship events, the UK’s Hop Farm Festival and Spain’s Benicassim are “currently slower than last year”, despite some big name bookings.

The statement adds: “The festivals market in general has been affected by the continued depressed economic climate and the availability of strong revenue-generating acts”.

The company added that it would look to cut costs to help counter slower ticket sales.

Shares in Music Festivals plc are now 42.5p, having opened at 65p last summer.

There’s been quite a bit of chatter of late about Universal Music launching a new joint venture with the manager of one of its most successful artists, Justin Bieber overseer Scooter Braun, and now we have some love-in quotes from Braun himself and Universal top man Lucian Grainge confirming the venture.

Grainge is backing Braun’s business enterprises, which include representing The Wanted and Cary Rae Jepsen as well as Bieber, as part of a wider Universal initiative to form alliances with next-generation music entrepreneurs, able to recognise the opportunities that exist for pop acts in the digital age. Or something like that.

Says Braun of his Universal JV and admiration for UMG boss Grainge: “As a young man, you always look for more than just a business venture, but mentors. Lucian has offered me both the opportunity to work with an amazing company with amazing resources, but even more so, the opportunity to draw from his vast amount of knowledge, having been in the business as long as he as. Lucian doesn’t just look at the business as a music business, but as a worldwide multimedia business. He’s allowed me to be as creative as I want with my artists so that we can build for the future to come”.

Meanwhile Grainge says: “With the barriers of entry to our industry nearly non-existent thanks to the global reach of the internet, it’s now easier than ever for music entrepreneurs to get started. And we want to be at the forefront of that expansion. Through our global creative investment programme, we put real resources and creative support behind entrepreneurs such as Scooter”.

He continued: “This is a win-win: entrepreneurs benefit from our support and expertise, while our artists and business partners benefit from their innovation. And there is no one more representative of this than Scooter. He is among the very best in the next generation of entertainment executives and the fact that he’s accomplished so much at such a young age is testament to his vision and drive. I’m looking forward to our collaboration and the level of talent and creativity that will surely accompany it”.

Live music giant AEG Live has preferred bidder status to buy HMV’s live music business the MAMA Group, according to the Daily Mail. Although final details of the deal are to be confirmed, the paper says the global venue owner and tour promoter is now favourite to acquire the MAA business, generating HMV in the region of £65 million, to help cut back the flagging retailer’s estimated £180 million in debts.

It’s thought AEG Live will take complete ownership of MAMA, at least initially. As previously reported, there was speculation that the live major would only be interested in the bigger of the MAMA Group’s venues, in particular the Hammersmith Apollo, and the rest of the live business might be sold to a different buyer, or be subject to management buy out.

If it does take ownership of the whole MAMA Group, it will be interesting to see what AEG will do with the company, which has core venue and festival divisions as well as a number of periphery units such as The Fly magazine and marketing agencies. As also previously reported, MAMA’s artist management division, SuperVision, has been wound down after key managers opted to leave the group amidst concerns about HMV’s sale of the company.

Sony Music and equity types Oakley Capital were both also bidding for the live firm, though according to the Mail talks are now focusing on AEG Live’s bid.

Cross-industry trade body UK Music last week published research conducted on its behalf by Oliver & Ohlbaum, which attempted to identify how much value was added to an MP3 player, smartphone, tablet computer or cloud locker service by the fact it is possible to transfer music that originates on CD onto these devices or platforms.

The survey was conducted in response to the government’s recent copyright consultation which, amongst other things, is considering introducing a private copy right into the British copyright system. As previously reported, at the moment it is technically illegal in the UK to make personal back-up copies of CDs, or to transfer CD tracks to a digital music device.

Under most other systems, copyright law allows such personal private copies to be made by default, though in many European and some other jurisdictions the music industry is compensated via a levy system, where a levy is charged on devices onto which such copies are made. Though quite what devices the levy applies to varies from country to country, and has not been without controversy in the digital era (pre-web levies were charged on blank cassettes and CD-Rs, though in the digital age should levies be applied to iPods, phones, any PC with a CD player, and what about new cloud lockers?)

