Music industry welcomes landmark ruling in Google delisting case
The music industry has welcomed a landmark ruling in the Canadian Supreme Court in which Google has been ordered to delist an entire website globally on the grounds of intellectual property infringement.

Although not a music case, the judgement arguably sets an important precedent related to one of the music industry's top piracy gripes: the fact that Google routinely links through to copyright infringing content and won't delist entire websites from its search database on copyright grounds.

The case began as a dispute between two technology companies, Equustek Solutions and Datalink Technologies Gateways. The latter was accused of repackaging one of the former's products as its own, and then of nicking confidential files from Equustek and using the information contained within to produce and sell a competing product.

Equustek went legal in British Columbia and secured an injunction in 2011 which ordered Datalink to return all the confidential files it had acquired, to stop selling Equustek products, and to direct anyone seeking Equustek products to that company's own website.

Datalink failed to comply with all the obligations in the injunction, and instead moved its operations out of British Columbia to a location unknown and stopped returning the court's phone calls. Needless to say, it continued to sell the IP infringing products. In 2012, Datalink and its director Morgan Jack were held to be in contempt of court and an arrest warrant was issued against the latter. Though the authorities are yet to find him.

With Datalink no longer even attempting to defend itself, but continuing to sell products that infringed Equustek's IP, the latter company turned to Google and asked that the web giant delist it's dodgy rival's website from its search engine. Google advised Equustek to get an injunction ordering its nemesis to stop trading online, and said it would then delist specific web pages where Datalink continued to trade from its Canadian search engine.

That injunction was secured and Google did start removing individual web pages where Datalink was in breach of the court order. However, somewhat unsurprisingly, Datalink just started monitoring what pages had been delisted by Google, and would then set up new pages selling its IP-infringing products elsewhere within its website.

Mightily pissed off by this point, Equustek went back to court seeking a new injunction ordering Google to entirely delist any website run by Datalink on a global basis.

Google opposed that application, arguing that it was not a party in the core dispute between Equustek and Datalink; that the site-wide delisting would be ineffective; and that a global delisting was unnecessary. And then it threw in some free speech concerns for good measure.

The matter ultimately reached Canada's Supreme Court, which yesterday ruled in Equustek's favour, ordering Google to fully delist Datalink's websites on a worldwide basis.

The top court noted just how important Google was in helping consumers find Datalink; the fact that delisting individual webpages just resulted in an endless game of whack-a-mole whereby Equustek was having to constantly request further pages be removed; and that the order had to be global because, while Canadian web-users are taken to google.ca by default, it's easy for them to access other Google sites around the world.

Judges then added that if the injunction required Google to breach specific laws in other jurisdictions, including free speech laws, then it should tell the courts in British Columbia which could amend the injunction. To date Google hasn't identified any such foreign laws the injunction forces it to breach.

The fact this case orders site-wide delisting from Google search on a global basis - and knocks back the web giant's various arguments against such a thing - is key for the music industry.

Record companies and music publishers have long complained that, while Google will remove specific web pages containing copyright infringing material - in line with its obligations under safe harbour rules - that is of nominal benefit, because piracy sites are constantly posting new pages and links. Therefore rights owners are obliged to constantly submit a flood of takedown notices.

The music industry has been calling for a 'takedown and stay down' system for years, so that once one bit of infringing content has been delisted from Google search, any other page or link carrying the same content would be automatically blocked. Which, of course, is what Google has tried to do on its YouTube site via Content ID.

Meanwhile, music rights owners would like Google to entirely delist infamous piracy hubs like The Pirate Bay, which ignore court orders and like to jurisdiction hop, so that any and every page on those websites would be removed from the Google's search databases.

Labels and publishers reckon there is a particularly good argument for such site-wide delisting where a piracy site has been subject to a web-blocking injunction, and therefore deemed to be an infringer by a court of law. Such as The Pirate Bay in the UK.

To that end, the music industry backed Equustek in its case against Google, and widely welcomed yesterday's Supreme Court judgement.

Local record industry trade group Music Canada said in a statement: "This case establishes principles that will guide the responsibilities of internet intermediaries to reduce or eliminate harms amplified by their activities. It rejected Google's approach of only delisting individual pages within sites, which a lower court described as promoting a 'whack-a-mole' approach to online infringement".

On the global reach of the injunction, the trade group went on: "Today's decision also ensured that the order applies worldwide and across all of Google's search engines, a crucial development given that the internet has largely dissolved boundaries between countries and allowed virtual wrongdoers to move from jurisdiction to jurisdiction in search of the weakest enforcement setting".

