Industry News

Idol's debut ratings nothing to sing about

Ratings for Sunday night's debut episode of the new family-friendly Australian Idol, shedded up to 20 per cent of last year's audience.

With ratings for the reality series continuing to slide - down more than 100,000 viewers nationally - the move to an earlier 6.30pm timeslot has failed to stem the tide against the program. The Daily Telegraph reports that despite acting swiftly to distance itself from shock jock Kyle Sandilands, the decision to dump the controversial judge appears to have fractured audiences further. Whether a protest vote against Sandilands' sacking or a snub of the radio star, who appears in this year's first three pre-recorded episodes, ratings across all demographics took a tumble.

Now in its seventh season, Channel 10's Idol finished third in the timeslot nationally, with an average of 1.29 million viewers, to Nine's returning Domestic Blitz (1.34m) and Seven's Dancing With The Stars (1.301m).

It was viewers aged in the overlapping categories of 25-54 and over 40 who voted with their remotes, losing 10.5 per cent and 20 per cent of viewers respectively on last year's audience figures. Sydney turned off the program in particular, with audience numbers down 12.7 per cent to 402,386 people.

It was the first ratings test of audience sentiment following Sandilands part in a live lie detector test of a 14-year-old girl on his 2DayFM breakfast show. The humiliating segment spiraled out of control when the teenager said under duress that she had been raped two years ago.
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ACMA launches investigation into Vile and Tacky O controversy

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has announced it would launch an investigation, reviewing the practices that lead to the public humiliation of a 14 year-old alleged rape victim on the Kyle and Jackie O Show on 2DAYFM.

Public outrage has followed the stunt in which a 14-year girl was strapped to a lie detector and asked questions about her sex life. Two weeks later, Austereo is yet to release its findings or terminate the broadcasters who let the girl go live to air without delay while knowing she was 14-years old. The girl’s mother, who took part in the segment to win Pink concert tickets, has also been slammed for forcing her daughter onto the show and asking of her sexual experiences despite having prior knowledge of the alleged rape.

Despite recent claims by the girl's extended family that she was not raped in an interview with A Current Affair, the innocence of the girl will not be what the ACMA investigation is about. ACMA will be looking at the policies that were in place that allowed this to go to air in the first place.

It does not change the fact Kyle and Jackie O agreed and encouraged the under age girl to go on the program without her consent, hooked up to a lie detector, and allowed the questioning to go to air without using a 7-second delay. Kyle asking "Right … is that the only experience you’ve had?" straight after the girl claimed to being raped two years ago, in particular, has been subject to heavy criticism.
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Industry News

Student ordered to pay for illegal downloading

Joel Tenenbaum, a student who admitted illegally sharing 30 songs online, has been ordered to pay a fine of $675,000 (£400,000). A jury decided that the 25-year-old should pay $22,500 (£13,370) per song to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), to be distributed between the record labels whose copyright had been infringed.

Tenenbaum's reaction was mixed, as he had been anticipating a fine of up to $4.5m. He said the result of the trial "sends a message of 'We considered your side with some legitimacy ... $4.5m would have been, 'We don't buy it at all'."
There was suggestion from Tenenbaum's lawyer, Charles Nesson, that the verdict would be appealed. The RIAA released the following statement: "We appreciate that Mr Tenenbaum finally acknowledged that artists and music companies deserve to be paid for their work. From the beginning, that's what this case has been all about. We only wish he had done so sooner rather than lie about his illegal behaviour."

Tenebaum was first approached by the RIAA in 2003, when the music industry body wrote to him asking for $5,250 in compensation for seven songs he had illegally shared on the P2P site Kazaa. He was among roughly 30-40,000 people fined, but only one of a handful to contest the fine. Shortly before the trial, the RIAA increased the number of songs he was being sued for from seven to 30.

Earlier this year, Jammie Thomas Rasset was found guilty of illegally sharing 24 songs via Kazaa. She was ordered to pay a total of $1.92m, or $80,000 per song. Tenenbaum, only the second person to be found guilty of illegal filesharing in the US, had reportedly said he would file for bankruptcy if the verdict stands.
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Mariah's 'Memoirs' CD to include mini-magazine with ads

As music sales continue to drop like they're not so hot throughout the industry, Island Def Jam Music Group is jamming on a new business model: integrating brands into artists' CD booklets.

The first deal, created for the Mariah Carey release Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel on Sept. 15, is a 34-page co-production with Elle magazine that includes lifestyle ads from Elizabeth Arden, Angel Champagne, Carmen Steffens, Le Métier de Beauté and the Bahamas Board of Tourism. Providing the experiment goes well, the label is eyeing bigger brand deals for booklets of CDs by Rihanna, Bon Jovi, Kanye West and other artists.

The mini magazine contains Mariah-centric editorial ("VIP Access to Her Sexy Love Life," "Amazing Closet," "Recording Rituals") and lifestyle advertising along with lyrics and other CD booklet elements. Elle contributed the editorial and designed the layout.

The booklets were created for the first run of U.S. CDs (1 million) and the first 500,000 overseas, said Jeff Straughn, svp-strategic marketing for Island Def Jam Music Group. It will also be available in a digital format for those who buy music online.
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Industry News

Kazaa relaunches as a legit music download service

Kazaa, once a peer-to-peer file sharing site at the centre of many copyright lawsuits, has officially been re-launched as a legal subscription music service. The new online payments model, being run by new owner Brilliant Digital Entertainment (BDE), allows registered users to download unlimited music mp3 files for US$19.98 per month.

