Last Sunday (16/09/2007) saw the tragic loss of a good friend of mine, Stuart Knight at the young age of 31. Stuart was a talented singer and entertainer, with a personality that wowed all that came into contact with him. I reviewed one of his performances only a few weeks ago, for local print publications, and I'm going to share it with you here, unedited.
Following up from my article only a few weeks ago regarding how MCPS/PRS Alliance are slow to act against unlicenced online broadcasters, but extremely quick off the mark against those that are honest and are licenced, a development regarding my station, Sixhits is not only unexpected, but its not a suprise either.
Last week, I wrote about how the royalty societies in the UK are letting down the legitimate operators, who are paying their dues each and every month, by not enforcing copyright law, and closing down pirates and counterfieters. After letting off steam in last weeks blog, it suddenly dawned on me that another week would pass, and still nothing would have changed, especially in the cases pointed out by myself, and respected media insider, James Cridland. So, what exactly can be done by pirate broadcasts, online piracy & Counterfieting, and how serious is it? This week, I become detective and try to find out.....
In the UK, there are three organisations charged with the task of collecting royalties for use of copyrighted works. They are the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS), Performing Rights Society (PRS), and Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL). MCPS and PRS are by defacto, an alliance, and known widely as the MCPS/PRS Alliance. In this post, I will be looking at the very perculiar way in which MCPS/PRS Alliance in particular are currently handling royalty payments for all things online, from radio broadcasts, to websites offering downloads of television themes, or how they are not handling them in some cases.
Early in 2007, we announced that we would be working towards launching Sixhits, currently only an internet based radio station, onto a local DAB Digital Radio multiplex. Well, many months have passed since we obtained our OFCOM licence and announced our intentions to the public. We've been intentionally silent about how things have progressed since February, simply because many aspects of the business are confidential, not at least our dealings with potential investors, and companies that we are and will be working closely with. It is my intention in this blog entry, to try and clear a few things up, without letting out any of the company secrets we so closely guard!
Page 11 of 11
All the views, comments and opinions expressed on this website are entirely my own, and are not representative of my employers, clients and/or professional partners.