Both the copyright reviews undertaken by UK governments in the last decade – so Gowers in 2006 and Hargreaves last year – have advocated the introduction of a private copy right without levy. But, while the UK music industry generally supports the introduction of the private copy right in principle, as the current government looks to make Hargreaves’ proposals law, it will lobby that the right only be introduced alongside some sort of levy or opt-in licence system to compensate rights owners, putting Britain on a level playing field with other European copyright systems.

With digial device and cloud locker operators likely to lobby against those proposals, the UK Music research presumably hopes to show that such companies have been benefiting for years by providing the tools that enable private copies of CDs to be made, even though technically such copies have been illegal to date. Once such copies are legal, some rights owners will argue, labels and publishers should be rewarded for the added-value their content brings to MP3 players, smart-phones and cloud-lockers, through some sort of Europe-style levy or licence system.

Though the device makers might argue that if they didn’t make and sell their gadgets consumers wouldn’t be able to listen to the music industry’s content at all, so wouldn’t buy any songs or recordings in the first place, so perhaps the device manufacturers should be paid for the value they bring to the record industry’s music. Actually the device makers’ PR folk are more likely to go for the much more emotive if not entirely accurate “we’ll have to add this levy onto the top of our existing unit prices, and this is just another example of the money grabbing music industry screwing over the customer”. Which will be fun.

Though whatever your viewpoint on the private copy and levy debates, the Oliver & Ohlbaum research, which was peer reviewed by Professor Ken Willis from the University of Newcastle, makes for interesting reading. The report reckons 44% of the value of a basic MP3 player device can be attributed to the ability to play music copied from CDs, which would work out in cash terms at about £21 (with the average basic device costing £47.45). It was calculated 53% of a mid-range player’s value was linked to CD tracks (so £65.17), and 32% for a top-end device (£80.00).

For smart-phones, the report says 2.5-4.1% of value can be attributed to music copied from CDs (making the cash value anything from £6.67 to £23.60), while for tablets it was worked out 6.7% of the value could be linked to CD music, resulting in a value of £33.50. As for cloud-locker services, even with those digital storage services that are not specifically focused on music, the storage of tracks copied from CDs was the second most important facility to consumers, according to the study.

For more info and lots of colourful bar charts, you can check a summary of the UK Music research here.

Bristolian house producer/primetime radio DJ Julio Bashmore has established his own specialist dance label, naming it Broadwalk Records. His own new single ‘Au Seve’ will mark the label’s first release on 2 Jul.

Julio introduces his Broadwalk empire thus: “Fast cars, money, but no record label to truly call my own? This ends today… Hi, I’m Julio Bashmore. Somehow I have found time between jet-setting around the globe, becoming a voice for the people via my Radio 1 show and generally living the high life to bring you a brand new label, Broadwalk Records. Today heralds a new era in the Julio Bashmore chronicles, with a sound that shall echo through the ages…”

That said, sample ‘Au Seve’ here:

Hello one and all, and I trust you’ve all recovered from last week’s Great Escape festivities? We nearly have – but what a brilliant three days. Of course, you might now be in the middle of all those Liverpool Sound City shenanigans, in which case, give yourself a day off on Monday. But make sure you are back on your feet by Wednesday, because we have a brand new CMU Training course launching on all things social media. Click here for more info. And then sit back for your Week In Five digest…

01: The Pirate Bay was subjected to a DDoS attack, which made some in the UK wonder if efforts by record label trade body the BPI to block access to the rogue file-sharing site had been much more effective than expected. The big UK ISPs are in the process of being forced to block access to the Bay, of course, though tech savvy file-sharers know how to get round the blocks. But on Tuesday that didn’t work, because the whole Bay was down after being attacked by unknown hacktivists (not Anonymous, despite TPB criticising that group last week for staging a DDoS attack against Virgin Media as it put an anti-Bay block in place). Elsewhere, two of the original founders of the Bay were this week trying to avoid the jail sentences Swedish courts handed down for their involvement in enabling mass copyright infringement: Peter Sunde asked the Swedish authorities for clemency, while Fredrik Neij threatened to take his case to the European Courts Of Human Rights. DDoS attack report | Appeals report

