T Bone Burnett leads music industry's submissions to latest safe harbour review in US
The slightly extended deadline for submissions to the US Copyright Office's second round of investigation into those big bad safe harbours passed yesterday, and unsurprisingly a plethora of music industry organisations put their names to submissions calling for the great-Google-get-out of copyright law to be overhauled. Though the standout submission is probably that made by T Bone Burnett.

As much previously reported, the safe harbours say that internet companies cannot be held liable when their customers use the services or servers they provide to infringe copyright, providing said companies have a system in place via which rights owners can demand their content be removed if and when it is posted and distributed without licence.

The safe harbours were put in place to ensure that companies like internet service providers and server hosting firms could go truly mainstream, opening up the web to all. However, a wide assortment of different businesses now rely on the safe harbours, including user-upload platforms like Google's YouTube. The music industry argues that the safe harbours were never intended to be utilised by companies which build media platforms on the back of the internet services they offer, and that the law should be amended to say so.

Although there are a number of companies which have used the safe harbours to create opt-out streaming services - ie where users upload content, and rights owners must then remove it - to date much of the safe harbours debate in the music community has focused on YouTube. The Google site does actually have licensing deals in place with most music rights owners, which share in YouTube's ad income. But the labels and publishers argue that they are forced into signing unfavourable deals with Google because - if they don't sign up - they'll still have to police the YouTube platform, but without any compensation.

The music industry has been busy busy trying to get safe harbour rules rewritten in both Europe and the US, the former via the copyright review currently underway as part of the European Union's Digital Single Market initiative.

In the US, the country's Copyright Office announced a specific review of safe harbours - which come from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the States - in late 2015. That resulted in some high profile campaigning from the US music community last year. Though rather than making any recommendations, the Copyright Office announced a second round of reviewing in November.

Among the submissions to that second-stage review is a hard-hitting video message from singer-songwriter and record producer T Bone Burnett, who also sits on the advisory board of the campaigning organisation the Content Creators Coalition. His short monologue on the issue is intended both as a formal input into the US Copyright Office review, but also as a tool for trying to persuade the public at large of the need for safe harbour reform.

His message actually begins by discussing some of the wider debates around the role of the internet in modern society, and in particular the problems around fake news and conspiracy theories online, and the impact they have on political discourse.

"In its early days, the internet was hailed a panacea", he begins. "A global community - unshackled from corporate, military or government control, ready to equalise and connect the world. One of its early false prophets named it a 'culture of the mind' that 'all may enter without privilege or prejudice'. But that's not what we got".

He goes on: "Instead of opening up minds, it has closed them down - becoming a restrictive, abusive place where women, people of colour, and anyone marked different are shunned, attacked, and shouted down. 2016 laid bare how cyberspace hasn't rationalised dialogue. It's become a megaphone for propaganda and fake news where it's easier to demagogue and divide than ever. Dreams of a stronger democracy have given way to foreign hackers and corporate manipulation - a shrivelled politics indistinguishable from reality TV".

Shifting onto more specific issues for the artist community, he then says: "For artists and creators, instead of amplifying our voices to lead the fight for change, it undermines and silences us. The internet - with all its promise and beauty - threatens to destroy what it was supposed to save. We can't let that happen".

Noting that the current Copyright Office review "is focused on the legal safe harbours in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act - the law that was supposed to balance the internet's openness with creators' ability to earn a living wage from their work", he then declares: "Those safe harbours have failed".

"The problems are familiar", he adds. "[And] they are well described in the record of these proceedings, from the broken Sisyphus climb of 'notice and takedown' to the gunpoint negotiations and pittance wages forced upon creators by the Google monopoly. The Big Tech ITOPIANS can track us across dozens of networks, devices and profiles to bombard us with micro-targeted ads, but they can't even identify unauthorised copies of our work and keep them off their own servers and systems. Or they won't".

Keen not to be seen as the luddite in the room, Burnett then insists that creators love new technologies and that, rather, it's the business models of the technology makers that concern him.

"The problem here isn't technology", he says. "Creators welcome the digital revolution and its power to connect, amplify, and inspire. A modern recording studio looks more like a cockpit than a honky tonk, and that's just fine. The problem is business models - designed to scrape away value rather than fuel new creation, focused on taking rather than making. To restore technology's place as the rightful partner of tomorrow's creators, we need change".

