fair music weblog

iRights, a web platform for intellectual property rights in the digital world, reports about a prevailing study of the US Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), which says that “music piracy” costs US-economy a loss of billions of Dollars per year. Besides that, the study claims, 71.060 jobs get lost, thereof 26.860 in the music industry. One of the consequences shall be that the states are being deprived of 422 million US-Dollars on taxes.

iRights points out though, that at the end of their report IPI writes, all these numbers are estimates and their main source is the report 2006 Global Recording Industry in Numbers, published by the IFPI, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

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Hypebot has interviewed Charles Caldas, CEO of Merlin, the first global indpendent rights licensing agency for music in new media. Merlin has been officially launched on August 20, 2007 and acts as an alliance of independent music production companies all over the world. Merlin wants to provide access to and protect the global independent sector by ensuring competitive terms for new and emerging media usages of its music.

In the interview on Hypebot, Charles Caldas says: “I believe that all independent labels, distributors and aggregators should join Merlin. The broadest possible membership will not only maximise the impact of Merlin but also allow us to enhance the ability for our members to compete in the market. Through their participation in Merlin, independents can for the first time ever have the unique interests of their sector represented on a truly global scale, by a non-profit, member owned body focused totally on their sector.”

Interview With Merlin CEO Charles Caldas - hypebot

Independents starten mit Merlin die erste Lizenzagentur für weltweites Repertoire - VUT online (Jan 2007)

The fair music Initiative has been presented today to international press in Salzburg, Austria, close to the Festspielhaus of Salzburg Festival.

The fair music initiative has started to establish a global alliance for fairness in the music business. The fair music initiative falls within the scope of the UNESCO Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression and enjoys the support of the Austrian Commission for UNESCO. NGOs such as the International Music Council and the European Music Council have joined the project. Based on stakeholder consultations, fair music will develop standards which music products and distribution channels must meet in order to receive a fair music seal of approval in the future.

Initiative für faire Musik - ORF Futurezone

Wie “Fair Trade”, so auch “Fair Music” - derstandard.at

Mica stellt Initiative für Fairness und Gerechtigkeit in der Musikwirtschaft vor - musikmarkt.de

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Popkomm, the international business platform for the music and entertain-
ment industry, will take place in Berlin September 19-21. Popkomm is exhibition, festival and conference at the same time.

Many topics of the conference track will deal with the future of the music industry and market in the digital age.

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Patrick Dax of ORF Futurezone has interviewed Peter Rantasa, director of mica - music austria, about the fair music Initiative. “We would like to build a coalition of artists and fans”, says Peter Rantasa in the interview. Asked, why fair music starts now, he argues: “Globalisation and digitalisation change the legal, economic and organisational structures of the music business. Music is distributed more and more via downloads, the days of the dominance of the CD are numbered. Therefor the questions about distribution and possibilities and chances of this business have to be posed newly.”

The idea of fair music, says Rantasa in the interview, is to develop standards for intellecutal property rights contracts, which include the artistic freedom and the remuneration of the artists in an adequate form.

Initiative für faire Musik - ORF Futurezone

BeatPick, “the FairPlay Music Label”, as they call themselves, is one of the rare examples of new business models for music distribution that try to balance the interests of artists, producers, customers and marketers. But the number is growing.

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