02: MP3tunes.com filed for bankruptcy. One of the original music-focused digital locker services, MP3tunes continues to fight EMI in the courts, despite an initial ruling last year mainly (though not totally) siding with the tech start-up. EMI’s appeal of that ruling is due to kick off very soon. The major said MP3tunes was filing for bankruptcy simply to avoid liability for the copyright infringement it enables, but that it won’t work because founder Michael Robertson is also named as a defendant in the record company’s lawsuit. Robertson accused EMI of using its big pockets to force him out of business, even when a judge had agreed with a lot of his company’s interpretation of copyright law with regards digital lockers. CMU report | Ars Technica report

03: The streaming music chart launched in the UK, with the Official Charts Company taking data from a plethora of streaming platforms (though only audio, not video). The first streaming top ten wasn’t radically different from the main singles chart (based on download sales via services like iTunes), though some artists did perform better in the new chart than in the main retail countdown. It remains to be seen if the streaming data is ever incorporated into the main UK singles chart, as has already happened in the US. CMU report | BBC report

04: The BPI and PM bigged up British music’s successes, noting that UK artist albums accounted for 12.6% of global music sales in 2011, up from 11.8% the previous year. David Cameron said: “As a country we can be proud of the tremendous success of our music industry, which is a world leader”. The stats were released at the start of Music Is GREAT Week, a slightly pointless government-led initiative that aims to – erm – no, still haven’t worked out what it aims to achieve. CMU report | Telegraph report

05: Amazing Radio disappeared from DAB. The independent music championing station is still available on the net, but not via digital radios, after its owners failed to negotiate a new deal with Digital One, the operators of the national DAB network. Although being careful not to openly slag off the DAB network owners (“we hope to resolve the dispute and get back on the air”), Amazing Radio’s founder Paul Campbell did publish a list of reasons as to why he thought it was important a service like his was available on the digital network. Meanwhile, fans of the station set up an online petition calling on Digital One to reinstate Amazing’s DAB broadcasts. CMU report | Paul Campbell’s letter

And that’s it – but do look out for the CMU Weekly podcast, back online this weekend.

Chris Cooke
Business Editor, CMU

Media regulator OfCom should publish its long awaited anti-piracy code next month, according to a statement from the Department For Culture, Media And Sport earlier this week.

This is the long awaited guide to how the government will expect internet service providers to assist copyright owners in the fight against piracy, and will bring into action – in theory at least – various provisions set out in the 2010 Digital Economy Act, including the three-strikes system of sending warning letters to suspected file-sharers with the ultimate threat of sanctions against those who ignore the warnings that they are infringing copyright.

As much previously reported, there have been various delays getting the copyright elements of the DEA up and running, despite OfCom publishing a first draft of its code back in 2010, not least legal efforts by BT and TalkTalk to overturn the copyright elements of the Act.

Ironically, the one bit of action considered by the DEA but not actually enacted by the legislation – the issuing of web-block notices forcing net firms to block access to copyright infringing websites – has been achieved under existing copyright law before those measures actually included in the digital act have been instigated.

It will be interesting to see what OfCom’s final code says, and how quickly what it sets out is likely to swing into action. According to ZDNet, OfCom says that, while a June publication of its code seems realistic, the processes and rules in it will still be subject to EU scrutiny. A spokesman for the DCMS recently admitted it is unlikely three-strike warning letters will be sent out before spring 2014.

Live entertainment giants Live Nation and AEG Live are both expected to bid to operate London’s Olympic Stadium after this year’s Games, according to Bloomberg.

The Olympics venue will be third biggest stadium in the UK, behind Wembley and Twickenham. Live Nation chief Michael Rapino told the news service that his company was interested in operating the venue if the price was right, while AEG exec Rod O’Connor confirmed his firm had also met with the committee running the bidding for management rights.

It has long been expected that West Ham football club would become the main tenants at the stadium after the Olympics, though various legal challenges by rival football clubs have hindered those plans.

