Label:Life

As AOL Time Warner Inc. explores selling control of its Warner Music arm to EMI Group Plc , other suitors also have made overtures, including financier Nelson Peltz and former Seagram Co Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.

Representatives of both EMI and AOL Time Warner Inc. declined comment.

EMI, the only stand-alone music company among the big five in the industry, said in late September that it was in talks about taking over Warner Music.

But recently both Peltz and Bronfman have expressed interest in the division, which is home to stars like Madonna, although it was unclear whether concrete discussions will or have begun, said the person familiar with the matter.
[more @ www.forbes.com]

SunnComm Technologies, Inc., a leader in digital content security and enhancement for optical media, announced today it will not seek legal remedies against Princeton researcher Alex Halderman. SunnComm believes Halderman wrote an inaccurate critical report of its recently released MediaMax CD-3 Copy Management technology (V1).

Mr. Halderman included in his research report several methods of circumventing the MediaMax music file security used to slow down the casual copying of unprotected files. Because Mr. Halderman felt the file security was too easily bypassed, he deduced the product failed in its primary marketing mission. In actuality [according to Sunncomm -ED], MediaMax, which has been licensed to BMG Music, one of the world’s largest record companies, as well as other labels, performed exactly according to its Version 1 design specifications. SunnComm felt that Mr. Halderman missed the fundamental goal of MediaMax – to provide CD buyers with a licensed and legal method of making and sharing authorized copies of the music they purchase. [more @ www.mi2n.com]

Mobile digital rights management company Beep Science demonstrated its DRM technology at the ITU Telecom World 2003 show and claimed support from music giants BMG and Warner Music.

“Warner Music would like to explore the business opportunities connected to secure peer-to-peer superdistribution of music over wireless networks,” said Tuomo Korpinen, new media manager for Warner Music Finland. “With distribution of truetones in original versions, the mobile channel becomes interesting for a record company.”

Beep Science said its DRM technology, which it is selling to wireless carriers, allows for a variety of new business models, including superdistribution. Superdistribution is a term used to describe the process that allows users to forward content to other users, while the content owner—such as Warner Music—receives payment from each user for each transaction. [more @ www.rcrnews.com]

Kevin Martin is giving a whole new meaning to the notion of rock star beverage dependency. Martin, former frontman for the rock group Candlebox, has a different band these days and a new partner to support his musical ventures: Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink.

Yoo-Hoo’s maker, Cadbury Schweppes’ Snapple Beverage Group, is sponsoring a five-song release by Kevin Martin and the HiWatts. That financial backing lets the band give songs away online through file-sharing networks and other piracy hotbeds.

By doing that, the band hopes to generate interest for its concert tours – where it makes the bulk of its money. The group also can expect to be rewarded by Yoo-Hoo if the company’s drink sales climb.

What Martin and the band don’t do is try to make their fortune the old-fashioned way: by selling a lot of CDs.

“It’s the beginning of something that could totally change the music business,” said Mitchell Reichgut of Jun Group Inc., which is distributing the free songs. “We’re giving away the music. Please, take it! And the more people that take it, the better it is for the artist, the better it is for Yoo-Hoo. And the more Yoo-Hoo benefits, the more Kevin and the HiWatts will be rewarded.” [more @ www.tri-cityherald.com]

Universal Music Group (UMG), the world’s leading music company, announced today that it has forged a major agreement with eBay, the world’s online marketplace. The alliance establishes eBay as a new strategic online retail channel for UMG and brings eBay enthusiasts unprecedented access to music from the world’s largest music company, as well as artist memorabilia and unique opportunities to meet UMG’s artists.
“Universal Music Store,” UMG’s new eBay store, will launch today and serve as a hub for large-scale weekly online sales and auction promotions, offering new releases, catalog music, artist memorabilia, including signed instruments, records, and lyric sheets, and exclusive experiential opportunities, such as concert tickets, backstage passes, and invitations to video shoots. In addition to new release promotions, the store will also feature hard-to-find music from Universal artists that typically has not been available to fans through traditional retail channels. [more @ www.prnewswire.com]

Royalty Logic, Inc. (RLI), has instituted a Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel proceeding on behalf of Lester Chambers and other artists and independent labels to resolve conflicts over regulations that determine how royalties will be paid and accounted for under the statutory licenses applicable to internet webcasting and other digital music transmission services. RLI (www.royaltylogic.com) was appointed by the Librarian of Congress as a collective licensing agent to represent performing artists and record labels for the collection and distribution of statutory royalties.