And finally, on Google's common playing of the free speech card, Music Canada said: "The Supreme Court concluded that freedom of expression concerns raised by Google and its supportive interveners were at best theoretical. The speech contained on the sites did not engage any freedom of expression values, but rather violated multiple court orders. The Supreme Court found that 'most countries will likely recognise ... the selling of pirated products as a legal wrong' and that freedom of expression does not require Google to engage in 'the facilitation of the unlawful sale of goods'".

Music Canada CEO Graham Henderson added: "Today's decision confirms that online service providers cannot turn a blind eye to illegal activity that they facilitate; on the contrary, they have an affirmative duty to take steps to prevent the internet from becoming a black market. This is welcome news for creators of all stripes who rely on the internet as their primary market and for whom illegal online activity can instantly wipe out careers and destroy investment in new releases. Today's decision provides a vital remedy to address illegal online activities and enforce the rights of creators".

Bosses at the global music industry trade groups also lined up to welcome the ruling, and for all you fans of quotes, here are all those responses...

Frances Moore of the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry: "Canada's highest court has handed down a decision that is very good news for rights holders both in Canada and around the world. Whilst this was not a music piracy case, search engines play a prominent role in directing users to illegal content online including illegal music sites. If the digital economy is to grow to its full potential, online intermediaries, including search engines, must play their part by ensuring that their services are not used to facilitate the infringement of intellectual property rights".

Alison Wenham of the Worldwide Independent Network: "This decision represents an important step towards a fair internet for consumers and rights owners. Common sense has finally prevailed".

Coco Carmona of the International Confederation Of Music Publishers: "Creators and rights holders are completely dependent on the effective enforcement of intellectual property rights. Search engines, as gatekeepers of the internet, should play a key role in ensuring that intellectual property right infringements do not occur and this decision from the Canadian Supreme Court recognises this role. ICMP therefore welcomes this ruling and hopes it will help curb online infringement and ultimately help to protect the livelihoods of composers, songwriters, artists and their business partners, in Canada and across the world".

Gadi Oron of global song-rights collecting society organisation CISAC: "This is an important decision for the creative industries, copyright holders and the digital economy. It serves as a strong reminder that the success of creators in the digital world depends on the responsibility of online intermediaries to deter unlicensed use of creative works. Search engines are the gateway to the online market and as such, should help prevent access to infringing content".

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Universal renews request to cancel Prince recordings deal
Having now seen the deal made between Prince and Warner Music before his death, Universal Music has renewed its request to have its more recent deal with the Prince estate over the late musician's recordings catalogue rescinded. And the major label has stressed that if the judge overseeing the case doesn't hurry up, it'll be forced to launch a full scale legal challenge.

As previously reported, Universal Music did three deals with the Prince estate to represent the musician's song rights, merch rights and recording rights. However, Warner Music seemingly then came forward and said that the latter of those deals conflicted with its earlier agreement signed when the star was still alive.

Earlier this month, Universal was allowed to see, for the first time, the deal Prince signed with Warner. Having had a good read of it, Universal's lawyers remain convinced that the mega-major's $30 million+ deal should now be cancelled. Though not because the two deals definitely conflict. Rather, they can't make head nor tail of the Warner contract or the rights it may or may not provide the mini-major.

In a new legal filing this week, Universal's lawyers said that the language of the Warner deal was too ambiguous for them to work out if there was any conflict or not.

In a letter to the judge overseeing the case, the lawyers said that the only certainty in all this now was that Universal definitely wanted out of its Prince recordings deal. This is the best course of action for everyone, they said, because "it resolves this otherwise intractable dispute without the expense of lengthy litigation that will tie up these key rights for years".

That message - aka threat - is likely targeted in part at those Prince heirs who are contesting Universal's request to rescind their recordings deal.

Although the bank now administrating the Prince estate, Comercia - which was not involved in any of the negotiations with Universal - has recommended to the court overseeing the late musician's affairs that the agreement be rescinded, some of Prince's heirs disagree. They being the heirs advised by L Londell McMillan, who negotiated the Universal deals on behalf of the estate in the first place.

It remains to see if the possibility of a lengthy legal battle convinces them, or more importantly the judge, that Universal should just get its $30 million or so back right now. The estate would then have to find a new partner to work with on Prince's recordings. By the sound of it, it would be easiest to give it all to Warner, so that no one ever has to really work out what that 2014 deal said. Though that would likely allow Warner to secure an arrangement with a lower financial commitment.

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Smirnoff announces fund to improve gender diversity in electronic music
Smirnoff has announced that it is setting up a fund to tackle gender diversity issues in dance music. This follows a round table discussion hosted by the brand at this year's International Music Summit in Ibiza organised in association with the Shesaid.so music industry network for women.

