Month: March 2012

A three-judge panel at the Court of Appeal in London has ruled against appeals by BT Group and the TalkTalk Telecom Group, who were challenging an April 2011 High Court ruling against them.

The ISPs had complained to the High Court that implementing measures to counter illegal file-sharing demanded by the Digital Economy Act would mean incurring disproportionate costs. They also claimed those requirements were incompatible with EU legislation on individual privacy and data protection.

The court case against the ISPs’ appeal was led predominantly by a number of interested parties who are among those involved in the Creative Coalition Campaign (CCC), which co-ordinates the UK creative industry’s response to the issue of piracy.

The decision has been welcomed across the creative sector, including CISAC member societies in the UK – DACS, Directors UK, and PRS for Music, who are part of the CCC.

Welcoming the decision, CISAC Director General Olivier Hinnewinkel said: “The judges’ ruling that the Act is proportionate, legal and enforceable paves the way for this important legislation to finally be implemented. It also sends a positive signal to creators worldwide who are facing opposition to proposed measures to effectively tackle the blight of illegal downloading and online piracy.”

Mr Hinnewinkel added: “Creators want to be able to make a living out of their art, whether in the physical or digital environment.” The UK has probably one of the largest creative sector in the world and these measures are vital to secure the future growth of the creative sector and its 1.8m jobs in the UK.

Although BT and TalkTalk could yet appeal to the UK Supreme Court, the creative sector is urging the ISPs to now enter into full discussions with rights-holders so that, jointly, they stanch the flow of illegal content flooding the Internet.

In a statement, Directors UK concluded: “We now hope to see the Government, creative industries and ISPs working together to implement the provisions set out in the Digital Economy Act, as stated in the Court’s judgment.”

The DEA came into force on June 8, 2010; UK regulator Ofcom is currently working on the final details of its implementation, which is expected to be in 2013. Both France and Ireland already have similar legislation in place, requiring ISPs to send warnings to internet users who illegally download or share copyrighted content, with a range of possible sanctions for persistent offenders including, eventually, restriction of Internet access.

The UK judgment also means ISPs will be required to pay 25% of the cost of processing information on illegal activity received from rights-holders and issuing any resulting warnings. They will also have to pay 25% of the costs of users’ appeals against sanctions.

Written by : Tom Ferguson for CISAC

“Digital music goes global in 2011 while action on piracy gains momentum”

• Major international music services now in 58 countries, up from 23 in January 2011
• Digital music revenues up 8 per cent to US$5.2 billion
• Anti-piracy action makes an impact in France, New Zealand. US to follow in 2012

The digital music business saw unprecedented global expansion in 2011, while key steps forward were taken in several markets to help tackle digital piracy.

With rapid expansion into new markets by services such as iTunes, Spotify and Deezer, the major international digital music services are now present in 58 countries, compared to only 23 at the start of 2011.

Consumers are benefitting from a widening choice of services for experiencing digital music. In 2011, subscription services expanded and linked with new partners to reach new audiences. Meanwhile cloud technology is helping transform the way fans manage and store their music.

Global revenues to record companies grew by an estimated 8 per cent to US$5.2 billion in 2011 – a faster rate than 2010 – with strong consumer demand for both single track downloads (up 11 per cent by volume), digital albums (up 24 per cent by volume) and fast-expanding subscription services. The number of users paying to subscribe to a music service leapt by 65 per cent in 2011 to 13.4 million worldwide, according to IFPI estimates.

In the US, the world’s largest music market, digital channels have overtaken physical formats to become the primary source of revenues for record companies. Globally, 32 per cent of music industry revenues come from digital sources, far surpassing the film, newspaper and book sectors. New services launched across Latin America, while in China record companies are working in a landmark partnership with the largest internet company Baidu.

IFPI’s Digital Music Report 2012 is published today, providing a comprehensive overview and analysis of the global digital music business at the start of 2012.

Commenting on the Report, Frances Moore, CEO of IFPI, said: “As we enter 2012, there are good reasons for optimism in the world of digital music. Legal services with expanding audiences have reached across the globe and consumer choice has been revolutionised. Meanwhile momentum is building in the fight against piracy as governments and a growing circle of intermediaries engage with our industry.

“Any complacency now, however, would be a great mistake. Our digital business is progressing in spite of the environment in which it operates, not because of it. In 2012 the momentum needs to build further. We need legislation from governments with coordinated measures that deal with piracy effectively and in all its forms. We also need more cooperation from online intermediaries such as search engines and advertisers to support the legal digital music business.”