RLI is challenging regulations proposed by SoundExchange, a collective established by the Recording Industry Association of America, that conflict with statutory protections designed to safeguard the interests of artists and labels who choose not to be represented by SoundExchange. [more @ www.mi2n.com]

A legal battle is raging over the “Magna Carta of the technology age.” At stake: the balance of power between entertainment and technology.

In late February 2002, the users of an online file-sharing service called Morpheus found themselves suddenly cut off from their network. Their mass freezeout, it developed, had been engineered by a rival file-sharing service called Kazaa, from which Morpheus licensed key software. Kazaa claimed that Morpheus had fallen $30,000 behind in its licensing payments, so it pulled Morpheus’s plug.

What made this otherwise mundane business spat so startling was that the network Kazaa and Morpheus were using wasn’t supposed to be capable of being switched off—by anyone. On the contrary, it was thought to be decentralized and “self-organizing”—a network that would continue to exist even if Kazaa and Morpheus were to vanish.

If you happened to read about this incident at the time, you probably dismissed it as a matter of interest only to techies or teenagers. Yet it has become a matter of transcendent interest to lawyers for every major record label, motion picture studio, consumer-electronics manufacturer, telecommunications carrier, and information technology player in the world. The puzzling shutdown has triggered an international wild-goose chase that has sent entertainment industry lawyers bouncing from Los Angeles to Amsterdam to Sydney to Estonia to Guernsey, to chase down arcane but legally crucial details of the network’s inner workings. That chase, futile so far, demonstrates why the U.S. Supreme Court or Congress may soon have to revisit a landmark 1984 court ruling that has been hailed as the “Magna Carta of the technology age.” [more @ www.fortune.com]

The music business needs to adopt new business models that embrace digital music distribution, rather than engage in costly legal action, a research firm claims.

In its report, ‘Thinking outside the disc’, analyst firm Parks Associates suggests the music industry has “so far failed to adapt” to the digital age. The analysts argue that the businesses fight digital piracy by creating a free music-on-demand service that relies on advertising for its income stream.

Research analyst John Barrett said: “Digital music has changed the market, and business models need to change too or the industry will suffer the consequences.

“Even if file-swapping networks were to magically disappear, the traditional revenue models would still be under strain,” he warns.

Barrett argues that the recording industry has always been able to sell the same musical works multiple times to the same consumer simply by repackaging it. “Digital music allows consumers to repackage music themselves,” he warns.

The music business is unlikely to adopt such a business model, however, as industries reliant on advertising have been hard hit by an advertising slump in recent years. [more @ www.macworld.co.uk]

I got so involved in my rant last week about Christina Aguilera’s ‘Dirrrty’ winning best single at the Q Awards, that I managed to overlook the fact that it’s rival by The White Stripes is called ‘Seven NATION Army’ not ‘Seven Man Army’....Sorry. I hope this didn’t take away from the thrust of my ranting.

Felt a bit better when someone sent me this quote from Christina herself : “There’s so much superfical stuff in the music buisness… I turn my nose up at it.”

Apt.

Pick of the week this week is a little slab of sunshine to cheer you up as the nights get a little darker. ‘Mari Ye Phepha’ (DF’s Jo’Burg Vocal Mix) by Bongo Maffin, Taken from the Album ‘Afrique C’est Chic’, to be released on the 27th of October on Slip’n’Slide Records.

‘Afrique C’est Chic’ is a great collection of Afro-House sounds, either by, or influenced by African Artists. I’ve Chosen ‘Mari Ye Phepha’ because I love South African guitar sounds and this track has an amazing rythym guitar in it. With elements almost touching on Jazz-Funk and a killer horn section to boot, this is a great intro to modern African musicianship.

Unfortunately I there’s no audio link to this one as yet but please check out www.kickinmusic.com for more info.