Label:Life

EMI Group Plc has bid #625m for the recorded music division of Warner Music in an attempt to scupper merger negotiations between the US company and Bertelsmann AG’s BMG, according to the Financial Mail on Sunday.

The newspaper did not name its source, but said EMI made the approach when talks between Warner Music, owned by AOL Time Warner Inc, and BMG over combining their recorded music divisions reached the end of an exclusivity period late last month.

While EMI believes it will thrive even if its two key rivals create a more powerful group, chairperson Eric Nicoli is keen to do a deal, and Warner is his favoured target. Joining forces would bring huge savings, the article added.

However, there are tough regulatory hurdles blocking a deal.

Three years ago, Nicoli tried to tie up with Warner Music, home to Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but the scheme was ruled out by the European Commission’s competition regulators.[www.news24.com]

The Rolling Stones catalog is to be made immediately available for legitimate digital distribution for the first time. For a two-week exclusive period, the Rhapsody online subscription service and Best Buy will offer the entire post-1971 Rolling Stones catalog as part of a deal with Virgin/EMI, and the pre-1971 Stones material in an agreement with ABKCO. At the end of the exclusive period on Aug. 31, the EMI material will be made available for download through all legitimate services, including Apple’s iTunes Music Store and MusicNet.

The exclusive two-week deal kicks off a long-term pact between Rhapsody, which is owned by Seattle-based RealNetworks, and Best Buy. The 560-store, Minneapolis-based retail chain has installed up to 10 kiosks in each of its outlets where customers can experience Rhapsody. During the two-week Stones promotion, patrons can sign up for a 14-day free Rhapsody trial in Best Buy stores and through bestbuy.com. Best Buy will also sell subscriptions to Rhapsody, which costs $9.95 per month for unlimited streams and an additional 79 cents to burn individual tunes. Also during the two-week promotion, Best Buy will offer a 10% discount on the Rolling Stones’ EMI CD catalog.[more @ www.billboard.com]

The recording industry’s anti-piracy campaign will refrain from taking legal action against small-time song swappers and will focus only on those copying “substantial” amounts of music via the Internet.

The Recording Industry Association of America pledged in a letter to U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota, that it is “in no way targeting de minimus users” in its campaign to stop the copying of songs without permission.

“RIAA is gathering evidence and preparing lawsuits only against individual computer users who are illegally distributing a substantial amount of copyrighted music,” the trade group’s president, Cary Sherman, wrote.[more @ asia.reuters.com]

A record number of albums were sold in the UK in the last year because they are now cheaper than ever, industry figures have revealed.
More than 228 million albums were sold in the 12 months from June 2002 – up 3% on the previous year – according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

And they were on sale for an average of #9.79 each, which is a new low, the BPI said.

But despite the healthiest album sales recorded, music industry profits are down. The BPI said the total UK music market for the first six months of 2003 was down 7% in sales values, compared with last year.[more @ bbc.co.uk]

The 15th Popkomm. was a success both in terms of the audience participation and the exhibitor satisfaction. In total, 14,572 participants, of whom 10,247 were specialist visitors and around 4,325 general visitors, visited the Popkomm.2003. 618 exhibitors from 26 countries were present in Halls 5-7 at the Koelnmesse, of which 249 companies were from Germany and 369 from abroad.

With a 60% participation from abroad, the globalization experienced over the past few years continued in 2003. Exhibiting for the first time were Croatia, Italy, New Zealand and Poland. Around 306 labels, publishing houses and companies were presenting themselves at 14 country stands, from Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Finland, United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and Sweden.[more @ biz.yahoo.com]

DIGICIRC the world’s first music rights investment market has teamed up with Immediatek to give their 1200 artists a platform to raise capital and put out their own music releases. Record labels have also joined DIGICIRC as a way to finance their marketing campaigns and to offer music rights in artist pools for investment. Open a free account today and contact them regarding a music rights offering.[more info @ www.digicirc.com]

New West London label Futureproof Records will be making a stand against gun crime at the Notting Hill Carnival, with a giant hot air balloon that lights up at night. The Balloon will be the focus of a phone-text competition with various prizes including the star prize of two tickets to New York. The competition will run through out the Bank Holiday weekend promoting awareness of anti gun crime issues and then continue on their website until 6th Oct. A percentage of the profits will be donated to a charity involved with ‘Safer Streets’.

To enter the competition
Participants must guess how high the balloon is.
The options are: A 38m – B 34m C30m D26m E22m.
Then text PRIZE FUTURE A B C D or E to 83148
For example for a height of 34m, text PRIZE FUTURE B to 83148
Each text costs 50p

Contestants can also log on to the website [ www.futureproofrecords.com] during and after the carnival until the 6th October where they can view photos of the balloon in order to make a skilful answer.

For more information contact info@futureproofrecords.com or Dominic on 020 7792 8597 or 07870 345 011.

The Fairport Convention album The Wood and The Wire is the first album to be licensed and go live for on-demand distribution to all the leading on-line retailers. A simple licensing deal allows demand to be continually met, simply and cost effectively to the benefit of all parties. If any LL readers, anywhere in the world, would like to licence albums to the same service contact philiparrowsmith@thedisckiosk.com

Songwriters/producers Steve Isles (film and TV composer) and Jamie Cullum (producer – Brit and Mercury nominated Tom McRae album and new Island band Bell X1) are currently writing an album for release. The album consists of cool beats, acoustic instruments, and atmospheres in a mellow epic style.
They are looking to collaborate with some distinctive vocalists on the album and are interested to see if any labels out there know of singers who might be interested, and if so could get in touch-steve@jamninc.demon.co.uk or,

Excitation Music Productions, The River, 30-40 Elcho Street, London, SW11.020 7924 4487/Steve – 07884 341394/Jamie – 07887 604818

Wall of Sound has hired YR Media to create the online campaign of all online campaigns to celebrate its 10th birthday. With games, ringtones, text competitions, ecards and a whole lot more it will be one birthday not to be missed. Keep your eyes peeled…