The British Phonographic Industry reports that piracy of music rose 36 percent in the past year. “The music industry watchdog said figures from 2001 showed a massive rise in the number of fake and pirated CDs seized in the UK. The figures are based on the number of seizures in the UK in 2001, and … Continue reading “British Music Group Reports Piracy Up 36 Percent”
“The combination of necessary professional arrogance, high hopes, and even bigger disappointment has allowed conspiracy theories to gain currency among the musicians who feel cheated by Evangelista.” – Van
Author Philip Pullman says, “Online piracy of books, music, and other expressions of the human spirit needs to be properly understood: it’s an offence against moral justice. … It’s the very opposite of freedom of speech, because it acts to prevent those who create beauty, knowledge, consolation or delight from earning even a modest living … Continue reading “Authors In The UK Ask For Government Help Against Ebook Piracy”
UK record labels enjoyed a 10.6% surge in earnings in 2017 to £839m, thanks to the digital popularity of a new generation of artists including Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Dua Lipa and Stormzy. It was the fastest growth since 1995, when Oasis, Blur and Pulp created a high-street CD sales frenzy. Music companies enjoyed a … Continue reading “UK Music Companies Have Their Best Year In Decades”
“The music industry remains greatly diminished since its turn-of-millennium heights: 2016’s $7.7 billion in revenue is only half of the approximately $15 billion that was being made in 1999. The internet—piracy, cheap single sales, and free streaming—largely caused the declines seen in the 2000s. So if streaming is helping now, it is first helping to … Continue reading “Celebrate The Music Industry’s Best Year In Eight Years (But Not Too Much)”
“Rampant piracy is the narrative being pushed by the music industry in its letter to Congress, but the truth is more complicated. Read between the lines of the letter, and a larger, more lucrative and familiar problem appears: The royalties that an artist or songwriter gets each time a stream of their song is played … Continue reading “Why The Music Industry Is Going To War Against Internet Platforms”
“Honey, we have no music industry. There’s 90% piracy everywhere in the world. They take everything. At the recent South by Southwest [an annual music festival in Austin], they had over 1,900 musicians, but fans didn’t know where to go. You can’t get an album out because nobody buys an album anymore.”
“Musicians don’t agree on much, but they tend to concur that the note A in the middle of the treble staff should be tuned to 440 Hz. The International Standards Organization even issued guidelines to this effect back in the ’50s. But the conspiracy theorists will tell you that this pernicious tuning was promoted by … Continue reading “Are We Tuning Our Musical Instruments Wrong? (At The Risk Of Being Inflammatory, Blame The Nazis)”
“Once hailed as the saviour of an industry pummelled by piracy, streaming is now widely criticized by artists who complain about the minuscule amounts paid for each stream by Spotify, which operates both a free tier with ads and a subscription service.”
“Since theater is a live art form, to me there’s nothing about digitization that intrinsically makes piracy easier. Unlike the music and film industries, where digitization (and the attendant problem of piracy) has had a vast and industry shaking effect, I don’t anticipate the same thing for theater. As a friend once said, the worst … Continue reading “Should Playwrights Be Worried About Piracy If They Digitize Their New Plays?”
