Label:Life

Xfm has appointed Mike Walsh, the former head of music for GCap North, to the newly created position of network head of music.

Walsh will work closely with GCap North’s programme director Ande Macpherson and London programme director Andy Ashton to create a stronger working relationship between record labels and Xfm’s three stations.

He will also take a larger role in formulating Xfm’s music policy and brand identity across its London, Manchester and Scotland stations.

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He’s bent the ear of world leaders on social causes. He’s a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. He’s a rock star. But could the lead singer of U2 also become a front man for a grass-roots campaign seeking to change how the music industry does business?

The Free Software Foundation hopes so.

The Boston-based advocacy group launched an online petition Thursday asking Bono to take a stand with them against copy-protection technologies that they say unnecessarily restrict consumers’ rights to freely use the music and art they’ve purchased.

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A Spanish intellectual property law has finally banned unauthorized peer-to-peer file-sharing in Spain, making it a civil offense even to download content for personal use.

The legislation, approved by Congress on Thursday, toughens previous provisions. An early May circular from Spain’s fiscal general del estado, or chief prosecutor, allowed downloads for purely personal use.

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In a rare case of music retailer-turned-Internet pirate, the Virgin store chain in France said Tuesday that it had been found guilty of downloading and reselling a Madonna hit without permission.

The store’s online portal, virginmega.fr, was ordered by the Paris Tribunal de Commerce to pay €600,000, or $754,000, in damages for downloading the Madonna song “Hung Up” from a France Télécom Web site that had exclusive rights to distribute the song for one week.

“This is an amazing case of simple piracy by a respected company,” Hervé Payan, senior vice president for content partnership and service at France Télécom, said Tuesday. “Virgin behaved in a surreal manner by downloading the song, cracking protection measures and then selling it from their own Web site.”

For its part, Virgin said that it had the interests of digital music consumers at heart when it broke the exclusive arrangement.

More@iht

Sony’s Walkman digital music players failed to meet their initial target for the past year, Chubachi told reporters. He declined to describe a strategy to bounce back over the rest of the year. “We miscalculated with the Walkman,” he said.

A recovery in the music-player business would be an important step toward putting Sony back on a path to growth after years of disappointing results. Although Sony’s other central products—such as televisions and digital cameras—are regaining strength, Chubachi said, the Walkman was a critical product “to reinforce Sony’s resurrection.”

More@washingtonpost

An influential music producer from Thornton Heath has accused the BBC of brainwashing’ black youngsters with violent rap music.

In a letter to the Times Neil Fraser, known as the Mad Professor, attacks the corporation for promoting music he says can corrupt youngsters.

Mr Fraser spoke out after the Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, blasted the public broadcaster for playing too much violent gangster’ rap music.

Mr Cameron singled out Radio 1’s rap DJ Tim Westwood who, he said, played music which encouraged people to carry guns and knives.
continued…

In his letter Mr Fraser said: “The BBC and other media continue to install white liberals’ and irresponsible blacks to brainwash our youngsters.

More@croydonguardian

A Dutch music Web site linking to MP3 files has to stop promoting the infringement of artist rights and copyrights, the Dutch court of appeals said in a ruling that overturned an earlier one in favor of the site.

The Web site, operated by Techno Design, had been taken down on Monday after the ruling on Friday, which said failure to comply with the injunction would lead to fines of 10,000 euros ($12,590) per day, or 1,000 euros per infringing file.

Techno Design will also have to pay damages, with the amount to be determined at a later stage.

Making MP3 files available on the Internet without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal under Dutch law.

More@zdnet

Dismay over how Apple Computer sells music downloads is deepening. Consumer regulators in Europe say the company places too many restrictions on consumers who buy songs from the online iTunes store—and the consternation is spreading west.

A group called the Free Software Foundation carried out protests on June 10 at seven Apple retail stores in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle. The foundation is focusing its ire on so-called digital rights management technology (DRM). Used in an array of digital entertainment products including Apple’s iTunes, DRM limits what consumers can do with purchased content.

More@technewsworld

A computer program has been developed that the makers claim can dramatically increase your odds of scoring a hit.

Record companies spend millions every year on songs that do not sell. It has been said you’ve got a better chance of winning a lottery jackpot than getting into the top 10.

But computer program Platinum Blue Music Intelligence is already shaping the music you hear on the radio.

Sony BMG is among several big record labels using it.

It says it is just a tool – a guide to making the final decision, which always comes down to a human being.

The makers of the system insist it will not stifle innovation.

Mike McCready, CEO of Platinum Blue, says: “If you look at the music that has been invented since Beethoven, all of the hit songs in every new genre conform to the same mathematical patterns.

[hahahahahah, who new there was a formula to pop music? Seriously is this the begining of the end for A and R?- ED]

More@bbc

Music lovers in the UK can sleep a little easier in their beds knowing there’s no longer any risk of being sued for ripping CDs. If, that is, they’re using their own CDs and ripping for their own use.

This reassurance was given last week, by Peter Jamieson, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) – the record-industry’s trade association – in evidence to the House of Commons select committee for culture, media and sport.

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