Source: “Lights Go Out In Clubs” – Metro (19/07/2010)

Whether any of this is necessarily a bad thing depends on who you ask, but the bottom line is that music is being spread around the internet without the consent of the people who made it and own it. As the dance music industry has always been the earliest to embrace new technologies – leading the way with digital downloads for example – and because it only ever seems to be the big record labels we hear from when matters of piracy and such are concerned, we decided it was time to gauge the feeling in our world.

We asked over 200 record label managers, PR agents, producers, artists and promo companies to complete our survey, so as to give some indication as to the feelings and opinions of our industry with regard to file-sharing, piracy and everything that goes with it.

What emerges from our results is that the vast majority feel that their business has been affected by piracy, and that the process of trying to get copyright-infringing links taken down from Google and sharing sites is both something which is not widely understood and a process that doesn’t always succeed. And while the three strikes system of punishing persistent illegal downloaders that is to be introduced in the UK seems to be favoured by a majority, only a small percentage of those surveyed believe that only the users should be targeted by anti-piracy measures – rather than tackling the supply side of the problem as well or instead.

Dance Music Vs Piracy, survey undertaken by Data Transmission.
Original article written by Ben Gomori
Please click here for the full article and the survey results

In 2003, I started 2Point9 with my former Telstar promotions colleague Rob Stuart and we signed singer Jay Sean amongst others. The company fast became the leading label for contemporary crossover
“Brit-asian-urban” music which we exported around the world through licensing and touring. The first 5 years was like a whirlwind and I was fortunate enough to have been flown to most parts of the globe in this time.

2008 saw 2Point9 release Jay Sean’s 2nd album ‘My Own Way’ independently on its own Jayded Record label. The album peaked at No.6 in the UK and was licensed to US Cash Money Records where the first US single – ‘Down’ featuring Lil Wayne – went triple platinum selling over 3 million units and peaking at No.1 in the US Billboard Top 100.

As well as EDIT I have also been involved with AIM (the association of independent record labels) for a couple of years and I also attend the Urban Music International Group. All three collectives actively encourage the idea of creating communities for sharing of information and also, to a certain extent, resources. This can ultimately be of great assistance to independent labels and managers as I truly believe, one way for independents to achieve more success is by working together more.

For further information on 2Point9 please visit:
www.2point9.com

The Digital Economy Bill was passed today by 189 votes to 47, after two hours debate in it’s third reading at the House Of Commons and has managed to keep the majority of its original clauses intact.

The Bill received last minute support from the Conservative Party and despite some opposition the Government managed to get Bill vote through with relative ease. However, for final approval the Bill will need to go back to the House of Lords as this is where it originated. Approval is expected to be given as this procedure is a largely viewed as a formality. After this stage the Bill will have completed all of its parliamentary processes and is expected to receive Royal Assent before passing into law.

MPs were criticised for a low turn out to the Bill’s second reading despite strong opposition with over 20,000 voters writing to their MPs in the last seven days to lobby against the Bill being rushed through in its current format.

The Bill controversially seeks to curb online piracy and other major policies, all with the overall aim of stimulating the UK’s digital economy. It has already caused ripples across the technology world, most notably because of its proposals regarding the suspension of repeat filesharers’ internet connections and also the measures that would allow politicians to block pirate websites without primary legislation.

The Government initially removed this proposed clause during previous Parliamentary readings, but have since replaced it with a different amendment allowing the Secretary of State for Business to block any site which “the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright”.

Clause 43 was withdrawn which proposed extending the licensing of orphaned copyrighted works and the Government has abandoned plans to introduce a 50-pence-a-month tax on telephone land lines to help part-fund the build out of a next-generation high-speed broadband network. This clause was dropped from the separate Finance Bill.

Source: The Telegraph

Online music sales royalties grew by 72.7 per cent to £30.4 million, with more and more consumers downloading music from stores such as iTunes. Around 16.1 million albums were downloaded last year, up 56.1 per cent on the previous year.

PRS for Music, which collects royalties for 65k+ British songwriters, said that the £12.8 million growth in digital music revenue had more than made up for the £8.7 million loss in royalties from falling CD sales, announcing an overall 2.6 per cent rise in annual revenue last year to £623 million.