That said, London mayor Boris Johnson has said he still ultimately expects West Ham to get their hands on the stadium, though it’s not entirely clear if Live Nation or AEG could also have some rights over the venue for other sports and entertainment events.

Air Studios, the studio complex originally established by producer George Martin, is up for sale. Originally based in Central London, Air moved to its current home in Hampstead in 1992.

The studio base was acquired by Richard Boote, founder of the Strongroom studios, in 2006, and since then both the Air and Strongroom complexes have operated under the Air Entertainment Group banner. The group has also expanded its interests into other parts of the entertainment and content industries of late, and it is a desire to focus on those newer ventures that has motivated the sale of the Air Studios itself.

Boote told reporters: “Air Studios is a profitable part of our business and the decision to put Air on the market has been a difficult one. However, with the group’s vision of content creation and a more public-facing focus [around the Strongroom brand], it was felt that the Studios would benefit longer term from having an owner that will continue its great recording heritage that keeps it on a par with Abbey Road”.

Global Radio has appointed Paul Adam, a long-time Universal Music exec who was most recently MD of the Vertigo imprint, to head up its artist management and music publishing businesses. Adam will become Director of both Global Talent and Global Publishing on 1 Jun. The Global music companies currently work with the likes of Cover Drive, Lawson, Ellie Goulding, The Vaccines and, perhaps most famously, The Wanted.

Confirming the appointment, overall Global boss Ashley Tabor told CMU: “We’re really excited about Paul joining Global Talent and Global Publishing – he brings huge experience from his time at Universal and Polygram befoe that.  Given our focus on growing our talent and publishing businesses, I know we have someone in Paul who will help us achieve those ambitions. He comes to Global at a very exciting time and we look forward to him joining our very strong team”.

Adam himself added: “I’m thrilled to be joining this outstanding and ambitious media company, and I look forward to the challenges this role will bring”.

Pharrell Williams, he of NERD and entrepreneurial solo renown, has established a “content-driven property” called i am OTHER.

Part record label, part social media enterprise, part symbiotic partnership with United Entertainment Group, the new venture will sign up arty types from various genres (aka “multifaceted, pro-active people who live outside the box and aren’t confined by categories”) and develop products, services or events that their fans can spend cash on. Or something like that. Signings to the new company so far include clean-cut viral misfit Chris Cab.

“It’s for people who think ‘other’”, says Pharrell. “It’s about delivering those experiences through products, excursions, anything that is tangible to a human that can make their life easier. A lot companies claim they can make the world better. We want to make lives easier and unlock what normally would seem impossible possible”.

And here’s the ‘KONY 2012′-style introduction to i am OTHER, which plays like a promotional video for a teen UFO cult with Pharrell as its alien overlord.

Katherine Jackson’s lawsuit against AEG Live regards its employment of Conrad Murray as her son’s personal doctor will now not reach court until next April, after lawyers for the live firm said they needed more time to prepare.

As previously reported, AEG’s attorneys had already said they were struggling to get all the information they needed from the Jackson camp in order to prepare their defence. Last month a judge ordered the Jacksons to provide whatever information was still lacking pronto, though their lawyers argued that they had gathered together the required material as fast as they could, noting that doing so had required asking the late king of pop’s children some pretty harrowing questions, which had taken a certain amount of time to do.

Murray, of course, was last year found liable for the 2009 death of Michael Jackson, with the LA criminal courts ruling that the doctor had caused the singer’s demise through negligence, in particular in providing his patient with the dangerous surgical drug propofol in a domestic environment as a cure for insomnia, and then failing to properly monitor his patient.

Mrs Jackson says AEG Live should accept civil liability for Murray’s actions as it was the company which hired the doctor and was paying his bills. However, the live firm argues that, while it may have provided the money to pay Murray’s fees, he had been recruited by and reported to Jackson himself, and the company therefore cannot be liable for the doctor’s actions.

The case had originally been due to reach court in September, but legal reps for AEG say they need more time to prepare, because of the amount of information they are processing and the time it took to gather that material, as well as number of other ‘procedural issues’. The live firm’s court submission also said the company had new information that showed Jackson’s drug dependencies preceded the appointment of Murray, and that that evidence should be reviewed before any trial begins.

