Following a BPI report released earlier this week which put the recording industry's year-on-year growth at 2.3% in 2009, PRS For Music yesterday announced that the music industry as a whole saw revenues rise by 4.7% last year to £3.9 billion.

Slightly different to the BPI's figures, PRS For Music said that recorded music stayed flat at £1.36 billion, halting five years of decline, while the live sector saw revenues rise 9.4% year-on-year to £1.54 billion, edging its lead on recordings slightly further, while B2B revenues - public performance royalties, licensing of music services, advertising and sponsorship - also grew 4.4% to £967 million.

The BPI's report put total revenues for record labels at £1.1 billion in 2009, up 2.3% on the previous year, with income from outside traditional music sales up by 6.6% to £193.5 million, the third annual rise in a row. The biggest increase, it said, came from sync deals with TV, film, advertising and games companies, which saw a growth in income of 19.6% to £25.2 million. Meanwhile, more than £58 million came from multi-rights 360 deals with artists, which see labels take a cut of artists' other income streams, a 16.7% increase on the previous year. Broadcast and public performance licensing was the biggest non-sale winner though, with £72.1 million brought in through the PPL in 2009.

Like the BPI, top PRS economic man Will Page, speaking at the report's launch, put the rise down to music companies finding new ways to make money. However, he questioned whether the UK live industry may have now peaked, particularly as its US counterpart begins to struggle. However, in terms of advertising and sponsorship, he admitted "live is where it's at". He also said that a growth of nearly 5% was a "phenomenal feat" for the UK music industry as the wider economy hit a major recession.

On this subject, the conclusion to the report, written by UK Music CEO Feargal Sharkey said: "As the values of market commodities are eroded, the value of service industries must increase to keep the UK growing. In this context, our creative industries clearly have a role to play. UK music, film, television, computer games and books are all a recognised success on the world stage. However, there needs to be an appetite to support such creative ventures, and - especially post credit crunch - this is not coming from the conventional banking sector, with its preference for the familiarities of low risk".

Sharkey finished: "This must change, and I believe we have a clear case for policy-makers. Music has and always will be one of the UK's best tourist magnets and can offer a very high return on minimal investment. Our challenge going forward is to provide the comprehensive data, analysis and support that can help them allocate funds more effectively".

The full report is available here.

UK record companies again grew their so called 'secondary revenues' in 2009, which is no surprise really, but has been confirmed by record label trade body the BPI.

Secondary revenues are anything other than money generated through CD sales and digital music services, and include long established periphery income like broadcast royalties and newer revenue streams created by labels diversifying into other areas of the wider music business, such as merchandising. Said revenues were up 6.6% across the UK record industry in 2009, bringing in £193.5 million in total.

BPI boss Geoff Taylor: "UK record companies have responded to tough market conditions by innovating in the digital world and developing new revenue streams from recorded music, beyond their traditional base of CD sales and the encouraging growth in digital a la carte, subscription and streaming services. Music companies continue to face an enormous challenge from illegal downloading, but are responding positively by transforming themselves for the future, identifying new opportunities to generate returns from the massive investments they make - hundreds of millions of pounds per year - in UK talent".

A judge at east London's fashionable Snaresbrook Crown Court has ordered a convicted music pirate to pay record label trade body the BPI £170,000.

Farrah Nissa was jailed for copyright crimes in 2008 for his role in running a counterfeit CD operation which sold an estimated 1.2 million bootleg discs, mainly containing funky urban beats. The conviction was achieved through the collaborative efforts of global trade body IFPI and the aforementioned BPI, and once achieved they started working with the Regional Assets Recovery Team to get their hands on the money Nissa made through his illegal operation, employing a thing called the Proceeds Of Crime Act 2002.

The challenge was working out and proving just how much Nissa had made from his piracy venture. RART and BPI presented the results of their work to the East London court this week and, based on their findings, the marvellously named Judge Inigo Geoffrey Bing ordered Nissa to hand over £170,000 (well, actually, much of the cash will come out of the assets of Nissa seized by the authorities after the original conviction). 

In a statement, BPI anti-piracy chief David Wood told reporters: "This was a complex and lengthy enquiry into an organised criminal gang who had tried to hide behind a shield of respectability".

Meanwhile IFPI piracy man Jeremy Banks said: "Today's ruling shows that when it comes to music piracy crime really does not pay. We have always pursued a strategy of disrupting the manufacture and supply of counterfeit CDs, now in the UK we are able to take the profit out of the process as well".

Nissa's partner in crime had already been ordered to pay £70,000 following similar proceedings last year. The money will be shared out between the BPI's members.

Record label trade body the BPI and collecting society PPL last week welcomed the custodial sentences dished out to the three men who ran that previously reported jukebox racket in the North East. 

