— Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of UK Music, wrote an op-ed for the Guardian that addresses criticism of trade groups’ estimates of damages from digital piracy. The short version: it wasn’t our estimates, we get a lot of competition from other forms of entertainment, we’re embracing the challenges, and to deny that “a totally free, unregulated peer-to-peer ecosystem” has a negative impact on jobs is illogical. It’s hard to argue with any of those points, but they’re all off topic. Basically, Sharkey didn’t do anything to argue that trade groups do not use overblown numbers when talking about damages from piracy. (The Guardian)
— Music industry, here’s the attitude on P2P at one American college campus. An op-ed at the University of South Florida’s student paper, The Oracle, argues media companies “must accept piracy as a permanent problem with no feasible solutions.” (The Oracle)
— In a move that will add greater focus to its core live music business, as well as bring in capital for further expansion in live music, Live Nation is seeking a buyer for its roster of UK theatrical venues. Goldman Sachs is handling the bidding. “The global live entertainment group, which sold its US theatres in a $90 million deal in 2007, is accepting bids for a package of 17 UK venues. This includes two of the West End’s largest and most profitable sites – the Apollo Victoria and Lyceum theatres, which are currently home to long-running musicals Wicked and The Lion King respectively – as well as a 33% stake in another major London musical house, the Dominion.” (TheStage.co.uk)
— Inc. has a profile on Millennium Music in Charleston, S.C., and the online venture that saved the company and lead to another online venture, Abundatrade. “In 2006, Millennium launched FeedYourPlayer.com, which quickly drew the attention of Web sites such as Digg and Tech on the Net. Traffic soared from a few hundred visitors per week to more than 15,000. New customers were soon mailing in more than 6,000 items a week. By 2007, online brought in $400,000 of Millennium’s $1.7 million revenue.” (Inc.com)
— ABC New‘s Consumer Comfort Index is at -53 on a range of -100 to +100 (the long-term average is -12). That’s four points below its 2009 average and nine points below its worst annual average of -44 in 1992. The survey found only 39% of Americans are comfortable with their finances, down 13 points in six weeks. (ABC News)
