Billboard: Richard Branson Looking To Reacquire Virgin From EMI
As Universal Music Group meets (again) with European regulators this week to iron out possible concessions in its proposed $1.9 billion bid for EMI's recorded music business, Virgin Records founder Richard Branson (right)indicated his interest in reacquiring the label, which he sold to EMI in 1992. "Richard Branson and Virgin have been assessing how to get back into the recorded music business for many years," a Branson spokesman said. "The potential disposal of Virgin Records by Universal Music offers a wonderful opportunity to recreate a dynamic independent label in the market." The Financial Times reported that Branson has made a general expression of interest to make a bid for the label, along with French music executive Patrick Zelnik, who owns independent label Naive Records in Paris. Zelnik also is the co-president of Impala, a trade group representing independent music labels, and earlier this week wrote a column for the FT supporting the UMG-EMI merger. His position is that if Universal commits to "transparent, non-discriminatory, easy licensing to new platforms" and "targeted, surgical divestitures to independents [and] direct financial support for industry groups that aid in leveling the playing field between small and large labels," the merger could be "just what the sector needs." [Full story: Billboard.biz]
Canadian Supreme Court Tosses Royalty For Music Downloads Canada's Supreme Court last week ruled that songwriters and music publishers are not entitled to royalties for song and video game downloads, but also determined that artists should be compensated when their music is streamed online. The high court ruled that downloading an individual file is not considered a communication to the public within that nation's Copyright Act, although streaming music online is not a private transaction and therefore should be subject to fees currently in place. The decision partly overturned a lower court decision that had allowed an organization representing musicians and the recording industry, known as the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers, to collect royalty payments for both downloads and streaming activities for its members. "Although a download and stream are both 'transmissions' in technical terms ... they are not both 'communications' for the purposes of the Copyright Act," the Canadian court said in its ruling. "This is clear from the (Copyright) board's definition of a stream as a transmission of data that allows the user to listen or view the content at the time of transmission and that is not meant to be reproduced." Further, the justices determined that online music stores will not have to pay royalties to publishers and songwriters for song previews. Such previews constitute "research" under copyright legislation, and thus the consumer should not pay a royalty, they said. [Full story: Washington Post] |
| Digital Streaming Revenues Drive Swedish Music Business Music sales in Sweden jumped 30.1% in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2011, fueled primarily by the popularity of online streaming. According to the Swedish Recording Industry Association, revenues from digital streaming grew by 79.4% in the first six months of 2012 to $40 million, while physical record and video sales declined 2.2% to $23.2 million, and revenues from digital downloads dropped 14% to $4.37 million (all figures are vs. the same period last year). Hardest hit was the sale of singles which, while already shrinking, fell another 35.2% to $570,000, while sales of vinyl albums were up 37.4%, although they account for only 1.2% of total Swedish music sales. "Swedes have shown they really like streaming music," Ludvig Werner, managing director of the business organization IFPI Sweden, said in a statement. "Now, when buying music in a way that suits the consumer is easier than ever before, music sales increase." Not surprisingly, Sweden is the home country of Spotify, one of the world's most popular music-streaming clients, and Swedes were early to catch on to online streaming of music. Last year, digital music sales surpassed physical sales in Sweden, and in the first six months of this year 63.5% of the Swedish music industry's revenues came from digital sources. That compares with just 32% of music industry revenues globally. [Full story: Wall Street Journal Hollywood Reporter] |
Veteran Songwriter Files Suit Against Just About Everyone The sellers of almost all the downloaded music in the United States -including Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft - accept and sell unlicensed music from music aggregators, cheating thousands of artists out of their royalties. That's almost a direct quote from a lawsuit recently filed by songwriter Norman Blagman against those four companies, as well as eMusic and Orchard.com, alleging "massive and systematic" copyright violations. A successful songwriter since the 1950s, Blagman claims the retailer defendants are required by the Copyright Act and other laws to obtain a mechanical license before reproducing and distributing copyrighted musical compositions. "None of the defendants...are meeting their statutory obligation to obtain mechanical licenses for all of the digital musical compositions they reproduce, distribute, and sell online," his suit states. "Nor have they confirmed that all persons or entities who upload digital recordings have obtained the required mechanical licenses for the musical compositions embodied in those recordings. Instead, all the defendants are unlawfully copying and distributing plaintiff's copyrighted musical works (and the musical works of thousands of others) and profiting greatly from their illegal activities, all without plaintiff's authorization or permission." Blagman, who is represented by Oren Giskan with Giskan Solotaroff Anderson & Stewart, seeks class certification, statutory damages, actual damages, costs, and an injunction preventing further alleged transgressions. {Full story: Courthouse News Services] |
| Sony Launches New Android-Powered Walkman Digital Music Players Sony yesterday (July 18) announced the new F800 and E470 lines of Walkman players, developed for the Android 4.0 platform and incorporating digital audio fidelity technologies delivering "a richer, bolder and louder presence." A company statement said the new audio system features "detailed sound with deep and powerful bass while restoring subtle high frequency details that get lost when listening to heavily-compressed digital music files." Serving as a music portal with access to more than 14 million songs via Sony's cloud-based Music Unlimited Service, the system lets users share their favorite songs and ad-free radio channels via drag-and-drop transfer from iTunes for Windows with Media Go software or Windows Media Player. Available in a metallic red or black finish and featuring "premium" Walkman sound quality, the new models are equipped with such standard features as karaoke mode, synchronized lyrics, and two pre-installed Tetris and Sudoku-like games, with a bright 2.0-inch LCD screen. The 16G F800 Series will retail for about $269.99 and the 32G will retail for about $299.99, while the 4G E470 Series will retail for about $79.99, the 8G for about $89.99, and the 16G for about $109.99. All models will be available next month. [Full story: PR Newswire] |
| Honda, Aha Partner To Deliver Content To New Accord Vehicles Several years after Ford debuted its Synch system in its Focus (and subsequent) vehicles, Honda this week announced the launch of HondaLink, an "infotainment platform" in partnership with Harman's Aha digital delivery system. Described as a "personalized driving experience," HondaLink is designed to stream thousands of channels of content to Honda automobiles. This content includes internet radio, on-demand music, news, audiobooks, entertainment, personalized points of interest information, and Facebook and Twitter audio newsfeeds, and will be available in 2013 Honda Accords. After downloading the free HondaLink app for iPhone or Android, users can use their phones to select their preset stations from over 30,000 choices. When their smart phone is connected to a compatible Honda entertainment system, the users' Aha presets become radio preset buttons, so drivers can put down the phone and switch between stations just like traditional radio. When they arrive at their destination and exit the car, users can seamlessly continue accessing their content with their smart phones. "Through our partnership with Honda, we are helping a global automotive giant deliver the next-generation of infotainment to drivers," Aha VP/GM Robert Acker commented in a hype-filled statement. [Full story: BusinessWire] |
Al Bell Presents American Soul Music ... And American Soul TV
If you're into classic and contemporary Soul, R&B, Blues, Gospel, Jazz, Hip-Hop Soul, Rap Soul, and Neo-Soul, we invite you to listen to Al Bell Presents American Soul Music. Former Stax Records owner and Motown Records Group President Al Bell personally has programmed this awesome radio station online, presenting your favorites from the 1960s and '70s [and some '80s], a lot of the best new music that's being released today, and some real gems you haven't heard in a long, long time. Come to www.AlBellPresents.Com and hear it for yourself!
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