Malicious Intent

Ant and Dec plan movie Ant and Dec are to star in their very own movie. The Geordie duo will take the lead roles in romantic comedy The Truth About Guys. And the film could help them achieve their dream of cracking America if it becomes a box office hit. The pair are Britain’s most popular entertainers thanks to TV shows like Pop Idol, I’m A Celebrity… and Saturday Night Takeaway. But they have always wanted to make it on the big screen and have spent the last few years searching for the right script. The Truth About Guys will be written by Andy Watts, who wrote the ITV sitcom My Parents Are Aliens, and filming is due to start next year. Ant and Dec, both 28, started out as actors, playing best friends PJ and Duncan in BBC children’s show Byker Grove. They starred in A Tribute to the Likely Lads in 2002 and had cameo roles as themselves in last year’s Brit flick Love Actually.

Who can forget FlatBeat from that levi advert?

MTV in video licensing deal MTV, the music television arm of Viacom, has settled a bitter dispute with independent record labels over European licensing rights for music videos. Last week, independent labels accused the US-owned music channel of threatening to stop broadcasting videos from independent labels unless they agreed to a 55 per cent reduction in royalties. The Viacom subsidiary, rejecting those allegations, claimed that Video Performance (VPL) the licensing association action acting for independent labels, was seeking a deal worth more than twice as much as the last contract, which expired at the end of March. On Thursday, the two sides said they had reached a deal but refused to disclose details. MTV insisted that the new contract would not prevent it from agreeing direct deals with independent labels. The independents, however, said the deal preserved the principle of collective licensing and was fair to smaller labels. In a statement, the labels said the deal would preserve "fair revenue to investors in artists". Label heads claimed they had scored a victory by refusing price cuts and an extension of MTV's rights over videos shown on new channels, mobile devices and ring tone delivery. The total value of the deal is thought to be almost £2m, paid to VPL. MTV said the new contract meant independent labels and artists would continue to benefit "from the sales uplifts and improved chart positions generated by exposure on MTV channels".

EMI Job Cuts: The Price of Piracy? March 31, 2004 Michael Ingram (That's me! Kinda. My news name) Considering the many conflicting reports, most recently from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Harvard University, you would be excused for wondering if anyone knows the true cost of internet music piracy. Perhaps with the announcement of 1500 job losses at EMI, file sharers can see the true cost of their crime. The headlines circulating the internet will instill guilt in some file sharers. These jobs do not belong to the commanders of the music empire, but instead the family men and women who work the shop floor. It will therefore be a relief for many to read that although 1500 less people will be employed by EMI, many of the positions have merely been outsourced and hence not lost at all. 900 of the announced “job losses” are from manufacturing departments. Employees in the Netherlands will be transferred from EMI rosters to the specialist firm MediaMotion. Regrettably there will be job losses with the closure of a manufacturing plant in Jacksonville, Illinois, USA. Not even these job losses are a result of falling production, only a change in supplier to Cinram, who will undoubtedly need more workers to fulfill the new contract. The EMI have not stated the relative number of losses at the Netherlands and Jacksonville plants. The company did not specify where the other 600 job cuts were being made. It soon becomes apparent that the EMI press release has little to do with internet piracy. “These agreements have been structured to deliver the lowest possible unit cost to EMI over their full term,” the company said. A far cry from shedding jobs to reduce production. Instead, it is a statement that could have been made by any company operating in a competitive environment. Eric Nicoli, Chairman of EMI Group, makes it clear that a reduction in manufacturing is not needed, “sales for the full year [are] close to last year's level…whilst we remain optimistic that the market will return to growth in due course, we are committed to being in the best possible shape to compete in all conditions and to take advantage of improving trends.” Alain Levy, Chairman and CEO of EMI Music, adds, “we continue to invest in artists worldwide,” laying rest to fears that new artists are the ones to suffer from efficiency improvements. The BBC reports investors have been concerned for a while about the company’s ability to service its debts. Problems started previous to 2001. Two managers, Alain Levy and David Munns, have since been employed to take vital steps to improve the financial performance of the business. The City reacted positively to news of increased efficiency. EMI was up 17p at 273p in early trading, despite cutting dividends to just 8p per share – down from 16p. File sharers can again rest easy at night.

