Secretary Of State Andy Burnham Joins File Sharing Finale

6.30pm Tuesday 2nd December, MCPS-PRS Building, W1

MusicTank asks “Two decades after the MP3 was invented, can music rights holders and ISPs find enough common ground to deliver the kind of service that consumers want and that still rewards creators?”

Panellists For Final File Sharing Debate Announced
Secretary Of State For Culture Andy Burnham To Respond To Keynote

MusicTank’s series looking into the creation of compelling alternatives to illegal file sharing draws to a close on Tuesday with the final session in the series, ‘Squaring The Circle’. Pulling together the disparate strands from previous events, our panellists will tackle the main issue to surface throughout this series: – does the future of digital music sales lie in licensing proprietary music services or open systems that somehow utilise P2P?

It can, and has been repeatedly argued that the overwhelming majority of music consumers have already made their choice, opting for the badlands of P2P. Still despite this and the impassioned cases made by both Jim Gelcer of Noank and artist manager Peter Jenner for us to develop systems to license and legitimise user behaviour, some major rights holders remain unconvinced.

It would appear that for the time being, and to few people’s satisfaction, iTunes and its à la carte download model still rules the legitimate roost with labels, perhaps understandably wary of cannibalising sales from their one proven digital revenue stream. Subscription based models, the preferred choice of many, are starting to make in-roads but, like streaming services, they still have a long way to go before they are the mainstream choice. Meanwhile the pre-loaded and device-specific services (eg CWM and Musique Max) that are starting to appear are, in the main, riddled with device specific restrictions or that proven customer turn-off: DRM.

Putting their necks and the future of the business on the line will be Dan Klein, Media Accounts Director at Detica, who will also be delivering the keynote speech, Will Page Chief Economist, at MCPS-PRS Alliance, Richard Mollett, Public Affairs Director at the BPI and Simon Persoff, Director, Legal & Regulatory, Orange UK.

MusicTank are also delighted to announce that Andy Burnham MP, Secretay of State for Culture, Media and Sport will be attending this event, to respond to Dan Klein’s keynote and take questions from the floor. The event will be chaired by PPL director and noted artist manager Keith Harris.

For transcripts, soundbites, quotes and reports from the first three parts of the series head over to www.musictank.co.uk

Date: 02.12.08 – Think Tank 3 – Squaring The Circle

Time: 18.30 – 21.00

Keynote: Dan Klein, Media Accounts Director, Detica

Response: Andy Burnham, MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Panel: Richard Mollett, Public Affairs Director, BPI

Will Page, Chief Economist, MCPS-PRS Alliance

Simon Persoff, Director, Legal & Regulatory, Orange UK

Chairman: Keith Harris

Venue: The Basement, MCPS-PRS Alliance

Location: 29-33 Berners Street, London, W1T 3AB.

Nearest Tube: Goodge St. (Northern Line)

Price: £30 / Trade Body Member* £25 / MusicTank Member £20

*AIM, BACS, BPI, MMF, MPG, MPA, MU, MCPS-PRS Alliance, PPL, ISPA and LINX.

All places MUST be booked and paid for in advance via www.musictank.co.uk

Full event copy: Squaring The Circle

The grand finale of the series cuts to the main issue to surface throughout the past events – does the future of digital music sales lie in licensing proprietary music services or open systems that somehow utilise P2P?

While open models will no doubt prove the most compelling to music fans (who’ve arguably already made their choice about how they wish to access music), some rights holders are understandably wary about cannibalising sales from their core digital revenue stream – iTunes. While moving slowly towards subscription models, their financials are still firmly embedded in a la carte downloads.

While some may argue that for young people, P2P has already cannibalised their potential purchases of downloads, a bit of nervousness about displacing some of the more mature music buyers is surely understandable. What needs to be done to resolve this dichotomy?

And, which ever way it is resolved, how, practically, might ISP-based music services co-exist in a way that preserves value for music and avoids ISPs being traded against one another in a race to amass a terabyte of music as quickly and cheaply as possible?

-end-

About MusicTank

MusicTank is one of University of Westminster’s sector-based Knowledge and Business Development Networks. Launched in 2003, MusicTank’s remit was to establish itself as a business development network for the UK music industry – an independent body set up to engage with industry, innovation and change across the music business.

As music business becomes more competitive and entry level continues to get lower through technological development, there is a need for thorough, cutting edge professional expertise. The University’s commercial and intellectual neutrality is a critical factor in the creation and sustainability of a ‘knowledge’ network that encourages adoption of best practice, circulation of innovative ideas, new collaborations and evolution of creative ventures into professional success.

www.musictank.co.uk