More intrigue and shenanigans ?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/05/burnham_ppl_agm/Is the Government edging away from the recommendations made in the Gowers Report? The British music business seems to think so - based on perceived nudges and winks from the new Culture Secretary Andy Burnham.
The Gowers Report is loathed by the British music business because it fails to back a term extension on sound recordings and because it blessed the introduction of uncompensated format shifting - in contrast to most of the rest of Europe.
PPL chairman and chief executive Fran Nevrkla yesterday described Gowers as "deeply hostile, flawed, now discredited".
On the subject of the copyright term extension for sound recordings - currently at 50 years - Burnham said he thought there may be what he called "a new dimension" to the debate that hadn't been addressed. Performers who were reaching retirement were being deprived of revenue from popular recordings, just when they need the money the most, he acknowledged."If there's an angle around session musicians it might change the terms of the debate," said Burnham, who said this could generate new grounds for compromise. For now, he was content to punt the issue up to Europe, and see what Commissioner McCreevy decided.
However, when when he turned to online file sharing, Burnham appeared to give little encouragement to the audience.
"Young people don't see format shifting as an offence, and are not conducive to sympathizing with the plight of big corporations," said Burnham.
I dont see him shifting away from anything in his speech, perhap this is a "black flag" operation by the unethical music industry to lure us into aliennating a supporter of the gower Report
