Label:Life

Germany’s Bertelsmann AG and Sony of Japan on Friday finalized terms of an agreement to merge their music businesses, as the industry confronts competition from DVDs and video games and the threat of Internet file-swapping.

The 50-50 joint venture, first announced in November, would be the world’s second-largest record label, combining the recorded music units of Bertelsmann’s BMG and Sony Music, but excluding music publishing and CD production.

The deal depends on regulatory approval in the United States and Europe. [more @ www.reuters.com]

IMPALA and its members confirmed yesterday that they will oppose the merger between Sony and BMG, making the following statement:

“BMG and Sony claim that the merger is a “bold move to reinvent and revitalise the music business” which will “bring greater value to consumers” and mean that “artistic expression can thrive”.

We welcome all moves to reinvent and revitalise the music business and deliver more value to consumers but that will only be achieved through more competition not more concentration. It is equally difficult to see that artistic expression will thrive if we make it harder for the majority of music companies to compete.

The merger is a bold move to make it even more easy to control the marketplace by reducing competition, consumer value and choice”. [more @ www.mi2n.com]

With sales revenues shrinking, manpower dwindling and margins down to a razor edge, the major label hand has begun to covetously eye its bands’ touring revenue.

Talk of major labels negotiating a share in artists’ tour revenue is quietly sparking controversy in the talent-acquisition/representation community. And most recently, insiders share that Sony Music Group is now negotiating for a piece of the act’s tour revenue if the artist is to be given tour support.

The move, which is commonplace in the indie label world, marks an aggressive play by majors to diversify their revenue stream and transition out of depending on record sales as their sole revenue source.

However, at this stage of discussions, there are no guidelines or benchmarks established to set an industry standard. And the report from a few legal eagles that have encountered this issue recently is that labels are negotiating the most that they can get. For example: tour revenue participation in perpetuity; cross-collateralizing with past album cycles and even asking for a piece of the tour-merchandise revenue. An inside source shared that the music group may also apply this practice to developing acts currently on their roster that will need tour support for their next record. It appears to be an artist-renegotiation play, but this time it’s starting from the label side. [more @ www.hitsdailydouble.com]

The Canadian copyright ruling comes in response to questions by consumer and other groups about Canadian law. The Canadian Copyright Board ruled it is—and has been—legal to download music files from P2P services in Canada.

In clarifying what is legal for Canadian online music fans, the Canadian Copyright Board ruled that downloading music files from peer-to-peer networks is acceptable. However, the board declared that uploading music files is illegal and also approved a levy on digital music players based on their storage capacity.

The government fees—charged to makers of digital devices—are paid to the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) and then distributed to Canadian music writers, producers and performers.

While the Recording Industry Association of America has claimed success from its legal campaign against consumers who are illegally sharing music online, the Canadian ruling illustrates the increased challenges of legitimizing P2P file trading on the global scale. [more @ www.technewsworld.com]

Major musicians are lining up behind political candidates and causes in an effort to mobilize their audiences, but some experts and a new Fox News-Opinion Dynamics poll suggest they are unlikely to have a dramatic impact on voter attitudes.

Nonetheless, musical artists of all genres can be found delving into issues and candidates with all their creative energies

“When a musician lends his name to an effort, or issue or candidate, that’s going to bring more eyeballs to it. Because of their position, they obviously have a vehicle and ability to get a large number of people to hear that message,” Rock the Vote President Jehmu Greene told Foxnews.com.

“Musicians can create a sense of culture around the politics,” added Hans Reimer, Washington director of Rock the Vote, who noted the particular impact of musical celebrities on young voters. “If there were a big wave against Bush or for him coming from the music industry, that’s going to sweep a lot of people up and make it cool to be political. If musicians are politically engaged, then young people are going to be politically engaged.” [more @ www.foxnews.com]

The director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is leaving his post next month to lead the recording industry’s efforts to stop music piracy.

Bradley A. Buckles, who served ATF for 30 years and was named director in 1999, will come head of the Anti-Piracy Unit of the Recording Industry Association of America (search), the trade group announced Tuesday.

“Brad’s appointment should signal to everyone that we continue to take piracy, here and throughout the world, very seriously,” said Mitch Bainwol, RIAA’s chairman and chief executive officer. [more @ www.foxnews.com]

Following music-tech company Consolidated Independent’s (CI) delivery of repertoire into iTunes, Beggars Group, XL Recordings and Matador Records have now received their first revenues from Apple.

Consolidated Independent, the UK’s only technology company to deliver to the service, supplied repertoire from Dizzee Rascal, Basement Jaxx, Lemon Jelly, Electric 6, Badly Drawn Boy, Prodigy, Delgados and Interpol, as well as back catalogue from The Cult and Gary Numan, to iTunes in October. The service has been a roaring success in the States, and UK labels are now benefitting from the 14million paid-for-downloads achieved since launch in April.

The growth in licensed digital music services has created a new link in the music distribution supply chain: repertoire delivery. This is set to surge if Jupiter’s prediction of a $ billion market in online subscriptions and downloads by 2004 (New York Times 1.12.03), is anything to go by. There are almost as many new formats as services, and if it’s hard to keep up with the terminology, it’s harder still to keep up with the technology. [more @ www.mi2n.com]

British consumers using file-sharing networks to swap music could soon face the threat of legal action, following the example set by industry leaders in The U.S.

Jay Berman, chairman of international recording industry group the IFPI, will warn in an article due for publication today that legal action against consumers in Europe has become an inevitability. He hints in the article that the industry body could begin filing lawsuits next year.

“Making available copyrighted music without permission on the internet – that means the bulk of all file-sharing – is illegal in practically every country of the world. Those who ignore this legal reality may have to face the consequences,” he writes in the IFPI magazine. “Lawsuits on a large scale have so far been restricted to the US; this ‘fight back’ will almost inevitably have to take place internationally as well.” [more @ www.media.guardian.co.uk]

Philips Electronics said on Tuesday it was six months away from launching a system against illegal copying that will allow consumers to play digital video and music on any digital media player.

Philips hopes the so-called digital rights management (DRM) system being developed by Intertrust, which it jointly owns with Japan’s Sony Corp , will replace a confusing array of proprietary systems.

Digital music stores which have opened on the Internet this year use different DRM methods to protect songs against unlimited copying. But consumers can then only play the music on computers, CD and MP3 players which support the same DRM system.

“Consumers want an open system, and the electronics industry wants it too,” Ruud Peters, chief executive of Philips’s intellectual property and standards unit, told Reuters. [more @ www.forbes.com]

Are you a label looking to develop a mobile strategy, turn your catalogue into ringtones, or just see what’s out there in the world of mobile and wireless?

YR’s mobile consultant will be part of the ‘British at MIDEM’ stand and is offering free mobile consultations for any interested labels.

If you want to know more about how you can utilize your brand assets on mobile, contact YR to arrange a meeting. Tel: +44 117 925 0100 or mail seth@yrmedia.com