music_news 91 posts

A survey by Entertainment Media Research revealed that illegal downloading has reached its highest level ever and the number of people concerned about being prosecuted is falling. (The Guardian).

Out of 1700 people who participated in the survey 43% claimed they’re illegally downloading tracks (last year it was 36%). Only 33% are concerned about the risk of prosecution compared to 42% in 2006.

The report suggests that price is the key factor for such situation and that the industry has to consider differential pricing.

The music industry association BPI replied that: “future success was not just down to new business models but also better protection against piracy, particularly from internet service providers.” "Industry cannot do it alone," said a spokesman. "ISPs as gatekeepers, and government as legislators, must also play an active role in tackling copyright theft if the UK is to thrive as a knowledge... read more

Are audio cassettes still around? Actually there’s still 500 million of them in UK only and 100'000 were sold in 2006.

An article by BBC asks the question what people can do with cassettes nowadays. Apart form listening to (if you still have the right player) BBC proposes several options from converting them to MP3 and recycling to making bird scaring installations.

The readers continue the list of options, proposing at times quite exotic uses such as turning the tape into "tell-tales" which are attached to the sales in sailing races to see the wind direction.


Read more:
10 uses for audio cassettes, BBC News

In his interview to Reuters, Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. CEO spoke against music subscription models and promised that the iTunes store would not introduce them despite the pressure from the music industry. “People want to own their music," he said.

Subscription models are actually a way of renting music and bring recurring income to the music companies. However, “customers don't seem to be interested in it” and [such] “model has failed so far," Jobs said.

He also expressed confidence that half of the songs offered on iTunes will be in DRM-free format by the end of the year.

Read more:
Jobs says Apple customers not into renting music, Reuters

The Norway Liberal Party (Venstre) which is holding 6% of the seats in parliament has issued a resolution stating that “Copyright law is outdated”.

“A society where culture and knowledge is free and accessible by everyone on equal terms is a common good. Large distributors and copyright owners systematically and widely misuse copyright, and thereby stall artistic development and innovation.”

Here are some changes proposed by the party “to reinstate the balance in copyright law”:
- Free file sharing for personal use “Laws and regulations, both national and international, need to be changed so they only regulate limitations of use and distribution in a commercial for-profit context.”
- Shorter commercial copyright term (the current span in Norway is 70 years).
- Ban on DRM – “…anyone who has bought the right to use a product... read more

UPDATE: the survey is closing this week, around 19 April.

Take part an online opinion survey on how the public perceives the RIAA and its actions.

It’s a true/false questionnaire determining whether people see the RIAA’s claims and actions as anything but biased cartel spin. Here are some true/false statements from the survey:
- The RIAA claims file sharing is "devastating" the music industry.
- Each sale by a pirate [or file shared] represents a lost legitimate sale, thereby depriving not only the record company of profits, but also the artist, producer, songwriter, publisher, retailer, … and the list goes on.
- Says the RIAA: On behalf of its member companies, the RIAA works to protect the value of music.

The author plans to make the survey results public in a couple... read more

While RIAA petitions for less royalties for the artists, EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), an organization which defends “our freedoms in the networked world” is gathering signatures for a petition urging the Congress to put an end to RIAA’s practice of in suing ordinary Americans.

80 000 US citizens have already signed the document on the EFF website. The organization plans to deliver the petition to the Senate and House Commerce and Judiciary Commitees after 100 000 signatures are gathered.

EFF believes that RIAA’s tactics not only harm general public but also do not benefit artists and also that new technology is not a threat but rather RIAA should come with “a rational, legal means by which … customers can take advantage of file... read more

2000 young people aged 13-24 submitted their views on digital music in the study carried out in UK by 3, a mobile phone operator.

- 60% think CDs will disappear in 5 years;
- 85% think downloading music rather than buying a CD can help to save the planet;
- 76% say downloading is more attractive because music can be accessed instantly which is much more convenient than going to a shop.

Also the mobile operator expects that mobile downloads will overtake downloads to a PC in 5 years if the current grow rate of mobile downloading stays the same.

More here:
Mobile - the Future of the Music Industry, 3
Music fans to leave CDs on shelf,Times Online

Talking of what is legal what is not. Russia has been criticized for some time for its copyright legislation in connection with allofmp3.com.  However, Russian legislation could be the most modern one. The Civil Code in its part concerning copyright is being passed through the parliament this fall. Still, legislation is changing slower than technology and public opinion, especially with the amount of lobbying in some countries.
The article in Telegraph.co.uk this weekend brings up an interesting fact – in UK everyone who dares to copy a CD that he or she owns to an MP3-player or PC is breaking the law. This conclusion comes from a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research. The report says that “Unknown to many, the 1709 Statue of Anne which came into law as the first Copyright Act in 1710 still governs the enforcement of copyright in the UK. It thus prevents copying an artistic work into a different format, such as a record on to a tape, or a CD on to a computer file.”  Same report recommends to change the law to... read more