Universal EMI Merger Approved In Canada
The Competition Bureau approved the Universal and EMI merger proposal last Friday, with no objections.
The merger proposal has cleared regulators in Japan and New Zealand but is still under review in Europe and the United States, where decisions are expected in September.
Did Video Truly Kill The Radio Star ?
In the 80’s there was this popular belief that music videos would eventually result in the demise of radio.
Experts had believed that the popularity of music television would cause radio to fade away. And this prediction was so popular that it resulted in two incredibly successful singles based on radio nostalgia ; One from Queen (“Radio Ga Ga“) and one from The Buggles (“Video Killed the Radio Star“).
But it appears that this prediction was premature.
According to Nielson’s “Music 360” study, 48% of the individuals they polled claimed they “discover music most often through the radio”.
Youtube has become a major source for music in teens, 64% of the respondents having stated they listen to music on the service. But 56% of the teens polled also listen to radio.
It appears that radio is adapting and remains one of the main sources for music in teens, over two decades after the predictions were made.
Also noteworthy are the findings that compact discs still remain popular in some circles, 55% of the music fans polled having “identified physical CDs as a very or fairly good value”.
Half of the teens polled also claim to listen to compact discs. And 36% have purchased at least one compact disc within the year.
Three thousand Americans responded this online survey.
Google Refines Searches
Google has announced that they will be updating their search algorithms, prioritizing legitimate sources for film and music over sites that have received remove notices.
This will enable people to find sources and avoid some of the less secure sites, some of which have viruses and malware.
A counter-notification process will also be offered to individuals whose sites have been wrongfully flagged.
Physical CD Purchases On Cloud ?
Amazon.com
Billboard claims that this feature will be enabled for Americans sometime in the fall. But there is no news on a Canadian service yet.
No Royalties On Music Previews
The Supreme Court Of Canada has ruled that music previews comply to the definition of Fair Dealing in the Copyright Act and cannot therefore be subjected to the collection of royalties.
“Research” need not be for creative purposes only. Permitting only creative purposes to qualify as “research” would ignore the fact that one of the objectives of the Copyright Act is the dissemination of the works themselves. Limiting “research” to creative purposes would also run counter to the ordinary meaning of “research”, which includes many activities that do not require the establishment of new facts or conclusions. The fair dealing exception must not be interpreted restrictively and “research” must be given a large and liberal interpretation.
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, Canadian Recording Industry Association and CMRRA-SODRAC Inc had wished to collect royalties from internet providers for both previews and full music downloads, the latter also having been dismissed by another ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada today.
These royalties would have resulted in major expenditures for internet providers, who would have passed these on to the consumer.
Bill C-11 – What Now ?
Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, has passed and will become law shortly.
This means you will no longer be able to perform private copies from copy protected recordings and that the sale of software and devices enabling consumers to make backups of pre-recorded DVDs and blu-rays will be forbidden in Canada.
The sale of multi-region DVD or blu-ray players could also be restricted in Canada though I believe this could be challenged legally because the importation of DVDs and blu-rays from other regions have not yet been made illegal.
I believe the playback of legally purchased material will not likely be targeted by law enforcement, the priority being unauthorized mass distributions on the internet and by vendors. But regional coding is a copy protection scheme that is technically protected by the digital copying provisions of Bill C-11.
Unfortunately this means that some consumers will not be able to legally playback films, concerts or music video compilations that are on a DVD or blu-ray disc whose regional coding is incompatible with their North American player, even when this material is not available via a North American distributor.
This material can be delayed or shelved indefinitely by North American distributors who have the rights to distribute it on Region 1 DVDs or Region A blu-rays in North America. And though some do eventually get released on region free discs, somewhere, many titles remain out of reach to Canadians.
Online film distributors like iTunes have helped but the issues remain in regards to the distribution of titles that have not reached a certain popularity in North America. But of course little can be done until clarifications are made in regards to this undistributed content and other issues including the Linux software issue.
Linux based operating systems use software that strip copy protection from DVDs and blu-rays to enable their playback. And some consumers prefer to use this software to view films on their Windows and Mac powered computers.
I personally prefer using Windows Media Center to occasionally play DVDs on my computer. But Microsoft has said that some versions of Windows 8 will not include DVD playback in a May 2012 blog entry so I will likely be forced to playback DVDs and blu-ray discs using software from the DVD or blu-ray drive manufacturer in the future.
Yes, most of the major manufacturers will probably include software like
CinePlayer with their drives. But will DVD and blu-ray drive manufacturers be allowed to include Linux based software with their products to enable their consumers to view content ?
Ultimately the courts will decide whether the digital lock provisions apply to these situations and we wont know until then.
I suspect the members of parliament will simply ask people to consult attorneys for their interpretations of the new copyright act. But if I find information I will try to link it.