Welcome to MusicTank
Welcome to MusicTank, a business development network for the UK music industry, owned and operated by the University of Westminster - it's purpose; to engage with industry, innovation and change across the music business.
News
Mar 17, 2010
Time for Guy Hands To Face The Music At EMI — And Sell?
An anxious music industry is watching to see whether debt-laden EMI is about to “pass out” into the hands of its US bankers Citigroup. All the signs are that one of the great sagas of the credit crunch — private equity firm Terra Firma's £4.2 billion purchase of EMI, made at the height of the boom in 2007 — is heading for a climax. (...a good overview of EMI's recent history since Terra Firma bought it in 2007)
Mar 17, 2010
Net Piracy Puts 1.2m EU Jobs In Peril, Study Shows
Report finds that piracy cost the sector £10bn in lost revenues in 2008. Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI - "...We're approaching a tipping point where investment in our talent will dry up due to mass illegal downloading".
Mar 16, 2010
Spanish Judge Rules File-Sharing Not Illegal
A Spanish Judge's stance on online piracy - that it is not illegal if there is no profit motive.
Newsletters
Mar 08, 2010
EVENT MAILING - 'No. 1' WITH A BULLET: IS PRE-RELEASE KILLING OUR BUSINESS?
The UK release process is one of the most front-loaded in the world, with pre-release promotion starting up to three months ahead of release. The problem is that, with everything riding on building pre-awareness, we’ve produced a system that creates demand for a product that is by definition not legally available – which doesn’t work when it takes just one promo CD to be uploaded to a p2p network for a release to spread around the world.
Feb 25, 2010
NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET?
The heavily front-loaded nature of nearly all major release campaigns ensures that not only are promo copies floating around for weeks or months before the official release date but we’re also generating hype and demand for a product that is legally unavailable. Fine if the public has no option but to wait for the release and grit their teeth as journalists Tweet smugly about its magnificence – but as we all know that’s almost certainly not the case anymore.
Hot Topic
Panorama - 'Are The Net Police Coming For You?' - BBC 1, Mon 15 March, 20.30 hrs here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t14n
"...the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard as a solution to tackle the [issue] that the entertainment industry is collapsing [as a result of illegal filesharing]."
Dave Stewart - artist & producer, commenting on the proposed Digital Economy Bill.
“What's going to happen when the first kid is up in court next year accused of falling foul of the Digital Economy Bill - if the pre release window isn't closed they will be able to plead ‘not guilty as I couldn't buy the music anywhere.’ How's that going to make the music business look?"
John Webster (MMF) @ MusicTank 12.03.10
Creative Futures - a 3-year programme of business advice, mentoring, workshops and seminars is available FREE OF CHARGE to small creative businesses. MusicTank will be delivering events as part of this programme. Interested? More... http://www.creative-futures.co.uk/
MusicTank Events
Mar 10, 2010
'No. 1' With A Bullet: Is Pre-Release Killing Our Business?
George Ergatoudis, Head of Music, BBC Radio 1 is the latest speaker confirmed for this event that will consider the pressures on the release process. In an age where a track is generally 'available' as soon as the first promos have been sent out, MusicTank will ask how labels should market and promote their releases in a post-digital age and whether it is possible or even desirable for the media and music businesses to wean each other off their addiction to release dates.
Jan 19, 2010
Jazz And The Beeb: A Love Supreme Or Kind Of Blue?
EVENT IS NOW FULL - BOOKINGS ARE CLOSED. BBC R3 Controller ROGER WRIGHT & LEWIS CARNIE, Head of Programmes, BBC R2 and 6 Music confirmed. Central to this think tank is the BBC's role in supporting and developing jazz and other niche genre. Should the BBC adopt both a policy and a strategy for the support of its national jazz scene? With current interest in jazz experiencing a current high, are its pleas for more support from the ‘the nations favourite’ justified? All event bookers will be entered into a free prize-draw to receive one of three Roberts DAB radios!!
Oct 13, 2009
Live Music: Licensed To Thrill?
EVENT NOW FULL / LORD CLEMENT JONES, LIB DEM DCMS SPOKESMAN CONFIRMED. Prepare for a clash of opinions, with individual livelihoods and the future of the industry at stake. One of Risk Assessment Form 696's most strident critics, UK Music CEO Feargal Sharkey is confirmed to keynote this debate and is sure to question one of its key architects, Met Police Chief Inspector Adrian Studd who will also be speaking. Kent Davis of the Rainbow Pub, Digbeth - a venue affected by a noise abatement order - will likely quiz LACORS Director of Policy, Mark Du Val on the implementation of the Act. Licensing Consultant Philip Doyle, Home Office and DCMS Select Committee Advisor on the Licensing Act 2003 and Noise Abatement Society MD, Lisa Lavia are among others confirmed.
