Is now the right time to tinker with HADOPI Mr Hollande?

Political change has come to France and the impact of the switch to a socialist president, following the election of François Hollande earlier this month, could be felt by the music industry. Hollande has begun looking at reforming tough anti-piracy measures despite claims from the music industry that targeting file sharers is beginning to generate increased interest in the legal digital sector.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Music industry, download, Legal, full track, Music industry, Music subscriptions, Internet, France, HADOPI

The Adele effect hits major-record-company market shares in 2011

Music & Copyright’s annual survey of the recorded-music and music-publishing industries has revealed that Universal Music Group (UMG) remained the world’s biggest record company and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) the largest music-publishing company in 2011. The positioning of each of the four major record-label and music-publishing companies was unchanged last year. Although this lack of change could suggest that 2011 offered up “more of the same” in the recorded-music and music-publishing sectors, such an assumption would be wide of the mark.

Filed under: download, Intellectual property, Music industry, Uncategorized, download, emi, market share, Music industry, sony music, universal music, warner music

Demystifying Pan-European digital music rights – new report

The number of digital-music services in Europe is growing every year and consumers across the continent are being presented with an array of different ways to listen to music. Digital-music delivery and consumption has undergone a rapid transition. However, such has been the speed of the sector’s evolution, new business models specializing in digital-music delivery across Europe have forced those organizations charged with issuing licenses to rethink the way they operate.

Music publishers and collection-societies in Europe have taken to the task in different ways (see below table for major music publisher initiative details). But, in contrast to a few years ago, when digital-music services were required to negotiate countless licensing deals, agreements between music publishers and collection-societies have reduced the necessity for endless rounds of licensing negotiations.

Filed under: Collection societies, Intellectual property, Music industry, Uncategorized, CELAS, collection society, gema, Music industry, Pan European, performance rights, publishing

Artists and composers swim against the tide in the battle of rights

Last month the European Composer & Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) held a press conference at the Silken Berlaymont Hotel in Brussels to brief news reporters about a stance it was taking against European broadcasters on behalf of music composers. ECSA accused Europe’s leading broadcasters of forcing composers to give up their rights in return for TV commissions. Big names in broadcasting, such as RTL, ITV, BskyB, TF1, ZDF and Rai, were all accused of operating a system called coercive commissioning – in return for awarding a composer with a commission, the composer must assign all rights in the music to the broadcaster or TV production company. Put simply, no rights, no commission.

Filed under: Intellectual property, Legal, Music industry, Uncategorized, ECSA, Music industry, performance, performance rights

Uniformity makes it tough on music-streaming startups

Mobile is the value-add that attracts the highest premium in streaming services. According to sources at the US streaming service Rdio, the majority of its subscribers take the top-premium mobile-access plan.

Filed under: mobile music, Music subscriptions, Uncategorized, download, mobile music, Music subscriptions, rdio, Spotify

Live music faces up to a challenging 2012

With the organization and promotion of live events differing from country to country, comparisons of how one country’s live music sector is performing against another are not always easy to make. However, the live industry has, in recent years, seen the emergence of a small number of global players, such as Live Nation and CTS Eventim, and their financial details have provided an insight into current and possible future trends.

Filed under: Music industry, Uncategorized, concert, festival, live music, live nation, Music industry

Is the X Factor simply a great entertainment program or is it TV nepotism at its absolute worst?

A simple answer to these questions is yes, on both counts. Large numbers of viewers across the UK tuned in to watch some great TV moments over the course of the last few months culminating in Little Mix being crowned the X Factor winners in front of 10,000 adoring X Factor fans at Wembley. The girl band will no doubt go on to achieve great things, as will runner-up Marcus Collins and probably a few of the other contestants.

But in comparison with previous years, which offered a degree of subtlety in the way viewers were duped into thinking they were just being entertained, this year’s show was explicit in its very blatant advertising of all things X Factor-related. As has been widely reported, the UK broadcasting regulator OFCOM has received complaints that the “established artists” that performed alongside the contestants were signed to Simon Cowell’s record company Syco, which is part of Syco Entertainment, a global joint venture between Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment. Syco TV co-produced the X Factor show.

Filed under: Music industry, Uncategorized, Little Mix, music tv, Simon Cowell, tv, x factor

Are blue-chip companies unknowingly supporting pirate music sites?

Pirate-music sites offering free music downloads are being indirectly funded by a wide range of blue-chip companies. A survey conducted by Music & Copyright in the UK has found that all of the companies whose advertising appeared on a selection of pirate sites were unaware of the ads’ presence. Should these companies know where their ads are going?

Filed under: free, Intellectual property, Legal, Music industry, Uncategorized, advertising, collection society, download, Internet, Legal, mp3, Music industry

Brands and artists: the delicate balancing act between rights and obligations

Artist endorsements of products and services, as well as company sponsorships of tours and festivals, have been a part of the music industry for many years, and examples of successful alliances between brands and artists are numerous. Although ensuring that all interests are served without limiting artists’ creativity can be a complex process, achieving the right balance between rights and obligations can be beneficial for all concerned. We asked Ailish McKenna, a solicitor with Bray & Krais Solicitors for her take on what restrictions brands can reasonably impose on artists.

The word “partnership” can be used to describe a whole range of relationships in varying settings. In the area of brand endorsements, the word is commonly used to define the nature of the relationship between the brand and the artist chosen to endorse certain goods and services under that brand. Both parties entering into a media partnership have their own interests to serve. The hope and the intention is of course that a mutually beneficial and fruitful alliance will unfold.

Filed under: Intellectual property, Legal, Music industry, Uncategorized, Brands, Legal, Music industry

Spotify embraces the land of the free..sort of

Spotify has finally got its prize. News of a US launch brings to a close a two-year affair, blighted with delays, speculation and a healthy dollop of the now infamous “ongoing negotiations with labels”.

Will it have been worth it? The US is absolutely crucial to Spotify’s long-term plans. There’s no escaping from the fact that the amount of money artists receive per stream from music-streaming sites is incredibly low. This is a particular concern in the US, where labels generate much of their global revenue. But the only way Spotify can grow into a viable financial model, and move towards placating labels and rights-holders, is by amassing a huge number of users. Music streaming will always be a low-margin, high-volume business, and the US helps Spotify towards achieving the latter. With one set of negotiations – no matter how protracted – the service now has access to a population the equivalent size of the EU.

Filed under: Uncategorized