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SONY BOSS MEETS WITH MANAGERS - CAN THEY BE PERSUADED TO BACK THREE-STRIKES? Confirming his big meeting with artist management, Ged Doherty told Music Week: "I had been thinking of holding a series of discussions about the future of our business with our artist managers in October. However, with the debate that's raging in this week's press and it being the first time any government has lifted a finger to indicate they want to help our industry, I feel we need an urgent meeting to bring forward the discussions. We have just a very short time left to convince the current government to support our industry and to show them that we are making good progress in terms of adapting our business models". Of course it may be that Doherty wanted to assess the opinions of the managers of artists on his labels' rosters, or perhaps he was trying to lobby them for their support. Since the government announced it was rethinking its policy regarding file-sharing, and indicated it was considering some sort of three-strike system whereby persistent file-sharers might have their net connections suspended, there has been something of a split in the music industry, with half the business welcoming the government's latest moves, the other half distancing themselves from any initiatives that might lead to music fans losing their internet connections. The split is forming quite neatly between the corporates who invest in music rights (or who retail music rights-based products - ie CDs or downloads), and the creatives who create the content in which the rights exist. This isn't really hugely surprising. The latter group arguably have less to lose from piracy, because, given the nature of the music business until recently, many have given up the most valuable copyrights in their music to the aforementioned corporates anyway. Providing music fans who download music for free then spend money on other music-related products - eg gig tickets, t-shirts, the official book, whatever - then all is good. Because of course, the creatives, unlike the corporates whose primary business is still the acquisition of recording or publishing rights, get a cut when those other products are sold. It has been the nature of the music industry for decades that, as far as many creatives are concerned, their recorded music (and certainly the recorded music from their early career) served two functions. Firstly it could be mortgaged to raise start-up money - ie you sell future rights for hard cash by signing a record deal. Secondly it provided a handy marketing tool to build your profile and boost your live, merchandising and, more so recently, brand partnership income. In both cases it doesn't really matter if fans then buy your music - you've sold the rights anyway, and if people accessing your music for free means more people hear it, well it's doing the marketing bit better then isn't it? Moreover, the more business savvy artists (or managers) realise that, having given up key music rights in order to raise start up capital, they, unlike the record companies, are not in the music rights business, but the artist/fan relationship business. There are numerous ways that relationship can be made profitable, more so than ever in the internet age, as the cleverer artist managers are now discovering. But there's a strong argument that if you're in the artist/fan relationship business, where the biggest potential for growth is through the internet, it's probably best not to insist all your fans have their internet connections cut off. All of which puts the music business in an interesting position just now. For the first time senior government players seem to be prepared to help the record industry try and tackle illegal file-sharing. For the majors record companies et al this is great news. Though now the threat doesn't come from unconvinced politicians or, really, the ISP or consumer rights lobby. The threat comes from within the wider music business, from things like the artist management community, because you have two competing business models in the music sector, one of which benefits from a crack down on illegal file-sharing, the other the does not. Which is possibly Doherty's counterparts at the other majors could do a lot worse than having all the managers of all their artists over for tea. These are, indeed, interesting times. -------------------------------------------------- ELTON TOO OLD AND UNMARRIED FOR ADOPTION, SAYS UKRAINIAN MINISTER As previously reported, John said at the weekend that he and his other half are considering adopting a child, a toddler from the Ukraine called Lev whose parents died of AIDS. While it had been Furnish's ambition to adopt a child, Elton claimed he'd been reticent about the proposal until meeting Lev, saying: "David always wanted to adopt a child and I always said 'no' ... But having seen Lev today, I would love to adopt him". Family, Youth And Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko told the Associated press that according to Ukrainian adoption laws, the age difference between the child and adopter must not be more than 45 years, and also that John and Furnish's civil partnership would not be recognised as a marriage in the country. He said: "Foreign citizens who are single have no right to adopt children... and the age difference between the adopter and the child cannot be more than 45 years. The law is the same for everybody - for a president, for a minister, for Elton John". The BBC's Ukraine correspondent Gabriel Gatehouse said that it was not quite as clear cut as Pavlenko had stated. Although he did not comment on the matter of the age difference, he said that whether or not the country would recognise their wedded status was a matter to be debated by politicians. The country is currently in the run up to a presidential election, due to take place in January, and the matter of foreign adoption was a sensitive subject in the candidates' campaigns. UNIVERSAL LOSE VEOH CLAIM Despite various technicalities explored in this, and an earlier similar infringement case pursued against Veoh by an adult entertainment company, the US court this week ruled the video website was, indeed, operating within the rules set down by the DMCA and could not be held liable for any infringing content that was put up on its