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Business News Week In Five
The music business week in five – 1 Jun 2012
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 1 June 2012
So, here we go. Are the flags up? Have you bought a union jack hat? Is the national anthem on your iPod? Yes, it’s Jubilee weekend, a four day holiday for all, which probably means the weather will break at 2pm today. Obviously, being famous for always embracing these national celebrations, I plan to spend a chunk of the weekend with the UnLimited Media accountant finalising our 2011 accounts. Though given that’s mainly for the benefit of Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, I’m assuming Liz would approve. Anyway, let’s account now for the week in music just gone…
01: Digital music sales passed physical sales in Q1, it was confirmed this week. It’s the first time digital revenue has outperformed physical product revenue in the UK record industry. According to new figures from the BPI digital accounted for 55.5% of overall record sales income in the first quarter of 2012. Though certainly an importance milestone, this is based on just one quarter, and music industry analyst Mark Mulligan noted that in recent years digital sales have been particularly strong at the start of the year as people fill up the new devices they received for Christmas. Still, overall record sales were also up on Q1 in 2011 by 2.7%, so certainly some data for record industry types to get excited about. CMU report | Mark Mulligan analysis
02: More Pirate Bay blocks came into force in the UK, as the deadline for some ISPs to stop their customers from accessing the rogue file-sharing site passed. The net firms are responding to injunctions secured by the BPI. Virgin Media, Everything Everywhere and Sky now have blockades in place, with TalkTalk and O2 expected to follow soon. Of course all blocks are circumventable, and this week The Pirate Bay announced it was in possession of hundreds of alternative IP addresses, meaning it could keep changing the location of its website every time new blocks are put in place. CMU report | Register report
03: MegaUpload sought to have the criminal case against it dismissed in the US, arguing that, as the controversial file-transfer company did not have an office in America, it was outside the jurisdiction of the US courts. Lawyers for the Mega company and its owners also claimed their clients could not be held liable under criminal law for copyright committed by their customers. Back in New Zealand, where four Mega execs are fighting extradition to the US, a judge told the prosecution it must share all of its evidence with the defence, not just the highlights. CMU report | C-Net report
04: HMV sold the Hammersmith Apollo to a joint venture company owned by live music conglom AEG Live and European ticketing major CTS Eventim. The conditional sale of the West London venue will bring in £32 million for HMV, and will enable the flagging retailer to alter is banking terms. The rest of HMV’s live music division, which owns a portfolio of smaller venues plus festivals and other music and media assets, is not part of the AEG deal. It’s widely thought the rest of the live business may be subject to a management buy out led by MAMA’s directors. CMU report | Billboard report
05: Amanda Palmer raised over a million on Kickstarter. To be precise she raised $1,192,793. The former Dresden Doll has used the fan-funding platform to finance a new album, art book and tour, taking pre-orders for various products the project will create, plus premium packages including backstage doughnut eating sessions and house parties. Palmer, who originally said she hoped to raise $100,000 via the Kickstarter campaign, stripped off for Twitter when she passed the million mark on Tuesday. The fund-raising actually ended last night. CMU report | Editor’s letter on fun funding
And that is your lot for now, though look out for the new CMU podcast going live over the weekend, and see you back in your inboxes on Wednesday.
Chris Cooke
Business Editor, CMU