"At and with International Music Summit we were keen to get to the bottom of this deep-rooted disparity issue and develop a long term and ongoing plan to help balance the ratio", says Leila Fataar, Head Of Culture & Entertainment at Smirnoff parent company Diageo. "By connecting our Smirnoff Sound Collective platform with the IMS we have brought together some of the most forward-thinking people in the industry with a clear objective: finding solutions to gender disparity in electronic music".

She continued: "From on-going conversations with key people from the industry, it is clear that there is not a one fix-all solution. Instead a variety important steps need to be taken - from grassroots to executive level, from single people to corporate companies, it will take the industry as a whole to sort this. We, as Smirnoff, are open to and will support breaking ideas and initiatives from DJs, companies, media, labels, individual players, managers, bookers and many other people involved in the scene to shape a plan together".

Further details, including the announcement of a committee to oversee the fund, are due next month.

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Queen release VR concert film
Queen and Adam Lambert have announced the release of a new virtual reality concert film, 'VR The Champions'. Because you can't think up a title like that and then do nothing with it.

Premiered at last year's Tribecca Film Festival, the film was shot in Barcelona in May 2016. It's compatible with various VR systems, including Queen guitarist Brian May's own low-tech OWL VR kit.

Say May: "This is the fulfilment of a dream. Through this unique virtual reality creation, fans around the world will for the first time be able to experience the excitement and energy of a Queen show in their own homes. Many of you have seen VR, but not VR like THIS!"

See a bit of VR like THIS here.

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The Horrors announce new album and tour dates
The Horrors have announced that they will release their fifth album, titled 'V', on 22 Sep.

The album, which was produced by Paul Epworth, sees the outfit shift their sound once again, which is "a risk", says the band's Faris Badwan. "But life isn't much fun without risk. It's the antithesis of being creative if you know what you're going to be doing every time".

Keyboardist Tom Cowan continues: "It's natural, if you do see yourself as an artist, to progress and not play it safe. Bowie pre-empted the modern condition of not being able to stay in one place for very long, and I get frustrated with bands who stay still. Because then it does become a career".

And bassist Rhys Webb adds: "When we started we had a very clear idea of what we wanted to do, which was to make as furious a noise as possible, a fast and violent racket. But even though we started with this punky garage sound there was always this real spirit of wanting to experiment and explore".

Alright lads, no need to justify yourselves quite so much. I'm sure it'll be fine. Anyway, they'll be touring too. Here are the dates:

11 Jul: London, Omeara
14 Jul: Southwold, Henam Park
16 Oct: Belfast, Mandella Hall
17 Oct: Dublin, Tivoli
19 Oct: Glasgow, QMU
20 Oct: Newcastle University
21 Oct: Leeds, Beckett University
22 Oct: Liverpool, Academy 1
24 Oct: Birmingham, Institute
25 Oct: Bristol, Bierkeller
26 Oct: Cambridge, The Junction
28 Oct: Brighton, Acca
29 Oct: London, Koko

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Foo Fighters to play show for O2 Arena's tenth birthday
The Foo Fighters have announced that they will play a one-off show at the O2 Arena in London on 19 Sep to mark the tenth birthday of the venue. It just so happens that their new album is out on 15 Sep too.

"We're coming back to the O2 Arena on 19 Sep to play their tenth birthday", said Dave Grohl in a video announcing the show, clearly not realising that I'd already told you all that. "We can't wait to see everyone there. So take care and take a nap".

"Try not to shit the bed", added drummer Taylor Hawkins, referencing something I cut out of the band's initial comments about the show when typing them up. Probably shouldn't have put this bit in then. Doesn't really make sense now, does it? Shame there's nothing I can do about that at this point.

Anyway, you can watch that whole statement, bed-shitting and all, right here.

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Ed Sheeran announces 2018 tour dates
Having come to the attention of millions thanks to the BBC taking a bold chance on him and his warblings and broadcasting that Glastonbury set, Ed Sheeran has announced a tour. What an opportunist. And once again, he'll be making sure he keeps as much money for himself as possible by lugging around an effects pedal instead of paying a band. Opportunist and cheapskate.

The shows aren't actually until next summer, but if he doesn't capitalise on the Glastonbury attention right now people might have forgotten about him by then. Tickets don't go on sale until 8 Jul though. Bloody hell, Ed. This is a shambles.

One thing that is good though, Sheeran has announced that the resale of tickets will be allowed at face value through Twickets, but that those resold at hiked up prices through other platforms will be voided, where possible. And anyone holding a voided ticket will then be hit on the head with Sheeran's guitar.

