MOU is not the sound a cow makes

An article by Nick Mathiason for the Guardian weighs in on the controversial approach being taken by European ISPs (and soon by an internet service provider near you), governments and music rights organizations to coordinate their efforts to enforce copyrights and to discourage music file-sharing. The form the agreement is taking is called a MOU = memorandum of agreement. Some would wonder if a MOU isn't the first step towards price-fixing.
The largest ISPs in Britain (Virgin, BT, Carphone Warehouse, Orange, Tiscali and BSkyB) are sending out threatening letters to customers suspected of high-volume downloads.
The business models that will be offered are almost identical to those being tried in this country plus the only-in-Europe model of charging a license fee to every customer. There is little support for this business model among the industry. The likely product that will be tried is a subscription model like Rhapsody. Rupert Murdoch is in support of the subscription model.
The tenor of the Mathiason article seems a little sunny when talking of the Dark Lord, but perhaps the subscription model will (one day) rule the face of the earth. iTunes continues to own the majority of the fee-for-music market.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/03/musicindustry.downloads

Using film and music as yeast in economic development brew

Oklahoma is not typically considered a hot-bed for the music and film industry. One of the exceptions that I know about is the Flaming Lips, a rock/performance group. The Lips' manager, Scott Booker, is contributing to the discussion being convened by the Oklahoma Film and Music Office. Julie Bisbee's article for The Oklahoman (Tulsa) traces some of the partnerships and festivals that are a means of establishing a vital creative community.

How important is a creative community to the economic health of a region? What is needed to foster that creative community?

http://newsok.com/in-past-few-years-oklahoma-has-become-a-place-on-the-map-for-film-music-industries/article/3278145/?tm=1217738819

The Manager and U2

Neil McCormack of the Independent in Dublin, Ireland has a nice article sketching the business model of the band, U2. The tone is a little breathy, but it points the reader in many interesting directions (e.g. U2's manager is Paul McGuinness; he articulates an oft-repeated idea that artists are now taking on the role that record companies used to play).
Managers are an incredibly important part of a popular band's success. This article offers a glimpse into the importance of Paul McGuinness in U2's success.

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/how-u2-have-stayed-on-top-of-the-world-1445208.html