The dispute between Google and the PRS highlights exactly why we’re launching a campaign to safeguard the rights of musiciansGoogle’s decision unilaterally to remove the music videos from their YouTube network in the UK as a fee-negotiating tactic in a dispute with the Performing Rights Society is a stark illustration of the power-shift that has gone on with the music industry over the past decade. By choosing to take on the PRS, a society that collects royalties for artists rather than record companies, Google is hoping to bring to heel the last remaining outpost of resistance to the idea that music on the internet should be free – the creators of that music, the artists themselves.Digital technology is the best thing that has happened for performers and songwriters since Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and made it possible for us to earn a living from something other than live performance. Recent developments in audio technology have made it possible for anyone with a laptop and a connection not only to make their own music, but also to distribute it around the world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/10/google-music-prs-youtubeTop British musicians unite to form copyright lobby group
They earn millions and the extent of their diva-esque demands is often mind boggling. But tomorrow, Robbie Williams, KT Tunstall and the members of Radiohead will join a group of high-profile musicians to protest at how badly they are treated by record companies and music streaming websites like YouTube.The inaugural meeting of the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), which will be held behind closed doors at a secret West End venue is aimed at giving famous names a greater say in how music industry contracts are struck in an increasingly opaque digital age.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article5883885.eceRadiohead, Billy Bragg join fray against YouTube
The fight between YouTube and a U.K. music royalties group appears to be heating up as Radiohead, Billy Bragg, and Robbie Williams have come out against YouTube.Williams, KT Tunstall, and the members of the rock band Radiohead will meet Wednesday with other marquee music performers to protest “at how badly they are treated by record companies and music streaming Web sites like YouTube,” according to a report in the Times Online, a U.K. publication. The artists will gather as part of a newly formed group called the Featured Artists Coalition.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10193215-93.html
Fair play in the music industry by Billy Bragg and Dave Rowntree
Google’s decision unilaterally to remove the music videos from their YouTube network in the UK as a fee-negotiating tactic in a dispute with the Performing Rights Society is a stark illustration of the power-shift that has gone on with the music industry over the past decade. By choosing to take on the PRS, a society that collects royalties for artists rather than record companies, Google is hoping to bring to heel the last remaining outpost of resistance to the idea that music on the internet should be free – the creators of that music, the artists themselves.