I doubt many fell for it. My brother believed me that my dad had agreed to pay my petrol to and from Uni! lol. I also fell for the peerweb thing, but I hadn't woken up properly.

I've only read the book. I don't remember Boo saying much. He was just a name until the end. Perhaps it was too long ago. I was studying the book, I couldn't be expected to pay much attention to it.

Belfast's Beautiful Night going ahead as planned PLANS to stage a major concert in Belfast in May will go ahead despite Dublin cancelling its role in the event, the organisers confirmed today. The "Beautiful Night" concert was to be staged jointly in Belfast and Dublin on May 1, as the grand finale of the BBC's Music Live event. However the Irish Government pulled the plug on the Dublin leg of the music extravaganza due to concerns over traffic disruption. The free event, featuring stars such as Doloros O'Riordan, Katie Melua, Ash, Bob Geldof and the Divine Comedy, was due to be presented and broadcast by RTE and the BBC. A spokeswoman for RTE said the Dublin event became "untenable when the extent of the difficulties in staging the concert became apparent" last week. However, the BBC said that Belfast would continue to be the "central hub" of the festival finale.

Thanks Shawn and everyone else!

The BBC puts a very different spin on the story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1882975.stm They make it sound more like bad book keeping and strategic decisions. The news is constantly reporting record breaking music deals - Robbie Williams and Mariah Carey - and yet are reporting falling profits. The RIAA et al. say that it is the little artists that get hurt by piracy. Well it clearly isn't the stars! Perhaps music piracy is being used as a scapegoat to save a few necks.

Totally agreed. Instead of giving the contract to BT, Oftel should fine BT if the don't provide 100% coverage within a set deadline. Give the money to those still without access. Then set a new deadline.

Money is money. I'd do most things for the stuff. "For heaven’s sake, he was Boo Radley! " I can't work out if that is sarcasm.

I dare say that it is more the increasing convenience of legal services than the suing. Governements are constantly demonstrating that you don't force people onto busses by making cars worse. This is much the same.

AVG updated! Thanks.

"malicious, did you ever want one?" I think every kid should have a pet, but I don't mind not having one now.

I've never had a pet. Some very nice ones being posted here though.

"I doubt that the Americans will see it that way." ahh - i just read the article. The site is only hosted in Amercica, but run by a Brit in England.

"British judge ruled that content of American Web sites could be subject to British jurisdiction." I doubt that the Americans will see it that way. It seems to be anti-website rather than kazaa et al. As for taking legal action against search engines, I dare say that google is getting used to giving people the middle finger.

I found that it was on a cycle. I had about 6 people that constantly idled when not chatting which helped.

Blame Yoda for Google Bots presence.

ASUmusicMAN is now hosting :-)

What does it say about YOU? hehe

This made the news? This made the BEATKING news?

As an Ares fanboy it pains me to read that a) you used warez p2p and B) [ok, what idiot made "b" followed by ")" a smiley?] you didn't like the network. You can do plenty to help ease the effects of packet flooding with programs that force sharing. How long does it take to limit your upload? BT has ushered in a whole new era of p2p, far superior to even the times on kazaa before lawsuits. As for getting singles, I've never had a problem. Perhaps that is my taste in popular music, rather than some more obscure bands. On the universities connection, I download music from Ares faster than I can play it. That is all I ask. I havn't been around since the start of p2p. I missed out on Napster and Audiogalaxy and Kazaa in "the good old days". Now I get everything I want from p2p and I get it quickly. If you think it is bad now, then you must have been serverly spoilt in the past. I'm on dail-up right now. I can't believe that anyone would look back fondly at using this crap. Finally, does it matter where those users have gone? More users does not just mean more people to download from, but also extra competiton for those sources. Ares had 25,000 users when i joined. It has just been annouced that it has broken the 300,000 barrier. Great. That is an extra god knows how many crap files from kazaa. It will also attract the attention of the RIAA et al. It is more people to fight with over the release of a new album.

My flatmate has been training and has lottery funding and sponsership and everything. His team (two man boat) regularly beats the british champions. He is very serious. A friend suggested that this year, instead of getting athletes to carry the flame, old grannies should do it. That way perhaps the construction will be done by the time the flame arrives! lol. j/k.