Label:Life

The Association of Independent Music (AIM) has issued a breakdown of figures from last week’s Official Singles Chart, which incorporated sales from downloads for the first time. The trade body believes the figures indicate that the chart disadvantaged singles from independent labels.

In a weekly breakdown of singles sales that contributed to the chart rundown, AIM said that two-thirds of Indie singles in top 75 are lower than they would have been without combining the two charts.

Last Week, the Association of Independent Music (AIM) called on watchdog Ofcom to delay the combined charts , claiming it would disadvantage independent labels that are not sold through major online retailers. [more @ www.netimperative.com]

A week after the Recording Industry Association of America filed more than 400 lawsuits aimed at students who download music for free, a new study says the online music industry is about to experience explosive growth.

According to In-Stat, a research firm in Scottsdale, Ariz., the worldwide online music market is expected to grow 134 percent in 2005, reaching $1 billion for the first time. [more @ www.msnbc.msn.com]

As the second anniversary approaches on April 28, Apple’s iTunes Music Store could today theoretically command as much as 35 per cent of the UK singles market following the combination of the digital and physical singles charts.

This is based on British Phonographic Institute (BPI) statements claiming singles sales doubled once the digital and physical singles charts were combined. However, the BPI has been at pains to stress that the 35 per cent market figure is no more than surmise. “Apple doesn’t command anywhere near 35 per cent”, a BPI representative countered.

There were 383,000 single track downloads sold in the week ending April 17 (the first week of the combined chart) compared with 393,000 physical singles. With Apple accounting for 70-80 percent of download sales, its likely the company has a major slice of that market. [more @ www.macworld.co.uk]

British record labels lost the equivalent of £650m to illegal computer downloads over the last two years, according to the music industry’s trade body.

The British Phonographic Industry said record labels lost £376m last year – up nearly £100m on the £278m they lost the year before – in the music business’s first attempt to quantify the financial cost of illegal downloads.

A two-year study by research group TNS showed that music fans would have spent £1.5bn on recorded music between 2002-2004, but because of downloads spent only £858m, according to the BPI. [more @ www.guardian.co.uk]

Channel 4 is ploughing £2m into the launch of a music website.

The site, channel4.com/music, launches next month and will feature editorial content from the creators of HolyMoly.co.uk and Popjustice.com as well as downloads and music from unsigned bands.

In a first for the broadcaster, the website will be launched in conjunction with a new TV programme, Slash Music. The weekly show will be broadcast on T4 each weekend and will reflect and support content on the website.

The launch of the site is the biggest investment by the broadcaster in its website in five years, and is aiming to claim a significant share of the online music market. [more @ www.netimperative.com]

“We know that more than any other genre, Latin music is the most heavily pirated,” declares Rafael Fernandez, the RIAA’s vp Latin music, in an April 20 report.

Yet, despite being “the most heavily pirated,” shipments of Latin music CDs to retail outlets rose by 23.6% in 2004, representing an 18.7% increase in value, according to annual RIAA data.

“Total Latin music shipments to retail jumped 25.6 percent – 48.5 million units in 2004 compared to 38.6 million in 2003,” it says. “That translates into a 21.6 percent growth in dollar value. Once again, DVD music videos enjoyed a successful year, experiencing a 278 percent gain in units shipped to retail and a 246 percent increase in dollar value compared to the previous year.” [more @ www.p2pnet.net]

UK music lovers are getting frustrated with restrictions placed on digital music tracks once they buy them from online stores, says PC Pro magazine.

The magazine reported that people are also being turned off net music stores because of pricing and disappointing sound quality compared with CDs.

“What people don’t understand is that when they buy an iPod or other digital music player, they’re being tied into a system,” said Mr Ross, deputy labs editor at PC Pro.

“Many of our readers have already been caught out, buying tracks but being unable to play them on their player.” [more @ www.news.bbc.co.uk]

Canada’s record labels aren’t giving up the fight to find out the identities of 29 people suspected of uploading vast amounts of music files. On Wednesday, the Canadian Recording Industry Association began an appeal hoping to overturn an earlier decision denying them the information.

The accused are charged with uploading files; that is taking official store bought recordings and making them available online for file sharing. It is these people who are in the crosshairs, and not the casual user who will download a file from time to time. [more @ www.ctv.ca]

Someone out there appears to agree with the music industry on the issue of copyright “piracy” — the vigilante has created a virus that wipes MP3 files from infected computers.

Technically a computer worm, the virus, called Nopir-B, appears to have been written by a French hacker, says the London-based security company Sophos Labs, which found it in the wild late yesterday.

Nopir-B spreads along peer-to-peer file-sharing systems posing as a program to make copies of commercial DVDs. If opened, it displays an anti-piracy graphic, and attempts to delete all MP3 music files, disable various system utilities, and wipe other programs on the infected computer.
[more @ www.globetechnology.com]

In a decision sure to reverberate loudly throughout the international music industry, France’s Paris Court of Appeals has decided embedding digital rights management (DRM) software in DVDs is incompatible with an individual’s right to make copies for his/her private use.

Now, Les Films Alain Sarde and Studio Canal have one month to strip copy-protection technology from their DVDs, says 01.net.

On top of that, Alain Sarde and Universal Pictures Video France have been ordered to financially recompense a man who’d copied David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, and French consumer rights association UFC-Que Choisir, who’d defended him. [more @ www.p2pnet.net]