british-academy
Pirate Party Clashes with Music Industry Boss
Panel on P2P turns heated as Patrick Rakow CEO of BASCA (British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors) says Pirate Party’s plan for five year copyright limit would “completely undermine” the ability of content creators to make a living. Yesterday was day one of the three day In The City music conference in Manchester, England, and it got off to a bang with a panel devoted exclusively to the issue of P2P. Rick Falkvinge, founder and chairman of the Swedish Pirate Party which won 7.13% of the Swedish vote in the 2009 European Parliament elections, giving it as many as 2 seats in the European parliament, addressed the crowd by detailing 5 copyright law reforms proposed by the party.
Continue reading »UK Music Wants to Filter “Illegitimate” P2P Sites
Asks UK govt for Internet disconnection of “egregious or persistent infringer” and filtering of file sharing-related websites, while ISPs such as Carphone Warehouse plan to sue the govt if forced to “impose technical measures on its customers.” The UK govt’s consultation process on how to address illegal file-sharing concluded this past Tuesday and its final decision for legislation will be announced sometime in November. UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has already made clear his “ evolved ” thinking in support for Internet disconnection after concluding that the current timetable , which stands at 2-3 yrs for a 70% reduction using a combination of notifications and technical measures, would take an “unacceptable amount of time to complete in a situation that calls for urgent action.” A number of music artists represented by the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (Basca), and the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have all previously denounced the “three-strikes” plan as something that “will [not] work, will cost too much and is far too blunt a tool.” However, after Lily Allen declared P2P is a “ disaster ” for emerging music artists the FAC convened an “ urgent ” P2P summit and decided that throttling was the most appropriate solution to repeat file-sharers. UK Music, an umbrella organization that claims to represent the “collective interests,” tried to “ clarify ” the music industry’s position by announcing that it was firmly behind plans to disconnect file-sharers.
Continue reading »FAC Invites Artists to “Urgent” P2P Summit
Wants to forge a united front on the issue of illegal file-sharing. The UK music industry has been going through a tumultuous time following the announcement by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson that his “ thinking has evolved ” on the use of “further technical measures” and that “urgent action” in the form of disconnecting file-sharers from the Internet is necessary. It led to the immediate denunciation by a number of music artists represented by the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), and the Music Producers Guild (MPG).
Continue reading »UK Musicians Denounce “Three-Strikes” Proposal
Cites US music industry’s failure despite more than 30,000 lawsuits against illegal file-sharers as proof that it won’t succeed. It was about 3 weeks ago now that UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, head of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills , and whom ultimately is tasked with implementing the recommendations for dealing with illegal file-sharing as outlined in the Digital Britain report , reportedly ordered his staff to come up with plans for a crackdown on illegal file-sharers that includes giving ISPs the power to disconnect repeat offenders ala a “three-strikes” graduated response system. After first denying the proposal, the BIS later confirmed it, saying that its “ thinking has evolved ” on the use of “further technical measures” that includes “as a last resort” the power “to suspend a subscriber’s account.” It feels that the current timetable , which stands at 2-3 yrs for a 70% reduction using a combination of notifications and technical measures, would take an “unacceptable amount of time to complete in a situation that calls for urgent action.” UK ISPs have already blasted the proposal , saying that it will “likely breach fundamental human rights and result in innocent people being disconnected or, worse, prosecuted.” Now a number of music artists represented by the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (Basca), and the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have all united to publicly denounce the “three-strikes” plan as well.
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