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Ben Bradshaw’s speech to the Royal Television Society

Andrew | 17 Sep 2009, 13:52

C&binet comment: Ben Bradshaw, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

I delivered the keynote speech to open the Royal Television Society’s biennial conference in Cambridge last night.

I argued yesterday the future of the BBC is closely tied up with the future of our broadcasting sector, and our broadcasting sector is central to the success of our creative industries as a whole. As a Government we are pushing ahead on a range of fronts — such as peer-to-peer file sharing, rolling out next generation broadband, and a consultation on allowing product placement — to ensure that the media industry can come out stronger than ever from the current global downturn.

I also spoke about how the BBC has used the digital revolution to grow over the past decade, and what that means for the private sector side of the mixed broadcasting economy in Britain that has swept up awards and revenue from around the world. James Murdoch has recently argued for state sponsorship of broadcasting to be cut right back. My view is that the BBC has probably expanded enough — but I offer that as the start, not an end, of what I hope will be a national conversation about the future of a national institution.

Whatever its exact size, the BBC is going to remain central to the future success not just of our broadcasting industries but our creative sector as a whole. Fresh from one gathering of creative minds, I am looking forward to the next, and to seeing progress on creative rights, new business models, securing finance and finding talent when we meet at the c&binet forum next month.

File sharing crackdown divides music industry

Valerie | 16 Sep 2009, 15:50

The reaction to government proposals laid out last month to clamp down on unlawful filesharing has highlighted some disagreement within the music industry, with musicians such as Billy Bragg and Annie Lennox pitted against record labels and the Musicians’ Union.

According to the Observer, a coalition of artists including Lennox, Bragg and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason argue such laws would alienate their audience and risk criminalising music fans. The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) also argues that the planned crackdown fails to recognise “evidence that repeat file- sharers of music are also repeat purchasers of music”.

This week, music managers behind artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Pink Floyd have publicly voiced their opposition to the FAC position. Paul Loasby, whose clients include David Gilmour and Jools Holland, argued that it will lead to “complete destruction” of new artists’ careers, whilst Colin Lester, manager for artists such as the Arctic Monkeys called the comments of the FAC “outrageous”, citing it was easy for established, high-earning artists to take this view and that the big stars are neglecting the low-earning session musicians and lesser-known bands. Lily Allen also took a stand against internet piracy in a blog post in which she criticized established acts such as Radiohead for opposing the government plans.

Writing on her MySpace page, she said:

“It probably is fine for them. They do sell-out arena tours and have the biggest Ferrari collections in the world. For new talent though, file sharing is a disaster as it’s making it harder and harder for new acts to emerge.”

Writing in the Times, Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus asks how songwriters and artists of the future will be able to support their creativity in the “era of free”:

“It must be possible to design a modern copyright environment that works with the internet without demanding surveillance that eats away at integrity. The UK Government is trying to address the problem and deserves support for having the courage to do so. We have to find a way of funding our future and not pretend that new revenue models are magically going to rescue us as the world of recorded music is destroyed by piracy.”

With the government deadline for comments in its illegal filesharing consultation approaching, industry pressure continues to mount, as illustrated by the latest news that indie trade body Pact and broadcasting union Bectu are backing a campaign to clamp down on illegal peer-to-peer file sharing on the internet.

Equity general secretary Christine Payne said:

“The fact that so many jobs are under threat is seriously alarming. There has never been a more critical time to take bold action against those who are threatening the livelihoods of everyone working in the entertainment sector.”

Google book deal prompts EU copyright law overhaul

Valerie | 09 Sep 2009, 19:08

Google’s controversial plan to digitise the world’s leading libraries took on a European dimension this week when Brussels announced a campaign to overhaul copyright law in the European Union’s 27 countries admist fears of trailing the US in digitising culture.

European commissioners Viviane Reding and Charlie McCreevey acknowledged the need to adapt Europe’s fragmented copyright legislation in a joint statement:

“If we don’t reform our European copyright rules on orphan works and libraries swiftly, digitisation and the development of attractive content offers won’t take place in Europe, but on the other side of the Atlantic.”

Although a 2005 class-action lawsuit by authors and publishers against Google led to $125m settlement and agreement on profit sharing, the agreement still needs US court approval. The long running battle has seen fierce opposition from Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo and the German and French governments, as well as authors and their heirs, including the estates of Philip K Dick and John Steinbeck.

Microsoft warned today that the deal would give Google a stranglehold on the nascent digital book market:

“The proposed settlement confers on Google a new monopoly by authorising Google (and Google alone) to engage in the wholesale commercial exploitation of entire copyrighted books.“

Writing for the Huffington Post, David Balto, a senior Fellow at think-tank American Progress, believes that the benefits far outweigh the negatives – in this case, the anti-trust issue:

“Just as Google search (and other search engines) have revolutionised access to information, the Books project will serve as a democratising force across socioeconomic and geographic” he writes.

