Record labels remained the largest investors in the music industry during 2015, having spent more than $4.5 billion globally for artists and repertoire (A&R) as well as marketing that year, reported the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and World Independent Network Wednesday. The $4.5 billion that record labels spent on A&R and marketing in 2015 equaled 27 percent of the labels' total revenue for the year, IFPI and WIN said. Companies have sustained their investment in the music industry despite “two decades of revenue decline,” the groups said. Music companies and distributors also invest in developing the digital music market's infrastructure, which now includes 360 digital music services globally, IFP and WIN said. The report “highlights not just record companies’ financial investment in artists, but also the enduring value they bring to artists’ careers,” IFPI Chief Executive Frances Moore and WIN CEO Alison Wenham said in a news release.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who was locked in a close race with a political newcomer, was declared the winner of the 49th District by The Associated Press Monday. The AP reported that unofficial returns showed Issa with a 2,348-vote lead over Democratic challenger Doug Applegate, with only "a small number of votes left to tally." Issa, who's on the House Judiciary's IP subcommittee, was endorsed by Donald Trump during the election (see 1611010056 and 1611070058). Issa, who has been in Congress since 2001, is a former CTA chairman and is active in technology policy, including IoT security and encryption.
Ofcom will require the legal separation of Openreach from BT due to competitive concerns raised by the U.K. regulator, the agency said in a news release Tuesday. After concluding a public consultation, Ofcom decided to notify the European Commission to implement the change, it said. Legal separation would require Openreach to become a distinct company with its own board, including a majority of nonexecutive directors not affiliated with BT, Ofcom said. “We are disappointed that BT has not yet come forward with proposals that meet our competition concerns,” Ofcom said Tuesday. “Some progress has been made, but this has not been enough, and action is required now to deliver better outcomes for phone and broadband users." Monday, BT announced Mike McTighe as the first chairman of the new Openreach board. He worked at Ofcom from 2007 to 2015 and also for communications and other companies such as General Electric. BT didn’t comment Tuesday on the Ofcom announcement.
The U.S. economy is poised to thrive under President-elect Donald Trump, CTA President Gary Shapiro said in an opinion piece posted by Fox News Tuesday. He pointed to the unified GOP government combined with an incoming Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “With this new combination, we’re likely to see legislation that helps businesses invest in growing and hiring,” said Shapiro, who criticized Trump harshly during the campaign season, but post-election said he sees "a lot of positive" in his presidency (see 1611090038). “By lowering corporate taxes; reforming patent, securities and class-action laws; and reducing regulatory burdens, businesses will have more money to invest in growth and job creation.” He also mentioned Trump’s infrastructure funding intentions and talk of rolling back burdensome regulations. The stock market will be a check on Trump’s impulses, Shapiro said: “Should he take positions that hurt tech, it would affect the broader stock market since tech stocks represent more than 20 percent of the S&P 500.”
Producers of the IFA Berlin show scheduled their second annual CE China show for May 4-6 at the Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center, they said in a Monday announcement. The inaugural CE China show in April (see 1604250022) attracted 150 exhibitors in 15,000 square meters (161,500 square feet) of exhibition space and 11,500 visitors from 43 countries, the promoters said.
A group of 29 science and education-focused groups urged President-elect Donald Trump to “quickly appoint a science advisor with the title of Assistant to the President for Science and Technology who is a nationally respected leader with the appropriate engineering, scientific, management and policy skills necessary for this critically important role,” they said in a letter to Trump dated Wednesday and released Monday. “This senior level advisor can assist you in determining effective ways to use science and technology to address major national challenges. Moreover, this individual can coordinate relevant science and technology policy and personnel decisions within the executive branch of government.”
World Wide Technology Chairman Dave Steward is among those President-elect Donald Trump is contacting as part of his transition, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on a call Friday. The discussion with Steward was one among many planned Friday meetings, also including Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., and involved Trump’s consideration “about people potentially playing a role in his administration,” said Spicer. World Wide Technology is “a global systems integrator with more than $7 billion in annual revenue and over 3,000 employees,” said its website. “We serve the technology needs of large public and private organizations, including many of the world’s best-known brands.” Steward co-founded the company in 1990. “With more than two decades of experience in the technology industry, David spends the majority of his time developing strategic supplier, customer and employee relationships,” the website said. “He plays a key role in WWT’s pursuit of large contract bids within its industry specific operating companies.”
The consumer tech industry's “mantra” is “all about change, and that change is good,” said Michael Petricone, CTA senior vice president-government affairs, on a TechFreedom podcast Tuesday speculating about how tech policy might look under a Donald Trump presidential administration. CTA and the tech industry want to “move forward” and “find common ground” with the new administration, “and see what we can do,” Petricone said. Trump as a candidate “ran explicitly on a jobs platform, and quite successfully tapped into a deep underlying insecurity on the part of a large number of Americans about their economic future,” he said. “If you look at the tech industry and you look at our companies, they are the companies that are driving the economy.” So Trump “has every incentive to work with us, and we have every incentive to work with him, and help him grow the economy and grow jobs,” Petricone said. CTA sees “a bunch of opportunities” emerging for the tech industry from a Trump presidency and a Republican-controlled Congress, he said. “You’re going to see a pro-business administration, you’re going to see a deregulatory administration.” Petricone thinks “we have a good chance to work together and roll back regulations that don’t make a lot of sense,” he said. Though the tech industry failed to persuade candidate Trump to publish a pre-election “technology platform” as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton did, “there’s an upside to that, too,” in that the president-elect is no "ideologue," and therefore is “not locked into anything,” Petricone said. In his career, he has been "focused on doing deals and getting things done," he said.
TiVo's waiver of FCC rules requiring that its set-top boxes include a digital interface for connecting to other consumer electronic devices expires June 1, 2017, and the company is seeking an extension through Dec. 31, 2018, the Media Bureau said in a public notice Tuesday. Comments are due Dec. 6, replies Dec. 13.
The FCC set-top box draft order would allow companies like Google “unfettered access" to pay-TV information and could lead to consequences for consumer privacy, said Oracle Senior Vice President Kenneth Glueck in a letter posted Monday in docket 16-42. The proposal would replace multichannel video programming distributor gatekeepers with a “global hungry, market dominant, Google, largely outside FCC authority." Google is “the clear winner” from the proposal if it increases that company's access to consumer data while carriers have to abide by further regulations, Oracle said. The FCC shouldn’t require cross platform search only of pay-TV carriers, the software maker said. Google’s Android operating system ties developers into a proprietary application program interface and shouldn’t be designated a widely available platform, Oracle said. Google didn't comment.