The fair will be launched on the evening of Friday 2 March in the company of Welsh Government Deputy Minister for Skills Jeff Cuthbert.  There will be a panel session attended by employers, freelancers and staff.  The theme of this session will be: “Winning commissions and developing and sustaining high-quality jobs (on screen and behind the scenes) in drama production in Wales”.  The industry panel will include Julie Scott, head of production at BBC Wales Drama and representatives from S4C and the feature film industry.

On Saturday 3 March, discussions and panels will include: “Agents – who needs them?”, “The "Rights Stuff" exploring copyright and IP, and an “Out of the Box Freelance Survival” panel with advice from the MU’s Paul Gray. There will be live music from Rachel Tayor-Beales and plenty of opportunity to network and visit the numerous industry stands.

For full details and to register please go to http://cultcymrufair.wordpress.com/

Launch: Friday 2 March 2012

Fair: Saturday 3 March

Venue:

University of Wales in Newport
Riverfront
Newport
South Wales

To celebrate International Women’s Day, EQUALS and Southbank Centre’s WOW – Women of the World festival present a unique concert showcasing the power of British female recording artists.            

Hosted and curated by Annie Lennox, who will be joined by Katy B, Jess Mills and Emeli Sandé on stage, EQUALS Live on 9th March will be a unique night of music that steps up the call for equality between men and women.

Annie Lennox said, “I’m proud to be presenting an evening of British female artists in celebration of International Women’s Day. EQUALS Live will shine a spotlight on an incredible new generation of women in music who are raising their voices in solidarity with women across the globe. International Women’s Day is the perfect time to reignite debate about what a more equal world would look like with a new generation and to finish the work of the women and men who paved the way before us.”

For more information see http://weareequals.org/blog/equals-live-2012-line-up-announced/

Where:

Royal Festival Hall
Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road
London
SE1 8XX

When: 9 March 2012

Time: 7.30pm

To purchase tickets: please go to www.southbankcentre.co.uk/wow or  call  0844  847  9910.

Tickets from £17.50 (concessions) or from £35 (full price).

Once heralded as the industry saviour, a stigma is beginning to form around streaming services, spurred on by the abstention of high profile acts like Coldplay and Bob Dylan as well as the radio silence from labels on the detail of licensing deals.

MusicTank will place this misunderstood issue under the spotlight, with a panel made up of industry luminaries including Steve Savoca, Head of Content, Spotify; Paul Loasby, Owner, One Fifteen Management; Mark Mulligan, Digital Media Strategist; Mark Kelly, CEO, The FAC; and Cosmo Lush, Senior VP Digital Business Development, EMI Music.

The issue could not be more important – some argue that unless streaming is both understood and embraced, the recordings business will be thrashing around a fifth percentile of licensed consumption for many years to come. This think tank will drill to the heart of the issue, answering the two central questions – ‘how does the model work?’ And ‘how do the artists get paid?’

Keith Harris, MusicTank Chairman said “We’re still desperately searching for the silver bullet that will fix our business model on recorded music, we hope that this MusicTank session will act as a torch helping to illuminate that search.”

Date: 23 February 2012

Time: 18:30 to 21:00

Where:

Fyvie Hall
University of Westminster
309 Regent Street
W1B 2UW

Cost: Standard: £35 | MT members: £25 | MT student members: £20

Final Panellists:

Steve Savoca Head of Content, Spotify
Cosmo Lush Senior VP Digital Business Development, EMI Music
Simon Wheeler Director of Strategy, Beggars Group
Mark Kelly CEO, FAC
Mark Mulligan Digital Media Strategist
Paul Loasby Owner, One Fifteen Management musictank
Danny Ryan Managing Director, Kudos Records
Chairman:
Keith Harris Keith Harris Music Ltd / MusicTank Chairman / Director of Performer Affairs, PPL

Tickets must be purchased in advance from www.musictank.co.uk/events/streaming

On Wednesday February 8th the Musicians Union joined with other founding members of UK Music to launch a Charter to increase equality and diversity within the commercial music sector.  Over the course of 2012, the Charter aims to secure 100 signatories and commitments to action.

Hosted at www.ukmusic.org/edc, UK Music’s Equality & Diversity charter will encourage organisations, businesses and individuals to commit to two or more actions in 2012 to help improve equality and diversity in the industry.

