Billboard reported yesterday that the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a global recording industry trade body based in London, has welcomed a new European Union court ruling that still forbids record labels from "demanding that telecom companies hand over the names and addresses of people suspected of illegal file sharing."

This contradictory stance is a reaction to the ruling's assertion that "EU countries could introduce their own rules to oblige ISPs to hand over such personal data," and comes only a few days after it announced that illegal file-sharing is outpacing legal means by 20-to-1.

The ruling the IFPI welcomed revolved around Spanish telecommunication company Telefonica SA's "right to refuse to disclose details that would identify who had used peer-to-peer file-sharing application Kazaa to illegally swap material owned by members of IFPI-affiliated Spanish labels body Promusicae."

Continue reading European music trading body welcomes new file-sharing rule

European music trading body welcomes new file-sharing rule originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Warner Music Group Inc. (NYSE: WMG), whose roster of artists includes Madonna, the White Stripes and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, today reported that its third quarter net loss widened as sales continued to shift away from CDs to digital sales.

The company lost $17 million, or 12 cents per share, compared with $14 million, or 10 cents, the New York-based company said in a press release. Revenue fell 2% to $804 million. Excluding one-time items, profit was 20 cents. Wall Street analysts, who excluded these types of charges, expected a loss of 14 cents on revenue of $836 million.

Digital revenue was a bright spot, rising 29% to $119 million. The company's recorded music, however, performed poorly, dropping 4% to $653 million.

Shares of Warner Music Group have dropped almost 52% this year, even though Wall Street cheered the company's decision not to bid for EMI Group Plc. The shares, though, have recently rebounded and were poised to open higher today as investors expressed confidence that Warner Music will be able to survive the upheaval caused by the digital music revolution.

Warner Music Group (WMG) earnings stunk originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Aug 2007 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Paul McCartney fans wait for secret LA show tonight originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pricing expert looks at Apple's 99-cent music store originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to the HRRC, a new lawsuit brought by the recording industry's bulldog, the RIAA, is treating law-abiding consumers as "pirates" and violating the implied promise that they would not go after consumers who rip their own recordings for personal use. At the heart of the lawsuit is a new device released by XM Satellite Radio, the Inno, which allows consumers to record the programming broadcast over its network.

The RIAA seeks $150,000 in damages for every song copied by consumers onto the Inno. The suit is roundly being attacked as a desperate and evil move by an industry association that has already placed itself on everyone's most-hated list. The most succinct analysis, though, comes from Mike at Techdirt: "this is about the recording industry looking to squeeze more money out of a dying business model rather than recognizing these new services help make the recording industry's product much more valuable."

Either way, this could be very critical for XMSR (and similar products that Sirius might have in development) if it's taken at all seriously by the courts. The stock is down $0.12 in intraday trading, which saw the stock dip to its 52-week low, to $16.50, after a relatively huge drop yesterday.

XMSR being squeezed by 'dying' recording industry originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 May 2006 15:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.