Label:Life

Testimony today in Capitol Records, et al v. Jammie Thomas quickly and inadvertently turned to the topic of fair use when Jennifer Pariser, the head of litigation for Sony BMG, was called to the stand to testify. Pariser said that file-sharing is extremely damaging to the music industry and that record labels are particularly affected. In doing so, she advocated a view of copyright that would turn many honest people into thieves.

Pariser noted that music labels make no money on touring, radio, or merchandise, which leaves the company particularly exposed to the negative effects of file-sharing. “It’s my personal belief that Sony BMG is half the size now as it was in 2000,” she said, thanks to piracy. In Pariser’s view, “when people steal, when they take music without compensation, we are harmed.”

[Probably a good time for the big boys re-evaluate their business models then…]

Read More>

The European Commission gave Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG unconditional clearance Wednesday to combine their music units — concluding that the deal, originally approved in 2004, was not monopolistic.
...
But regulators said firmly that their original conclusion was correct and they had mountains of new evidence to prove that the two companies would not damage the music scene by shrinking the number of major music companies from five to four.

Read More >

An attorney for six major music companies urged a federal jury Thursday to find a Minnesota woman liable for damages for illegally downloading and sharing music online, activity he said has gnawed at the industry’s bottom line.

Record companies have filed some 26,000 lawsuits since 2003 claiming their music’s been misused, but the case against Jammie Thomas, a mother of two from Brainerd, is the first to go to trial. Many other defendants settled by paying the record companies a few thousand dollars.

Read more >

Steve Jobs on Tuesday issued a press release/essay/blog post, whatever it is, stating the three choices that Apple has in the future for furthering the adoption of digital music.

Jobs offers up three scenarios:

• Carry on as we are, with multiple propriety formats, with consumers as the losers
• Open up FairPlay to 3rd parties, with Apple and the consumer as losers

• Remove DRM from the mix. Everyone’s a winner

  Bizarrely the option least expected, option three, Jobs seems most enthusiastic about.

  This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.

  This is a bold statement by the head of Apple, with over a billion downloads from Itunes, all protected by their propriety FairPlay DRM, it seems unfathomable that Apple would really drop DRM when they already pretty much own the market, whether labels wanted them to or not. However what with Yahoo offering DRM free tracks and the buzz at Midem for dropping DRM, the pressure may be more on the labels themselves, and Jobs could be just paving the way for them. It’ll be interesting to watch the fallout from this article from all the different corners, RIAA, Majors, Microsoft(Zune), et al.

  Read the full article.

Oh dear god, I do hope not, but all the signs are there.

Every ten years or so, at the end of every decade, there seems to be this new wave of destructive creativity, widely derided by the old guard (where’s the skill? where’s the substance? that’s not music, it’s just a noise etc) but very popular among the next generation, basically because it short-cuts the learning curve and well… anyone can do it. And it’s their’s.

So we had acid-rock in the 60s, punk in the 70s, rave-music in the 80s… I once heard Tony Wilson say that every ten years there’s a new wave of music… and right now the music business is worse than it was at the worst part of the 80s, so we’re due for another revolution right now.

That was 1998 and unfortunately nothing happened.

We skipped a decade. However (checks watch) it’s that time again. Time for this decade’s flooding of the Nile, time for the longbows at Agincourt… Time for something new.

So. Take a look around, what do you see? Millions of kids on Myspace each with their own 15 pixels of fame, and more importantly, on youtube making their own videos out of other people’s music. It isn’t about money – it’s about getting as many other kids as possible going (like) OMG, WTF, LOL – check this out!!!.

But where’s the skill? Where’s the substance? That’s not music etc.

Actually, some them are pretty good
I think this girl managed to get some sort of TV deal off the back of her Youtube activities, but like, whatever.

Is this it? Must be incredibly exciting if you’re 17… and like, Doing It. If you’re not – if you’re still getting up to speed with your pre-CBS Strat, doing your umpteenth rehearsal for your umpteenth gig, you probably don’t quite get it – even though (and this tends to be the way with all these things) everyone’s invited.

Actually, I have a confession to make.

All of the above was just an elaborate roundabout way of leading into…

OMG, WTF, LOL… Check this out!!!

This guy takes lip-syncing into whole new dimensions of weirdness. This is the double-album, gate-fold, rock-opera concept-project… it takes the pinnacle of David Lynch’s art… the narrowed the gap between cosy and creepy, and refines it about 1000 times..

Fast forward to the 7th minute or so… Arrrghhhh!!! Holy Fuck.

UK music group EMI has aborted plans to buy its smaller rival Warner Music amid fears the $1.35bn deal would not get regulatory approval.

It follows a European court ruling which overturned a 2004 decision to permit Sony and BMG to merge, creating the world’s second-largest music firm.

EMI, whose stable of artists include Coldplay and Robbie Williams, said the tie-up was off “for the time being”.

Warner boasts The Rolling Stones and Red Hot Chili Peppers among its stars.

EMI has twice made offers to buy Warner in 2006, which in turn launched counter proposals to buy EMI. Both parties rejected all offers.

More@bbc

German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG does not expect the auction of its music publishing arm to be affected by a European court ruling that annulled merger approval for Sony Music and BMG.

The company said on Tuesday that both strategic and financial bidders would participate in a second round of bidding, which begins this week, after industry executives speculated that the legal decision might prevent a rival music company from buying BMG Music Publishing.

There remained disagreement in the legal community with Bertelsmann’s assessment, however, with suggestions that some bidders might find themselves blocked now by regulators.

Fifteen prospective buyers have been sent information about BMG Music Publishing, which owns thousands of copyrights to songs by Coldplay, Nelly and other artists.

More@reuters

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

Television production company Endemol, which is behind worldwide TV hits “Big Brother” and “Fear Factor”, said on Tuesday it had signed a publishing agreement with BMG Music Publishing.

Under the agreement BMG Music, a unit of Germany’s Bertelsmann AG, will represent the music catalogue of Endemol’s television programmes including “Big Brother, “Deal or No Deal” and other upcoming shows, the companies said in a joint statement.

More@reuters

Shares of online music companies dipped Tuesday as a JMP Securities analyst initiated coverage of the sector, showering iPod maker Apple Computer Inc. with praise but taking a more cautious stand on Napster Inc. and RealNetworks Inc.

“We believe digital music will be the killer app in 2006 and 2007,” JMP Securities analyst Ingrid Ebeling wrote in a research note.

While the analyst predicted growth for Apple’s iPod music player and iTunes pay-per-download music service, she was cautious about its competitors’ reliance on subscriptions in the near term.

More@msnmoney