Label:Life

[05/18/04] Lawyers representing the makers of the Kazaa file-sharing software, Sharman Networks, told the Australian Federal Court on Friday that their client has in no way infringed copyright.

The counsel for Sharman Networks, Robert Ellicott, said the software maker is not the uploader of music files, and therefore isn’t liable for file trading on its network. Furthermore, because the courts have yet to show anyone has violated copyright by using Kazaa, an infringement case against Sharman has no merit in law, the company argued.
[more @ www.wired.com]

[Whilst Label:life does not condone the scathing tone and sweeping generalisations of this (somewhat badly constructed) sentence, we do believe that it does a good job of holding up a mirror to the industry, raising important questions and pointing out a few home truths to us all that must be addressed for the industry as a whole to progress to the next level with a sustainable (and, dare I say, ethical) business model. -Ed]

Let’s review our plot so far: We have an industry that is afraid of technology, its senior spokespeople lie to congress, they use Enron-like accounting, they somehow—WHOOPS!—forget to pay their artists, they are convicted price fixers, at the first sign of any kind of an economic rebound their instinct is to raise prices, they have ignored competitive pressures from other forms of entertainment such as DVDs, they ignore the devastatingly negative effects of radio ownership consolidation to their business model, they engage in all kinds of anti-competitive protectionism, they are unconcerned with the quality of their product, their customers are harried for time and distracted by other interests, their customers see nothing wrong with downloading music for free, some of their biggest stars are hoping the Internet will replace the labels, despite all too many signs that their product is over priced, they refuse to allow market forces to set competitive prices, they have consistently been one of the most mismanaged businesses in history, oh, and they somehow think they are immune from the business cycle. How are these guys still in business?

[Ouch!-Ed] [from www.bigpicture.typepad.com]

According to the latest data from The NPD Group, an increasing number of CD buyers are also purchasing from legal digital music download services, such as iTunes, Buy.com and others.

Legal digital music services also appear to attract consumers who tend to purchase more CDs than the average consumer. This comes at a time when fewer of these consumers are using peer-to-peer (P2P) services to share music files illegally. [more @ www.npd.com]

Catchy singles reach radio as much as eight weeks before the full-length CDs they are on land in the stores, but customers willing to pay for legal downloads online have had to wait, sometimes until just before the CD’s release date.

Music companies had feared that issuing the songs any earlier could fuel piracy, upset traditional marketing plans and anger brick-and-mortar retailers.

But in the past six months, recording companies have had a change of heart. [more @ www.iht.com]

Oxfam is launching a music download service to help raise money to fight poverty around the world.

The charity will offer 300,000 songs to download through its Big Noise Music website, which launches on Wednesday.

Tracks will cost between 75p and 99p, with 10p going to Oxfam. Stars who have backed the site include Coldplay, Faithless and The Darkness. [more @ www.news.bbc.co.uk]

This week’s pick is a great Indie/Punk track called ‘Wake In The City’ by Ikara Colt, from their album ‘Modern Apprentice’, to be released 7th June on Fantastic Plastic Records.

Singer Paul Resende reckons they reside somewhere halfway along a line drawn between Motorhead and Joy Division. That’s quite a long line, Paul. Between the two come elements of The Stooges, Echo and the Bunnymen and even Sonic Youth. I hate comparisons like that, bloody lazy if you ask me but there you go.

Hear for yourself and check out the dope video HERE.

Sony Music, home to artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Beyonce, will start selling song downloads through European digital music store Wippit this summer, the companies said.

With the signing, London-based Wippit has secured licences to sell song downloads from more than 200 music labels and three of the five majors. Earlier this year, Wippit signed with Bertelsmann’s BMG and EMI. [more @ www.forbes.com]

Napster, a subsidiary of Roxio, Inc., has signed a worldwide distribution deal with UK independent labels body AIM, the Association of Independent Music. Initially, 50,000 tracks from 50 of AIM’s 800 member companies will be made available for digital downloading and streaming through the new Napster service when it launches in the UK this summer.

Napster members in the US will also gain access to this content, as soon as repertoire is uploaded. The licensing deal will also be made available to Continental European labels under the IMPALA umbrella. [more @ www.biz.yahoo.com]

Rather than modify the current, failing copyright system to save the entertainment industry, one legal scholar is proposing radical plans for a system that he claims will pay artists fairly and bring more digital media to the people who crave it. Convincing the music and movie industries to embrace the idea seems unlikely, at least in the near future.

Harvard Law School professor Terry Fisher detailed his proposal Friday at the Internet Law Program, a three-day event sponsored by the school’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Fisher advocates an alternative compensation system that would pay artists based on the popularity of their music. Artists would first have to register their work with the copyright office, which would track how many times that work was downloaded. Revenue generated from taxes on things like Internet access and the sale of MP3 players would then be used to pay the artists. [more @ www.wired.com]

Apple has won an unusual vote of confidence from the European music industry. The major labels are so convinced that the Mac maker’s iTunes Music Service will successfully dominate the online music market over here, they are allegedly playing hard to get in Apple’s content licensing negotiations.

According to a report in the Independent newspaper, industry insiders claim the labels fear giving their songs to Apple for too little. They cite the example of MTV, which grew on the back of the promo videos the industry provided it for next to nothing. [more @ www.theregister.co.uk]