The Jackson camp seem undecided about whether or not the oppose the proposed postponement of the case. The family’s attorney, Kevin Boyle, said he thought the lawsuit should have ‘priority case’ status because it involves a minor under fourteen years old – Jackson’s youngest son Blanket – which, under the LAsystem, means the courts have a duty to avoid unnecessary delays. That said, ‘priority case’ status wouldn’t speed up any court hearing that much, and Boyle seemed to admit earlier this week that having more time to prepare might help his side too.

While MP3 resale service Redigi insists it has the resources required to fight EMI in court after the major sued the digital start-up claiming its business model infringes copyright, another company facing litigation from the record company reckons EMI’s legal action could push it out of business.

As previously reported, EMI is suing gaming companies 4mm Games and Terminal Reality over the ‘Def Jam Rapstar’ game, which was basically rap karaoke. The major claims that some of the tracks that featured in the game included samples owned by either the EMI record or publishing companies, and that the gaming firms failed to secure licenses to use said samples in the context of the gaming platform. It is suing for $8 million.

The litigation is all the more devastating for 4mm Games because, despite some positive reviews and the power of the Def Jam brand, the ‘Rapstar’ game was not a commercial success. In an interview with Games Industry, the firm’s co-founder Jamie King suggests various reasons why the game failed, mainly that the companies involved in the project didn’t have the resources to make a gaming product of this scale succeed, and admitted that the EMI litigation now has to potential to kill his company.

King: “We have not got any new funding and obviously we need to resolve everything with ‘Rapstar’. And we’ve also got to eat. I get very annoyed at times, I would like there to be a way out of it but I don’t know if that’s going to happen”. He added that most of the former 4mm team are now working on new projects elsewhere, and that he himself is mainly working for a marketing agency.

Of course the Def Jam brand is owned by Universal Music, although the major doesn’t seem to have been actively involved in the marketing or distribution of the game itself, and was not named as a defendant in EMI’s lawsuit. Though given there’s a very high chance Universal will own EMI by the end of the year, perhaps there’s hope for King to reach some kind of amicable deal via the Def Jam connection, if he can hold off until Universal’s big EMI takeover is complete.

Universal Music saw its revenues increase by 9.1% to 961 million euros in the first quarter of the year, according to its parent company Vivendi.

The major said a strong release schedule had helped with growth, and that a “continued focus on cost management” and booming digital sales also played their part. Revenues for the wider Vivendi group were down just under 1%, while net income was down 13.4%, mainly because of continued challenges within the group’s tel co division, though gaming unit Activision Blizzard also saw revenues fall.

While speaking to analysts about the latest financials, Vivendi’s CFO Philippe Capron insisted that his music company’s acquisition of EMI was “on track”, despite various concerns raised in regulatory investigations into the proposed deal in the US and Europe. Most criticism of the takeover, Capron said, came from head on competitors rather than consumers or other business partners of the wider music business, making him “very confident” regulator approval would ultimately be achieved.

Elsewhere in major label financials, Warner Music saw its revenues slip 8% during the first quarter of the year to $628 million, though net income was actually up. The declines, which occurred in both recordings and publishing, were blamed on a “light release schedule” and the customary “CD sales are sliding and digital is yet to fully compensate” thing.

And finally, last week it was revealed Sony Music made a $463 million profit in its last financial year on sales of $5.5 billion, a good performance somewhat lost it the wider gloom that continues at parent company Sony Corp which posted a $5.7 billion loss overall, it’s fifth year in the red and the worst year in the conglom’s 66 year history, news which sent the firm’s share price to a 25 year low.

Natural disasters affecting factories in Japan and Thailand and exchange rate issues presented by the Yen haven’t helped, though a seriously under-performing electronics division is the main problem which Sony Corp’s new boss man Kazuo Hirai has pledged to fix, and pretty quickly too, with ambitions to be back in profit by this time next year. Some serious smartphone and tablet computer sales will be needed to help meet that ambition, however many records One Direction and the wider Cowell machine sells.