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2 MusicWeek 04.05.12 NEWS EDITORIAL Come what Bay


I HATE DOING THE WHOLE “it’s was a super secret chinwag” schtick. So sorry. But – honestly – when I was told by a seriously senior label exec last year that 2012 would be a “tipping point” for the anti-piracy war, I thought he was talking little but optimistic baubles. (Appropriately, it was near Christmas.) But when you look back on what the pro-IP efforts of this


industry have achieved already this year, it’s a recipe for a grain of buoyancy after a decade of hurt; and most importantly, a potential foundation for an entirely new consumer attitude. Since that “tipping point” chat, we’ve seen the following:


MegaUpload crumble, BT Junkie tumble, The Pirate Bay stumble and Kim Dotcom humble. Not to mention YouTube bumble – after being told by the Hamburg State Court last month that it was at least partly responsible for hosting IP-infringing videos. It’s all enough to encourage a BPI-funded Just Say No rap (only


available on licensed sites, kids). Luckily, that won’t happen: international recorded music trade bodies seem to have learnt their lesson when it comes to shite anti-piracy initiatives – not to mention punishing consumers unnecessarily. Their modern, more effective argument hinders on what is fair in


the free information age – and the world’s legislatures finally seem to be listening. As Martin Mills puts it “musicians have the right to their own property, and to part with that only if they choose”.


“A shift in the public’s attitude over what is right and wrong when it comes to piracy is far more effective than any scare tactics – and it might have arrived this week”


You don’t need to me to tell you that in the big wide


commercial world – away from the non-myopic-“b-b-b-but streaming!!” mantra of this trade - there is a seriously huge section of business opinion formers who think that recorded music is doomed. The market’s battles getting access to finance and convincing the treasury they’re worth a tax break or two speak for itself. We’re not a safe bet. We’re yesterday’s man. But this week, the Premiership is thanking music. The video


games industry is thanking music. The book trade is thanking music. And Hollywood is thanking music. (All cheques gladly received, I’m sure.) Momentum is in the record industry’s corner. The worryman now is Google: the website that showed it can shake a President with a single public poll over SOPA. Whether or not the search giant moves towards the


rightsholders’ demand that it bin off file-sharing listings is one thing. But a shift in the public’s attitude over what is right and wrong is far more vital to the future health of this trade - and that’s exactly what may now be upon us. A Music Week reader joked on Twitter this week that TPB’s


downfall meant: ‘The illegal downloaders of 2005 will be so put out.’ But the industry doesn’t need to curb the behaviour of tech


whizzes or Anonymous members. They’re the minority. It just needs to make the TPB-prone majority understand that


their habit for - their expectancy of - free music hurts many more people than the cartoon cigar-chomping, wealthy label bosses from Wayne’s World movies. This week’s decision represented a giant step towards that goal. Tim Ingham, Editor


Do you have views on this column? Feel free to comment by emailing tim.ingham@intentmedia.co.uk COMPANY LOOKS TO EXPAND AUDIENCE IN EU VEHICLES


‘imminent’ in-car presence DIGITAL  BY TOM PAKINKIS


probably work out who that is because there aren’t that many.” When asked how soon we


S


treaming music service Deezer is expecting to have an in-car presence


in Europe “imminently”, with the task of gathering rights across the continent being the only obstacle. “It’s something that we


identified early on as a huge potential market,” UK MD Mark Foster told Music Week on the subject of streaming services moving to the in-car environment. “Satelite radio in the States is


huge, as you probably know, and that’s down to two brands that work very closely with car manufacturers so that, when you buy your car, you’ve already got your satellite radio built in. That’s where we’re going in terms of that sector of the market in Europe. “It’s more challenging in


Europe because it’s much more fragmented as a region,” he explained, you’ve got lots of different countries, legal entities and licensing bodies to deal with rather than the homogenous US market. “But an in-car app for


Deezer wouldn’t be challenging at all,” he said. “As long as we have the rights to that music across Europe, we can bundle


could expect to see cars rolling off the production line complete with a pre-installed Deezer app, he replied, “Imminently” before pointing to the support that Deezer has already seen from car manufacturers in its home country. “In France we did something


the app with a manufacturer and off we go. “We’re already working with a


digital car radio brand,” he said on the topic of expanding the service’s platform base. “You can


that was a marketing thing rather than in-car radio: Because it’s such a big brand in France, Nissan came in and did a limited Deezer range of one of


their little cars.” Turn to page 12 to read Deezer UK MD Mark Foster’s interview in full.


DEEZER: WE HAVEN’T GIVEN UP ON ADELE


The fight to establish a bigger Adele presence in the streaming sphere hasn’t ceased according to Deezer’s Mark Foster. “It’s been an ongoing


conversation, actually,” he said when discussing whether there would be a big push from streaming services to secure Adele’s third album, considering the runaway success of 21. “It’s not that there was an effort and then we left it alone and came back to it later. Those conversations are ongoing and


there are other artists that have been hesitant at first and, without making a big deal out of it, have at some point released their album to streaming services. “It’s not a good idea to name


names because some of them have been quite high profile saying, ‘Streaming is the devil and we’re not going to go that way,’,” he added. “Those conversations are


ongoing and we try to show the positives of having your music available on streaming services.”


Backstreet’s back… all right?


Backstreet Boys, the biggest- selling boy band of all time, will begin recording new material for their eighth studio album in London this summer – as a five-piece. Speaking exclusively to Music


Week, the group said of the return of Kevin Richardson, who left the band in 2006: “We’re excited to welcome back Kevin to the band and cannot wait to get back to London to start on our new album in July.” Member Howie ‘Howie D.’


Dorough enthused: “It’s going to be a blast – we cannot wait to


get started and begin crafting an album together, all five of us back together again... it’s going to be fun and it will be interesting to see what begins to grow out of it, musically.” Nick Carter, A.J. McLean,


Howie Dorough and Brian Littrell - the four members of


the group (pictured) currently on the worldwide NKOTBSB tour with New Kids On The Block – announced basic details of the news live on stage last Sunday at London’s O2 Arena in front a 20,000-capacity crowd. Thousands of viewers worldwide watched via live HD streams to cinemas and Facebook accounts. Backstreet Boys have been in


the industry for almost two decades. Their ‘biggest-selling boy band of all time’ accolade is justified with worldwide sales in excess of 100 million.


Deezer gears up for an


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