The ongoing battle undoubtedly brings the European copyright system into sharp focus. And as Google awaits a court ruling next month, the copyright landscape in Europe remains complex, with 27 different copyright regimes within the EU.

“We need to take a hard look at the copyright system we have today in Europe,“ the commissioners said. “Is the present framework still fit for the digital age? Will the current set of rules give consumers across Europe access to digitised books? Will it guarantee fair remuneration for authors? Will it ensure a level playing field for digitisation across Europe, or is there still too much fragmentation following national borders?“

Guardian Tech Media Invest 100: creative talent doing well despite the recession

Valerie | 07 Sep 2009, 20:16

SlicethePie, Playfish and Seatwave are just some of the companies to be featured in the Guardian Tech Media Invest 100, a list compiled for the first time of the top 100 players in today’s tech media space.

Picked for their innovation and creativity over the past year in areas as diverse as mobile applications, racing games and music recognition, the list of companies to watch indicates that despite the credit crunch, the UK entertainment and media market remains a hotbed of innovation, with growth expected again after 2010, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, when the UK will be brought within $2bn (£1.2bn) of Europe’s largest entertainment and media market, Germany by 2013.

Unsurprisingly, of the trends that are expected to be big this year, social networking and microblogging are singled out to remain strong growth areas on the back of the success of Twitter. The report also highlights companies like Tweetmeme, a third party Twitter application and iDesktop.tv, which helps with searching and watching YouTube videos who are also finding success, riding on the waves generated by existing business models.

Of the investment climate, William Stevens, founder of Europe Unlimited, the business consultancy that organises the top 100, warns of both the difficult market and investment conditions but is nevertheless optimistic about the quality of international startups across Europe, “especially within industries such as tech media that have lower investment needs.“

Despite figures from the British Venture Capital Association showing that investments made by private equity and venture capital firms into UK technology and media companies generally fell from £2.8bn in 2007 to £265m in 2008, the companies listed in the Tech Media Invest 100 are clearly testament to the fact that an innovative idea can find support. Indeed, the overriding message appears to be “perseverance pays”.

Erik Jorgensen, an Intel Capital investment manager, and one of the board members said:

“For those companies with proven business models and very good prospects, it is not too difficult to raise venture financing”.

YouTube/PRS deal throws up questions for c&binet

Alastair | 04 Sep 2009, 15:29

This week’s deal between YouTube and PRS for Music throws a number of issues into the mix for October’s c&binet forum agenda both on securing creative rights and developing new business models for online content.

Many online music consumers will welcome the healing of the rift, but who actually benefits most? Or enough?

The secrecy of the deal has fuelled speculation about the relative negotiating strengths of rights holders and content providers. It raises questions about how much songwriters will see in return for their efforts – more, less or the going rate? Less reward the more successful they are?

It has called into question corporate governance, the validity of non-disclosure agreements, and if they can actually be enforced.

And it has highlighted the irony of a video sharing site not sharing videos.
Have your say here and now – or during the conference which will be streamed live online, where the c&binet team will be monitoring and relaying feedback to delegates.

Moves towards charging online gaining momentum

Valerie | 02 Sep 2009, 17:27

Fresh from the recent Edinburgh International Television festival, where one of the key topics discussed was business models for online charging, a micropayment network is being developed in the UK, and could be active by next summer.

Due to be implemented as part of the Digital Britain commitment from the Technology Strategy Board, it also unveiled a £2 million fund for those with interesting ideas for applications and platforms.

Head of the TSB team Nick Appleyard told the Guardian:

“Once the beautiful future of micropayments is proved in this environment, you can then extend that launch to the external internet.”

Appleyard also commented that revenue models should be worked out together by content publishers, broadcasters, ISPs and banking providers: cooperation is necessary, he stressed.

The announcement comes as a number of companies have indicated in recent months that they are considering payment models, including RTL, ITV and FT.com.

Start-up Journalism Online also recently announced it would help publishers charge for online content, including all-you-can-read or pay-per-article schemes.  With affiliate agreements signed with publishers representing 506 newspapers and magazines and a Web audience of more than 90 million monthly visitors, the company has suggested that they could generate an annual $50 to $100 per subscriber from the websites’ most active 10 per cent of viewers with minimal loss of visitors.

It follows similar plans from News Corp that it was in talks with rival publishers about forming a consortium to charge for online news.

As this blog asks, could micropayments prove the ‘saviour’ of the British newspaper industry as publishers seek to increase online revenue amidst slowing advertising income?

This Marketing Week article draws an interesting parallel between the fundamentally different models for providing on and off line content:

“... in the real world, you need to make the content experience rich enough to charge for it; in the online world, you need to make the distribution experience broad enough for consumers to value it.”

As news providers increasingly reconsider and re-evaluate the sustainability and probability of their business models in the digital age, no doubt they will be closely watching for the possible start of a trend towards the adoption of micropayments.