Label:Life

The global music industry was thrown into turmoil after a European court unexpectedly annulled the decision that led to the creation of Sony BMG two years ago, dealing a severe blow to Europe’s top competition regulator.

Europe’s second-highest court backed a challenge by independent music companies, which claimed regulators had been wrong to allow Sony and Bertelsmann to merge their recorded music businesses in 2004. In addition to the problems caused for the music industry, the decision adds uncertainty to the European merger process.

More@msnmoney

U.S. digital entertainment company Gracenote on Thursday said it obtained licenses to distribute lyrics as music publishers mulled legal action against Web sites that provide them without authorization.

“When we first approached the publishers with this, they were excited. They thought lyrics had been an untapped resource for them and there’s quite a bit of lyrics being taken for free on the Web,” Ross Blanchard, Gracenote’s vice president of business development, told Reuters in an interview.

More@washingtonpost

The UK’s independent music labels want a change in the law so internet service providers (ISPs) become liable for illegal file-sharing by their users. The Association of Independent Music (Aim) has outlined the plans in a discussion on copyright reform.

Aim is concerned the internet has made it easier for people to share music and breach record firms’ copyright. The organisation wants a fresh approach to copyright law that would cover the role of ISPs in music sharing.

More@bbc

Take a look at this site to find what was at number 1 single when you were brought into the world.

Little Jimmy Osmond – “Long Haired Lover From Liverpool” – for the L:L ED…

www.everyhit.com

So, is anyone besides the RIAA making money with music online? Absolutely.

The widespread idea that popular music is popular due to its quality is incredibly misguided. Sure, independent music varies widely in artist ability and talent but, in an Internet connected world its becoming increasingly easy to find amazing independent musicians to listen to and love.

If you’re a music fan, listen up, cause I’m about to let you know how to find great new music from artists who actually get a fair cut of their online sales.

If your a musician looking to expand your audience, and maybe find a way to buy groceries with the proceeds of your talent, put down that guitar and take out a notebook, ‘cause I’m about to show you a few people who are doing just that.One reason popular artists are making little from online sales are the middlemen involved (Apple | Napster | etc), the record labels, and the digital distribution houses that lease the master quality recordings to the online vendor. It’s as if someone took the arcane structure of the physical world record business and tried to make it even more complicated and less transparent on-line. (Now, who do you think might have caused all that?)

The secret is, Apple, Napster, URGE, Yahoo Music and Real aren’t the only games in town. There are other alternatives out there with completely different formulas and designs for how your digital music landscape should look.

More@digitalmusic

An interesting post on the money spent lobbying the US government by the RIAA and the MPAA over the last few years. L:L is not sure how accurate this is but interesting none the less.

More@paladine

A 15-year-old Singaporean girl was almost refused the right to board a plane at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on Monday due to her phone’s rather bizarre ring tone.

Security guards in the airport got a start when they heard a voice shouting, “I am a terrorist.”

The “voice” was soon found to be coming from the young Singaporean woman’s mobile phone.

The girl was immediately required to delete the strange ring tone. She was allowed to board after getting a severe telling off from the airport security officials.

Source:chinadaily

More@boingboing

The era of the blockbuster is so over. The niche is now king, and the entertainment industry – from music to movies to TV – will never be the same.

On March 21, 2000, Jive Records released No Strings Attached, the much-anticipated second album from NSync. The album debuted strong. It sold 1.1 million copies its first day and 2.4 million in the first week, making it the fastest-selling album ever. It went on to top the charts for eight weeks, moving 10 million copies by the end of the year. The music industry had cracked the commercial code. With NSync, a pop-idol boy band fronted by the charismatic Justin Timberlake, Jive had perfected the elusive formula for making a hit. In retrospect it was so obvious: What worked for the Monkees could now be replicated on an industrial scale. It was all about looks and scripted personalities. The music itself, which was outsourced to a small army of professionals (there are 60 people credited with creating No Strings Attached), hardly mattered.

More@wired

Los Angeles-based management company The Firm is launching a new record label to be distributed by EMI in the United States. EMI has made an investment in the label, in return for the U.S. physical and digital distribution rights, as well as the right to license product to the rest of the world, according to an EMI spokesperson.

In the United States, The Firm will equally split profits on all album sales with the artists. The management company will handle all marketing, promotion and A&R duties. EMI will collect a distribution fee on albums releases in America.

More@billboardradiomonitor

British pop newcomer LILY ALLEN was ditched from her first record label because she had a “funny face”. The SMILE singer, who shot to the top of the UK charts tonight (09JUL06), was signed to the same label as former girl band ALL SAINTS as a fifteen-year-old.

However, her unique looks didn’t impress bosses at London records who ditched her despite her obvious singing talents.

A former employee at the company tells British tabloid the Daily Star, “Back then, she had a funny face and it all looked too challenging. We wanted pretty girls who were instantly marketable.

“So we got rid of her because she wasn’t one of those.”

[DOH! – ED]

Source:pr-inside