Is the UK Music Industry Sleepwalking into a CD Crisis?

An upfront note: though this post focuses on the UK market, the principles, as you will see, apply across most music markets. At first glance the UK recorded music market isn’t in too bad shape: album sales declined by a not too worrying 5.6% in 2011 and digital grew solidly, including 26.6% growth in digital [...]

What the ISPs and the Record Labels Need to Do Next

The UK music industry and ISPs have been working towards the goals of the government-brokered Memorandum of Understanding since last summer but we’ve yet to see concrete results, in particular with regards to new music offerings. All stakeholders recognize the crucial importance of having a big fat carrot to accompany the stick. Yet we still [...]

What’s Going on Between the Government and the British Music Industry?

Most readers will be aware of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between leading UK ISPs and the UK music industry body the BPI, with the government and Ofcom effectively acting as mediators. The MOU focuses on pursuing co-regulatory solutions, including a trial in which ISPs send letters to file sharers. There’s been lots of vociferous [...]

RIAA Unconstitutional?

Fascinating piece here on the RIAA about to face the intellectual force of Harvard’s legal prowess.  The RIAA has mysteriously avoided suing Harvard students in its copyright infringement campaign, supposedly for the sake of avoiding having Harvard Law School defend its students and shoot down the RIAA’s approach.  Now one of Harvard’s law professors, Charles [...]