This post origianlly appeared and was written for the Gigbeth Conference website.

It doesn’t matter what side of the fence you sit on the BIG download debate, there’s good news and bad news.

Currently, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the UK recording industry trade body, are negotiating with the ISP’s to voluntary regulate people’s downloads. It’s suggested it would work on a three strikes and your out system. This is where the customer would receive written warnings from it’s ISP if it has detected an illegal download where upon the third would result in disconnection.

Previously this year, the BPI had received significant backing from the government, who announced it would publish a consultation and force ISP’s through legislation to regulate their service which could potentially, over the coming years, stop all illegal downloads within the UK.

The good news for the BPI who recently finalised a deal with Virgin Media. Virgin Media will soon begin educating their customers about the legality about downloading.

However, last week 5th July at the PPL AGM, Andy Burnham who is the secretary of state for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), eluded to the fact that the consultation and therefore the legislation would be delayed as it would prefer voluntary regulation and negotiation between all ISP’s and the BPI. So perhaps a massive setback for the BPI there.

Earlier this year, I was sitting down with other independent labels being given an update on progress by BPI’s Chief Executive Geoff Taylor.

He told us the three objectives the BPI were working on alongside negotiation with ISP’s. One of which is education in schools with the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the international recording industry trade body. The IFPI has already started a campaign in schools to educate children and parents alike about the issues with illegal downloading. These have been sent to parents of school children within 20 countries. A copy of the leaflet can be found here.

He talked about how the roles of record labels have changed and are ever changing. The BPI will be supporting these changes, helping labels learn and helping them develop not just digitally, but through international trade also. He also talked about new business models. Not just record labels, but even in retail such as ad supported download stores and HMV now selling downloads in stores through kiosks.

The BPI have a fight on their hands, not all ISP’s are going easily and with the government potentially announcing delays with legislation, this could see the battle go late into 2009. The whole debate asks further questions of how this would really work or should it happen at all? It will no doubt be thoroughly talked about at the upcoming Gigbeth conference, something to really look forward to.

The blog posts will eventually appear on here, but after a delay.

We’ve got the ‘brummie Jeff Buckey’ VIJAY KSIHORE, Supremely talented MATT GEARY, the anti-folk epidemic that is SUPERMAN REVENGE SQUAD and an unplugged version of the fusion of all your favourite bands known as HONEYTRAP all playing. (links will take you to the respective myspace)

Flyer’s are being printed at the moment, make sure you pick yourself up one if you see them about, they’re all special edition. Flyer is below. Hope to see you all there. I will be blogging about the event afterwards because it has significance regarding its ethos and how as a music promoter, we paid the band, ran the night etc. Looking forward to writing that one.

Say hello and I’ll buy you a drink…

I have to say, I’m with the Major’s on this one. Promotional cd’s, usually sent to dj’s/radio stations/press agents etc. are there to promote an upcoming release. These however, constantly fall into the hands of people who wish to monetise from these. I believe it’s wrong for the following reasons:

• These actually appear on eBay BEFORE most release dates, effectively making money from the release before the artist does.
• The label has invested money (which in some cases can be recoupable from the artist) and sent the promo out to what it believes are legitimate people who may be able to further the exposure of the artist via plays/reviews. Instead, a reseller receives it and takes money out of the artists’ hands which doesn’t help promote the release one bit.
• It’s FREEto the right people. The real problem I have is with the person making money from something which is meant to be free. If they gave it away for free, I would have no problem with it. There are people who collect everything someone has released and promo’s are a part of that. Not something I’m into myself as usually the promo’s have little or no artwork and contain the same version of tracks as on the album, so to me its pointless. But I don’t like the idea of hardcore fans having to pay sometimes large amounts of money to increase their collection.

I feel the need to criticise the BBC for producing a biased article, at no point did they attempt to get across a legitimate point of view from any label, never mind Universal. Instead, they had 3 points of view from one side of the fence.

They also have this ‘gobin’ thing going on, including imagery if you check out the picture on the article. This is to do with a quite from a Harry Potter book “To a goblin, the rightful and true master of any object is the maker, not the purchaser.”  This is addressing an argument that the labels own the copy and can ask for it back at any time. But we actually don’t own a lot of what have . . . Open your wallet, take a look at your bank/credit cards/gym card/blockbuster card/oyster card & drivers license, they all remain property to someone else which in the terms and conditions of signing up at some point stipulate they can ask back for at any time. Hang on, doesn’t money even belong to the Queen? The point they’re trying to make is if someone pays for a copy, isn’t it theirs? Afraid not, you see that writing on it that says “Promotional copy | Not for Resale” well it’s actually protected by the CDPA ACT of 1988. Therefore classed as an illegal transaction, another anallergy would be, If I stole a VCR (old skool) from Fred and sold it to Jane, legally, Fred is still the owner and Jane is now in possession of stolen goods, another illegal transaction.

People actually make a living out of selling promo copies and to me, they’re as evil as the ticket touts and secondary ticket market.

It’s one of those tracks where you can’t decide if you like the verse more than the chorus, real 90’s indie guitar sound too.

DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE TOO! From their myspace!!!

Going to try and book him for a gig when he’s over in the UK.

Make sure you check out his MySpace. Find him, add him and send him some love.

However, a quick post to let you know that MONDAY 5TH MAY on channel 186, RED TV, at around 18:30 you’ll get to see my band Red Route, doing a TV performance. Feel free to text in and vote, but more importantly, check us out and let me know what you think.

Also, any feedback on how the site should look would be appreciated.

More posts this week.

Anthony

I think out of most companies. Music companies have the biggest opportunity to make statements, and in the past, they have. You can sign artists with political ideas and agenda’s (Tom Waits, Rage?), you can sign artists with environmental belief’s (coldplay?), or you can make them yourselves . . .

If you would play a word association game, or get peoples perceptions of a record label, I’m guessing they would wither be extremely negative (”Robbing bastards”) or seen in an glamorous light (”Exciting”). I think there have been cases of both. Boy Wonder Records aren’t robbing bastards, and we’re not in it for the glamour either. We’re in it to make a difference.

How can a music company make a difference?

You can try and alter people’s lives for the better in any way you can. This can be the artist by making them successful and being able to make a living from making music, your employees, it can be the fan sat in their room in the dark listening to your records, it can be the environment or it can be someone who has never heard of your artist, your label or even you. Over the next week, I hope to address these issues in different posts, beginning with the first and perhaps the most important? . . .

| THE ARTIST |

Your artist should be dear to you, you effectively are a partnership, you work for them and they work for you. Tony Wilson (good interview with him here), who started Factory Records, and unfortunately recently died is a hero of mine who I had the pleasure to meet a few times, brilliant. But Tony started an ethical precedent for label/artist relations, and it’s one Boy Wonder Records uses today. It’s a 50/50 profit split with the artist. The average label deal is usually 80/20 in the label’s favour, but times have changed and so do the profit splits. Artists have been royally ripped off in the past, but things have to change. The renowned packaging deduction’s which came about with the introduction of vinyl and special edition product shouldn’t exist anymore in a contract, ESPECIALLY with the introduction of digital sales.

I always see Boy Wonder Records as a development label, spending time to help the artist’s with their act’s is essential, it helps everyone in the end. As a label, you should have expertise in certain fields, if not, bring someone in who is. I think all singers should have vocal tuition for one thing. Vocal tutors are magical people who can do wonders from breathing to confidence, it really is a must. Show me an artist who doesn’t want to be better at what they do.

A record label can be seen as a meat processing factory. A raw product goes in, the label then delivers an end product packaged and ready for the shelves. I said above, you kind of work for the artist. Rather than just getting on with release planning etc. Ask the artists . . . What do you want to achieve? It might not be immediately anything to do with the chart. As a label, you have to endeavor to achieve the end goals for the artists you represent.

To wrap up on Artists because I could type forever about being more ethical. Respect the fact they’re all individual, have different needs, need taking care of, need guidance, but probably most importantly of all, need listening to. What they want is important and as a music company / label /manager . . . it’s your job.

I think I’ve used the phrase the music industry is in a transitional period before, well, probably too many times, but dam it we are. But have you ever thought that end consumers, we have a say into how you buy music in the future? Well we do.

It’s said there will most likely be three way’s how we buy music. A premium service, a subscription service and a free service. Which one would you like? Well, they all have pro’s and con’s.

The free model:Download a good selection of releases, free of charge, 100% legal, however, you have to put up with advertisements in some form in order to listen but perhaps only for a certain period or amount of plays and at a low quality bitrate.

The subscription model:You can get a large percentage of track’s ever released. You pay a certain fee per month, perhaps to your ISP as part of your package. This will most likely be of a medium quality bitrate.

The premium model:You can download everything that’s ever been released, at high birtrate, no advertisements but on a price per track basis.

Which one do you prefer?I suppose you can look at them all as having pro’s and con’s? One thing about them all though, there’s an option for everyone, all legal and all ensuring the rights holders can monetise from all downloads.

So make your choice . . . choose 1, maybe 2, why not three? The good news is these models are already established. You’ll probably find you use one more than the other. The industry is listening, by closely monitoring sale trends, site stats and piracy reports, we can see how people buy music AND IT WILL SHAPE HOW MUSIC IS SOLD IN YEARS TO COME!So go out and experiment, find what’s right for you, and change how music is sold. If one model seems to do better than the others, music companies will strive to exploit copyright in that area and attempt to streamline the experience and value add it.

Personally, I’m a premium guy. I love buying vinyl, probably the most anti-digital format you can have, but I love the experience of it, you focus on the music much more as you have to be by your decks, place it on the turntable yada yada. But I do get a lot of free music as a label, I try to listen to as much new music as established repertoire. But it’s all about the quality and selection, if it’s good, it’s well worth paying for.

I also extremely despise advertisements. Mixing it with music to me would ruin the experience. Probably why I don’t listen to commercial radio. The advertiser’s for commercial radio also pretty much control the playlists, not how the world should be.

So go shape how music is sold in the future, there’s something for everyone.