The founding members of UK Music have agreed to champion the initiative.

Jo Dipple, chief executive UK Music said: “Diversity is a massive asset for the UK music industry. Our creative talent and the audience who enjoy our music is, without doubt, diversity personified. Promoting that key strength to the companies and organisations in between can only be good for our business.

“I also hope this charter will shine a light on some of the excellent initiatives already underway in the industry and inspire debate and discussion – whether that’s PRS For Music and the PRS For Music Foundation proactively funding works by female composers, KOKO improving disabled access to their venue and increasing their customer base in the process, Live Nation’s apprenticeship programme, AIM’s Women In Music events, or the MU’s backing of Arthritis Care and Love Music, Hate Racism.”

Alice Lemon, Equalities Official at the MU:

“Signing the charter is just the beginning. I hope that organisations and partners will follow UK Music’s lead in promoting equality and celebrating diversity within this influential industry.”

To find out more about the MU’s connection with, and our projects related to, the charter, please contact Alice Lemon, equalities@theMU.org

Put together by Sample Magic, the London Electronic Music Event will combine production and business masterclasses and open panel sessions for people making and marketing electronic music.

 The Event will consist of two evening open panel sessions and a Q&A with Ben Watt for all delegates, plus seven breakout sessions over the weekend.

The MU will be hosting a panel discussion at this event entitled ‘Music Business for the Freelance Musician’ on Sunday 19 February, starting at 10.30 am.

The panel will discuss what musicians need to do to run their business effectively by exploring tax, VAT, insurances, choosing the right business entity and other issues crucial to setting up and running a professional operation.

Where:

Alchemea
The Windsor Centre
Windsor Street
London
N1 8QG

When: 19th February

Time: 10.30 am

Nearest tube:
Angel

Weekend tickets for this event are available from www.londonelectronicmusicevent.com

Price: £140
Exclusive price for MU members: £110 (contact tonyg@alchemea.com for more details)

The MU has been lobbying on this issue for many years now, because musicians regularly have problems taking their instruments on planes due to inconsistent policies from airlines and extortionate fees. In 2006 we reached an agreement with the Department for Transport which would have alleviated the problem, but some airlines continued to set their own arbitrary rules.

MU General Secretary John Smith says:

“We call on the UK Government to consider introducing a similar Act regarding instruments on planes as has just been passed in the U.S. Such a policy would make a huge difference to the lives of musicians, who often face a lottery when they fly with an instrument.”

“The main problem is the inconsistency between airports and airline staff. You might be allowed to take your instrument into the cabin with you at no extra cost, but then be charged an extortionate fee to put it into the hold on your return flight. This is particularly unfair given that most airlines allow sports equipment, such as skis, to travel for free. For a working musician, the fee can mean the difference between a concert or gig making or losing money – and that’s without even counting the potential cost of a damaged instrument.”

The new U.S. federal legislation says that any instrument that can be safely stored in the overhead compartment or underneath the seat may be brought on board as carry-on luggage. Additionally, the bill sets standard weight and size requirements for checked instruments, and permits musicians to purchase a seat for oversized instruments, such as cellos, that are too delicate to be checked.

Existing law allowed each airline to set their own policy regarding musical instruments, and size – which is precisely the difficult situation that is currently the case in the UK.

In his review of intellectual property and growth, Professor Hargreaves proposes a change to the law, which would mean that format shifting would no longer be an illicit act. This change is long overdue – but we need to be careful that it doesn’t harm performers.

The proposed exception would enable format shifting, which takes place when consumers copy content from one medium to another, for instance copying a CD to a computer or iPod, without realising this is not legal.

It makes absolute sense that people should be able to copy their CDs onto their iPods. Everyone already does it, and a lot of people aren’t even aware that this is currently an illicit act. Therefore, the proposed change to the law should be welcomed – but only if performers receive compensation in return.

The digital age has brought about real opportunity for the music industry and for creators, but in a lot of ways it has also made it more difficult for them to survive. Whereas previously musicians could look forward to a steady income stream from recorded music, the advent of downloading, mp3 players and streaming services mean that the money that performers get from sales of recorded music has reduced. And that’s without even mentioning illegal downloading.

