2 MusicWeek 30.03.12 NEWS EDITORIAL


Music TV gets a new Voice


IT’S ALWAYS A SUREFIRE WAY to get British label execs hopping up and down. Top Of The Pops. Such a harmless, kitsch collection of


words, but one that seems to provoke sudden perspiration and angst in those whose job description decrees: ‘Sell as many records as possible.’ Why can’t we have an appointment-to-view programme that


gives artists the enviable platform they enjoyed in mechanical music’s heyday? Why does the Beeb continue to invest heavily in cookery, DIY and makeover shows and leave Jools high and dry on its premier two channels? And why can’t someone somewhere put Bruno Brookes back on the telly? All legitimate and often convincingly energetic arguments.


(Especially the Bruno one.) Yet ask those with the power to make those decisions at the


Beeb, and they’ll gently suggest that 2012’s kids simply wouldn’t watch TOTP; that today’s multi-screened YouTube addicts are far more comfortable searching out artists at their convenience than having them presented by Auntie on a platter. Deep down, most of us recognise they’ve probably got something of a point.


“The combined Saturday night audience of The Voice and BGT topped 17 million – four times 2011’s TOTP Christmas special”


And so it is, we look back misty-eyed to a time when even the


ropiest of pop acts could get in front of an audience of 15 million goggle-eyed youngsters, their pocket money jangling in anticipation of feverishly shelling out for a jet-black round disc. But here’s the thing: that was the Seventies. Even during the


Britpop rebirth, TOTP only drew single figures. Millions of them – but single figures nonetheless. Now consider this: the combined live Saturday audience of The


Voice and Britain’s Got Talent was 17.7 million. The 2011 TOTP Christmas Day special attracted under a quarter of that number. If Universal comes good in welcoming a range of artists from a


variety of labels onto BBC One’s new Saturday night flagship, it could be a real shot in the arm for industry – especially if Talpa’s global evidence that the show’s audience tends to grow comes good in Blighty. And the best bit is, this whole televisual Battle Royale business


is proving a real positive. As a programme, The Voice benefits greatly from the tension,


eyeballing and drama that took place in between my telly’s borders – but the equally addictive public scuffle between the show, Cowell and Britain’s Got Talent was what got me and millions of others watching in the first place. With the verbal lashing it takes from IMPALA at every


opportunity, Universal knows better than anyone that healthy competition in a marketplace helps to propel an entire sector to new heights. That goes double when a high-trousered headline thief is being cheeky about one of your judges. (Sorry, ‘coaches’.) Largely because of this pantomime tete-a-tete, the mainstream


– the real, buy-a-single-Michael-Bublé-CD-per-year mainstream – is this week busy chattering about music again. Talpa can’t make those three new shows quickly enough. Tim Ingham, Editor


Do you have views on this column? Feel free to comment by emailing tim.ingham@intentmedia.co.uk UK TRADE HITS BACK AT GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS ‘Publishers could be left


£40m out of pocket’ POLITICS  BY TIM INGHAM


G


overnment copyright proposals could steer the UK music industry into


dangerous territory – and leave composers and publishers £40m down in due royalties over the next five years. That’s according to industry


trade groups, who have raised the alarm over consumers being potentially permitted to move purchased music files into the Cloud without any legally due compensation going to rights-holders. The Government-


commissioned Hargreaves Review, published in May last year, recommended an exception to allow limited acts of private copying – for example, making it legal to copy a CD to an MP3 player – which was widely backed by industry. However, follow-up


Government proposals which arrived in December suggested this exception should be widened to become “technology neutral”, and include server-based storage. Last week, the likes of


UK Music, PRS and the MMF slammed that suggestion, via submissions to a Copyright Consultation launched by Intellectual Property Minister Baroness Wilcox. PRS for Music said: “[This]


has not been fully evaluated or understood by Government. Our conservative estimates project


that the reduction in online revenues from exceptions applied to Cloud services over the next five years could amount to a loss of at least £40m in revenues for composers and music publishers. Since Cloud services can be licensed and represent the future business model for technology and rights, there is no justifiable case for an exception.”


consumption and an exception risks undermining licensing negotiations and hampering genuine innovation. It would create huge uncertainty.” That view was echoed by


the BPI. Chief exec Geoff Taylor said: “We support updating the copyright framework to enable legitimate uses of music, such as copying CDs onto an MP3 player or smartphone, provided this is consistent with European law. “But many of Government’s


proposals strip away the ability to earn a living from creativity, simply to make it easier for third parties, such as US tech companies, to exploit music commercially without paying. This is not the right way to


stimulate jobs and growth in the UK’s digital economy.” The MMF submission


UK Music also submitted a


market-wide rebuttal to Government, commenting: “The primary beneficiaries of a badly- worded exception on private copying would be global technology companies based in the United States or otherwise resident for tax purposes outside the UK, whose dominance already act as a significant barrier to UK-based technology start-up companies. The costs would be borne by UK copyright owners, and ultimately, UK plc.” UK Music CEO Jo Dipple


toldMusic Week: “[Cloud] services will play a significant part in the future of music


suggested: “Companies providing Cloud services are in business to make a profit. Directly or indirectly, they make money offering these services. There is no doubt that Cloud services should pay licence fees.” MMF CEO Jon Webster


later told Music Week: “How are creators going to get a reasonable reward for their endeavours in future? That question is crucial to the future of all creative industries and frankly the future of how we all live. If I hear one more free-tard tell me it will come from selling a T-shirt at a gig, I will shove it where the free- tard won’t be able to find it.”


Cook exits MTV as Gardiner leaves We7


Two popular music industry execs have exited their respective positions at MTV and We7, Music Week has learnt. Director of talent and


music programming at MTV UK Matt Cook (pictured) left the broadcaster last Friday. Music Week understands the exec, who


has been at MTV for five years, is set to resurface elsewhere in the industry after the Easter break. Cook previously


worked at two major labels and in artist


management. Meanwhile, We7 SVP of


digital music Clive Gardiner has


vacated the company, also after five years. He told Music Week that


his departure was “very amicable” as he looks “to find a new challenge”. Gardiner is a board


member at the Entertainment Retailers Association, and has previously worked for BMG Music and Pioneer.


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