system by users and which would be live for as long as it took for the content owner to issue a take down notice. Universal has vowed to appeal the ruling. A statement from the major read: "The ruling today is wrong because it runs counter to established precedent and legislative intent, and to the express language of the DMCA. Because of this and our commitment to protecting the rights of our artists and songwriters who deserve to be compensated for the use of their music, we will appeal this ruling immediately. The balance between copyright holders and technology that Congress sought in enacting the DMCA has been upended by this decision". As I say, the most interesting element of the Universal v Veoh dispute is any precedent it might set that could affect the ongoing legal squabble between Google's YouTube and MTV owners Viacom. The major record companies, of course, all did licensing deals with YouTube before any legal action could real be taken against the uber video sharing platform. Viacom, whose MTV brands arguably have most to lose from the growth of YouTube style websites given that they primarily target the youth demographic, have chosen not to do a licensing deal and instead to sue on similar grounds as to that used by Universal when suing Veoh. Some might argue the Veoh ruling seriously hinders Viacom's case against YouTube, even if Universal's appeal was to be successful. Universal are likely to claim that, while they accept a decent take-down system is sufficient for a video sharing website to get safe harbour protection under the DCMA, that Veoh's takedown system is far from being decent. YouTube's takedown system is generally seen has being decent, or at least it is now, even if it wasn't in the video site's early days. Plus the Google-owned service has been developing new technical systems that automatically spots content previously banned by a content owner from appearing on the site as it's being uploaded by a user, so, in theory, can take it down before it's even gone live, and without receiving a specific take-down notice from a content owner. All of which means that even if Universal did successfully appeal the Veoh ruling, that wouldn't overrule precedents already set that seemingly go very much in YouTube's favour in the Viacom dispute. -------------------------------------------------- CARTER SUED OVER LACK OF ALBUM It's not Carter's record company feeling frustrated about the lack of new music, but a company called Signature Networks, who had seemingly signed a deal to distribute merchandise that would tie in with any new album release. It has been seven years since the last Carter album, and presumably Signature assumed they'd get a kick back from their merchandising partnership with the pop star much sooner. They are suing Carter and his parents (because the pop star was a minor when the original deal was done) for half a million plus legal fees. If you're bothered that the lawsuit might prompt Carter to rush release a new long player, don't worry; he's far too busy preparing for his appearance on US TV show 'Dancing With The Stars' to be doing anything as tedious as recording an album. TEXAS GUITARIST SUFFERS BRAIN HAEMORRHAGE The band's vocalist Sharleen Spiteri told the paper that she was "heartbroken" by the news, saying: "Like everyone else, I am desperately hoping Ally will get well and pull through. It is a shock. He is a personal friend and all of us are wishing him well with all our hearts". She also cancelled her planned appearance at Radio 2's Abba tribute concert in Hyde Park. A spokesperson for the band said: "We heard the news today [Sunday]. It is something we are still coming to terms with. Ally is a great lad and well liked by everyone. He has had a bad one. We have been told the next 48 hours are critical". SWIFT COMMENTS ON THE INVASION FROM THE WEST As previously reported, West grabbed the mic off Swift as she accepted an award for Best Female Video at the MTV awards event on Sunday night, and then promptly told the show's audience that Beyonce not Taylor should have got that prize, even though Ms Knowles wasn't nominated in that category and won plenty of awards elsewhere during the night. Beyonce later got Swift back up on stage when she got hold of the mic to accept one of her various awards. Anyway, here's what 19-year old Swift said at a press conference after the event: "I was standing on stage and I was really excited because I had just won an award and then I was really excited because Kanye West was on the stage. And then I wasn't so excited any more after that. I don't know him and I don't want to start anything. I had a great night tonight. I've been getting so many text messages and everybody's been really, really nice. I've had a really fun night. It's definitely been an interesting night". Asked about Beyonce getting her back on stage, she continued: "I thought that I couldn't love Beyoncé more than tonight and then that happened. They told me to stand by the side of the stage and I didn't really know what was going to go down but I thought it was so wonderful and gracious of her". As previously reported, with audience response to West's mic theft pretty negative, the hip hopper had issued an apology via his blog before the VMAs had even finished. He later wrote a second apology saying: "I feel like Ben Stiller in 'Meet The Parents' when he messed up everything and Robert De Niro asked him to leave. That was Taylor's moment and I had no right in any way to take it from her. I am truly sorry". Of course given all the press coverage West's stage invasion got, worldwide, presumably he's done Ms Swift a few favours in the international profile stakes. -------------------------------------------------- PRS FOUNDATION OPEN UP NEW MUSIC AWARD Sally Taylor, Chairman of the PRS Foundation's Board of Trustees, said this: "We are thrilled to launch the third New Music Award, which is set to be bigger and better than ever. It is an exceptional award that celebrates new music innovation in the UK. It takes risks by encouraging creators to push the boundaries of their artistic practice and extend the possibilities of music regardless of which genre they work in. We really do encourage anyone with an inspired musical idea to apply." If you fancy pushing some boundaries at the PRS Foundation's expense, head ye to