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Australian creators launch campaign against proposed copyright reform As previously reported, earlier this year Australia's Productivity Commission made a number of pretty radical proposals for copyright reform, including a significant cut to copyright terms. The country's government quickly distanced itself from that idea, but it seems that rights owners now fear that other proposals to introduce a US-style fair use concept into the country's copyright law could be taken on by politicians next year. Most copyright systems provide a list of scenarios where people can make use of copyright protected material without licence, and without paying any royalties. Quite how these exceptions work varies from country to country. The Australian system is quite like the UK system, often referred to as 'fair dealing', with a more precise list of scenarios in which copyright exceptions apply, rather than the more nebulous concept of 'fair use', which is found in American copyright law. Earlier this year, the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry responded to the Productivity Commission's report by saying: "Licensing, not exceptions to copyright, drives innovation. Innovation is best achieved through licensing agreements between content owners and users, including technological innovators ... It is no coincidence that those who champion the 'flexibility' of fair use exceptions/defences typically are those whose business models depend on unfettered access to copyright works". Music industry collecting society APRA/AMCOS has now joined up with the Copyright Agency, which collects for the book, art and media industries, to launch the 'Changed My Life' campaign, which is based around famous faces - including actors, presenters, authors and, from the world of music, Reg Mombassa from Mental As Anything and Sam Margin from The Rubens - discussing the song or book that changed their life. The consumer-facing message is to support creators by buying their work, crediting their work, and asking for permission before using their work. Though for the political audience the message is "don't mess with our fair dealing rules". Oh, that and something about safe harbours, obviously. Launching the campaign yesterday, Copyright Agency CEO Adam Suckling told reporters: "Draft recommendations made by the Productivity Commission include the implementation of 'fair use' - an American legal principle that has enabled large enterprises in the US to use copyright material for free. This, along with the proposed expansion of the safe harbour provision, would see Australian artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers not receiving fair payment for their work and make it substantially harder to make a living". Meanwhile APRA AMCOS boss Brett Cottle added: "At a time when copyright is working in practice as it should, and just when the culturally-rich and economically vital business of music is getting back on its feet, it's difficult to fathom why measures such as those relating to safe harbour expansion or so-called 'fair use' should be contemplated by government". The campaign's website is here. Premium CMU subscribers can check out this article explaining more about fair use in the context on the infamous 'dancing baby' case. But don't go sharing it with non-premium users now will you? Fuck fair use, I say. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
50 Cent to receive $14.5 million in settlement with law firm This all goes back to 50 Cent's attempts to break into the overpriced headphones market in 2010. He entered into a deal with Sleek to produce a range of headphones under the brand Sleek By 50. But when that deal fell apart, he set up a new company, SMS Audio, and pressed ahead. He claimed that GSB had told him that he would be able to produce his own headphones without infringing on Sleek's intellectual property. But when Sleek sued, a judge did not agree, ruling in the tech company's favour. Suing the law firm last year, 50 Cent said that GSB had made "numerous failures" during the case, including "its inexplicable decision not to call technical and damages experts to rebut expert testimony offered by Sleek". GSB denied any wrongdoing, but has now seemingly agreed to hand over a multi-million dollar settlement to the rapper. In return, he absolves the company of any guilt, providing a statement through noted legal publication Instagram. "I retract my earlier statements about the legal services provided to me by the law firm of Garvey Schubert Barer", he said via the social network yesterday. "The law firm and I have settled our dispute and I consider the issue closed". The payment will still have to be approved by the bankruptcy court - 50 Cent having declared himself insolvent last year, after he was ordered to pay Lastonia Leviston damages of $5 million for leaking a sex tape featuring her and rival rapper Rick Ross. He was subsequently ordered to pay additional damages of $2 million - though under a deal approved by the bankruptcy court in July, he agreed to hand over $6 million in total. Sleek Audio is among creditors still owed money by 50 Cent, in addition to Leviston. In his bankruptcy deal, he agreed to hand over $7.4 million to creditors right away, before setting aside $2 million per year for the next five years. The settlement from GSB may speed up that process. