Music Business Times International News

Gene Simmons Makes Good On Label Threat

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:25 GMT

Sixteen months after announcing the reformation of Simmons Records in partnership with Universal Music Canada, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons has finally inked a deal, signing Toronto rock band The Envy. The signing is a joint venture with Montreal-based Remedy Music, a division of Crystal Math Management, the company that has the likes of Metric and The Midway State on its roster...

UK Government panders to music industry in copyright debate

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:23 GMT

Controversial copyright proposals put forward by the House of Lords that will see certain web sites restricted are exactly the same terms that music industry lobbyists were campaigning for, leaked documents revealed today. Last week the House of Lords added a new amendment to the Digital Economy Bill, Amendment 120A, that will give copyright holders the power to pressure internet service providers (ISPs) into restricting certain web sites...

BBC plans spin-off stations to push digital radio after closure of 6 Music

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:21 GMT

The BBC is to reinvent its digital radio offering around brand extensions of its main five radio networks following the proposed closure of BBC 6 Music and the Asian Network. It is understood that the BBC plans to spend some of the money saved by closing the two stations on digital spin-offs and extensions to programmes already being broadcast on BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live. The BBC spent $24m on content for 6 Music and the Asian Network in the year to the end of March 2009...

A new online music leader

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:17 GMT

Bigpond's prominence in the list will come as a shock to many, not because of its lack of expertise, but because Apples iTunes store is widely perceived to be the market leader.
BigPond music secured 14.39% of all Australian visits last week, followed by Australian bricks and mortar retailer JB Hi-Fi with 11.64%...

Who Are The Sugababes

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:15 GMT

The Sugababes. Everyone has heard of them, but who exactly are they? Do you think of the original three, Siobhan, Keisha and Mutya? Or the current three, Heidi, Amelle and Jade? The last of the founding three members, Keisha Buchanan, left the band in September 2009 leaving Heidi Range as the longest standing member having been in the band since 2001. The original members are now trying to assert their rights in the name and have made a joint application for a Community trade mark registration for Sugababes. If granted, the trade mark registration would give Siobhan, Keisha and Mutya the exclusive right to use and prevent anyone else from using the Sugababes name anywhere in the EU for specified goods...

Zimbalam's Digital Music Distribution Service Launches in North America

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:13 GMT

Zimbalam, the largest digital music distribution and marketing network, today announced the launch of the US version of its distribution network. Zimbalam, owned by independent music distributor and service provider Believe Digital, provides artists with access to 25 of the most popular music stores such as iTunes and Spotify and unprecedented global reach through several hundred additional stores worldwide. Zimbalam delivers transparency and marketing control to artists with real-time daily sales data, CRM tools such...

Pirate Bay Court Appeal Set For Just After General Election

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:11 GMT

The four individuals convicted in The Pirate Bay trial have a preliminary date for their appeals. Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom will head to the Court of Appeal on 28 September. This date is already being claimed as politically motivated, falling as it does just after Sweden's parliamentary elections...

Pink Floyd wins battle with EMI over online sales

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:14 GMT

Album lovers may rejoice a little at last: a British court says Pink Floyd, purveyor of iTunes-unfriendly concept records, cannot be unbundled. The High Court ruled Thursday that record label EMI can't sell Pink Floyd tracks individually without the band's permission. A judge said that the band's contract applied both to physical albums and Internet sales. Experts said the ruling offers another brick in the wall supporting artists' control of their own work — and a boost for music fans dismayed by the power of online music retailers to slice...

EMI Watchers Praise, Critique Leoni-Sceti Legacy

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:05 GMT

While it's unclear whether EMI Music CEO Elio Leoni-Sceti resigned effective March 31 because he jumped or because he was pushed, industry insiders say EMI Music chairman Charles Allen’s expanded executive role has come to the right man at the right time. EMI Group is at a critical juncture in its financial maneuvering in that the recorded music side of the company is expected to fail its March 31 financial covenant test under the $4.2 billion it owes Citigroup. That violation would place its loan in technical default...

Elio Leoni-Sceti Out At EMI

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:55 GMT

EMI Music CEO Elio Leoni-Sceti is leaving the major on March 31. EMI issued a statement today (March 10) about his shock exit. The company said that Charles Allen has been appointed executive chairman. Allen has been non-executive chairman of EMI Music since January 2009, chairing its board during the transformation of the business under Terra Firma. In its statement, EMI said Leoni-Sceti had 'successfully led EMI Music through the first phase of its operational turnaround...

IFPI: $1 Million To Break An Act

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:41 GMT

The IFPI has published a new report outlining the record labels' investment in music talent, which it says now reaches around $5 billion a year. That $5 billion includes A+R development and marketing, and represents around 30% of sales revenue. John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of IFPI, said in a briefing at its London HQ that the recorded music industry invested a greater proportion in research and development than virtually all other industries. Record companies invest an estimated 16% of sales revenue in A+R work, and the report states that one in four artists on label rosters were signed in the last 12 months...

Investment fund backs singer’s album

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:38 GMT

Charlotte Church, the singer and television presenter, has signed a $3m deal with an investment fund to finance the recording of her next album, highlighting the increased threat to traditional record labels as artists seek alternative routes to market. The deal with Power Amp Music, a specialist music investment fund launched in 2008, will see the 24-year-old Ms Church receive $3m to fund the recording and marketing of her album, due for release this autumn...

Record labels hit back at internet myth

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:32 GMT

Record industry bosses have hit back at the 'myth' that musicians no longer need them to become successful, insisting the internet can help raise their profile but cannot make them stars. The success of the Arctic Monkeys, the British band who made their name through fan websites, and Radiohead's decision to release an album for free online, have sparked debate about whether record labels have had their day...

Los Tucanes de Tijuana - Odes to Royalty Where Crime Is King

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:20 GMT

In November an anonymous user uploaded a new song to YouTube by Los Tucanes de Tijuana, one of Mexico's most popular bands. The song, 'El Mas Bravo de los Bravos' ('The Most Vicious of the Vicious'), heralds the exploits of Raydel Rosalío Lopez Uriarte, better known as El Muletas, or Crutches, a suspected hit man and trafficker high up in the ranks of the Tijuana drug cartel who...

Pink Floyd goes to court in royalty row with EMI

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:25 GMT

Pink Floyd has begun legal action against music label EMI Group Ltd. over the way royalty payments are calculated in the digital era. The group's lawyer, Robert Howe, told the High Court that the band was disputing the way royalties for online sales are worked out...