Published by Generator in News | , June 8th, 2009. 1 Comment »
Industry bodies such as the Musician’s Union (MU) and The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) have embarked on a campaign to try and stop the British National Party (BNP) from selling compilation CDs from their online store, Excalibur without the consent of the artists creating the songs.
Many high profile artists are fully supporting the efforts to stop the party selling music to generate funds without the artist who wrote the track having any say in the matter. They assert that this is essentially a violation of the moral rights of the artist to align their music with a political party, especially one with policies as controversial as the BNP.
The BNP is selling various compilations from the website, including titles such as ‘Best of British Folk’ alongside various supposedly patriotic themed CDs.
The situation showed artists had a “low level of moral rights”, MU and FAC members said in a letter to The Times newspaper.
Noting that many of the artists included on such compilations were MU and FAC members the letter stated: “They (the artists) have no legal right to object to their music being used in this way”.
The letter continued: “We would, on behalf of our joint membership of over 31,000 members, like to have our opposition to the BNP’s politics and morals formally noted.”
MU General Secretary John Smith signed the letter alongside FAC members including Billy Bragg, Blur’s Dave Rowntree, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason and Ross Millard of The Futureheads (pictured above).
Earlier this year, it was reported by BBC News that singer Dame Vera Lynn, 92, was outraged and distressed that compilation album The White Cliffs of Dover, featuring her song of the same name, was being sold on the BNP website.
Of course, the key problem is that once a set of songs have been created and published, artists operating within traditional publishing deals will have no control over whom the songs are sold to for advertising or fundraising purposes and it will be entirely at the publisher’s discretion.
A BNP spokesman said in an official statement: “It’s up to us what we sell - we’re not changing. There’s no suggestion through this that artists support the BNP or otherwise. They’re barking up the wrong tree, to be honest”.
Have your say! Would you be outraged to discover that your publisher had sold your song to the BNP for a compilation? How do we define or more importantly legally assert the so-called ‘Moral rights’ of artists? The BNP defence that there is no suggestion of the actual support of the artists through this is arguably flimsy - It is a powerful and dangerous political association to make with a song, especially when many artists have liberal sensibilities and are opposed to the BNP. Where will this one go next?
Published by Generator in Digital stores, News | , June 8th, 2009. 1 Comment »
Following their recent bust-up with Youtube over royalty rates, the PRS for Music
have announced new rates for streaming services relating to new online music licenses, due to come into effect on July 1st of this year and applicable for three years.
For tracks streamed through ‘on demand’ streaming services such as Last.fm and WE7, the headline royalty rates will increase from 8% to 10.5% of revenue, whilst the per stream minimum will be reduced from 0.22p to 0.085p payable from such sites to the PRS.
According to an official press release, similar changes are also being made to the royalty rates and minima terms for commercial webcasting services. This ultimately translates to more potential revenue in the long term to artists via the PRS but with a reduced per stream minimum as a compromise to streaming sites.
Commenting on the changes, Andrew Shaw, Managing Director of Broadcast and Online at PRS for Music said: “We believe these new streaming rates will stimulate growth in the digital music market and will benefit our licensees and our members. This is a good deal for music creators and for music lovers”.
The changes to the streaming rates follow the announcement that rates for download services and music services funded by subscription, such as Nokia’s ‘Comes with music’ bundled phone subscription package will remain the same. The various Online Music Licenses are to replace the Joint Online License, which was established for digital outlets by the UK Copyright Tribunal in 2007 for a 2-year term.
The new terms are seemingly an attempt to reflect rapid changes in the digital market since the 2007 Joint Online license was established.
As previously reported by The Gen, Google, which owns YouTube, removed thousands of premium music videos from their streaming site in March following an ongoing dispute with the PRS over royalty fees.
Have your say: Will this resolve the dispute between the PRS and YouTube? Is this a valiant attempt by the PRS to push forward the evolution of digital models? Will it be enough of a change to satisfy streaming sites such as Pandora? Is this indicative of artists subsidising the digital industry to some extent in order to achieve better long term sales and distribution through streaming sites or does the increase in royalty rate maintain an even playing field? Let us know your thoughts!
