Lawdit Music Blog

Digital Rights Management (popularly known simply as DRM) has many different meanings. Broadly speaking, it is considered as a way to protect the intellectual property after sale.

The question of the need of DRM is controversial and attracts a wide range of opinions. Some people assert that it is a necessary a tool in this technological age to combat piracy. Others, argue that DRM does very little against piracy, and acts more as an unnecessary hindrance for the consumers.

Regardless of where your opinion lies on the, it appears that there is a shift in the music industry away from the use of DRM.  Back in 2007, Amazon launched their mp3 service where consumers can purchase mp3s without DRMs. Shortly after this, Apple’s iTunes store introduced the option to buy songs DRM free, and to remove the DRM  from songs already purchased (for an additional price). More recently with the launch of Google’s Play Store, its hard to see DRM in music as anything but a thing of the past.

Without DRM, it remains to be seen how (and if) the music industry will continue the protection of their intellectual property after the sale of their product.

The Queen’s Speech on the 8th of May 2013 made it clear that the government of the day intends to introduce bills which will “make it easier for businesses to protect their intellectual property”. This will include the introduction of bills which will create criminal sanctions for those who have infringed copyright by stealing registered designs for commercial gain.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has stated in their April 2013 report that these criminal sanctions will prove to be a significant deterrent against the deliberate copying of intellectual property. The IPO cites the sanctions imposed upon the counterfeiting and  piracy of audiovisual (Films and DVDs) in the Copyright, Design, and Patents Act 1988 as precedent for the effectiveness of criminal sanctions in IP law.

Ostensibly this seems like a very positive step for the protection of intellectual property taken by the government. However one has to wonder if these sanctions will prove in practice to be more of a hinderance to innovation rather than a means to protect intellectual property.

William Adams, a popular American pop singer known better by his stage name Will.i.am, has recently released his new album #willpower. Naturally, an album by one of the music industries biggest stars is going to receive a lot of media attention. This time however, not all of the attention is likely to be warranted.

One of the tracks on #willpower, titled Let’s go, has segments in it which bear a very strong resemblance to Rebound, a track released by the record label Anjunabeats in April of 2011. Rebound was produced by Arty, a Russian DJ, who made it clear on twitter that neither Will.i.am, or his label Interscope, had acquired the appropriate rights from Anjunabeats.

Originally Adams was silent on the matter, however in a recent interview with KISS FM he admitted to using Rebound as inspiration for Lets go. Adams has a checkered past when it comes to alleged copyright infringements. Just last November he was alleged to have taken lyrics from Tulisa Contostavlos’ I don’t give a F*** to use for his song Scream and Shout.

There is no word yet about a resolution being made between Adams and Arty or between Anjunabeats and Interscope. Although one has to wonder why a record label like Interscope, which has a recorded past of fighting piracy through enforcing copyright laws, isn’t able to grasp the principle of practicing what they preach.

After her recent success at the Superbowl, Beyonce has now released her new song from her fifth solo album.

Its called  “Bow Down / I Been on” and it is said to be a lot different from her usual style.

It was produced by Hit-boy known to usually work with artist such as Kayne West and Jay-Z.

Tillie is 15 and is on work experience from Aldworth Science College

Recently the boy band One Direction starting their new tour at the O2 arena, were awarded a Brit and also released their new music video for red nose day.

Fans of Blondie and The Undertones will weep as the boys have copied one way or another/teenage kicks.

The music video was shot all around the world including places like new York, Africa , Japan and London. When dancing outside of 10 Downing Street the band was joined by David Cameron.  Who seemed to enjoy the experience.

Having raised nearly £800 million since staring red nose day 25 years ago this video is sure to help raise more money for the charity.

Justin Bieber is a young Canadian pop star, who many young girls look up to.

Turning 19 on March 1st he celebrated his birthday over in London, England although he did claim that it was one of his worst birthdays ever!

I went to one of his concerts namely the “believe tour” in the London O2 arena.  My 2 friends and I were very excited as we are massive Bieber fans, and we had booked our tickets months in advanced.

The first 3 opening acts had been on and it was a great show .But that was soon to come to end. We sat in our seats for over an hour and half after the opening acts, not being informed when he was going to arrive. People were getting restless and started to boo.

Finally when he managed to get on stage at 10:27pm and although he put on a great performance (he arrived in style with two massive wings attached to his back). However, it was 10.27! I am 15 and had to get home via Waterloo.

People were very upset as they had to leave just as Justin got on stage. We found out as the concert was getting into full swing that the last tube ran at 11:30pm so we needed to go.

We missed most of his new songs…I was gutted. Apparently  he woke up late and then threw a tantrum or two!

Anyway we caught the last tube and got home safely, I’ve thought about bringing a claim in the small claims court as I spent all my money on him and now I’m broke.

Small claims here I come…..!!

Tillie Croston is on a two week work experience from Aldworth Science College.

She can be contacted at info@lawdit.co.uk

Bad boy rapper Snoop Dogg, made famous by his album ‘Doggystyle’ in 1993 which helped raise the profile of gangsta rap within the music industry, is taking on a new nick-name: Snoop Lion. The rapper who helped the harrowing-sounding Death Row Records become popular seems to now have had a change of heart, perhaps more aptly described as a ‘Reincarnation’ – the name of his upcoming reggae album.

Yes.

Snoop Lion has decided to try his hand in the reggae sphere, justifying his spiritual and musical change of direction as due to being older and wiser. As for the new name – he claims it was given to him by Rastifarian priests whilst he was on a soul-searching mission in Jamaica.

Luckily for die hard Snoop Dogg fans though, he has confirmed he is not ruling out returning to rap in the future. But, at 40, one can hardly blame Snoop for his change of heart.

Spotify, a Swedish music streaming service, has been recently valued at $4 billion in the latest round of financing. It has nearly doubled its previous assessment of $2.2 billion in 2011. The fast-growing digital music service, launched in 2008 and operated by businessman Daniel Ek, offers streaming from a range of major and independent record labels including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal, and has a total user count of over 15 million (4 million of whom pay monthly for Premium services). With its financing led by banking giant Goldman Sachs, Spotify plans to use the proceeds from financing to grow in scale and subscribers.