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pulse nightclub now won't be sold to city of Orlando As previously reported, Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer last month announced that the city would pay $2.25 million to take control of the Pulse nightclub. He said that the city intended to make what has already become an unofficial memorial safer, reducing the impact on neighbouring businesses, while considering plans for a more formal permanent memorial on the site. But current owner Barbara Poma has now said she's changed her mind about selling the venue, which was part of the Florida city's LGBT scene. According to CNN, Poma said yesterday that she had been struggling with the decision to sell since before Thanksgiving and that "the struggle was with letting it go and it's something I couldn't come to grips with. You couldn't put a price on it for me". Speaking at a press conference, she added that: "I intend to create a space for everyone, a sanctuary of hope, and a welcoming area to remember all those affected by the tragedy". The local community, city officials and victims of the shooting would all be consulted about what that might be, Poma added. "I think it's hard for us to say what the future is going to be. We've built businesses but we've never built a memorial". Dyer said he respected Poma's decision, adding in a statement that: "We believe it is important for the community to have input into a memorial that honours the victims and pays tribute to the resiliency of Orlando. City staff will continue to research and understand how other communities have approached the memorial process. As we better understand that process, and after engaging with our commissioners and community partners, we'll update the community on the next steps". -------------------------------------------------- Amazon is the exclusive ticket agent for intimate Robbie Williams show So, yes, ahead of next year's stadium shows, Williams will play a gig at St John At Hackney Church later this month, and the only way you can get tickets is to buy them off Amazon. The web giant has been quietly ramping up its ticketing operations of late of course and, as previously reported, in recent job ads for new ticketing execs cited ambitions to totally disrupt an "industry that has not fundamentally changed since the 1970s". And who knew that would mean locking Robbie Williams in a church until he sang some songs? Says the firm: "To celebrate the success of his number one hit album 'The Heavy Entertainment Show', Robbie Williams has confirmed he will perform a special one-off gig at St John At Hackney Church ahead of his forthcoming stadium tour, exclusively for Amazon Tickets customers". Tickets went on sale at 9am this morning. By which I mean, tickets have sold out. Though given that Ticketmaster recently declared Robbie's upcoming shows as the most hotly anticipated gigs of the coming year, perhaps they'll have some for sale on one of their lovely secondary sites. Yeah, disrupt that Amazon why don't you? -------------------------------------------------- Live Nation drops Jeremih from PartyNextDoor tour Those incidents include Jeremih allegedly sending a stand in for a recent performance in Houston, walking off stage after two songs in Chicago and dissing the headliner at show in Dallas. Oh, and the slightly bizarre claim that pepper spray had been "put in the atmosphere" during that latter performance. In a statement to Pitchfork, Live Nation said: "Live Nation's top priority is helping artists and performers create great shows for their fans. With this in mind, we've decided it's best for the 'Summer's Over' tour to continue without Jeremih, effective immediately. After multiple incidents we are left with no other choice. We do not support these actions or take these actions lightly. Ticketholders may request a full refund at point of purchase, which will forfeit access to the entire show. No partial refunds will be issued". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guvera postpones AGM because it can't pay its auditors Erm, no. Accountancy firm EY seemingly hasn't been paid, so is refusing to do any counting. "Ernst & Young will not perform the audit until outstanding invoices are paid and Guvera Limited currently does not have the funds to make the payment", the digital music company told the Australian Securities And Investments Commission last week. According to The Courier-Mail, Guvera confirmed its auditors were awaiting payment while asking the ASIC for permission to postpone its annual general meeting for investors until next year, an AGM having been expected to take place last month. It was Company Secretary Ken Hostland who requested the postponement, in what was seemingly his last act for the business before resigning from that post. The last time Guvera co-founder and CEO Claes Loberg commented on his company's cash flow woes he said the firm was still awaiting a multi-million refund from the Australian tax authority, which may or may not be still pending, and which may or may not get the accountants back on side. Though, all things considered, I'm not sure we need any auditor's report to tell us how streaming service Guvera is doing following its abandoned IPO and the resulting putting of two subsidiaries into administration and total shutdown in various markets including home country Australia, do we? