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Rolf Budde passes
Owner and managing director of Budde Music, Prof. Dr. Rolf Budde (pictured) has died after a long illness. He was 61.
As well as running Budde Music with his son Benjamin, Rolf had been a member of the Executive Board of ICMP since 2016. He had also been president and chairman of the German Music Publishers' Association (DMV) and was sitting on the board of collecting society GEMA.
"We have lost a fine colleague who contributed so much to ICMP and the wider music industry. Rolf was an absolute gentleman and he will be missed. Our thoughts go out to his family," said ICMP Chair Chris Butler.
"I am deeply saddened to hear the news of Rolf's passing. His knowledge and wisdom were invaluable to all of us at ICMP and it was a privilege to have worked with him," added ICMP Director General Coco Carmona.
Rolf is survived by his wife Madeleine and four children Janine, Benjamin, Victoria and David.
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IPA and WIPO release book publishing statistics
IPA, the International Publishers Association and WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization have jointly published global statistics on the book industry.
The study, which is the first of its kind, currently covers 35 countries and focuses on three market segments: retail; educational; and scholarly, academic and scientific (SAS) publishing.
Each edition will be updated to enable year-on-year comparisons and to measure the impact of policy and market changes on the sector.
Read the Global Publishing Industry in 2016, a pilot Survey by the IPA and WIPO here.
WIPO summer schools coming to a city near you
WIPO’s summer schools on Intellectual Property will be starting soon in various locations across the world. The idea behind the courses is to give students, young professionals and government officials a deeper knowledge of IP, including an understanding of IP as a tool for economic, social, cultural and technological development.
Trump U-turn on TPP
President Trump said on 12 April that he is looking at rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) - the ‘disastrous’ trade pact he rejected three days after taking office.
The Obama administration had signed the trade agreement with 11 other countries, including Japan, Vietnam, Singapore and Australia, to lower tariffs and combat China’s influence in the Pacific.
The move would give Trump more leverage in his trade row with Beijing. It could also see a return of the strong intellectual property provisions that the US had previously insisted should be part of the deal, but which were consequently dropped by the remaining 11 countries.
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Australia: 2018 APRA Music Awards held in Sydney
The 2018 APRA Music Awards, which honour Australia’s most successful songwriters and publishers, took place on 10 April in Sydney. See the full list of winners here.
Australia: Musicians and government officials rock the house in Canberra
Some 200 ministers, senators and parliament officials listened to key issues affecting the music industry, at the Parliamentary Friends of Australian Music Rock the House event in Canberra on 27 March.
Topics included protecting creators’ rights, the value of copyright, the importance of local content, supporting Australia’s music micro-businesses and Australia’s global music export potential. ICMP’s Australasian member AMPAL was also in attendance along with representatives from APRA AMCOS, ARIA and many others from the creative industries.
Japan: Government considers site blocking
The Japanese government is looking at ways of blocking access to pirate sites, due to the damage that is being done to the country’s manga and anime industries.
Japan however has no site-blocking legislation on copyright infringement grounds. In fact, the constitution supports freedom of speech and expressly forbids censorship. To get around this, it is thought that the government will argue there are grounds for “averting present danger”, a phrase that is contained in Article 37 of Japan’s Penal Code.
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Canada: Report: Two-thirds of industry revenues now come from foreign sources
ICMP member, the Canadian Music Publishers Association (CMPA) has published a new report: Export Ready, Export Critical: Music Publishing in Canada.
According to the findings, sales outside Canada have become a major driver of sector growth with two thirds of revenues coming from foreign sources. This dramatic shift has resulted in more than $120 million in revenue increase among CMPA members since 2005.
The report was released ahead of the country’s Heritage Minister Melanie Joly’s Creative Industries Trade Mission to China.
United States: House Judiciary Committee passes MMA
On 11 April, the judiciary committee in the US House Of Representatives passed the new Music Modernization Act or MMA. The act combines key provisions of four separate legislative initiatives into a single bill that will update how music rates are set and how songwriters and artists are paid.
The complete package can now go before the full House of Representatives, the lower chamber of US Congress.
National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) President and CEO David Israelite called the decision “a critical step towards finally fixing the system to pay songwriters what they deserve”.
United States: NMPA wins case against Wolfgang’s Vault
Concert streaming service Wolfgang’s Vault has been found liable for copyright infringement.
NMPA President and CEO David Israelite said the ruling “is a dramatic vindication for our members Sony/ATV & EMI Music Publishing, Warner/Chappell, ABKCO, peermusic, Spirit Music, and Imagem Music, whose works have been wilfully infringed by Wolfgang’s Vault for years.”
The next step will be to assess Wolfgang’s Vault’s monetary liabilities.
Launched in 2003, Wolfgang’s Vault started as an archive of concert recordings from promoter Bill Graham before it dramatically expanded its content sources.
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Germany: GEMA revenues up by 5%
German collection society GEMA has reported that its revenues rose by 5% in 2017 to €1.074 billion.
The rise is due to more income from the public performance of music, radio and TV, as well as a payment for the so-called iPhone tax.
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Spain: Online piracy decreases
Spain’s Coalition of Creators and Content Industries has just published its latest Piracy Observatory and Digital Content Consumption Habits report. According to the findings, piracy of digital content in Spain fell 6% in 2017.
The coalition however warns that piracy remains at a high level and notes that consumers believe site blocking and measures against ISPs to be effective deterrents.
United Kingdom: Record industry revenues ‘best since 1995’
UK record industry group, the BPI published its All About The Music 2018 on 11 April, leading with the news that record company trade income rose by 10.6% in 2017 to £839.5 million.
This represents the highest rate of growth since 1995 and was driven by a rise in music consumption due to streaming. Despite these good figures, BPI warned that government action is needed to fix the value gap.
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United Kingdom: The Music Sales Group announces the sale of its printed music and retail divisions to Hal Leonard LLC.
Global independent music publisher The Music Sales Group has announced the sale of its physical and online printed music and Musicroom-branded retail businesses to Milwaukee-based worldwide music print publisher Hal Leonard LLC.
The Music Sales Group and Hal Leonard will continue to collaborate by entering into a global licensing agreement to represent and exploit Music Sales’ copyrights in print.
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