this URL: www.prsfoundation.co.uk UNDERWORLD WORKING WITH ENO Hyde said: "Right now we don't want to think about being tied down to an album. Somehow that seems like such an old fashioned concept. There's more energy in making tracks, and putting tracks out, and then reacting to that, and then moving on to the next track. There seems to us a feeling of how we used to put 12" singles out". -------------------------------------------------- NE-YO ON NEW RIHANNA SLAYER ANNOUNCE UK TOUR DATES Tour dates: 18 Nov: Nottingham, Rock City IFPI MAKE CAUTIOUS WELCOME OF EC COPYRIGHT MEASURES The EC memo doesn't make any comment on member states' individual intellectual property laws, but proposes various ways in which authorities charged with combating piracy across the European Union could work together to ensure more success in stopping cross-border IP infringement. The communication observes that: "Due to the international nature of IPR infringements improving internal cross-frontier cooperation is not only a legislative obligation, it is a clear necessity". IFPI chief John Kennedy said that any measures to improve anti-piracy activity was good news, but said that such measures could never be as productive as a tightening of intellectual property laws. According to Billboard, he said: "we will do everything to support these new measures, while at the same time working with the Commission on the next step, which in our view would consist of strengthening the legislative framework". I think the EC's communication is concerned more with physical piracy and the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit goods than it is with online copyright infringement, though don't quote me on that. -------------------------------------------------- WILLIAMS LAUNCHES PUBLISHING COMPANY Confirming the new company and it's relationship with Notting Hill, William's managers David Enthoven and Tim Clark told CMU: "This is yet another ground-breaking deal by Robbie Williams and it's what makes working with him so exciting", while Notting Hill Music chief Andy McQueen added: "Robbie Williams has been and remains one of the defining UK artists of our generation and we are honoured to be helping him with the launch of his new music publishing company. This new agreement utilises our experience and expertise in the music publishing field while giving Robbie complete ownership and control of his songs. We are looking forward to working with Robbie and his management team and feel sure that this new venture will be a big success". -------------------------------------------------- ROCKSCHOOL TO HOST GRADUATE CEREMONY AT ROUNDHOUSE Confirming the Roundhouse event and that pass rate, Simon Pitt, CEO of Rockschool, told CMU: "This is a fantastic pass rate for our first graduating year; I put this success down to the winning combination of the high level personal support Rockschool provides to all our distance learners and the dedication of our students. We are very proud of all our students so we thought it only appropriate that we have a graduation ceremony. We have combined this with a gig performed by our students". REBEL INDY SHAREHOLDER WANTS VOTE ON PARENT COMPANY'S PLANS As previously reported, the firm's second biggest shareholder, Denis O'Brien, wants the Irish media company to sell or close down its flagship UK titles, The Independent and Independent On Sunday. But the firm's biggest shareholder Tony O'Reilly, whose son chairs the company's board, remains committed to the loss-making broadsheet, arguing that closing it down would cost more than keeping it afloat. While the board, unsurprisingly, are supporting the O'Reilly campaign, O'Brien isn't giving up without a fight. He has demanded an Extraordinary General Meeting, likely to be held next month, and now he wants a shareholder vote on the board's proposed financial restructuring plan. That would basically amount to a shareholder vote on the future of The Independent. He argues that the board's plan involves diluting the companies stock, by giving shares to money lenders, and that that is bad for shareholders who would rather see bits of the company closed down or sold off in order to turn round the firm's financial performance. O'Brien would need to win the support of 50% of INM's shareholders in order to block the board's financial proposals, which is probably a tall deal, but I think it's fair to say the future of the Indy still hangs in the balance until at least the aforementioned EGM. -------------------------------------------------- OBSERVER NOT NECESSARILY CLOSING They said in a statement: "It is not accurate to characterise GNM's review of operations as a plan to shut the Observer. The review is an ongoing examination of all GNM's operations, ruling nothing in and nothing out, with the full endorsement at all stages of the group board and [ultimate owners] the Scott Trust". A report in the Telegraph yesterday said that it is unlikely that The Observer will be closed but that it is likely the paper's operations will be integrated into those of sister title The Guardian, making the Sunday paper basically the Sunday Guardian in all but name. Perhaps that would make The Observer a whole lot less tedious, which would be nice. Of course, the merging of daily and Sunday edition teams is occurring across the newspaper industry, the tendency to have a whole extra staff working on the Sunday edition of what, to the public, is a seven day a week newspaper having always been a bit of an extravagance. The Observer, though, has always been more autonomous from its daily sister title than with most other daily/Sunday newspaper combos. No word on what the review might mean for The Observer's popular monthly supplements, including the Observer Music Monthly, the one bit of the Sunday title that isn't tedious at all. -------------------------------------------------- ITV BOSS COULD BE APPOINTED THIS WEEK TOTAL ROCK WORLD ALBUM CHART 1. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown (Warner Bros) MUSICIANS STORM TOP AWARD Stevens told reporters: "I'm very flattered and I'm now going to insure each cheek for a considerable sum of money". Watson said: "For the past ten years it's always been about The Voice but, for the first time, I'm delighted to say it's about my rear". |
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