Published by Generator in Bands, News | , June 8th, 2009. No Comments »
Teesside based four piece The Chapman Family seem to be blazing a trail of brilliant destruction all across the music world at the moment.
The band, who played in 2007 as part of Generator’s ‘In The City’ event in Manchester recently completed the Samsung NME Radar tour across the UK alongside Magistrates, Heartbreak and electro pop sensation La Roux, rounding their tour off with a triumphant performance at Newcastle’s Evolution festival in which deranged frontman Kingsley incited the audience to throw coins at them.
The Chapman Family have gained a lot of positive reviews for their incendiary and confrontational live shows, with many comparing them to acts such as Sonic Youth, Joy Division and Maximo Park. They were selected to play on the BBC Introducing Stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2008 and seemingly haven’t stopped touring since.
The band, although currently unsigned for records and unpublished are represented by Paul Bolton at Helter Skelter for live shows and Bad Moon take care of their national press.
To find out more about The Chapman Family and all forthcoming live shows, festival dates and to purchase new single ‘Kids’ go to their Myspace
Other North East names to watch out for this month:
Frankie and the Heartstrings,
Brilliant Mind,
Widows.
Published by Generator in News | , June 8th, 2009. No Comments »
The Metropolitan Police recently defended the use of controversial Form 696. As previously reported , the form is currently used in some London Boroughs as a form of risk assessment as part of the licensing process of live music events. Promoters, musicians and the head of industry umbrella trade body UK Music Feargal Sharkey have all objected to what they see as racially profiling the demographic of audiences attending events.
The form demands that promoters fill out very specific information including the expected ethnic backgrounds of music fans attending particular events.
Parliament’s Culture Select Committee have criticised the paperwork, stating in its report on licensing laws that it was part of an “Increasingly authoritarian approach” employed by police and local authorities in the licensing of music events. The Select Committee is also recommending that the Government should grant a licensing exemption to any premises with a capacity of less than 200 if they wish to have live performances.
MAMA Group’s Live Managing Director Steve Forster said that he wasn’t convinced that Form 696 was the most effective and acceptable way to prevent crime within clubs and music events. Speaking with CMU daily, Forster emphasised that police should be focusing on the small number of “High risk events” rather than putting all music promoters through the intrusive process. MAMA Group’s portfolio includes several key London venues including The Forum and The Hammersmith Apollo in partnership with HMV alongside soon to be re-opened legendary venue The Garage.
The form has also fielded criticism from many musicians, including Jon McClure of Reverend And The Makers (pictured above), who helped set up a petition calling for the abolishment of the form here.
However, Billboard then reported that Thomas Bowen and Adrian Studd of The Metropolitan Police argued at The Great Escape music convention in Brighton last month that there had been an 11% reduction in crime at live venues in London this year, adding that information garnered from Form 696 has invaluably assisted in that process, claiming that: “The development of Form 696 has undoubtedly contributed to lowering shootings in these venues”.
Following this, the form was defended by Chief Inspector Adrian Studd of the Metropolitan Police’s Clubs and Vice Unit, who stated that he categorically doesn’t think that the form will be discontinued following a police review.
“I’m confident the form will be staying because it’s a very effective crime prevention tool,” he told BBC 6music in an interview. He added “The whole point of the form is to improve safety at events.”
Have your say on Form 696: Does this actually amount to racial profiling by the Police? Or is it simply a damage limitation measure by the Met that seems to have had some success in reducing crime? Should the form be more strategic or should all promoters have to comply? Are you going to join the petition?
Published by Generator in Digital stores, News | , June 8th, 2009. No Comments »
Recording artist Patrick Wolf recently hit his intended target of raising £100,000 from investors and fans to record a new album through Bandstocks.com
Bandstocks is an organisation that facilitates investment, aimed at raising funds for specific individual album projects and allowing artists a greater degree of creative control.
Investors are enabled to make direct investments in an artist’s album and in return for their investment acquire the legal rights of what is termed as a ‘Bandstockholder’. These rights include the right to receive credits and other privileges as well as a share of the financial rewards if the album is successful.