Robert Ashcroft, chief executive of PRS, said: “2009 was the first year in which the growth in revenues from the legal digital market compensated for the decline in revenues from traditional CDs and DVDs, though we remain cautious as to whether this represents a true turning point […] The next decade does, however, promise further growth in earnings from the legal digital market as well as the use of British music overseas.”

More than 150 million singles were sold last year, up from 115 million in 2008 -mostly sold digitally- and overtook album sales in Britain for the first time, which fell from 134 million to 129 million over the same period.

Top 10 most-played tracks in 2009

Sweet About Me – Gabriella Cilmi
Viva La Vida – Coldplay
The Time is Now – Moloko
Mercy – Duffy
Shine – Take That
The Promise – Girls Aloud
No Air – Jordin Sparks
The Man Who Can’t Be Moved – The Script
Greatest Day – Take That
Spotlight – Jennifer Hudson

Original article from The Times Online

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article7061725.ece

a dance music label that’s about to celebrate it’s third birthday.

Starting off in the music industry as a drummer in his teens, Andy was playing regularly in his native Scotland, when he got interested in electronic dance music and production.

After a few years of crude production, he widened his skills to encompass DJing, coming of age just as the Big Beat explosion was hitting down, and began playing regularly in his adopted home of Derby. As the years went on and Big Beat became Nu Skool Breaks, Andy kept his finger on the pulse running nights in and around Derby and regularly getting guest DJs from around the country to play at his ‘Ground Level’ nights.

At the end of 2006, the steady flow of tracks being given to him by guest DJs gave him an idea, to provide an outlet for this music, and so Ground Level Records was born. Not knowing anything about running a record label, everything was a process of trial and error, the only motto was that no corners where cut, the vinyl records would be cut by the best guys, the remixes by the hottest talent and the artwork accompanying the release would be fresh and innovative, making sure a product came out that oozed quality. This seemed to do the trick, and by January 2008, 10 releases in, Ground Level was nominated as best Breakthrough label at the International Breakbeat Awards, Breakspoll.

Now 20 releases in, Ground Level has grown from being purely a Breaks label to encompassing Electro and Fidget House, Dubstep, Nu Funk and Electronica, still using the no corners cut motto and ensuring every release oozes quality.

When not running the label, Andy teaches drums, plays in bands and DJs at the Ground Level nights up and down the country, and when he gets time sometimes manages to write a track in the studio himself!

For further info:

www.groundlevelrecords.com

http://www.whosampled.com/

Ever wondered what that sample is in that record you love? Well now you can thanks to a website called Who Sampled. Their mantra is ‘exploring & discussing the DNA of music’. Who Sampled are in the process of compiling the ultimate database of sampled music and cover songs.

Currently they’ve added direct links between over 25,000 songs and 10,000 artists from across all genres. Who Sampled allow you to dig deeper into music by discovering much more about the tracks you are listening to. But it is more than this you can watch the videos, contribute new content, discuss and vote…
WhoSampled.com is a community site for exploring and discussing sampled music and cover songs. Anyone can submit information about a sample or a cover it will be published on the site to be discussed by the world. Created out of a love for sampling and music production WhoSampled’s aim was not only to be the most comprehensive, detailed and accurate database of samples and covers on the net but also a fun and engaging place to be and prides itself on being all about the discovery of new and old music.

Taken from:
http://nukleuz.com/latestnews/who-sampled-who-find-out-here/

Rob discusses his views on the future of music, covering piracy, new commercial models, social-networking, search-engines, live-music, new online music portals and mobile music are all explored and discussed.

The Music Void – Rob Wells on MUZU

Taken from:
http://biginibiza.com/latest_news/rob-wells-universal-music-on-the-future-of-digital/

“Launched in 2007 in order to address the need for greater music industry analysis within the blogosphere, The Music Void has since grown to become a leading source of music business information, covering all major aspects of the sector and offering opinion pieces from outspoken personalities, key industry executives and insightful contributions from their team.”

“Jakomi Mathews is a digital music practitioner who has worked with many successful digital music companies since completing his MA in Music Business Management and has built an impressive network of the music world’s leaders and innovators. Previously, Jakomi worked as the Business Strategy and Development Director at Oplayo, a Finnish-based horizontally integrated mobile solutions company and launched Music Void Consultants to provide strategic and marketing consultation for the likes of Diageo, Synrgzy, Hutchinson 3G, Find Tunes, jTV and a number of record labels.”

http://www.themusicvoid.com/