INDIE NEWS BEAT May 24, 2004 Edition

Posted by inanglia on 2004-05-27 19:35:40 (2143 views)

* Congressman Boucher Urges Protection Of Fair Use
* California Bill Would Send File-Sharer To Jail
* Indie Artist Radio Partners With Music Connection
* New Orf Web Site Kicks Off 2004 Festival
* Tshirthell.com Settles $15 Million Lawsuit With The Osbournes
* Lawsuit By Marilyn Manson Vs. Spooky Kids' Lunch Boxes & Choklit Cows CD/DVD
* Limewire Launches New Version 4.0
* More CD Buyers Try Legal Digital Music Services
* Chris Burnett Quartet Performs At The 4th Annual Wine And Jazz Festival
* Majority Of Youth Still Download Illegally Despite Understanding 'Copyright'

Congressman Boucher Urges Protection Of Fair Use

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection today held a hearing on H.R. 107, the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act, a bill introduced by Congressman Rick Boucher which would protect the "Fair Use" rights of the users of copyrighted material and thereby enable consumers of digital media to make use of it in ways which would enhance their personal convenience. Congressman Boucher (VA-09) first introduced the legislation with Congressman John Doolittle (CA-04) during the fall of 2002 and reintroduced the bill at the beginning of the 108th Congress.

H.R. 107 addresses two key provisions of the 1998 law which prohibit the circumvention of a technical protection measure guarding access to a copyrighted work even if the purpose of the circumvention is to exercise consumer Fair Use rights. First, the bill would limit the scope of the prohibition to circumvention for the purpose of copyright infringement. Circumvention for the purpose of exercising Fair Use rights would be permitted under the legislation.

In addition, the bill would also amend the provisions of the 1998 law which prohibit the manufacture, distribution or sale of technology which enables circumvention of the protection measures. Under the current law, trafficking in those technologies is a crime if the technology was primarily designed to be used for copyright infringement. Since this legal standard is too subjective to give manufacturers confidence to introduce new products, the legislation would instead focus on whether or not the technology has substantial non-infringing uses. If the technology is capable of substantial non-infringing use, the manufacture, distribution, and sale of the product would be lawful.

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California Bill Would Send File-Sharer To Jail

SB 1506, authored by Senator Kevin Murray (D - Los Angeles), received strong, bipartisan support as the Senate approved the measure 33 Â 0.

SB 1506 simply updates the law to apply to the most pervasive forum for piracy Â the Internet. The measure will help consumers and law enforcement distinguish between legitimate works distributed on the Internet and pirated works.

This statute is a valuable tool for local and state law enforcement to go after piracy and has become the model statute for other states and other countries to combat piracy.

Violation of the statute would be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2500 and/or up to one year imprisonment. The penalties do not apply to those distributing files to their immediate family or within their home networks. A minor who violated the statute would have to pay a fine of $250 for a first or second offense and a fine not to exceed $1,000, imprisonment in a county jail, or both, for a third or subsequent violation.

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Indie Artist Radio Partners With Music Connection

Indie Artist Radio has entered into an agreement with Music Connection Magazine, making it possible for independent musicians to be seen by more than 75,000 music fans, professionals, and industry leaders.

Indie Artist Radio, part of the RadioDevil Group, is recognized as being one of the top ten places for independent artists to be played and heard. Their commitments to supporting indie artists rings loud and clear with their newest feature, the Global Album Release Party. The Global Album Release Party offers international exposure to new releases with an "in your face" approach to promoting indie artists.

Indie Artist Radio's Director of Artist Affairs, Christopher LaGrone, is very pleased about the new relationship with Music Connection and says, "The whole concept of our Global Album Release Party started as a means to provide the artist with many of the same resources associated with major label releases. We've put a lot of effort into enrolling music veterans to assist in the promotional aspects of indie music."

"To have a leading publication, such as Music Connection Magazine, contact us to discuss additional promotional opportunities has us all very excited. The fact that we can now offer the inclusion of a print ad in a major magazine allows us to broaden the scope of attention, for these artists, beyond the normal web and internet radio media outlets."

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New Orf Web Site Kicks Off 2004 Festival

The Online Rock Festival has officially launched its newly designed web site for the 2004 season. In addition to the new design, ORF has also undergone some structural changes during the off-season.

This year the festival will be organized and run by the non-profit organization Agent15, whose ideals and motivations aptly complement those of the independent music community. Ever since its conception in 2001, ORF has experienced a progressively rapid growth in participation, capacity, and support. With this yearÂ¹s changes, 2004 promises to yield the largest, most successful festival yet.

The Online Rock Festival is an annual, Internet based music showcase of independent rock bands. This event generates an unlikely mesh of musicians from assorted countries, genres, economic capacity, and creative ideals. The result is a unique, interactive community of bands, jurors, and fans who share the task of awarding seven groups with prizes provided by an array of sponsors.

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Tshirthell.com Settles $15 Million Lawsuit With The Osbournes

Tshirthell.com reached an out of court settlement with Ozzy Osbourne and family. The copyright infringement suit concerned a t-shirt with the phrase, "F--- my family, I'm moving in with the Osbournes". Tshirthell.com had initially sought 15 million dollars in damages.

Tshirthell.com began selling the shirt in March of 2002. They claim that shortly thereafter, $500 worth of the shirts were purchased by Osbourne's record label. Soon after, Osbourne and his wife decided to manufacturer t-shirts which were virtually identical to tshirthell.com's original shirt with the similar phrase, "&@# my family! I'm moving in with...The Osbourne Family", as well as an uncensored version.