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Blue plaque to be placed on former Joe Strummer squat Commenting on the news, Clash associate Don Letts says: "Strummer didn't need nor did he seek society's blessing - this comes live and direct from the people!" London's new Night Czar Amy Lamé, who will attend tomorrow's ceremony, adds: "I was incredibly proud to be announced as London's first Night Czar at the historic 100 Club last month. It was one of my proudest moments for so many reasons, including being on the same stage made famous by The Clash and other legendary bands". She continued: "I'm delighted to see one of my heroes honoured in this way and it's a reminder that Joe Strummer's influence is still shaping peoples' lives. I can see punk's do-it-yourself attitude in London's pop-up restaurants, clubs and of course in the music venues that stage new bands and artists every night". Now separated into flats, Strummer lived at 33 Daventry Street in 1978 and 1979, writing songs that would appear on the band's 'London Calling' album. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Austra announce UK tour dates In preparation for that, the video for new single 'Future Politics' has just been released, of which Austra's Katie Stelmanis says: "'Future Politics' is the breaking down of paradigms. In this video, we wanted to explore what a world might look like if our values were transformed: instead of glorifying labour, maybe we could learn to glorify the act of doing absolutely nothing". The dates are: 21 Mar: Brighton, Patterns | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liam Gallagher, Childish Gambino, Liz Morentin, more Other notable announcements and developments today... Â Liam Gallagher signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell last week. Did we mention that? No, we did not. MD Mike Smith is "so pleased". Â Booking agency WME has taken on the musical adventures of Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, which already reps him for film and TV work. Or so says The Hollywood Reporter. Â If you thought Liz Morentin off of Dick Clark Productions would make a swell EVP of Communications And Media for Warner Bros Records in the US, you may just well be her new boss Peter Gray, EVP of Warner Bros Records in the US. Hi Pete! Â So, it was the rather tricky Nordoff Robbins Pop Quiz in London last night, with Warner Music being crowned winners. Though the media team saw CMU, Record Of The Day and Music Week collaborate which, in these politically divided times, is surely what really matters. Which is code for 'we came tenth'. Â Finders Keepers Records will release Graeme Miller and Steve Shill's 1983 UK-specific soundtrack for 'The Moomins' on 10 Feb. Listen to the whole release here. And for more though unrelated Moomins chat, check out this week's CMU Podcast. Yeah, really. Â Japanese boyband SMAP will air the final episode of their weekly TV show 'SMAP x SMAP' on 26 Dec, after nearly 21 years. This comes after the confirmation earlier this year that the group are to split. Â The Last Shadow Puppets have released the video for 'This Is Your Life'. Â Bossman Birdie has released new track 'My Yard', featuring JME. Â Hurray For The Riff Raff will release new album 'The Navigator' on 10 Mar. From it, this is 'Rican Beach'. Â The Feelies will mark their 40th anniversary next year with their first album for six years. 'In Between' will be out on 24 Feb. From it, this is 'Been Replaced'. Â The Maccabees have announced three farewell shows for next year. They'll be Manchester's Apollo on 28 Jun, followed by two nights at Alexandra Palace in London on 30 Jun and 1 Jul. Â Rag N Bone Man will head out on his biggest headline tour of the UK to date next April, including two nights at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on 19-20 Apr. Â The Music Producers Guild and BRITs won't present a joint Producer Of The Year award this year, seemingly as a result of the previously reported overhaul of the BRITs Voting Academy, or something like that. Shame. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bob Dylan sends speech and Patti Smith to cover Nobel Prize duties As previously reported, this has been a bit of a saga. Dylan initially failed to respond to the news that he'd won this year's Nobel Prize for Literature. Then he eventually said that he was super pleased. Then he remembered he had something better to do on the day of the ceremony. Although he won't be in attendance, Dylan has at least written a speech that will be read out at the official awards dinner. Smith will perform his song/literature 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall' backed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. As well as not appearing at next week's dinner, Dylan will not give a lecture ahead of the event. Although he has six months from the ceremony on 10 Dec to give said lecture, which is the only condition of receiving his prize money, the talk is traditionally given on 7 Dec. The Swedish Academy has said that it is still hopeful that Dylan will deliver his lecture next year, when he is due to play a show in Stockholm. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Send ALL press releases to musicnews@unlimitedmedia.co.uk - this is checked daily by the whole editorial team meaning your release will definitely get to the right person. For details of the training and consultancy services offered by CMU Insights click here - Andy and Chris are also available to provide music business comment, just email them direct. To promote your company or advertise jobs or services to the entire UK music industry via the CMU bulletin or website contact Sam on 020 7099 9060 or email ads@unlimitedmedia.co.uk | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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