Label:Life

Downloadable talk shows and travel guides are on offer to owners of MP3 players with the launch of new services from Napster and Virgin Atlantic.

Napster has produced a series of downloadable talk shows on the UK music industry hosted by DJ Steve Lamacq.

The first in the series, called ‘Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The MP3 Player’, can be downloaded or streamed for free by Napster members. Shows will feature regular contributors and guests, including author Miranda Sawyer and NME author Keith Cameron.

“Napster revolutionises the way people listen; providing on-demand content to music fans for downloading to computer or portable MP3 player,” said Mark Goodier. “With a fascinating mix of guests, from big name artists to respected music journalists and columnists, ‘Don’t Shoot Me…’ should have plenty to interest all music fans.” [more @ www.webuser.co.uk]

A report just issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an alliance of developed nations, has concluded that peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are not solely to blame for any drop in music sales, and that other factors also may be at work.

The report, titled “Digital Broadband Content: Music,” prepared by the Working Party on the Information Economy for the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry of the OECD, begins by noting that there are a large number of legitimate online music services available to consumers. Indeed, “access to broadband and technological developments have lead to the rapid creation of online music services that change the way music is accessed and consumed.” [more @ www.usatoday.com]

A top-selling charity CD recorded by a 10-year-old girl to raise money for people with Down’s syndrome has been thrown out of the classical charts after complaints from the music industry that it was not “classical” enough.

Songs for My Sister, by ZoI Mace, sold 5,000 copies in a week and reached number two in the classical album chart when it was released this month, ahead of performers such as Julian Lloyd Webber and Katherine Jenkins.

Last week, the independently produced CD, which costs £9.99 and includes cover songs from musicals, original songs and music by Beethoven, was removed from the chart after the Official UK Charts Company, the body responsible for compiling the British charts, bowed to pressure from behind the scenes to reclassify it. [more @ www.telegraph.co.uk]

Overturning an earlier decision, an Australian federal court has ruled that two Swiftel sysadmins can be sued by the music industry for alleged music piracy. The Perth based ISP has been accused of copyright infringement by major record labels who claim some of their employees and customers setup a BitTorrent hub which “hosted” thousands of pirated music files.

The allegation that it actually hosted pirated files is strange considering that’s not usually how a BitTorrent site would act – it would host torrent files, not pirated files. [more @ www.afterdawn.com]

The Register of Copyrights testified this morning before the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, urging them to repeal the section 115 compulsory license for the making and distribution of phonorecords of musical works and to restructure the collective licensing of performance and reproduction rights in musical works.

It includes a “discussion draft” of the “21st Century Music Licensing Reform Act”, which repeals the section 115 compulsory and authorizes any PRO (ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC) to license the reproduction and distribution, as well as public performance, of any work in its repertoire. [more @ www.joegratz.net]

Bob Dylan has become the latest musician to sign up to an exclusive CD deal with a coffee chain.

Dylan: Live at the Gaslight 1962 will feature 10 previously unreleased tracks from New York’s Gaslight Cafe, recorded more than 40 years ago.

The album will go on sale at Starbucks outlets in the US in August. [It is just me who finds this distinctly sad? If it was a boy band or pop act I could understand, but one of the most iconic anti-establishment singers of our, or any, time? Come on Bob, don’t do it! Get your fans to have a ‘whip round’ on your website if you’re skint! -Ed.] [more @ www.bbc.co.uk]

Around 35% of music consumers now download tracks legally via the Internet and the percentage will soon pass the 40% who have pirated music, according to a new survey released Monday by Entertainment Media Research.

The online research company used data collected from 4000 music consumers to compile the 2006 Digital Music Survey in association with media law firm Olswang.[more @ www.reuters.com]

A 14-year-old who was caught downloading music illegally has landed her mother with a demand for £4,000 and the possibility of a prison sentence.

Silvia Price, who’s daughter Emily had used file-sharing networks to download 1,400 songs for free, told The Guardian: “I don’t know where I’m going to get the money from. I’ll have to go to prison because I haven’t got that kind of money.”

Emily claims she didn’t know what she was doing was wrong. “Everyone I know at school does it. I … didn’t know it was wrong,” she told The Guardian.

“I think I’ve been picked on because my computer is on all the time and people have downloaded music from my files,” she said.

Because Emily is 14 her mother is legally responsible to pay the penalty. Defending the tactic of targeting the parents of downloaders, BPI spokesman Steve Redmond said: “If we don’t demonstrate that copyright law has teeth, we’re going to be out of business and countless musicians will lose their livelihood too.” [Hmm…are you sure? – Ed] [more @ www.macworld.co.uk]

British music website PlayLouder has published a new survey which suggests that, while many music fans are still using illegal file sharing networks despite the arrival of legitimate download services like iTunes and Napster and the threat of legal action from the music industry trade bodies, they would be willing to pay to legally use P2P networks if such an option was available.

Of the 843 music fans polled, 90% downloaded music, but nearly half of those downloaders said they never paid for the music that they accessed via the internet. Two thirds said their preferred download file format was MP3, with only 5% opting for WMA, the Microsoft codec used by most of the major legit download platforms (except iTunes, of course). Over half said that they would prefer a legal P2P network to the differing options offered by legal download services, with 84% saying they would be willing to pay for such a service. [more @ www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk]

IODA, the Independent Online Distribution Alliance, today announced the availability of a robust new digital distribution technology platform for the traditional physical music distribution industry.

Dubbed D3 (D-Cubed) for Digital Distribution Dashboard, the system provides an easy, fast, and low cost solution for offline music distributors to offer comprehensive digital services to their label clients powered by a proven, industry-leading digital distribution platform.

Distributors enjoy the benefits of a custom branded implementation of IODA’s unique Rightsholder Dashboard tools and distribution platform while maintaining their important label relationships directly. IODA takes care of all licensing, encoding and delivery, and accounting functions on behalf of the distributor and provides promotion and marketing support as well. [more @ www.mi2n.com]