• NPR and the PBS series Live at Lincoln Center will team up to produce original content for the Internet. Interviews with conductor Louis Langrée and pianist Garrick Ohlsson are currently available. On Wednesday, August 2nd, the Mostly Mozart Festival will be broadcast. (Playbill)

• Cheap Trick and the Allman Brothers have added to their list of grievances in their suit against Sony BMG for underpayment of royalties related to digital sales. Ringtones are now part of the contentious and eagerly awaited lawsuit. (Billboard Radio Monitor)

• VNU shareholders approved the company's conversion into a private company with limited liability. VNU, a former public company that was taken over by private investors earlier this year, owns ACNielson, Nielson Media Research (owner of Soundscan), Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and other trade magazines. (Press Release)

• As the old saying goes, you know when DRM is a hot (and approaching a mainstream) issue when USA Today has a story about it. This one is about eMusic's DRM-free platform. "EMusic's pitch: Download song — and own it," says the title. (USA Today)

• Roots labels have been squeezed off record store shelves, says the San Mateo County Times, which is affecting local labels like Arhoolie and HighTone. Arhoolie encourages sales at shows such in-store exposure is hard to come by. (InsideBayArea.com)

Posted by Glenn at 9:08 AM | Link
|DRM||Internet||Sony BMG Royalties Lawsuit|

Attorney Steve Gordon has a post at Digital Music News about the Cheap Trick/Allman Brothers lawsuit against Sony BMG that claims underpayment for digital sales. The lawsuit hinges upon the type of sale that is derived from the purchase of a digital download. Sony BMG calls it a sale, the plaintiffs call it licensing.

"The plaintiffs maintain that the artists should get half of that amount. But instead, the complaint alleges, Sony treats downloads as record sales even though the label does not sell anything to the digital download services including iTunes. Rather, the complaint alleges, Sony is “licensing” their masters, including those by Cheap Trick and the Allman Brothers, to download services in exchange for a royalty of 70 cents."

What's at stake here? Only the continued belief that digital downloads will help cover the loss from CD sales' slide. If labels' digital sales all of a sudden start contributing less to the bottom line, everybody -- from execs to investors, but certainly not artists -- will lose some interest in digital music.

To listen to a broadcast on this particular topic, go to Steve Gordon's The Future of Music page at MyRealBroadcast.com and click on "Recent Shows - Press Here."

Posted by Glenn at 12:36 PM | Link
|Legal||Sony BMG Royalties Lawsuit|