Label:Life

Canada’s biggest music producers asked the courts on Monday to order Internet service providers to identify customers who swap songs illegally on the Internet as the Canadian firms try to match a U.S. crackdown on music piracy.

The music companies, including the Canadian units of giants Universal Music and EMI Music, asked the Federal Court of Canada to order the providers to disclose the identity of 29 large-volume song swappers as they try to stem the illegal downloading of music.

“It’s long established in Canadian law this process of releasing information, and we don’t expect there to be any surprises,” said Richard Pfohl, general counsel for the Canadian Recording Industry Association.

The hearing, already contested by one Internet provider as an infringement of customer privacy, was adjourned to March 12 at the request of providers BCE, Telus, Videotron Groupe and Rogers Communications.

Canada’s music industry is the sixth largest in the world by sales, although at $621 million, its 2002 sales accounted for just 1.9 percent of the world total.
[more @ www.wired.com]

The European Commission said on Thursday that it has opened an probe into the planned music merger between Sony and BMG, a division of the German publisher Bertelsmann. After a routine, one-month review, the Commission has decided to investigate whether the deal might “create or strengthen a collective dominant position” in the global music market, a statement from the Commission said.

In addition to reviewing each company’s individual strengths, the commission wants to examine the combined power the deal would give all the remaining “record majors.” If it goes ahead, the deal would reduce the number of major record labels to four from five, leaving Universal Records, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI. [more @ www.usatoday.com]

In the music industry’s most significant endorsement to date of online file sharing, independent label Artemis Records has agreed to make its albums available for purchase on Kazaa, Grokster and two other peer-to-peer networks.
New York-based Artemis, home to well-known artists such as Steve Earle, the Pretenders and the late Warren Zevon, is the most notable label to license its songs to Altnet Inc., a Woodland Hills company that uses file sharing to deliver digital goods.

Artemis is run by Danny Goldberg, former head of Mercury Records Group, Atlantic Records and Warner Bros. Records. Formed in 1999, Artemis was named the top-selling independent label in 2000 and 2001 by Billboard magazine.[more @ www.newsobserver.com]

Pick of the week this week is not one of those nice tunes to mellow you out in the office. It’s an absolute monster of a track to bang your head to near some big off speakers!’D-Funktional’ by Mekon (aka John Gosling, ex Psychic TV, proper head.) is the official 10th anniversary release on Wall Of Sound Records, out on 1st March.

Luring you in with some lush detroit-y boards in the beginning (is it an Oscar, geeks?), it turns very nasty, very quickly and takes your head off. Thumping techno punk funk is the order of the day here, mashing up a dance floor near you very soon. I can’t wait to hear it on a proper system. Nuff said. Check it out HERE (6MB).

Two of today’s stories throw open an interesting debate on the issue of copyright and copyright protection.

On the one hand, DJ Danger mouse is clearly in breach of copyright with his use of The Beatles’ music without permission, whilst Jay-z is perhaps encouraging the use of his vocals in ‘mash-ups’ or remixes by releasing an accapella version of his album.

The concept of remixing The Black and White albums to create The Grey Album is brilliant, even if the album isn’t ,in my opinion. Here the old ‘art Vs commerce’ issue rears it’s ugly head once more.

If Dj DM wants to create a new piece of art by re-working two others, why not give permission to do it? The artist gets to create what he feels without staring down the barrel of the copyright owner, and everybody gets paid. I know that EMI would get hammered by The Beatles’ people if they allowed this but it could open up their music to a whole new market.

Sticking to rigid ‘Black and white’ notions of how to apply copyright is not the way forward in todays’ musical environment. Copyright exists to ensure that artists get paid for their work, enabling them to create more music, not less. Flexibilty is needed to adapt to changes in how music is made and sold.

This brings me to the second issue of CD copy protection. If you want to save the CD as a format, how does it make sense to limit your customers’ use of it, when they already believe it to be over priced in the first place? It’s insane. If I buy a CD and want to make a safety copy to my hard drive or play it in my car, then I should be able to. Also, how many of us got into bands by listening to illegal compilation tapes our mates did us at school? If you liked what you heard, you went and bought the album in question…and the next one…and the T-shirt. Although strictly illegal, this process may have generated as many sales as it has lost.