In a bid to enforce the tout ban, entry to the shows will require various forms of ID, including the credit card with which the tickets were purchased. Which sounds like hard work. I mean, all that admin could prove problematic. Though I don't remember anyone ever accusing Sheeran's organisation of being a shambles, so it'll all be fine, I'm sure.

Look, here are the dates:

9 May: Belfast, Boucher Playing Fields
24 May: Manchester, Etihad Stadium
1 Jun: Glasgow, Hampden Park
8 Jun: Newcastle, St James' Park
15 Jun: London, Wembley Stadium
16 Jun: London, Wembley Stadium
22 Jun: Cardiff, Principality Stadium

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Sacred Paws win Scottish Album Of The Year Award
The winner of this year's Scottish Album Of The Year Award has been announced. And the winner is... Sacred Paws' debut album 'Strike A Match'.

The CMU approved duo, made up of former Golden Grrrls members Rachel Aggs and Eilidh Rodgers, recorded the album making trips between their homes in London and Glasgow. Following an EP and single release, 'Strike A Match' was released in January this year.

Accepting the award last night, Aggs said: "I just want to say thank you so much, thanks to the SAY Award, thanks to the judges, thanks to everyone at [Sacred Paws' record label] Rock Action and I can't believe it! I'm trying really hard not to swear!"

She went on: "We are not always the most confident people and I think playing music has a lot to do with confidence, so this is completely overwhelming and we don't feel like we belong here, but at the same time we feel validated for what we do. Thank you".

As well as a fancy trophy, the duo also take home prize money of £20,000.

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EuropaCorp, The Killers, UK Music Video Awards, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• EuropaCorp, the film company founded by French director Luc Besson, recently sold its library of music rights featuring over 1500 compositions used in the firm's movies to good old Sony/ATV in a deal worth 14.5 million euros, with a possible subsequent performance-related two million euro boost.

• Former Universal Music Publishing exec David Renzer, who became Chairman of US-based indie music publisher Spirit Music in 2014, is now also CEO of that company. New business cards all round I say.

• The fifth edition of the BIME conference will take place in Bilbao from 25-28 Oct. Music, tech and gaming will be in the spotlight as usual, with Armonia, Believe, Boiler Room, Muki-International and Tiger Heart among the companies already represented in the list of speakers.

• The Killers have released the video for new single, 'The Man'.

• Wiki, formerly of Ratking, has released a new track, 'Pretty Bull'.

• EMA has released new single 'Down And Out'.

• Girl Ray have released new single 'Don't Go Back At Ten'.

• All We Are have completed their video trilogy, with new single 'Dance'.

• Howling Bells vocalist Juanita Stein has announced that she will be touring the UK later this year. Her debut solo album, 'America', is out on 28 Jul. Here's first single 'I'll Cry'.

• The UK Music Video Awards 2017 will take place at The Roundhouse in London on 26 Oct, the tenth edition of the music video championing event. Organisers are now accepting entries via www.ukmva.com.

• Music Business Worldwide's A&R Awards will return for a second edition on 1 Nov at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane Hotel in London. Adult Contemporary is being added to the list of genre-specific prizes presented.

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Adele: "I don't know if I'll ever tour again"
Musicians are always saying that they might have just made their last record or gone on their last tour. Usually, they just mean they haven't made any future plans yet. However, it does seem like Adele might mean it when she says she's done with touring.

As she prepared for the first of four nights at Wembley Stadium, which will serve as the finale of her tour in support of latest album '25', she posted a message on Instagram saying that this may really be the last time.

"So this is it", she began. "After fifteen months on the road and eighteen months of '25' we are at the end. We have taken this tour across UK and Ireland, throughout Europe, all over America and I finally got to go to Australia and New Zealand too".

"Touring is a peculiar thing", she continued, "It doesn't suit me particularly well. I'm a real homebody and I get so much joy in the small things. Plus I'm dramatic and have a terrible history of touring. Until now that is! I've done 119 shows and these last four will take me up to 123. It has been hard but an absolute thrill and pleasure to have done [it]. I only ever did this tour for you and to hopefully have an impact on you the way that some of my favourite artists have had on me live".

Finally, she wrote: "I wanted my final shows to be in London because I don't know if I'll ever tour again and so I want my last time to be at home. Thank you for coming, for all of your ridiculous love and kindness. I will remember all of this for the rest of my life. Love you. Goodnight for now".

Don't worry though, I'm sure it won't be long before the allure of being carted around in a box pulls her back in.

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