Positive momentum but legal environment remains a huge problem

Piracy remains an enormous barrier to sustainable growth in digital music. Globally, one in four internet users (28%) regularly access unlicensed services, according to IFPI/Nielsen. This is rigging the market for legitimate services, stunting growth and jeopardising investment in music. IFPI advocates an inclusive combination of graduated response, site-blocking and other measures to tackle the problem.

There has been positive momentum in the fight against piracy in 2011. In France, the introduction of the new Hadopi graduated response law has seen peer-to-peer (P2P) piracy levels decline by 26 per cent, with around two million P2P users stopping the activity since warning notices were first sent out in October 2010 according to IFPI/Nielsen.

A newly-published academic study finds evidence that Hadopi has had a positive impact on iTunes sales in France. The analysis, by Danaher et al¹, found that iTunes singles sales were 23 per cent higher than they would have been in the absence of Hadopi.

In the US, a groundbreaking ISP cooperation deal was signed in 2011 and a graduated response programme will be implemented in 2012, with most major ISPs signing up to a “copyright alert system”. The move follows the closure of the illegal service LimeWire in 2010, which has helped cause a dramatic drop in levels of P2P piracy in the US market.

There was important progress elsewhere too. In New Zealand, a new graduated response law took effect in September 2011, with early indications of impact. In Europe, a string of court judgments has helped reduce copyright infringing activity on major sites like The Pirate Bay. In Belgium and Italy visits to the infringing sites dropped by 70-80 per cent in each case. In Spain a new law came into force to allow the blocking of illegal websites – a positive step, though disappointingly limited in its scope.

Stepped-up cooperation with online intermediaries

The recorded music industry is now working directly with advertisers, payment providers, search engines and website hosts to tackle digital piracy. A partnership struck in 2011 between IFPI, the City of London Police and payment providers MasterCard, Visa and PayPal has prevented more than 60 illegal websites from abusing payment services since it began in March 2011.

Better cooperation is being sought with search engines, which are a major channel for consumers to access music. Research in several countries indicates that between a quarter and a half of people illegally downloading access infringing music via search engines. However, many of the top results provided by search engines are linked to unauthorised content or sites which regularly infringe copyright.

Artist/Producer Management; Business Models & Agreements;
Taking care of business: Artist Admin & Money Management.

Will take place @ IMRO Offices, Copyright House,
Pembroke Row, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2
From 11.30am to 5.00pm

Panellists:

Stuart Worthington
Stuart Worthington is a professional industry consultant with over twenty years experience. He has acted as a small business adviser; consultant and training provider working both directly with private sector clients and via the whole range of public sector agencies in the UK since 1987. Since 1990 he has concentrated on delivering small business advice and learning programmes to the cultural and creative industries, specialising in services to the music industry.

Eileen O’Gorman
Advises a broad range of clients in the corporate sector on commercial issues and has been involved in the negotiation and drafting of a wide range of commercial agreements, corporate restructuring and commercial transactions. She has also advised industry clients in contentious issues such as breach of contract, patent infringement, breach of copyright and passing off.  Eileen also provides an eclectic mix of music and media clients with advice on recording, management and publishing agreements and generally in the area of copyright law and intellectual property rights.

Alan Murray
Alan Murray is a tax specialist and a chartered certified account with over 15 years experience with a particular emphasis on clients involved in the entertainment sector.  Alan is a senior member of the Mazars OJK Entertainment Division and his clients range from global international high profile entertainers to indigenous performers based primarily in the Irish market place. Alan has experience in advising on the tax issues of all elements of entertainment income streams for performing musicians including recording and publishing royalties and live performance income.  He also has particular expertise in dealing with HMRC in terms of agreeing UK withholding tax for live performances in the UK. Through his work in this area Alan has developed leading entertainment contacts in both the UK and US and can offer a global service in this sector”.

Ray Traynor
Producer / Engineer / Songwriter / Keyboard Player
Ray has been in the music business for the last 20 years. Started by playing keyboards in a few Dublin based bands, and gigged Ireland & UK. From playing keys in bands and the introduction of sequencers and computers he progressed to programming for bands and artists and then to recording them. He set up a recording studio in Dublin in 2002 and worked with artists such as Aslan, Alabama 3, The script and many others. He then moved his studio back home and freelanced from there onwards using various studios and engineers to assist him in his work. Ray is currently working with some unsigned & signed artists with artists such as Aslan, The Script, The Coronas, The 4 of Us, Royseven, Boyzone and several others and this year will be co-writing and producing his own album.

Cost of training day is €20 for MMF members
Cost of training day is €32 for IMRO members
Cost of training day is €70 for non-members