fair music weblog

According to BBC online news, NME reviews editor Julian Marshall thinks more bands are going to attempt new ideas in music distribution and music marketing like Radiohead: “I think it’s actually a really exciting time. People have been talking for years about how the internet was going to change the way people approach releasing their records,” Marshall says to BBC. Entertainment Retailers Association deputy chairman Ben Drury is quoted: “There are more ways to get music than ever before and really, it’s those labels that adapt to those conditions are the ones that will survive and prosper.”

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The International Music Council’s Second World Forum on Music starts in Beijing, China, on Thursday 10th October. Following the first World Forum on Music, held in Los Angeles in October 2005, the 2007 Forum aims at exploring some of the most important developments in music.

The main themes of the Forum are: Music in Development with a focus on the importance of strengthening the musical sector in developing countries; intellectual Property Rights and the implications of alternative regimes for ensuring artists’ rights; enhancing musical diversity; music in the Future - how social, cultural, political and technological trends influence music in the years to come.

Peter Rantasa, Executive Board Member of IMC, director of mica - music austria and initiator of fair music initiave will chair an important session on the complex topic of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in music on Friday. The speakers represent perspectives of authors, musicians, collecting societies, research, online-business and music industry and the UN organisation WIPO.

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After it emerged that the british rock band Radiohead is selling its latest album online and lets fans decide how much they want to pay, Guy Hands, whose private equity house Terra Firma purchased EMI two months ago, has urged the staff of the label, according to the Telegraph, in a confidential e-mail to embrace the digital age. “Mr Hands said the dramatic move by Radiohead was ‘a wake-up call which we should all welcome and respond to with creativity and energy’.”, writes the online Telegraph.
Hands is further quoted that the music industry “has for too long been dependent on how many CDs can be sold” and “rather than embracing digitalisation (…) the industry has stuck its head in the sand”.

The article: EMI warning on internet music - Telegraph.co.uk

Yesterday started Capitol Records v. Jammie Thomas, the first file-sharing case to go to trial, in Duluth, Minnesota. After a calm morning session the afternoon brought a revelation during the questioning of Jennifer Pariser, Sony BMG’s head of litigation, according to Eric Bangeman’s report on Ars Technica: “(…) a Sony executive said what many observers have suspected for a long time. The RIAA’s four-year-old lawsuit campaign is costing the music industry millions of dollars and is a big money-loser for the record labels. “Saying that the record labels have spent ‘millions’ on the lawsuits, she then said that ‘we’ve lost money on this program.’”, says the report.

The british Alternative-band Radiohead just finished their new album and is first releasing it as a download. The album In Rainbows will be available as a download from 10th October on and can be pre-ordered from their website. How much it costs is up to the fans. When you go to the checkout on their website after ordering and want to know the price, it says: “It’s up to you”.

There have been rumours that Radiohead will produce their new album on their own after their contract with EMI expired, but this pricing policy for sure is a surprise.

In a recent interview with TIME singer Thom Yorke has said, “I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one. And, yes, it probably would give us some perverse pleasure to say ‘F___ you’ to this decaying business model.” So now they did.
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Hip Hop in Schwizer Dütsch (swiss german)? A tv program that is called Cafe Ristretto? A video plattform on the web that has a fixed schedule? For some days now this is real: The internet technology design studio Neotrivium, which is situated in Zürich, Switzerland, has just launched the internet music tv-station Restorm.

“We want to get swiss bands to publish their own clips”, says Restorm-founder Theo Favetto in an interview for Blick online. Charts don’t have a go at Restorm. Of course they want as well to play videos of known bands, but their main interest is to foster young swiss bands. If necessary they would even help them out with a camerateam to shoot their music clip in a professional manner. That could mean a lot for the artists publicity in the country and abroad. Because up to now when people think of swiss music they probably only come up with Alphorns and Yodeling. And it is quite unlikely that a swiss band that is rapping in Schwizer Dütsch would have a chance on MTV or at one of the Majors.