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Business News Week In Five
The music business week in five – Friday 4 Jun 2010
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 4 June 2010
Well, here we are, it’s Friday already. We’re meant to be moving the whole CMU operation down a flight of stairs later on today, which should be interesting. But just you watch us publish the CMU Weekly on time, despite Andy CMU’s Mac being in a lift when it’s due to go out. This is what extension cables were made for.
If you’re going to the big Rage gig in London on Sunday, enjoy it. If you know why the aforementioned Andy CMU’s tickets haven’t arrived yet, give us a shout. Meanwhile, here’s your customary week in five.
01: Fabric is up for sale. After ten days of speculation about the future of one of London’s bestest club venues, the owners of Fabric admitted their company was in administration. A London-based property agent subsequently revealed that he had been charged with the task of selling the venue as a going concern, and that he had some interest already. The Fabric company has seemingly been brought down by its loss-making club Matter, under the O2 dome, which had taken out millions in loans secured by its parent company. Hopefully that means a new owner can make the Fabric venue itself work as a viable stand-alone business without having to mess with the club’s rather good music policy. CMU reports | FT report
02: Don Henley scored an interesting court win, against US politician Chuck DeVore who used reworked versions of Eagles songs in his campaign videos. The political man claimed he could use the songs without Henley’s permission because they were parodies, and that is allowed under US copyright law. But the judge said that a rework of a song was only a parody if it mocked someone associated with the original song (it’s writer, owner or performer). One of DeVore’s Eagle song reworks mocked a political rival not Henley, so that song use constituted infringement. It was a tentative ruling though, so the case continues. CMU report | Hollywood Reporter report
03: Warner chief Edgar Bronfman Jr was in court. Well, his legal rep was, trying his best to stop his client from having to go to court himself. Bronfman is caught up in the French criminal case against Jean-Marie Messier, who headed up Universal Music owners Vivendi until 2002, and who is accused of misleading investors. Bronfman was Vivendi’s Vice-Chair at the time and is accused of insider dealing. But the Warner boss’s lawyer says French investigators have cleared his client and the case against him should never have been brought to court. He wants the charges dismissed. The Paris judge is yet to respond. CMU reports | Wall Street Journal report
04: OfCom published their draft three-strikes code last Friday. This proposes how elements of the so called three-strikes system put in place by the Digital Economy Act will actually work. It actually ignores most of the really tricky questions – when and how file-sharers’ net access will be suspended, how accused file-sharers can appeal and who will pay for running the three-strikes system. But nevertheless, proposals for a copyright infringement notice and register still managed to piss off anti-DEA groups. OfCom will now spend most of the summer consulting stakeholders on the draft code. CMU report | OfCom page
05: EMI Music Publishing admitted it was reviewing its European operations. It said it wanted a structure that made pan-European deals easier, and that the review was not about cost cutting. Though rumour has it six MD-level execs are for the chop and the major’s Benelux office will be shut. The restructure comes amid rumours equity firm KKR, which already owns half of BMG Rights Management, might buy 49% of EMI Music Publishing off EMI Group owners Terra Firma. The profits of the sale would be used to try and fix the continued problems over at EMI’s recordings division. CMU reports | Billboard report
And that’s that. We’ll see you later on, though very much on time as I already said, with CMU Weekly, which this week features a playlist put together by the rather brilliant Steve Mason.
Chris Cooke
Business Editor, CMU Daily