He then sets out the demands of the creator coalition he is speaking for...

"The safe harbours must be restored - so only responsible actors earn their protection, not those who actively profit from the abuse and exploitation of creators' work. Technology must be enlisted to make the system work better, not to roadblock progress in a pointless arms race of whack a mole and digital deception. Creators must be given meaningful tools to earn a living from their art".

"The false prophets of the internet may have imagined an egalitarian open source creative wonderland - but what we got was a digital playground for a handful of mega corporations and web moguls living fat off the artistic, cultural and economic value everyone else creates online".

Returning to the wider net-based challenges, he concludes: "If our democracy becomes stunted and diverse Americans are shut out, I guess these new Galtian Lords would say, 'that's business'. But artists and creators will never bow to that. We will never accept an internet that turns its back on the vitality, optimism and hope from which it was born. We will never allow our democracy to become a mere series of pseudo-events designed to manipulate people into spending money. Everyone with a stake in the internet's success and the health of our creative democracy must work together to make this right".

And finally, he says: "It's time for Congress to close the loopholes in section 512 of the DMCA. Our culture is at stake. And it's time for musicians to join with us, the Content Creators Coalition, to make that happen. Your career depends on it. On behalf of music creators, thank you to the Copyright Office for this proceeding and for considering these views".

It remains to be seen if the Copyright Office recommends any changes to safe harbour rules in the US - though even if it does, further lobbying would then be required to actually get the matter on the agenda of Congress itself.

Most of the music industry's lobbyists reckon that safe harbour reforms in Europe are much more achievable - and a section of the draft EU copyright directive published last year attempts to deal with the issue - though it remains to be seen what the final version of that looks like. Lawmakers remain nervous of the unintended consequences of restricting safe harbours too much, and with the current wording of the EU directive, it's possible YouTube could declare itself compliant with the revised rule without actually changing its practices.

But whatever, here is T Bone Burnett's video message.

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Major Swedish ISP says it won't web-block without a court order
Nordic telecoms giant Telia says that it has no plans to start blocking The Pirate Bay in Sweden until a specific court order tells it to.

As previously reported, a Swedish court last week finally ordered local internet company Bredbandsbolaget to stop its customers accessing the infamous file-sharing website. The ruling overturned a decision made in a lower court in Sweden that said internet firms were not obliged to block access to websites on copyright grounds. The appeals court cited web-blocks elsewhere in Europe as one of the reasons for deciding to overturn that earlier judgement and set the precedent that web-blocks can be instigated against piracy sites.

Although this specific case focused on one ISP and two piracy sites - Swefilmer in addition to the Bay - it's expected that now the precedent is set, rights owners will seek web-block injunctions against multiple net firms in relation to multiple piracy set-ups, as has happened in other countries once web-blocking on copyright grounds has been approved by the courts.

ISPs generally don't like being forced to get more involved in policing piracy online, though - in most countries - once courts have started issuing web-block injunctions on a regular basis, they generally comply and stop moaning about it. It remains to be seen if that also happens in Sweden, though so far both Bredbandsbolaget and its rival Bahnhof have been pretty scathing about last week's judgement, which can't be appealed.

Nevertheless, speaking for the TV and film sectors in Sweden, Per Strömbäck told IDG this week: "We believe that the legal situation is now clear and that ISPs should act in unison with Bredbandsbolaget and apply the same measures [to block The Pirate Bay and Swefilmer]. We hope that we will now get to the same position as in Norway, Denmark and the UK, where telecom operators cooperate on blocking pirate websites".

However, for its part Telia has said that it has no plans to employ any web-blocking measures in Sweden unless it is specifically told to do so by a court. A spokesperson told IDG that "we will not block any sites unless we are forced to do so by a court".

Which means that the Swedish music and movie industries will now likely have to get their lawyers in action to pursue a new batch of web-blocking injunctions, citing the precedent in the Bredbandsbolaget case.

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Mando Diao sign record deal with BMG
Mando Diao have signed a new worldwide record deal with BMG, with whom they have had a publishing contract since 2012.

"BMG has been great for me in my songwriting", says frontman Björn Dixgård. "They have encouraged and shown a great deal of creativity but also have listened to what I was wanting to do. It feels good to work even closer with them on the record".

