Label:Life

Internet firm Tiscali has suspended its music sharing Juke Box and accused the European recording industry of being “virtually impossible to work with”.

It took the move after it was told to remove the service’s search by artist.

Tiscali said services in the US offered that facility, and European music fans were being discriminated against.

But the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said Juke Box had offered a level of interactvity that breached its licence.

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NIGHTCLUB operators could be forced to inflate door prices or close if a music industry group succeeds in raising music licensing rates.

And if the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia has its way, the fitness industry – which plays music in gyms – will be the next to come under fire.

The company, which represents musicians and their record companies, launched a case in the Federal Court’s Copyright Tribunal yesterday to increase the licensing fee for music played at nightclubs and dance parties from seven cents to $1.12 per person, increasing to $2.32 over five years. The base tariff has not increased in a decade.

More@smh

This will be a busy week in the House—Congress goes into summer recess Friday, but not before considering the Section 115 Reform Act of 2006 (SIRA). Never heard of SIRA? That’s the way Big Copyright and their lackey’s want it, and it’s bad news for you.

Simply put, SIRA fundamentally redefines copyright and fair use in the digital world. It would require all incidental copies of music to be licensed separately from the originating copy. Even copies of songs that are cached in your computer’s memory or buffered over a network would need yet another license. Once again, Big Copyright is looking for a way to double-dip into your wallet, extracting payment for the same content at multiple levels.

More@ipaction

Consumers should be told exactly what they can and cannot do with songs and films they buy online, says an influential group of MPs in the UK.

The All Party Parliamentary Internet Group looked at how copy protection systems restrict the way digital movies and music can be enjoyed.

Labels on digital content should spell out how easy it is to move from gadget to gadget, said the report.

It also called for an inquiry into the pricing schemes of online music stores.

More@bbc

At a time when digital media is turning music programming into a commodity, Westwood One has announced that it is farming out the operations, sales and programming for its eight 24/7 music formats to Excelsior Radio Networks, a division of Dial-Global Communications. Beginning August 1, Excelsior will assume the affiliate sales and programming for Westwood’s eight nationally-distributed turnkey music formats and take over all aspects of the formats, including advertising sales effective Jan. 1, 2007.

Although terms were not disclosed, sources say Westwood is guaranteed certain financial proceeds for five years.

More@billboardradiomonitor

A federal judge on Monday gave final approval to a settlement in a class action suit against Sony BMG Music Entertainment over anticopying software the company had embedded in some music CDs.

The agreement covers anyone who bought, received or used CDs containing what was revealed to be flawed digital rights management (DRM) software after Aug. 1, 2003. Those customers can file a claim and receive certain benefits, such as a nonprotected replacement CD, free downloads of music from that CD and additional cash payments.

More@cnet

All Media Guide (AMG), the premier technology and content database provider for exploring music, movies, and games, today announced the closing of its acquisition of MoodLogic, Inc., the provider of the most advanced technologies and software for music organization, playlisting, and recommendation. AMG is an affiliate of The Yucaipa Companies. (more…)

Digital music player maker Creative Technology has asked a US court to ban Apple from selling or marketing its iconic iPods in the US.

Creative claims that the navigational menu used for finding and playing music on the iPod, violates its patent for its own Zen MP3 player.

It applied for the patent in 2001 which was granted in August 2005.

Since then it has been threatening legal action. The complaint was lodged at the San Francisco district court.

More@bbc

An astonishing 55 per cent of UK consumers have ripped CDs they legally own to their iPod or computer – and very few realise that at the moment this practice is illegal, a recent survey claims.

The National Consumer Council (NCC) commissioned market research from YouGov, which spoke with 2,135 UK adults between April 10-12.

The survey found that despite the music industry insistence that ripping music from legally-owned CDs contravenes copyright law, consumer habits show that up to be an outdated precept.

A significant 59 per cent of the survey group believe ripping in this way to be totally legal, just 19 per cent were aware that it isn’t.

The survey results come as the NCC prepares to make its submission to the UK government Gowers review of copyright law.

More@macworld

China last week expressed intentions to work on improving legislation and law enforcement in intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in order to improve the environment for enterprises, reported People’s Daily Online.

Quoting Yan Xiaohong, deputy chief of the National Copyright Administration of China, at a seminar on advocating the use of authentic software, it reported that China realized the importance of promoting authorized software and curbing piracy in developing an innovative nation.

More@chinaknowledge