THIS WEEK IN THE MUSIC BIZ April 19, 2005 Edition
* File Sharers Worldwide Face Lawsuits
- Music File-Sharers Face Biggest Round Of Legal Actions Yet
- BPI Ups The Pressure On Internet Music Pirates
- RIAA Targets New Piracy Epidemic On Special High-Speed Campus Network
* Richard Blackstone To Be Named Chairman And CEO Of Warner/Chappell Music
* Court Affirms Copyright Protections For Key Pre-1972 EMI Music Releases
* Portable MP3 Player Shipments To Achieve 'Critical Mass'
* Urban Gurus Form Joint Ventures With Majors Labels
- Russell Simmons Music Group (RSMG) Formed As Label Venture With Island Def Jam Music Group
- Sean "P.Diddy" Combs And Bad Boy Entertainment Form Joint Venture With Warner Music Group
* Consumers' Willingness To Pay For Music Downloads Grows
* North East Pirates Face The Music On Teesside
* Universal Motown Appoints Eric Nicks To Senior Vice President, A&R
File Sharers Worldwide Face Lawsuits
Music File-Sharers Face Biggest Round Of Legal Actions Yet
The biggest wave of legal actions against internet music file-sharers was announced by IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), with new cases launched against 963 individuals in 11 countries across Europe and Asia.
The actions extend the policy of suing alleged illegal file-sharers to four new countries in Europe - Netherlands, Finland, Ireland and Iceland. They join Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the UK, who all began litigation in the last year.
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BPI Ups The Pressure On Internet Music Pirates
UK record companies' trade association the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) announced it is taking legal action against another 33 illegal filesharers in the UK, bringing to 90 the number of people in the UK that have faced legal action since its campaign against internet filesharing began last year.
The UK recording industry first announced legal action against 26 illegal filesharers in October 2004. Those cases have all now been settled, with defendants paying more than £50,000 total in compensation.
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RIAA Targets New Piracy Epidemic On Special High-Speed Campus Network
In response to an emerging epidemic of music theft on a specialized, high-speed university computer network known as Internet2, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), on behalf of the major record companies, filed copyright infringement lawsuits against 405 students at 18 different colleges across the country.
Internet2 is an advanced network created by participating colleges and universities for important academic research. Through the use of a file-sharing application known as "i2hub," however, Internet2 is increasingly becoming the network of choice for students seeking to steal copyrighted songs and other works on a massive scale. Downloading from i2hub via Internet2 is extremely fast -- in most cases, less than five minutes for a movie or less than 20 seconds for a song. Students find i2hub especially appealing because they mistakenly believe their illegal file-sharing activities can't be detected in the closed environment of the Internet2 network.
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Richard Blackstone To Be Named Chairman And CEO Of Warner/Chappell Music
Warner Music Group (WMG) announced that Richard Blackstone, president of Zomba Music Publishing, will be named Chairman and CEO of Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., the company's worldwide music-publishing division. Upon the expiration of his current agreement with Zomba, Blackstone will succeed Warner/Chappell's Chairman and CEO, Les Bider, who recently announced his decision to step down following the appointment of a successor. Blackstone will report to WMG's Chairman and CEO, Edgar Bronfman, Jr.
During his tenure at Zomba, Blackstone worked with performers and songwriters such as R. Kelly, Linkin Park, Justin Timberlake, *NSync, Macy Gray, Limp Bizkit, Korn, Keith Stegall, The Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One and numerous others.
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This New York State Court of Appeals opinion stems from a suit that Capitol Records filed in 2002 against Naxos in U.S. federal district court based on Naxos's illegal copying, marketing and distribution of EMI Classics recordings from the 1930's in the U.S. without permission. While these recordings have fallen into the public domain overseas, Capitol argued that the recordings are protected by New York state law, which protects recordings issued prior to 1972. Federal copyright law covers works created since 1972.
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Portable MP3 Player Shipments To Achieve 'Critical Mass'
JupiterResearch reported that U.S. shipments of MP3 players will grow 35% to 18.2 million in 2005 and maintain a compound annual growth rate of over 10% through 2010, reaching an installed base of 56.1 million by then, up from 16.2 million in 2004. MP3 players will reach critical mass this year, fueling demand for digital music services and stores.
