The News, Digested (22.04.2009)

PIRATE BAY VERDICT: GUILTY
By Miguel Morelli

Last week, the Stockholm district court found the Pirate Bay’s operators guilty of breaking copyright law, and sentenced them to one year in jail and $3.6 million in fines.  The reactions have ranged from the IFPI’s website getting attacked by hackers, to the Swedish Pirate Party launching an electoral bid for 2009's upcoming European elections in June.

While the verdict is good news for those who make a living from music, the decision has been appealed, and that will probably take a few years. On a positive note, the topic of file sharing and copyright law has been put under public scrutiny, and the big question is whether copyright law needs to be updated to allow for free, non-commercial use of music, and perhaps even shorten the copyright term for commercial use, given the brief longevity of today’s online content.

Despite the efforts of the recording industry, file sharing won’t simply cease to exist. The PirateBay’s servers have already been moved to Egypt and the site continues to be operational, in addition to the many other P2P networks available. Some artists are harnessing the power of free distribution and providing free access to their music, like the recent Gorillaz documentary released for free stream on Babelgum. 

Big media may never give up on lawsuits and because of the supposed lost revenue from file sharing. But if they do, prices for digital music could go down, while physical copies of albums, concert tickets and merchandise might become more expensive. Can file sharing ever become legal? Are we on the brink of a massive change in the way we view property?

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NOKIA 5800 XPRESS MUSIC IS THE UK’S BEST SELLER
By Miguel Morelli

So far, the new Nokia 5800 Xpress Music is this year’s best selling portable music player in the UK, having sold more than three million units the first three months of 2009. With mobile phone operators offering new phones with free 12 or 18 month subscriptions to their music service ‘Comes With Music’ included in the price, music fans are warming to subscription based instead of pay-per-song models.

The phone has recently received an update to improve performance, and there are plans to replace the 5800's resistive touch screen with a capacitive one, in order to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPod touch. 

In Japan, 90% of all digital music sold is downloaded to phones, and the trend is spreading. It seems like mobile phones are steadily replacing mp3 players as the chosen devices for music. Have you acquired a music playing phone yet? [ITProPortal]

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SONIC YOUTH OFFER UP FREE DOWNLOAD, CHANCE TO BUY ALBUM EARLY
By David Coleman

A new Sonic Youth album is always big news, but the buzz surrounding the band’s upcoming debut for Matador, The Eternal (out 8 June), is starting to reach deafening proportions. To satisfy an increasingly eager fanbase, the band is offering up both a free MP3 (album track Sacred Trickster – download here) and a unique chance to listen to the record from 28 April through Matador’s Buy Early Get Now package.

Basically, if you pre-order the album at selected indies between now and May 22nd, you'll get lots of extra material that won't be available anywhere if you wait until it comes out to buy in the shops, including:

* A streaming code to listen to the album early, from 28th April
* An exclusive live vinyl LP recorded in New York on 4 July '08 (subject to availability)
* An exclusive poster
* Exclusive additional MP3 downloads of outtakes and more live material

How great is that?

Finally, the band will play the My Bloody Valentine curated ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival from 4 – 6 December 2009. Now that could be a news story in itself...

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SHEFFIELD’S SENSORIA FESTIVAL IS ALMOST UPON US
By David Coleman

The Sheffield based festival of music and film begins on 24 April, running until 30 April. There are a number of notable events taking place at venues across the SteelCity, the pick of which are listed below:

Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love (UK premiere)
Combining vibrant concert footage with an insight into Senegal’s sacred Muslim rituals, I Bring What I Love follows a warm, inspirational figure in Ndour. Plus an intro and Q&A by Director Chai Vasarhelyi. (7pm, 24 April)

Comsat Angels Reunion Show
Comsat Angels make an exclusive live performance in their hometown at the O2 Academy, Sheffield. (7pm, 26 April)

In The Nursery & Sieben
Live accompaniment by In The Nursery & Sieben to archive films from the Mitchell & Kenyon collection in the courtyard of Butcher Works. (8pm, 29 April)

There are plenty of other great events including loads of fantastic music-based films, so if you’re in the Yorkshire area please get involved and support an innovative and exciting local event.

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