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Business News Week In Five
The music business week in five – Friday 26 Feb 2010
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 26 February 2010
Now, obviously most of you read every word of every edition of the CMU Daily, from the ‘what’ at the top to the ‘expertise’ at the bottom. But I met someone the other day, let’s call him Maurice, who said sometimes he was just too busy to fully digest the 100+ news stories we publish every week.
Whereas a more cruel set up would have knitted Maurice a hat bearing the word “slacker” on it, instead we are launching a new weekly column here at the top of the Daily where we will do the digesting for you, and excrete, as it were, the five most important music business news stories of the week. So if, like Maurice, you’ve been too busy to keep abreast of all the key industry stories this week, or if, like Andy CMU, your brain took quite a rum-induced beating at the NME Awards on Wednesday night wiping a chunk of your memory, here are the five things music people should definitely have been aware of this week…
01: Sellaband went bankrupt. In a possible knock back for the fan-funding concept, one of the early fan investment platforms, Sellaband, went offline last week, declared itself insolvent last Friday, and then bankrupt on Monday. However, on Tuesday co-founder Johan Vosmeijer insisted all would be OK because he had found a buyer for the website. On Wednesday the buyer was named as German entrepreneur Michael Bogatzki. The service is now set to return. Although he will step down as the firm’s CEO, Vosmeijer says he is still confident the fan-funding model will play an important part in the music industry of the future. In an interview with Wired, one of his co-founders, Pim Betist, agreed, but identified some problems with the Sellaband business to date. CMU coverage | The Wired article.
02: The Times reported that 6music will close. Recent rumours that the BBC’s digital station 6music would be axed seemed to be based on the fact the service was subject to a BBC Trust review. But then that review, published earlier this month, only said 6music needed to better promote itself. This morning The Times claimed the credible music service’s axing will still go ahead, but on the orders of BBC bosses, not their Trust overseers. 6music’s closure is part of radical cost cutting plans due to be proposed by BBC management, says the broadsheet. If true one hopes the music industry will mount a campaign like has never been seen before to keep this truly enlightened music station on the air. CMU coverage | The Times article.
03: EMI said Abbey Road isn’t for sale, after much speculation as to what might happen to the iconic studio complex if it were to be sold off. Various parties, including Andrew Lloyd Webber and the National Trust, said they’d consider buying the studios to stop any developer from turning them into flats or offices. But cash-strapped EMI said that, while they were sounding out possible investors about funding an overhaul of the studios, an all out sale was not on the cards. Nevertheless, the government gave the building a Grade II listing to help ensure the future of the studios. Meanwhile EMI launched some pretty mediocre Abbey Road merchandise this week too. CMU coverage | Abbey Road t-shirts.
04: Digital Economy Bill debate continued. Once again mainly about the copyright section which, if passed, will introduce a three-strikes system into UK law, meaning persistent file-sharers could have their net connections suspended. Mark Thomas made a ten minute piece for the BBC criticising the proposals last week, which UK Music’s Feargal Sharkey said was biased and misleading. UK Music sent an official complaint to the Beeb. Meanwhile five big name figures from the creative industries signed a letter to parliamentarians urging them to support the Bill. Representing music was Simon Cowell. Presumably he told the politicians that in the file-sharing age “everybody hurts”. Well, “every copyright owner hurts”. Which, interestingly, I’m pretty sure was Michael Stipe’s original lyric. CMU coverage | Mark Thomas’ report.
05: Tesco did an exclusivity deal with Simply Red. Yes, a special Mick Huckhall love songs compilation will only be available from the supermarket chain. Which is interesting, because once controversial retailer exclusivity deals have become quite common in the US, but not over here. It also shows the continued importance of supermarkets when it comes to selling music to older mainstream music buyers, like the Simply Red fanbase. Tesco’s importance in music sales was also demonstrated this week when their Entertainment Director Rob Slater became chair of the Official Charts Company. CMU coverage.
And those, ladies and gentlemen, are the five biggest developments in the music business this week. Consider yourself informed. And don’t forget, for a handy digest of all this week’s artist news, subscribed to the CMU Weekly, which will be delivered to your email this afternoon, complete with a brand new Spotify playlist compiled by Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip.
And I’ll see you here at the top of the Daily next Friday.Or maybe at next week’s CMU seminar on music rights, we still have a couple of places available: www.completemusicupdate.com/events
Chris Cooke
Business Editor, CMU
