Platinum Blonde will reunite for a one-night-only performance at the Mod Club in Toronto on Wednesday, March 10. The show is presented by Sirius Canada. Navet Confit, Parlovr, Fred Fortin, Winter Gloves and Handsome Furs are featured on the Sirius Salutes Quebec showcase at the El Mocambo, Friday March 12th; and acoustic performances at the Songwriters Café , featuring The Trews, Joel Plaskett, Jeff Martin and Default, will be recorded for broadcast on the Iceberg 85 satellite channel on March 17.
Michael Buble surprised listeners of Hartford, CT’s 96.5 fm WTIC radio when he broadcast a secret show from the studios of microphone manufacturer Telefunken Elektroakustik. The Buble show is one in a series of shows recently produced at Telefunken’s 8000 sq.ft. manufacturing center, which includes a 2500 sq.ft. soundstage that also serves as a multi-use recording studio and production lab for its extensive microphone line.
Justin Bieber is confirmed to appear on the April 10 episode of Saturday Night Live. Fans of the Canadian heartthrob launched a Twitter campaign, @BieberOnSNL, to get the teen phenomenon on the show and, like the Jackson 5 song, his fans went ‘tweet tweet tweet’.
Calvin Vollrath has earned world acclaim following hisVanoc commission to to write the music for the Olympic Symphony with fiddlers’ Ashley MacIsaac, Sierra Noble, April Verch, Samantha Robichaud, Andre Brunet and Daniel Lapp. The Alberta fiddler, with 51 fiddle albums in his catalogue, received a call to write the music following a chance encounter with Dave Pierece backstage at the Junos tw years ago. When Pierce became the Vanoc MD he recalled being impressed with Vollrath, made the call to him, resulting in the the Olypic Opening Ceremonies commission.
A US court has ruled that statutory damages may only recovered once per musical composition. A claim against a Yahoo music subscription service had asked for damages on 308 different versions of 205 musical compositions. Stated the Court: “Plaintiffs may only recover one award of statutory damages per musical composition per Defendant.”
Korea’s Supreme Court recently issued a decision affirming the lower court’s findings that providing a ‘deep link’ or ‘direct link’ is not considered ‘reproduction’ or ‘transmission’ as defined in the Copyright Act, and that therefore mere facilitation of internet links does not constitute copyright infringement. The plaintiff was the songwriter and copyright holder of the songs in question. The defendants were several online music service providers, which provided users with services for downloading and streaming songs, as well as ringtone and ringback tone services, via mobile phone networks.
Canada is again named in a US watch list of dodgy copyright enforcement territories. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) submitted recommendations to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) urging increased efforts to stem copyright theft and protect American jobs in the annual “Special 301″ review of intellectual property protection and market access issues in foreign countries. The IIPA recommends that 10 countries be placed on the Priority Watch List in 2010: Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Mexico, People’s Republic of China, the Philippines and Russia.
Local music will soon become compulsory on Malaysia’s radio stations as part of a precondition in the issuance of radio licences. The government also has plans to establish a monitoring committee to ensure that a minimum of 70% of live music performed in hotels and other public spaces is sourced locally.