It is right that musicians should adapt to changing times – and they have. Most musicians now accept that their income will increasingly be made up of micro payments from collective licensing agreements and royalties from PPL or PRS. In order to survive on these multiple smaller amounts, however, performers need to be getting the money that they are owed from every possible revenue stream. Format shifting should be one of these streams.

This is not a case of musicians being greedy. It is a sobering thought that, despite an outstanding international reputation for British musicians, the vast majority of Musicians’ Union (MU) members earn less than £20,000 a year from their profession. According to PRS for Music, 90% of UK composers earn less than £5,000 from songwriting royalties. Some extra income generated under a fair compensation scheme for format shifting, finding its way into the pocket of an individual musician, would be of real significance in this context.

Still, some people argue that the exception would create no ‘economic harm’ – i.e. that because musicians are not currently receiving any income as a result of format shifting, they would not be being disadvantaged if the activity was legalised without accompanying compensation. But the economic harm is clear if you compare UK musicians with other musicians in Europe.

The permission for citizens to make copies of copyrighted material is an “exception” to copyright granted under the European Copyright Directive. EU Member States are free to trigger such exceptions and define their scope. The format shifting exception has been triggered in 25 out of 27 member states – but they have all linked this to some form of compensation. Typically, it is tightly-drafted – limited to offline copying and allowing individuals to make private copies of legitimately-purchased content for personal use.  

In interpreting the Directive, all 25 states have also determined that, because such copying would conceivably result in “economic harm” to creators, they should be compensated.  As a result, a small levy is applied to certain hardware products that allow copying to take place – this might include mp3 players or CDRs. This compensation is then distributed to the creative community, including musicians.

Why would the UK Government want to discriminate against its own creators? Particularly since the creative economy is one of the consistent areas of economic growth.

UK artists account for a 12% global share of recorded music. In 2010, 90% of the world’s 35 biggest music festivals featured a UK artist amongst the headliners. The UK has more licensed digital music services than any other European country. We have one of the best music industries in the world.  We should be making it easier to survive as a musician – not harder.

We are not proposing an ‘iPod tax’ on consumers. What we are arguing for is fair compensation for musicians from the device manufacturers. These manufacturers are already paying for patents to software developers and the like on each device sold, and yet the act of copying onto these devices the ‘software’ the consumer is most interested in – music – is not currently generating any income for musicians, unless it is through legitimate download purchases.

This hardly seems fair – after all, what use is an iPod or an mp3 player without most of the music?

This article appeared in RECORD of the DAY magazine, 9 February 2012

Women In Music & Entertainment will give women (and men!) working in the music and entertainment business the opportunity to hear from some of the industry’s most successful and influential women, discussing how they made it to the top and the challenges they faced along the way. Announced on the week that the music industry signs the Equality and Diversity Charter for Music, this event is central and important to AIM’s commitment to equality across the organisation and the wider independent music sector.

Follow the link below for more information about the event.

MU members get a discount (see below) but otherwise
tickets are £15+VAT for AIM members, £35+VAT for non-members. Drinks are included in the price.

When: 26 March 2012

Time: 6-10pm

Where:

Proud Cabaret
1 Mark Lane
London
EC3R 7LA

Nnearest tubes are Tower Hill & Monument, also Fenchurch Street overground.

Book now:

To get an MU (20%) discount click here.

Visit the AIM website with your discount code to book at http://www.musicindie.com/womeninmusic2012

Tickets are limited and this event may well sell out.

On the evening of Monday 20 February the Concorde Club will be hosting a tribute night to the late Dave Cox, in aid of the Musicians’ Union Benevolent fund. Bands taking part will be: the Clive New Big Band; Jazz Summit with Chris Walker; Digby Fairweather, Dave Shepherd, Chris Walker, John Patrick, Adrian Macintosh and the Musicians’ Union All Stars.

Smart casual dress. Non-members welcome 

Where:

Concorde Club
Stoneham Lane
Eastleigh
Hampshire
SO50 89HQ

When: Monday 20 February

Time: 7.30pm

Tickets: £12:50 Concorde Club Members £10:00 are available from the club on 023 8061 3989 or from Paul McKenna on 023 8044 0835

For further information please contact: paulevents@aol.com
or 0771 235 7443

www.theconcordeclub.com