The band's manager Carlos Barth adds: "Mando Diao has always tried to be innovative and try different ways of doing things, and so this cooperation was something that really fit with what we wanted to do and how the industry is changing. BMG has been a good partner and we are glad to be able to work so closely with a team".

Meanwhile, new BMG Germany MD Dominique Kulling says: "Mando Diao are a true phenomenon. We are very THRILLED to now represent them for both publishing and recordings".

A new album, Mando Diao's first since 2014's 'Ælita', is due out later this year.

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Global covering the BRITs too, you know
If you, for some reason, thought that Bauer was the only commercial radio network covering this year's BRIT Awards, oh no no no no - tut tut - you are very wrong. How about Global, huh? You thought Global would just sit this one out? Hell no. Global's going to cover it on various stations, though mainly Best British Single sponsor Capital, and it'll be doing shit on Facebook too. Facebook!

"Through Global's on-air, online and social platforms, we'll bring our listeners unrivalled exclusive access to one of the biggest music nights of the year", says Global's exec prez Ashley Tabor. "Capital in particular has a long and proud history of working in partnership with the BRITs and once again we're celebrating the UK's biggest hits with our partnership on the Best British Single category. The BRITs is a massive event in the world's music calendar and we'll be at the centre of the action".

Right at the centre, yes. And if the BRITs stage is in the middle of the room again, that's an important place to be. Capital's evening show is actually going to be back stage though, which is also fine. All the red carpet action before the ceremony will be livestreamed on Facebook.

Does any of the count as "the centre of the action"? Well, it's hard to say really, isn't it? But what if I told you that Heart's Emma Willis was going to be co-hosting the whole fucking show with that Dermot O'Leary? Oh, I'm sorry, is that your mind that just got blown?

The BRITs is on tonight probably.

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Attitude Is Everything chief amongst government's team of 'champions' aiming to make businesses more accessible
The boss of Attitude Is Everything, the charity that seeks to make music venues and events more accessible to disabled and deaf consumers, has been named as one of eleven sector champions by the UK's Minister For Disabled People, Work And Health, Penny Mordaunt.

The new team of sector champions will "amplify the voices of disabled customers and employees within their own industries, increasing accountability and challenging inequality". They will also seek to "highlight specific changes and improvements that could make a difference to the millions of people who often miss out", and which would ensure companies in each champions' respective sector don't miss out on the custom of millions of people who can't buy their products or services because of accessibility issues.

Retail, leisure, media, advertising and banking are amongst the sectors represented in the new scheme, while Attitude Is Everything chief Suzanne Bull will, of course, be the 'champion' for the music industry.

Confirming her new additional role, Bull said: "I'm delighted to be the disability champion for the music industry, because I believe that everyone should have the right to enjoy the arts - only 3.6 million of the UK's eleven million disabled adults attended a live music event last year. Fear of discrimination can deter deaf and disabled people from attending music events, but without their participation change won't occur. I'll be making a solid business case for accessibility and will be sharing best practice and innovative ideas, many of which don't only just focus on physical access, and demonstrate that ways of working can be adopted by other industries with a high degree of success".

Meanwhile Mordaunt said of Bull's involvement in her scheme: "As a public advocate for accessibility, Suzanne will help businesses realise the value of disabled consumers and the importance of catering to every customer's needs".

On the wider programme, the minister added: "These industries must become fully inclusive. Not being able to access the high street, products and services, transport or simply to access a loo jars with our national values: it must change".

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Crowdfunding campaign for Brixton Bowie memorial launches
Following on from the successful crowdfunding of a David Bowie statue in Aylesbury, Brixton's now having a go. Those London types want almost ten times as much though, aiming to raise £990,000.

While Aylesbury is going for the classic 'statue of the person being memorialised' model, Brixton is planning to erect a 3D rendering of the lightning bolt from the 'Aladdin Sane' album. Three stories high, and intended to look like it has just fallen to Earth, it will stand next to artist Jimmy C's 'Aladdin Sane' mural, to which many fans flocked immediately after Bowie's death.

The team working on the proposed Brixton memorial have worked with David Bowie's reps in London and New York, as well as Lambeth Council, in bringing the project to this stage. You have until 21 Mar to throw some money at it, via the crowdfunding page here. And you can watch a video explaining the thinking, and engineering, behind the statue here.

