Blogwatch: Nortel gives up on 4G, ITV gives up on 3G, whilst India clings on to 2G

There I was, sitting on the beaches, looking at the peaches... golden brown, texture like sun.... No wait, that's an acid flashback to my youth as a Stranglers fan. There we were, crammed into a university bar, watching Jet Black on drums, that crazy French guy, the keyboard bloke, and Hugh Cornwell on vocals. Where are they now? Well, Hugh Cornwell is most definitely not driving a taxi...

Long story, recommend you read it at TechDirt. But briefly, back in 2001, Cornwell was shown Napster and he was very much against his studio recorded songs being on it, saying:

"I cannot condone the posting of music that I spent money making, being given away for free.... But then there are other people who are getting it for free, they are not giving me anything, and there has to be some sort of royalty paid or I'll have to become a cab driver."

Seven years on, and TechDirt explains that:

He's offering up his latest album as a completely free download. However, he's pairing that with a much more complete business model. Like Trent Reznor, Cornwell is also offering a few different options for those who want tangible (scarce) goods as well -- such as a CD, DVD or vinyl. But Cornwell seems to be going even further in recognizing the power of selling scarcities. The DVD mentioned above is actually a film showing much of the recording process that went into the album. However, the film itself was also shown in some theaters -- with Cornwell attending each of the showings and doing a Q&A session at the end of each one. In other words, he's recognized yet another important "scarcity": access to the artists and (once again) that means much more than touring, as seen here.

At least that's one former 70s music icon that gets it. Unlike Feargal Sharkey of the Undertones, who is now the head of recording industry's trade association British Music Rights. TelecomTV invited Mr Teenage Kicks into the studio to try to understand his protectionist views, but his aid replied that:

"He's simply too busy at the moment."

Er, so that told us then...

Incidentally, we also requested an interview with Jeremy Banks, the head of the Internet Anti-Piracy Unit at the IFPI. The IFPI (and that's 'P' as in Phonographic, you have to be careful with that):

represents the recording industry worldwide with some 1400 members in 73 countries and affiliated industry associations in 48 countries. IFPI's mission: Promote the value of recorded music; Safeguard the rights of record producers; Expand the commercial uses of recorded music.

His aid declined and replied that:

"The ICT industry is very aware of our position on online copyright infringement through direct conversations."

At the risk of repeating ourselves... Er, so that told us then...

***

The music industry, of course, is not the only one trying to come to terms with the impact of telecoms and digital convergence. Take the broadcast world...

Michael Grade; love him, loathe him. Fans of Doctor Who loathe him as he axed the original run of the show when he was Director General of the BBC. But now he is Executive Chairman of the BBC's commercial rival, ITV. But a year into his job, ITV is still stuck in the financial mire. So it's not surprising that he blames everyone else. At this week's IBC broadcast event in Amsterdam, he lashed out at 3G, Google and YouTube:

"Google and YouTube are just parasites. The day they start spending £1 billion a year on content is the day I’ll start worrying."

He went on to say:

"Mobile will have to wait (because) it’s clunky, it’s slow and 3G streaming seems usually not to work."

You can watch and hear what the BBC have to say about the many positives of cross-platform content on our weekly NewsDesk programme, which is ready to watch right now.

The Paid Content blog noted that ITV has just appointed a new boss for its international distribution arm:

It’s true to say there’s plenty of ITV’s material on YouTube right now. But, whilst the likes of BBC Worldwide, form partnerships with the video sharer, Grade appears to fight the site. What ITV Worldwide’s new digital director Jason Binks will make of the comments, we don’t know. Hired last week, Binks’ remit, ITV said, is to strike distribution agreements with the likes of Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) and iTunes. By the same logic as that used to judge YouTube, can these platforms, too, be considered “parasites"… ?

***

"Trade shows are boring". Oh, how many of us long to have the cojones to say that ourselves! But we don't... Trade shows are good. Trade shows are our friends. Trade shows give meaning to our humble existence... But not Andy Abramson over at VoIP Watch:

I was at CTIA yesterday and walked the floor around some meetings that I had. It was boring. Very boring. The life has been sucked out of the trade shows and companies which are spending money are getting wise to it.

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