However, the new subscription package is only for PCs, meaning the files won’t play on an iPod or any other portable music device and once a subscription is terminated, access to the downloaded music ends.

The new service marks a significant change for Kazza, whose turbulent past includes a $100 million legal battle against four major record labels for copyright infringement over its former file sharing network.

In 2006, Kazaa agreed to settle with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group and Warner Music Group, all of which claimed Kazaa's former owner, Sharman Networks, allowed its users to breach copyright laws by sharing and swapping songs.
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Warner and YouTube still in talks over deal

Warner Music Group is still in talks with video sharing site YouTube to license its artists' music videos, as negotiations over payment reached an impasse. Videos from Warner artists like Madonna and Green Day were removed from YouTube last December after both sides were unable to agree on financial terms for the licensing rights. While talks are still ongoing no imminent announcements are expected. "We are working actively to find a resolution with YouTube that would enable the return of our artists' content to the site," Warner said in a statement.

Warner Music, the world's third largest music company, was among the first major music companies to sign a deal with YouTube. As chief executive, Warner Music's Edgar Bronfman is keen to improve terms of his previous deal with YouTube. Warner still makes videos available to MTV, MySpace Music and other sites.

The video sharing site is regarded by music industry insiders as one of the most important music discovery tools for fans. It has more than 100 million visitors every month in the United States alone and is just as popular in many other countries.
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Industry News

Asia tests new ways of making music profit

The economic crisis has seen a dramatic downturn in physical sales of music and an increase in illegal downloading. Marcel Fenez of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ entertainment and media practice says that "Consumers are enjoying more hours of music, they just aren’t paying for it". Asia’s physical distribution market fell by 9.3 percent in 2008 – the biggest drop in 5 years. A survey of more than 8,000 young Asians b/w 15 to 24 year olds found only 11% paid for the music they obtained online - Scary statistic, isn't it?

The industry is exploring how it can capitalize on new technology and get paid for music in a completely new way.

Nokia is now offering an "All You Can Eat" music services bundled with its mobile phones. Instead of paying per song, music lovers are allowed to download onto their phone any song they want for a 12 to 18-month period. The cost of the music is factored into the price of the handset.

Another scheme, thought to be previously-unthinkable, that is being tried comes from internet giant Google, in partnership with record labels such as Warner, Sony and EMI. Working with Chinese music site Top100, the project, launched earlier this year, offers Chinese users music that can be legally downloaded for free. It hopes to cash in by attracting more visitors, and then capitalising on that increased traffic through advertising. Doubts remain about whether the venture can lead to real revenues. "We believe that by investing heavily in product innovation, the users will come and then the money will come," said Google China's engineering director Bin Lin at the Hong Kong conference.
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Webcasters and music industry reach royalties agreement

Internet radio reached an agreement on streaming-music royalty rates with SoundExchange, the group that collects royalties on behalf of artists and labels. The two sides announced the deal, which comes after more than two years of negotiations, political maneuvering, and fans pleading with lawmakers to save Webcasting. It should be noted, however, that Webcasters are still at a disadvantage when competing with traditional broadcast radio. Over-the-air stations aren't required to pay royalty rates to artists or labels.

Steve Marks, an executive vice president for the Recording Industry Association of America and one of the people who helped close the deal, said the settlement is proof that the music industry wants to partner with technology firms. "Supporting new business models through innovative licensing agreements is critical to the future of our industry," Marks said. "We are pleased to have found an alternative in the hope of avoiding costly litigation in favor of building partnerships."

The agreement calls for large ad-supported radio services, such as Pandora, to either share 25 percent of revenue with the music industry or pay a per-stream rate of 0.08 cent retroactive to 2006, whichever is greater. That rate will increase until reaching 0.14 cent in 2015. Sites that generate less than $1.25 million in revenue must pay 12 percent to 14 percent of sales for streaming rights.
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Collapse in illegal sharing and boom in streaming music

New research shows that the number of teenagers illegally sharing music has fallen dramatically in the past year. The survey of 1,000 fans also shows that many 14 to 18 year olds are now streaming music regularly online using services such as YouTube and Spotify.

At the same time less than a third of teenagers are now illegally downloading music, the survey suggests. In January this year 26% of 14 to 18 year olds admitted filesharing at least once a month compared with 42% in December 2007. The research revealed that many teenagers (65%) are streaming music regularly, with more 14 to 18 year olds (31%) listening to streamed music on their computer every day compared with music fans overall (18%).

Paul Brindley, CEO of Music Ally, which carried out the survey with media and technology research company, The Leading Question, said: "These figures challenge the idea that filesharing will just continue to grow. While we don't think for a second that it shows the war against piracy is won, it does at least suggest that there is encouraging news for the music industry." Music fan Dominique Wakefield, 24, said "While I was at uni I started listening to streamed music using MySpace. Bands would be friends with other bands and it was a great way of discovering new music. I don't really feel the need to own all that music, I know it's always there. I still buy the occasional CD, and sometimes use iTunes. If I find myself loving a whole album and listening to it again and again, then I will buy it. But it has to be quite special."

Legal digital sales are also seeing an unprecedented boom, although sales are far from making up from the shortfall created by the collapse of the physical market. Digital singles were up 41.5% in 2008, while physical singles sales plunged 43.5%, according to the BPI. Last year three albums – Coldplay's Viva La Vida, Kings of Leon's Only By Night and Duffy's Rockferry – sold more than 100,000 digital copies, and the impact of digital is nowhere more apparent than in the UK singles top 40, where Michael Jackson has 12 posthumous entries in the current chart.
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