In short, put money into developing bands that people believe in and release quality, affordable product. This way people will be more likely to buy the music and everyone will be happy. Rant over.- ED.

After 43 years as one of the world’s prettiest pairs, the perfect plastic couple is breaking up. The couple’s “business manager,” Russell Arons, vice president of marketing at Mattel, said that Barbie and Ken “feel it’s time to spend some quality time—apart.”

“Like other celebrity couples, their Hollywood romance has come to an end,” said Arons, who quickly added that the duo “will remain friends.” [more @ www.cnn.com]

Record companies’ trade association, the BPI, today went to court to continue an injunction to prevent CD WOW from claiming that it had been compelled by the BPI to impose a price increase on CDs.

CD WOW had sent emails to its customers claiming that it had been forced to settle with the BPI and that a price increase had been imposed upon it. The injunction was originally granted in a closed hearing last Friday (January 30).

At today’s hearing, CD WOW’s barrister agreed with the Judge that CD WOW had not had to increase prices and that whether or not CD WOW charged more for CDs was a matter for the internet retailer alone.

CD WOW has given undertakings to the court confirming that it will not make any further representation that its sales have been subject to a surcharge imposed by the BPI or any of its members. The matter will return to court on March 1 this year.

BPI Executive Chairman Peter Jamieson said “It is hugely regrettable that CD WOW should seek to mislead its customers. Retailers are free to set their own prices for CDs as with any other consumer product”. www.bpi.co.uk

New figures from the Official Charts’ Company reveal that over 150,000 downloads were sold in January 2004 – with 50,000 sold in the week of MyCokeMusic’s launch alone. This means that a digital format has outsold physical formats for the first time, with downloads now outselling vinyl, cassettes and DVD.

These figures add to the anticipation surrounding the UK’s first Official Download Chart – which entered its test phase last October. The Official UK Charts Company reports tests are going well, and an announcement on the launch of the chart is expected soon. Plans to integrate downloads into the Official Singles Chart are expected to follow later this year.

BPI Executive Chairman Peter Jamieson said: “Digital music services without doubt represent an exciting future for the music industry. Putting the systems in place to properly reward the artists and creators of music takes time, especially against a backdrop of tough market conditions and increasing piracy. Having been in development in recent years, more legitimate services are now available to consumers and these figures show that as a format the download has officially arrived.” www.bpi.co.uk

In a burst of good news days before the recording industry honors its best at the Grammys, Nielsen SoundScan reported that music sales so far in 2004 are up 10 percent over the year-ago period. That continues a trend that saw 2003 sales post a slower decline for the first time in three years.

Albums from hip-hop duo OutKast, rock band Evanescence and singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow have been good for business But whether the obituary was premature remains to be seen. After all, sales are relatively sluggish for the latest releases by such acts as rock bands Limp Bizkit and P.O.D., pop singers Pink and Britney Spears, rapper Missy Elliott and Latino crooner Enrique Iglesias.

What’s certain is that when the music industry pats itself on the back at the 46th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, the celebration will be the last hurrah for many musicians and record label employees. Three of the five major labels are undergoing changes of ownership, and staffers are braced for layoffs and roster reductions as part of the inevitable round of cost-cutting. The labels should emerge leaner and meaner to battle Internet piracy and threats from rival forms of entertainment, like video games, but some observers are not impressed.

“I think it’s like a bigger, better Band-Aid for a huge problem,” said Peter Katsis, a partner at The Firm, which manages such acts as Limp Bizkit and country trio the Dixie Chicks. “Less spending on new acts is certainly detrimental to our business … It still doesn’t seem to us that the record companies have found good, long-term solutions.” www.reuters.com

A music industry group on Friday raided the Australian offices of peer-to-peer companies Sharman Networks and Brilliant Digital Entertainment, along with the homes of key executives and several Internet service providers.

Music Industry Piracy Investigations obtained a so-called Anton Pilar order Thursday from Justice Murray Wilcox, and began raiding premises in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria on Friday searching for documents and electronic evidence to support its case against the peer-to-peer companies. The order allows a copyright holder to enter premises to search for and seize material that breaches copyright, without alerting the target through court proceedings.[more @ www.news.com]