After parting company with Universal Music subsidiary Loog following the release of his previous album in 2007, Wolf announced his plan to sell £10 shares of his next album through Bandstocks, stating that fans could invest in the production of the record, effectively serving the function of a record company. Wolf then formed his own label, Bloody Chamber Music to release the LP.
With the initial ‘advance’ target now matched, all investors stand to make 50% of all profit from the LP, released on June 1st and entitled The Bachelor. It is the first part of a double album project with follow-up The Conqueror scheduled for release next year, indicating that this is a long term strategy for Wolf.
In a recent interview with BBC 6Music Patrick Wolf said: “I almost feel like this album is a coming of age record. My voice has dropped so much and the subject matter has become more serious and less throwaway”.
Have your say!
What do you think about direct to consumer investment approaches such as Bandstocks? Is this now a viable alternative to record companies for established artists? Of course, the success of such projects is dependent on pre-existing sizable fanbases and profile. Could Patrick Wolf have raised so much if he hadn’t already had so much press and a major label budget and strategy for his previous album?
Published by Generator in Festivals, News | , June 8th, 2009. No Comments »
The first Evolution festival two-day event, which took place over the Bank Holiday weekend of 24th / 25th May in Newcastle/Gateshead has been declared to be a “great success” by the organisers.
Festival Director Jim Mawdsley, of Epic Leisure said: “This year was a great success and we were very happy with the numbers on site. We had well over 40,000 people over the two days, so it was magnificent”.
Commenting on the unpredictably great weather over the two days Mawdsley said: “Dave Stone (Evolution programmer) booked the weather too early in November so we couldn’t have got better. I really didn’t think we’d have people complaining of the heat and sunburn!”.
The festival, featuring headline performances from The Wombats and Dizzee Rascal (on the same day that he scored another Number One single with ‘Bonkers‘) saw large crowds flocking to both sides of the Tyne river to enjoy the musical delights on offer over two stages.
When asked about his own personal musical highlights over the weekend, Mawdsley said: “Dizzee is an obvious one and he gave me a big cuddle coming off stage! Human League were great fun on Sunday, Friendly Fires are definitely becoming one of Britain’s best live bands but head and shoulders for me were The Maccabees . They’ve recorded my favourite song of the year so far ‘No Kind Words‘ and when they opened with it, it was a proper spine tingling moment”.
In terms of the future of the massive outdoor event, Mawdsley is very positive: “As this is now a fully fledged festival it is great seeing all the acts rocking up and having big smiles on their faces and everyone was a joy to work with.
“Onwards and upwards now. Last year people warned against charging and to go from free 2 years ago to a 2-day festival with the quality of acts was a big challenge. We just want to keep pushing further”.
Have your say: Did you go to Evolution Festival ? What were your personal highlights? What would you like to see there next year?
Published by Generator in Digital stores, News | , June 8th, 2009. No Comments »
New research commissioned by the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP) has revealed that at least seven million people download illegal content in the UK, with shared content on one Peer-to-Peer network worth a staggering £12bn annually.
The report also highlights that the ability to download or share content is getting easier with faster technologies and increased storage space.
Much has been made of new 50 megabytes-per-second broadband access, which can reportedly deliver 200 MP3 music files in five minutes, a DVD of Star Wars in three minutes and the complete digitalised works of Charles Dickens in less than 10 minutes, according to the study.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) estimates that there were 890m illegal free music downloads through file-sharing in the UK in 2007 compared with 140m paid downloads. Clearly, this places illegal downloading at a ratio of six to one without taking into account offline sharing such as burning CDs etc.
The SABIP report admitted that downloading for free is now woven into UK culture, especially amongst younger consumers, stating that music downloading has “become part and parcel of the social fabric of our society despite its illegal status”.
The report also admits that it may be difficult to reverse attitudes towards free downloading, as there was “huge confusion” about what is and is not legal.
It claims that 70% of those aged 15-24 did not feel guilty about downloading music for free from the Internet and 61% of the age group did not feel they should have to pay for the music they listen to, according to a survey.