"Apple shows no signs of losing momentum," said Michael Gartenberg, VP and Research Director at JupiterResearch. "The iPod is a consumer phenomenon. Apple dominates this sector and will dominate portable MP3 player growth over the medium term," added Gartenberg. Mostly due to the iPod's success, JupiterResearch has raised its near-term forecast, but projects that flash-based player shipments will surpass those of hard-drive models in 2007.
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Urban Gurus Form Joint Ventures With Majors Labels
Russell Simmons Music Group (RSMG) Formed As Label Venture With Island Def Jam Music Group
The Russell Simmons Music Group (RSMG) has been formed as a 50/50 joint label with Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJ) to include a label deal and consultancy agreement, it was announced today by Antonio "L.A." Reid, Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group, a division of Universal Music Group.
RSMG will be headed by Russell Simmons, co-founder of the original Def Jam Records label two decades ago. Tony Austin has been named president of the new label. RSMG will debut later this year with new albums by Reverend Run (Joseph Simmons), one of the founders of beloved hip-hop icons Run-DMC, and Buddafly, a hot R&B group comprised of three sisters.
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Sean "P.Diddy" Combs And Bad Boy Entertainment Form Joint Venture With Warner Music Group
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, founder and CEO of Bad Boy Entertainment, a Grammy Award winning producer, hip-hop artist, pop star and TIME magazine's "Most Influential Business Leader of 2005," has entered into a worldwide 50/50 joint venture with Warner Music Group. As part of the newly formed joint venture, Combs will continue to serve as CEO and will be able to draw upon the marketing, promotional and physical and electronic distribution resources of WMG and its Atlantic Records, WEA Corp. and Warner Music International divisions.
The new joint venture, known as Bad Boy Records, will include Combs' existing recorded music business - which has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including 10 million alone by Combs - and its Grammy Award winning catalog and roster of multi-platinum artists such as B5, Boyz N Da Hood, Mase, Carl Thomas, 8 Ball & MJG, Mario Winans and P. Diddy himself. The company will continue to be based out of Bad Boy's current offices in Manhattan.
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Consumers' Willingness To Pay For Music Downloads Grows
While Peer-2-Peer and piracy issues have not entirely disappeared, consumers are showing heightened awareness and interest in legitimate online music services, reports In-Stat. The worldwide online music market is expected to grow 134% this year, reaching $1 billion for the first time. With increased competition between sites this year, differentiation will be a key strategy. Sites are building larger catalogs and working with labels to offer new types of digital content, such as live concerts and remixes. In addition, branding and customer loyalty will be a primary focus.
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North East Pirates Face The Music On Teesside
After a private prosecution by UK record companies trade association the BPI, a ten-strong gang of music pirates dubbed "The Teesside Ten" were sentenced after pleading guilty to charges of Conspiracy to Defraud the music and film industries.
The court heard that in a sophisticated operation the gang had raked in a massive £11,000 per week over the duration of the scam  amounting to more than £1.2 million in total. An estimated £6,000 a week came from market sales, an additional £1,500 through a "weekly club" and a further estimated £3,500 weekly through wholesale and mail-order.
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Universal Motown Appoints Eric Nicks To Senior Vice President, A&R
Universal Motown Records Group has appointed Eric Nicks to Senior Vice President of A&R, it was announced by Samuel 'Tone' Barnes, Executive Vice President of A&R for the company.
Prior to joining Universal Motown, Mr. Nicks served as Senior Vice President of A&R for Sony Records. Mr. Nicks began his career in the music industry at Violator Management, where he helped guide the careers of such artists as LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, Noriega, and Foxy Brown, among others. His background also includes serving as Vice President of A&R for Def Jam Records, where he worked closely with such artists as LL Cool J and Ghostface, and running his own management company, EVision Entertainment.
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Provided by the MusicDish Network. Copyright © Tag It 2005 - Republished with Permission
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