THIS WEEK IN THE MUSIC BIZ 
July 5, 2005 Edition
* Mashboxx Completes Licensing Deal With Sony BMG Music Entertainment
* World's First Digital Platform For Multi Media Press Kits
* Composers To Benefit Through New Music Publishing Accord Between BBC And BMG Music Publishing
* Bredbandsbolaget And Musicbrigade Launch Music Package
* Apple Takes Podcasting Mainstream
* Starbucks Hear Music And SONY BMG Custom Marketing Group To Release Rare Bob Dylan Album
* Sharman Welcomes US Supreme Court Decision As A Clear Opportunity To Be Vindicated
* FTC Issues Report On Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
* Ruckus To Allow Students To Legally Share Music
Mashboxx Completes Licensing Deal With Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Mashboxx announced the finalization of its first licensing deal with a major recording company, Sony BMG Music Entertainment. The first of its kind, the agreement allows for Sony BMG Music Entertainment music to be legally traded and purchased via searches performed on major existing file sharing networks. Mashboxx will be recognized as the first - and only - desktop file sharing application in the world authorized by a major content owner.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment music will be available on Mashboxx at the retail price of $.99 per track. Users, for the first time, will have the opportunity to preview the entire track, for a limited number of plays, before deciding to purchase. The Mashboxx application is expected to begin testing shortly and potential beta testers are currently being enlisted at the Mashboxx web site, www.mashboxx.com.
"We're pleased to be working with Wayne and the Mashboxx team as they introduce their new service with the aim of meeting the needs of music fans, while at the same time protecting artists and their work," commented Andrew Lack, Chief Executive Officer, Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
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World's First Digital Platform For Multi Media Press Kits Launched This Week
Videoplugger Limited launches MMPK.net, a brand new service enabling record labels, musicians and music-related events to distribute broadcast quality promotional media assets via one internet platform. The platform is the first of it's kind and revolutionises the way promotional multi media content is used and distributed.
MMPK.net delivers broadcast quality Music Videos and music-related VNR's (Video News Releases) to broadcasters, audio files to radio and on-line media and high-quality stills to print with no cost to the recipient.
The platform allows Digital Multimedia campaigns to utilise one single platform from one easy to use authentication system, reducing the number of distribution platforms used by pluggers and promoters. MMPK.net's digital delivery system also cuts out the need for traditional delivery methods, saving PR's thousands of pounds and hundreds of man-hours.
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Composers To Benefit Through New Music Publishing Accord Between BBC And BMG Music Publishing
BBC Worldwide has completed a deal with BMG Music Publishing, which maximises the value of its publishing catalogue to the BBC, and allows BBC Worldwide to concentrate on developing new broadcast-related music publishing initiatives.
Following a careful assessment of potential publishing partners and a closed bidding process, BMG Music Publishing has acquired BBC Worldwide's existing music publishing interests, which include music from productions such as the Teletubbies, The Tweenies, BBC News 24, Walking with Dinosaurs, and The Planets. BMG has acted as BBC Worldwide's music publishing administrator since 1996, and while the relationship between the companies has changed, composers' interests remain unaffected.
For BMG Music Publishing, the acquisition of BBC Worldwide's catalogue will increase its strong position in the film/TV industry by adding music to its catalogue from some of the U.K.'s top programmes, which have worldwide distribution. BMG represents the music catalogues of major film/TV companies i2i/RTL, Fremantle, Tiger Aspect, Wall To Wall, IMA Films, DIC Entertainment, Lion's Gate/Tristar Pictures, Aardman Animation (Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run), Transworld International, September Films, Brighter Pictures and Famous Music (the catalogue of Paramount Pictures) as well as such renowned film/TV composers as Ennio Morricone (A Fistful of Dollars), Yann Tiersen (Goodbye Lenin!, Amélie Poulain) and Alberto Iglesias (Talk To Her). BMG Music Publishing also has a long-term agreement with the U.K.'s Thin Man Films, through which it published the score to the three-time BAFTA winner and Oscar nominee Vera Drake.
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Bredbandsbolaget And Musicbrigade Launch Music Package With Sweden's Best Price On Music Downloads
Opening June 30, Swedish broadband operator Bredbandsbolaget and Musicbrigade present a new, integrated music service available to all Bredbandsbolaget's broadband access subscribers.
The service gives Bredbandsbolaget's subscribers access to a package that is unique in Europe: Musicbrigade's subscription service offering audio and video downloads, access to the world's best music video archive, streaming music television and web radio all under the same roof.
Friday July 1, sees new anti file-sharing law comes into effect in Sweden. In order to support and promote the legal digital distribution of music and to offer its customers a simple, user-friendly, one-stop-shop, Bredbandsbolaget has commissioned this fully integrated music portal.
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Apple Takes Podcasting Mainstream
Apple announced it is taking Podcasting mainstream by building everything users need to discover, subscribe, manage and listen to Podcasts right into iTunes 4.9, the latest version of its award winning digital music software and online music store. iTunes users can now easily subscribe to over 3,000 free Podcasts and have each new episode automatically delivered over the Internet to their computer and iPod.
"Apple is taking Podcasting mainstream by building it right into iTunes," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Podcasting is the next generation of radio, and users can now subscribe to over 3,000 free Podcasts and have each new episode automatically delivered over the Internet to their computer and iPod."
