Label:Life

Clive Rich, VP Legal and Business Affairs, BMG UK & Ireland, will present BMG’s new artist contract at MusicTank’s inaugural think tank of 2004.

Entitled “Entering the Age of Aquarius? A new dawn for the recording contract” Clive’s presentation will be followed by a high level think tank chaired by MusicTank Chairman Keith Harris. This will consider the changes made, and what it means for all concerned.

Comparisons will be made with other major deals as well as the indie 50:50 net profit model. Transparent accounting will also be discussed.

Other Panelists include Robert Horsfall; Partner, Lee & Thompson Solicitors, David Stopps; Artist Manager, FML Music, Roger Brighten; Brighten Jeffrey James, Royalty Auditors and Tim Smith; Business Affairs, Sanctuary Group Ltd.

Think Tank takes place on Wednesday 21 January, 2004
at The Red Room, Bertorelli’s, 11-13 Frith Street, Soho, London, W1D 4RB, from 18.30 – 21.30hrs. The cost is £20, £15 for trade body members.

Click HERE to book.

[Last week we provided a link to the Lee & Thompson site hoping to shed some light on the nuts and bolts of this contract re-structure. Thanks to Paul Scaife for pointing out this article was actually a year old. Apologies.-ED]

Drowned in Sound is searching for the new breed of music hacks.

With a similar ethos to the likes of Creem and Melody Maker, DiS is offering a great first step for those whom writing about music is an addiction.

Editor Sean Adams, says “We’re looking for on-the-ball, opinionated, creative individuals to join us and justify their love about music.”

DiS plans several workshops throughout 2004, with named-journo guest speakers offering advice to those who ‘fancy a bit of that’, to encourage the resurrection of informed, creative, and passionate music journalism throughout the media, and to ensure the art of the rock critic and intellectual pop journo doesn’t die altogether.

Contact www.drownedinsound.com for more details.

Chuck D of Public Enemy fame and long time music activist has chosen to use Weedshare to distribute his new project.

Building a funky, intelligent hybrid of spoken word, hip-hop, and rock, the members of the Fine Arts Militia aren’t new to the music scene. The five-man group was founded when Public Enemy main man Chuck D connected with ex-Bootsy Collins bass player/producer Hardgroove for a creative outlet outside of rap music.

The two had already worked together with Chuck D’s Confrontation Camp, but this time the aim was different. Chuck D, who’s a regular political preacher at college campuses across North America, wanted something that would bridge his ideas about post-September 11th America with a jazz-inspired soundscape. Wes Little (drums), Victor J. Burks (keyboards), and Brad Craig (guitar) joined the Fine Arts Militia and their debut album, We Are Gathered Here. For more info (and ALL 10 songs available for download) go to www.downloadweed.com.

YR are very pleased to announce that they have become official content creators for the Weedshare platform.

Not only can YR ‘Weedify’ your catalogue but they can offer many possibillities in the spreading of your Weed files increasing your chances of revenue. Please feel free to Contact us to further discuss enhancing your revenue opportunites with ‘Weedshare’.

The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 implement the 2001 EU copyright directive, and came into force in the UK on 31st October 2003. The Regulations introduce important changes to the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

You may have read about the new broadcast right and the making available right, but what does the introduction of these rights mean in practice for independent record labels?

Addleshaw Goddard have very kindly agreed to stage a version of their successful industry seminar on “The Implementation of the Copyright Directive – Impact on the Music Industry” for AIM members. The seminar will be comprised of a presentation by Alexander Ross, followed by a Q&A session and drinks and networking.

The seminar will take place on Wednesday 4th February at 6:00pm (venue tbc).

If you wish to attend this seminar, please could you contact Remi Harris at remi@musicindie.com.

Distraekt Records are proud to announce that they are now being distributed exclusively worldwide by Intergroove Distribution Ltd. The move to Intergroove is a major step forward for Distraekt, and they look forward to their new relationship with Intergroove. For all sales and label enquiries, please contact Clive Howarth , or contact them here at Distraekt directly.

Playground Records are doing great pan-European business with Finnish band ‘The Rasmus’.

The single ‘In The Shadows’ and album ‘Dead Letters’ have gone gold in Italy. The Single has achieved top ten placings in Belgium and France and is recieving plenty airplay in Holland, Spain and all over Europe. They’re also doing rather well as far afield as South Africa and Taiwan!

Check out The Rasmus’ new video Here and visit www.playgroundmusic.com.

Live music’s return to popularity helped Sanctuary Group, one of the world’s largest independent music companies, buck the downbeat trend set by the industry last year.

The group, which counts Iron Maiden, Robbie Williams and Jane’s Addiction among its bankable live acts, saw sales for the year to end September leap to £152m from £118m in 2002 and profits rise 5% to £10.8m.

The group’s artist services unit, which covers everything from full scale band and producer management to event booking and merchandising, saw sales almost double to £64m – about £5m more than analysts expected. [more @ www.guardian.co.uk]

Al Teller, the former Chairman & CEO of MCA Music Entertainment Group, including the record label and publishing division, and former President of CBS Records and Columbia Records has joined the Board of Directors of INgrooves.

San Francisco-based INgrooves, a digital label and distribution company, has quickly established itself as one of leading providers of Dance & Electronic music content to the digital music services such as iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody and MusicMatch.

In his role on the Board of Directors, Mr. Teller will lend his 30 years of music industry experience to INgrooves and its goal of creating the dominant record label in the new digital era. [more @ www.prnewswire.com]

The British music industry will sue Internet song swappers unless they stop putting their music collection online for others to download, a top U.K. music official said Tuesday.

“We want to increase consumer awareness of the legal implications of file-sharing. We want to introduce new legitimate (online download) services. If these are not working, then there has to be a degree of enforcement,” said Andrew Yeates, director general of industry association The British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

The comments, made on the sidelines of an industry event Tuesday night, is the clearest statement yet that the European music industry is prepared to follow in the controversial footsteps of the United States. [more @ www.news.com]