News
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Video Games 'More Popular' Than Music In UK A new study finds...
By Jason Gregory on 5 November 2008
Video games will outsell music and video in the UK this year for the first time, a new report indicates.
Sales on games, now the most popular form of retail entertainment, are expected to reach £4.64bn with music and video at £4.46bn.
While the music industry has been hurt by the growth of piracy and digital downloads, the video games market has more than doubled over the last five years.
Malcolm Pinkerton of Verdict Research, who published the study, said the “music and video market is not just suffering from a slowing of growth but a massive transfer of spend to online.”
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Feargal Sharkey Launches New Music Body To Target Illegal File Sharing It gets widespread support...
By Jason Gregory on 27 October 2008
Former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey will launch a new organisation later today (October 27th) aimed safeguarding the future of the music industry.
The UK Music body will call on the government to address the problem of illegal file sharing, as well as extend the copyright term afforded to artists, which is currently limited to fifty years.
The organisation represents a wide range of music bodies, including, BPI, the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, and the Music Managers Forum.
"The thing we all realised is that we all agree with each other 95% of the time. It's looking at where the industry is going to be three, four or five years from now," Sharkey told the Guardian newspaper.
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Apple Join Fight To Save Gay Marriage In California With huge donation...
By Jason Gregory on 25 October 2008
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Apple have donated $100,000 to No on 8, a campaign that’s trying to prevent gay marriage from being banned in California.
Marriage for same-sex couples was legalised in the state earlier this year but proposals outlined in a new constitutional amendment, Proposition 8, could see it banned.
In a statement, Apple said that they were “publicly opposing” the proposition.
The statement added: “Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation.
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Apple Accidentally Censor Nirvana And Madonna On iTunes Their titles are blanked...
By Jason Gregory on 24 October 2008
Apple has accidentally censored a variety of inoffensive song titles on its iTunes music store in the UK.
The problem, which occurred when the company was scanning for offensive titles, has affected songs by artists including Madonna, Nirvana and Avril Lavigne.
Nirvana'a 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' currently appears as 'Smells Like T**n Spirit', while Avril Lavigne's 'Hot' is titled 'H*t'.
The problem means words like 'Killer' are censored while 'Murder' is displayed. The word 'Gay' is also visible - but 'Lesbian' is starred out.
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Concert Income Set To Exceed Songwriting Royalities For the first time...
By Jason Gregory on 22 October 2008
The money recording artists generate from concerts is expected exceed songwriting royalties for the first time, new figures suggest.
The MCPS-PRS Alliance says physical albums will generate a total of £131million this year, down 15% on 2007.
However, the total of royalties from concerts is expected to exceed £143million.
The revenue created from radio, TV and online broadcast will also exceed the CD sum for the second year running, the organisation says.
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Channel 4 Abandon Digital Radio Ambition Amid Advertising Slump Three channels are scrapped...
By Jason Gregory on 10 October 2008
Channel 4 have scrapped plans to move into the digital radio market because of a sharp fall in advertising revenues.
The broadcaster had hoped to launch three stations, beginning with E4 Radio next Spring.
Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan said the decision, which will see the loss of 15 jobs, had been taken “very reluctantly”.
But he didn't discount the broadcaster launching the stations at a later date.
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Play.Com Music Store Gets Full Major Record Label Backing It attempts to challenge iTunes...
By Jason Gregory on 10 October 2008
The digital music store Play.com has received the full backing of all four of the world's major record labels.
The new agreement, which adds Song BMG, Warner Music and Universal to existing partner EMI, is designed to take on the dominance of Apple's iTunes Music Store.
The store, launched in February 2007, now offers its users 3million tracks free of DRM technology, which enables them to be played on a wide range of portable music devices.
In their effort to take on Apple, some tracks will be cheaper from Play.com than with iTunes.
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YouTube Unveils Inbuilt Music Download Service It will launch soon...
By Jason Gregory on 9 October 2008
YouTube have unveiled plans to allow users the chance to download music and other content via the website.
The new feature enables users to buy content related to the video they're watching from stores such as iTunes and Amazon.
When it launches later this year, the download links will only initially appear alongside videos by artists signed to EMI and Universal Records.
Bakari Brock, a spokesperson for YouTube, told the New York Times that the feature will mean people won't have to leave the website in order to buy a song.
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New Blackberry Phone Aims To Bite Into iPhone Dominance Of consumer market...
By Jason Gregory on 8 October 2008
Mobile company Blackberry have unveiled the mobile phone that they hope will eat into the dominance of Apple's iPhone.
The Blackberry Storm, which will be available via Vodafone in the UK, features a clickable touchscreen and a wide range of after-market applications such as Facebook.
Unlike Blackberry's current line, the phone does not feature a physical keyboard.
The phone is expected to win what's setting up to be a competitive Christmas consumer market, which will also include the new Google-powered G1, Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic device and the iPhone.
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Kid Rock Finally Calls Digital Download Ceasefire He allows fans to download his albums...
By Jason Gregory on 3 October 2008
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Kid Rock is to allow fans the chance to legally download his material for the first time in his career.
The musician, who has always maintained a timid approach towards downloading, has signed a four month deal with the music service Rhapsody.
But the agreement is not without its restrictions. Fans will only be able to download albums from Rock's back catalogue in full.
After four months, it's understood that Rock will be able to approach other download services with his catalogue.
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