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Part Chimp return with new album
Part Chimp are back after an "accidental hiatus" of eight years. They will release the follow-up to 2009's 'Thriller' album, titled 'Iv', on 14 Apr.

The band have released a track from the album to get things moving. It's great. It's called 'MapoLeon', and you can hear it here.

Oh, and there are tour dates. Can't forget about those tour dates. Here are the tour dates:

13 Apr: Cambridge, Portland Arms
14 Apr: Leeds, Wharf Chambers
15 Apr: Glasgow, Stereo
20 Apr: Brighton, Green Door Store
21 Apr: Bristol, Exchange
28 Apr: London, 100 Club

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The 6 Music Festival is coming to Glasgow
This year's BBC Radio 6 Music Festival will take place in Glasgow, with the centrepiece being a headline set from Depeche Mode at Barrowlands. It'll be the first time the band have played the 2000 capacity venue for more than three decades.

Taking place over three days in venues around Glasgow, the event will feature sets from artists including Belle & Sebastian, Anna Meredith, The Shins, Future Islands, Grandaddy, Loyle Carner, Gaika, Girl Ray, Sacred Paws, Thundercat and more. And BBC Radio 6 Music has managed to bag the exclusive rights to broadcast from it yet again. Marvellous!

"The 6 Music Festival is going further north than ever before", says Lauren Laverne, who did the duty of announcing all this on her show yesterday. "I love Glasgow and have so many great memories of the city, and the 6 Music Festival is sure to create some more. The music is going to be awesome!"

6 Music's Head Of Programmes Paul Rodgers adds: "It's exciting to be able to take the 6 Music Festival to Glasgow this March, and we can't wait to explore some of the city's famous venues and dig into its fantastic music scene and heritage. The festival's line-up is full of the kind of interesting artists you'd expect from 6 Music such as Goldfrapp, Sleaford Mods and Depeche Mode, but with an emphasis on some of the Scottish artists that our listeners love, with Edwyn Collins, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Belle & Sebastian, Sacred Paws, King Creosote, Honeyblood and Optimo all performing".

All the details about the line-up and tickets and that are here.

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Amazon, Atlas, Katy Perry, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Amazon has headhunted Kelly Rich from record label Big Machine to be its Senior Label Relations Managers in Nashville, reporting into Head Of Label Relations Nicole Lund.

• Management firm Atlas has launched new label and music publishing units, its boss man Duncan Ellis has announced. The label's first release will be an EP from Haus.

• The new Katy Perry single has a video now. Wake up sheeple!

• Sofi Tukker aren't best pleased with Donald Trump.

• Father John Misty will play the Rio Cinema in Dalston on 24 Apr. Tickets are available by ballot. Details here.

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Electronic music festivals return to Buenos Aires, after ban lifted
The first electronic music festival for almost a year took place in Buenos Aires over the weekend. Such events were banned last year following five drug-related deaths at the city's Time Warp festival in April. The ban almost put a stop to a standalone Kraftwerk concert in November, so strictly was it enforced.

According to Infobae, Israeli DJ Guy J headlined an 8000 capacity show in the city's Mandarin Park on Saturday, the first such event since the ban was lifted late last month.

Finally agreeing to permit dance music shows again, the City Of Buenos Aires legislature did so by passing new legislation to regulate them. Although the deaths at Time Warp were largely attributed to drugs, overcrowding, plus a lack of water and medical assistance were also blamed.

New rules include regulation on the number of people allowed to attend per square metre, provision of free water, provision and signposting of medical services, and more.

There are also provisions for stronger security and police presences on site, with around 40 plain clothes officers in attendance at the weekend, according to Infobae, all aiming to prevent drug use. Although with one estimate claiming that around 80% of adults at the event had taken some form of illegal drug, it's not really clear what effect that had.

In its report, Infobae questioned whether people were actually aware that free water was available, noting that many still paid for bottled water at bars. It also suggests that security searches on the door weren't up to much. Although in general the event seems to have gone well and passed without major incident.

"It's all a question of dose and quality", one Red Cross volunteer told Infobae (via The Bubble) about drug use on site, perhaps unhelpfully. "In the VIP area we never have to attend people feeling ill. It's like everything else, if you can buy the best there runs less risk".

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