The report estimates that creative industries in total provide approximately 8% of British Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Digital copying of products apparently resulted in the estimated loss of 4,000 jobs in 2004.
Have your say: Is there really a “huge confusion” between what is legal and illegal content or is it quite categorical? Is the way forward to provide online ‘Speed Humps’ in a similar way to what the film industry are now considering? Where do you stand on legitimate ownership of music downloads? Will it be impossible to reverse attitudes about entitlement to free content? What will the long term effects on creative industries be?
Published by Generator in News | , June 8th, 2009. No Comments »
This Fund, run by The Peter De Haan Charitable Trust and launched by Ideastap.com on 1st June actively seeks to promote new and exciting ways of working between young people and organisations across the UK. Individuals or groups can apply to the Ideas Fund between 1st June - 30th June for projects running for a limited period of time, including:
- Projects & Project Development
- Commissions & Productions
- Marketing & Communications
- Education Activities
- Multimedia development
- New networks, partnerships and collaborations
Funding available for these various projects will range from £500- £5K and further information on this fund can be found at their website .
Published by Generator in News | , May 12th, 2009. No Comments »
Following on from last month’s story about the newly formed Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) clashing with industry trade bodies over the issue of copyright extension in the UK, we can now confirm that the European Parliament have voted in favour of extending the copyright term for sound recordings from the current 50 year term to 70 years.
As documented last month, the record industries in this country have consistently lobbied for the legal extension of copyright on sound recordings from 50 years to the US standard term of 95 years.
The debate has so far encompassed not only the length of copyright term but also the rights of artists once the existing 50 years has expired on their recordings.
The European Parliament recently rejected the proposal of a 95-year term but backed an extension up to 70 years. They also rejected a notion put forward by the Green Party that in the extended copyright period, ownership should automatically revert to the artist. This was a proposal supported by the members of the FAC, whose argument focused essentially on the idea that artists should be assured of expanded benefits and rights within an extended copyright period.
However, the European Parliament did support a provision for artists and musicians to increase their income by receiving a higher automatic royalty from recordings over 50 years old, adding rules to ensure that labels can’t use previous contracts to invalidate such provisions.
Interestingly, they also passed a provision in which artists can claim back ownership of 50-year old recordings if the labels aren’t making them commercially available, resulting in the termination of a recording contract if a label doesn’t make such recordings legitimately available within one year.
The proposals are now due to go to the European Council, a committee consisting of relevant ministers from each country in the EU.
The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the Association of Independent Music (AIM), Musician’s Union and the recording rights collection society PPL, issued a joint statement following the developments: “Today’s supporting vote in the European Parliament recognises fairness and the benefit copyright term extension will bring to artists, producers, performers and music companies. We welcome the vote and urge the EU member states in the Council to follow Parliament’s lead and support the proposal”.
Have your say: Any artists out there? What do you think the copyright term in the UK should be? Should we be in line with America? Are the proposed benefits to artists enough to justify the 20 year extension? Is the clause to claim back ownership of recordings that aren’t commercially available just a token gesture, given that labels could simply make recordings commercially available by sticking them on iTunes at very little cost? What will the ruling of the European council be?
Published by Generator in Bands, Festivals, News | , May 12th, 2009. No Comments »
Things are heating up this summer for Newcastle based songstress Beth Jeans Houghton.
Beth, who played at Generator’s ‘In the City’ event in Manchester during 2007 has recently had critical praise heaped on her from all quarters of the British music press, from The Guardian and NME to Music Week and Mojo following the release of single Golden on the Static Caravan label in March.
Hailed by the NME as “a Joni Mitchell for the anti-folk generation”, Beth was recently confirmed to play at The Great Escape festival in Brighton with Noah and the Whale on 15th May and has also announced appearances this summer at The Green Man festival in Wales, the Mosely Folk Festival in Birmingham and the Electric Elephant Festival in Croatia.
Beth is represented for live shows by Jess Roberts at The Coda Agency and her debut EP is available now.
To listen to some tunes and see all live dates, visit the website and Myspace.
