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Business News Week In Five
The music business week in five – Friday 17 Dec 2010
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 17 December 2010
So, the 2010 Christmas chart race is reaching its climax. From the midweeks, ‘X-Factor’ is ahead this year (on two counts really – ‘X’ winner Bob Curdle’s debut single and that old Rihanna track bothering the chart again based on her ‘X’ appearance last week), but it’s never over until the fat lady sings. And while I’ve never known what fat lady that phrase refers to, I’ve been all round Shoreditch this morning and there were no fat ladies singing.
So, it’s not too late to join in with the race, buying a bit of Curdle if that’s what turns you on, or joining in with one of the anti-X efforts if not. ‘Surfin Bird’ is ahead in that regard, but as you all know by now, it’s Cage Against The Machine that is getting us most excited here at CMU, and not just because our mate Eddy TM is involved. Surely the aim of last year’s RATM campaign was to pump a little originality into the Christmas chart, and this is the only project boasting real originality, as far as I can see.
How great would it be to get [a] some avante garde classical music, [b] one of John Cage’s greatest works and [c] 273 seconds of silence into the Christmas chart this year? And don’t forget, this is the Christmas chart contender that is all in aid of five brilliant charities, so none of your pennies will be wasted. I’m not going to preach, but if you are in any way interested, intrigued, impressed or inspired by the brilliant Cage Against The Machine project, well, you have til midnight tomorrow to buy ‘4’33″‘ from one of the download stores listed at www.catm.co.uk. And now, my final Week In Five for 2010.
01: The BPI said 75% of all UK downloads are illegal, in its lovingly wrapped Digital Music Nation 2010 report, which claimed 7.7 million Brits continue to access music from illegal sources despite 67 legit music services now being available. The UK label body called on the government to hurry up and get the three-strikes system outlined in the Digital Economy Act up and running. PC Pro used it as an excuse to phone up Jim from the Open Rights Group, who said: “The BPI is whinging that growth in their profits in the middle of a recession isn’t good enough”. CMU report | PC Pro report
02: EMI lost its appeal over Pink Floyd single sales. As part of a wider digital royalties dispute, Pink Floyd said EMI had breached its contract with the band by selling their albums on a track-by-track basis on iTunes and such like. EMI argued the ‘full albums only’ rule only applied to physical product. Earlier this year the High Court sided with the band, and this week the Appeal Court dismissed the major’s appeal on the matter. CMU report | Telegraph blog
03: Universal took its FBT squabble to the Supreme Court. FBT is the production set up that has a stake in the early Eminem recordings. It reckons that downloads should be treated as licensing deals rather than record sales, a distinction that would earn then a bigger royalty cut. And earlier this year the US’s Ninth Circuit court agreed. That court refused to rehear the case, so this week Universal filed a motion with the Supreme Court. Universal insists this case relates only to the FBT contact, and would not set a precedent that other artists with pre-internet contracts are due a bigger royalty cut on downloads. CMU report | Hip Hop DC report
04: Sony Corp was reportedly talking to Doug Morris. Reuters cited various sources that gave more credibility to last week’s rumours that the outgoing chief of Universal Music might take over the CEO job at Sony Music, rather than taking the back-seat Chairman’s role at his current employer. Another contender for the soon to be vacant top job at Sony Music, Barry Weiss, has already announced he is going to Universal. Word has it another contender, Sony/ATV music publishing’s chief Marty Bandier, isn’t interested in the top job at Sony’s record companies. CMU report | Reuters report
05: There was speculation that Citigroup was about to take ownership of EMI. Both the New York Post and Sunday Times cited sources as saying Terra Firma may hand over ownership of EMI to the major’s money lenders sooner rather than later because the equity group’s top man Guy Hands recognises he can’t raise the £100 million the music firm needs to meet the terms of its multi-billion dollar loan with the US bank next spring. Terra Firma may keep a minority shareholding, though Citigroup is likely to look to seek the music company. CMU report | City AM report
And that’s it. There’ll be the wonderful CMU Yearly in your email later today, and then two more editions of the CMU Daily and then the CMU Review Of The Year next week, but this is the last time you’ll hear from me, so please ensure you have the most happy of Christmases and a very merry Hogmanay. See you in Twenty Eleven.
Chris Cooke
Business Editor, CMU