The new Podcast Directory in iTunes 4.9 features over 3,000 free audio programs, making it one of the largest Podcast directories in the world, with favorites such as ABC News, Adam Curry, BBC, Clear Channel, The Dawn and Drew Show, Disney, Engadget, ESPN, Newsweek and NPR member stations such as KCRW in Los Angeles and WGBH in Boston.
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Starbucks Hear Music And SONY BMG Custom Marketing Group To Release Rare Bob Dylan Album Exclusively At Starbucks On August 30
Starbucks Hear Music and SONY BMG Custom Marketing Group today announced plans to release and distribute Bob Dylan: Live at the Gaslight 1962, an album consisting of newly restored, live recordings culled from the best of Dylan's legendary 1962 performances at New York's Gaslight Cafe. Long sought after by fans, this album represents the first time these historic recordings have been professionally produced and officially released. Beginning on August 30, 2005, the album will be available exclusively at Starbucks Company-operated stores in the U.S. and Canada.
These archival recordings capture a young Bob Dylan at a pivotal moment in his career when he began to find his voice as an innovative artist and songwriter. The 10-song CD, culled from the best of Dylan's renowned 1962 sets at the Gaslight Cafe, includes the earliest surviving live recordings of "A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice It's Alright," both of which Dylan later released to great acclaim. Additional tracks include a third Dylan original, "John Brown," as well as covers of traditional folk songs such as "The Cuckoo" and "Barbara Allen."
For the past four decades, a limited number of poor quality "bootleg" versions of Dylan's performances at the Gaslight Cafe have circulated among collectors and fans. To produce this landmark album, SONY BMG mastering and audio production engineers completely remastered the best available recordings to create an album which offers a pristine version of these historical recordings -- the only version ever released with proper pitch and speed.
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Sharman Welcomes US Supreme Court Decision As A Clear Opportunity To Be Vindicated By The Legal System
We view today's decision by the United States Supreme Court as a clear opportunity for the legal system to vindicate Sharman Networks.
We welcome the remand back to the District Court, as we are confident the legal process will affirm that we have never sought to induce users of our file sharing software, Kazaa Media Desktop, to illegally violate copyright law, and that we have taken numerous steps to discourage copyright infringement by our users.
While the Supreme Court apparently found "substantial evidence... on all elements of inducement" by other P2P providers Grokster and Morpheus, Sharman has never encouraged or assisted users of Kazaa software to share copyrighted material in violation of copyright law.
In fact, our Kazaa web site and its End User License Agreement (EULA) have always contained explicit direction to users to respect their national copyright laws. And, from day one, Sharman's alliance with Altnet offered copyright owners a means by which licensed and protected copyrighted content could be distributed in a lawful and compensated manner, yet major content owners engaged in a coordinated boycott of that opportunity that we have asserted was in violation of U.S. antitrust laws.
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FTC Issues Report On Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing technology offers significant benefits but also poses risks to consumers who use it, according to a Federal Trade Commission staff report issued today. The staff report, "Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing Technology: Consumer Protection and Competition Issues," analyzes the consumer protection, competition, and intellectual property issues that were discussed at the FTC's December 2004 workshop on P2P file sharing. The report recommends that industry and government take steps so that consumers receive the many benefits from this technology while avoiding the risks that it creates.
P2P technology enables computer users to share communications, processing power, and data files with other users. Use of P2P technology can yield significant benefits, such as enhancing efficiency by allowing faster file transfers, conserving bandwidth, and reducing storage needs. Businesses, government agencies, academic institutions, and others use P2P applications for a variety of tasks. However, the most common application by far is commercial file-sharing software programs used by consumers to exchange files, such as music and movie files, with others; information presented in the FTC's report indicates that tens of millions of individuals have used a P2P file-sharing program.
The FTC staff's report states that the workshop provided "valuable insight." It concludes that P2P technology continues to evolve in response to market and legal forces. Consumers face risks when using commercial P2P file-sharing software programs, including risks related to data security, spyware and adware, viruses, copyright infringement, and unwanted pornography. There was little empirical evidence submitted in connection with the workshop, however, addressing whether these risks are greater with P2P file-sharing programs than with other Internet-related activities such as surfing websites, downloading software, and using e-mail or instant messaging.
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Ruckus To Allow Students To Legally Share Music
Ruckus introduced legal music sharing, a way for Ruckus users to legally find and download music on other Ruckus users' computers. By introducing legal music sharing, Ruckus becomes the first college-only digital media service to allow LEGAL peer-to-peer swapping of a music library.
"Ruckus is excited to offer legal music sharing, an improvement to the traditional P2P experience for students," said William Raduchel, Chairman and CEO of Ruckus. "The application enables users to find and download virus free tracks from Ruckus on their friends' and classmates' computers at incredible speeds. What we're really doing is allowing students to find friends through media, and media through friends, using Ruckus' powerful social media application. The Ruckus music sharing application also protects students from legal liability."
The introduction of legal music sharing will allow students on participating campuses to search - with permission - the playlists and file libraries of other students on their own subnet, and download the files to their own computers. Libraries of thousands of songs can be downloaded in minutes. This new addition marks the beginning of an improved, legal peer-to-peer file sharing on college campuses.
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Provided by the MusicDish Network. Copyright © Tag It 2005 - Republished with Permission