The suit alleged that the defendants, by manufacturing, distributing, and merchandising the shirts were "engaging in unfair competition and creating a likeness confusion," and causing "irreparable damages" to Tshirthell.com.

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Lawsuit By Marilyn Manson Vs. Spooky Kids' Lunch Boxes & Choklit Cows CD/DVD

Goth-rock superstar, Marilyn Manson (birth name Brian Warner) has filed a lawsuit against a former member of his own original band "Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids" it was confirmed today by Richard Wolfe, legal representative for Florida-based Empire Musicwerks, the record company named as a defendant in the suit. Empire Musicwerks recently released the CD with companion DVD, Lunch Boxes & Choklit Cows by The Spooky Kids, championed by former Spooky Kids/Marilyn Manson guitar player and producer Scott Putesky.

Putesky has recently been conducting media interviews touting the release that impacted the sales charts in last week's "Billboard" magazine. The suit was filed on behalf of Brian Warner, p/k/a Marilyn Manson and Stephen Bier p/k/a (another member of Spooky Kids/Manson band known as Madonna Wayne Gacy) against both Scott Putesky (who is known as Daisy Berkowitz in Spooky Kids) and Empire Musicwerks as the record label that released and is marketing the project. The action was filed on April 28, 2004 in the United States District Court in and for The Central District of California Western Division.

The public document claims, among other things infringement of copyright, unauthorized use of illustration, images and film footage. Manson asked for cease and desist of sales of the CD Lunch Boxes & Choklit Cows, return and destruction of all product and promotional materials, and is claiming an estimated $500,000 in damages and asking for other punitive damages and attorney costs.

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Limewire Launches New Version 4.0

Lime Wire LLC today announced the release of LimeWire 4.0, a superior new file sharing application that offers users faster and more successful downloads, improved searches for rare content, and a sleek new interface. LimeWire 4.0 includes a guarantee that users will get no bundled software when they download this new version, and as always, Lime Wire continues its tradition of not utilizing spyware (software which collect personal information that can be used in market research).

"One of the biggest challenges in a file sharing network is in the ability to locate rare content when a user searches for it," said Chief Operating Officer Greg Bildson. "LimeWire 4.0 does a great job of this with a powerful search engine under the hood. If it's out there, LimeWire 4.0 will find it and with download innovations a user will get the file faster than anywhere else."

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More CD Buyers Try Legal Digital Music Services

According to the latest data from The NPD Group, an increasing number of CD buyers are also purchasing from legal digital music download services, such as iTunes, Buy.com and others. Legal digital music services also appear to attract consumers who tend to purchase more CDs than the average consumer. This comes at a time when fewer of these consumers are using peer-to-peer (P2P) services to share music files illegally.

Just under five percent of CD buyers reported using a legal service to purchase music during the first quarter of 2004, which is nearly three times the level NPD observed among music buyers during the same period in 2003 (1.7 percent). Among music buyers who purchased both physical CDs and a song download from a legal service, the likelihood that they also downloaded a song illegally fell dramatically, from 64 percent last year to 42 percent in 2004.

Subscription services showed only a slight reduction in the number of CDs that they purchased at retail. The average consumer who paid for digital music as well as CDs purchased less than one fewer CD in 2003 compared to 2002.

"Paid services like iTunes and Rhapsody appear to be attracting core music buyers, which can create a firm foundation for legal digital music purchases," said Russ Crupnick, president of NPD Music. "To date, NPD data shows that there has been a small reduction in sales of CDs; however, that decline might be offset by the overall value of the digital customer and the downturn in illegal file sharing."

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Chris Burnett Quartet Performs At The 4th Annual Wine And Jazz Festival

ASR Records recording artist, Chris Burnett, and his jazz ensemble, Chris Burnett QUARTET, will present three shows during the 4th Annual Wine and Jazz Festival held each year at the Elms Resort and Spa.

The Chris Burnett Quartet performance at this event will be held on Saturday, October 9, 2004 and will feature original compositions and arrangements of familiar jazz repertoire by award winning composer and the band's leader, Chris Burnett.

Mr. Burnett began his professional performing career as a member of US military jazz bands and returned home to his native Kansas City area to perform in 2001. He has performed thousands of engagements worldwide and even appeared on Italian television while a member of the special NATO Band based at Naples, Italy. Chris Burnett QUARTET debuted at the 2002 Roots Festival held at Paola, Kansas; and, was the opening act for trumpet legend, Maynard Ferguson's, recent performance in Kansas City. Burnett has one commercially released CD on the market, and the group is currently preparing music for a new CD.

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Majority Of Youth Still Download Illegally Despite Understanding 'Copyright'

An understanding of copyright law is not enough to stop kids from downloading copyrighted software, games, music and other digital media through illegal, online file-sharing networks, according to a new Harris Interactive poll conducted for the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

A majority of youth are aware that digital media files are copyrighted (91 percent of young people are aware that books are copyrighted; 88 percent, movies; 88 percent, music; 86 percent, software; 83 percent, games and 64 percent, Web sites), yet many of them admit to downloading files anyway. Just over half say they download music (53 percent) and a third download games (32 percent), while fewer kids say they download larger digital files such as commercial software (22 percent) and movies (17 percent).

"Unfortunately, many kids and teens continue to download copyrighted works illegally even though more than half of them think there are laws against downloading digital works," said Diane Smiroldo, vice president of public affairs for BSA.

"What's most alarming is that eight out of 10 kids and teens understand the definition of copyright and nearly all of them, especially teens, are aware that software, music and movies are protected by copyright. The fact that kids know stealing software is wrong, and yet they behave like it's okay, clearly illustrates a challenging ethical dilemma."

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