As previously reported, Malcolm Wylie, his son Peter Wylie (not the Mighty Wah frontman) and William Ross, were arrested in 2008 for their role in running an unlicensed jukebox company operating in the Newcastle area called Access All Areas. For seven years the three men implied to their clients that they ran a legit jukebox service, but they pocketed over half of million in revenues that should have gone to PPL and onto the owners of the sound recordings being played.

They were found guilty of copyright crimes in March and sentenced for those crimes last week. Malcolm Wylie got three years and was banned from being a company director for ten. His son Peter will spend fifteen months in prison, while Ross got 36 weeks. When sentencing, Judge Guy Whitburn reportedly said that "a clearer more flagrant breach of copyright law is hard to find".

Welcoming the sentencing, PPL's Richard Stewart told reporters: "The judge clearly recognised the significant value and importance of intellectual property rights and sentenced the defendants accordingly", while BPI piracy man David Wood added: "The defendants made a considerable income from supplying unlicensed and illegally downloaded music to pubs and clubs in the North of England and their actions have not only harmed the music industry but also those landlords who, in difficult economic times, believed they were paying for a legitimate service when in fact they were also being exploited".

It was the annual shindig type gathering of UK record label trade body the BPI yesterday - aka the BPI AGM - and the organisation's chairman Tony Wadsworth used it to give a rallying call encouraging British record companies to continue to properly invest in new talent.

While admitting that the sometimes painful streamlining that the record business has been forced to go through in the last decade had actually resulted in a "fitter and more efficient" industry over all, he cautioned that "this streamlining must not go so far as to have a negative effect on one of our most important functions: investing in new artists".

According to Billboard, the BPI chief said that while cutting back on the number of bands labels invest in would achieve short term cost cutting goals, such a strategy could harm the industry long term, because today's new signings are tomorrow's multi-million generating global acts.

He told his record industry audience: "There may not be as much money to invest as there used to be, but I believe that shouldn't mean that we support fewer artists. Let's not go down the route of focusing the investment into fewer and fewer artists. It may serve a short term need to consolidate, but I feel that in the long-run we will live to regret it".

Whatever the reason for 6music being saved, music people were happy yesterday. Though some shared the aforementioned opinion that there was still a risk the axe could reappear above 6 in the future, and warned the Beeb they'd be ready to continue the fight should that happen.

Geoff Taylor, top man at record label trade body the BPI, said: "We are delighted that the BBC Trust agreed that the case for closing 6music was unconvincing. The Trust's initial findings support our case that 6music makes a unique contribution to the UK's cultural. We'll be watching carefully to ensure the Executive's review of the BBC's digital radio strategy is not used as cover for a further attempt to close the station".

Over at UK Music, your main man Feargal Sharkey said: "UK Music is delighted by today's announcement by the BBC Trust that the case has not been made for the closure of BBC 6music. However, it does not represent a total reprieve - the Sword of Damocles has only been put on ice. We would still urge Mark Thompson and the BBC Executive to acknowledge the Trust's conclusions, to recognise 6music's unique role in supporting this country's musical talent and to commit to the station's long term future. We were also surprised by, but welcome, the Trust's commitment to conducting a broad ranging and far reaching review of digital radio, and look forward to inputting into that process in the coming months".

Speaking for the indie community, Simon Raymonde of Bella Union and a board member of the Association Of Independent Music said: "To all those thousands of people who wrote letters, signed petitions and joined protests, to the members of the Trust, we must say that today is a victory for common sense, or as Cat Stevens more eloquently once said, 'I am confident that, in the end, common sense and justice will prevail. I'm an optimist, brought up on the belief that if you wait to the end of the story, you get to see the good people live happily ever after".

Stephen Navin of the Music Publishers Association said: "The decision to save 6music will be particularly welcomed by those young up and coming bands and songwriters to whom the station has been so important. 6music has provided an invaluable platform for new and independent music. The Trust is absolutely right to highlight in its interim conclusions the vital importance of maintaining the type of distinctive content which is currently available uniquely on 6music. The Trust makes specific mention of the fantastic show of public support for 6music that we have seen since the plans were announced. Each and every music fan who replied to the consultation, or tuned their digital radio to 6music, should rejoice in the knowledge that their voice has been heard".

Steve Levine of the Music Producers Guild added: "The reprieve of 6music is fantastic news. By championing talent and originality, 6music provides the perfect antidote to the bland outpourings of so much of today's media. We need stations like this and are delighted that the BBC Trust has rejected plans to close it".

Georgina Rodgers, one of the people behind the Save 6 protests, told reporters: "The fans of BBC 6music welcome the BBC Trust's announcement. But we have only won the battle, and not the war, and we will be continuing our dialogue with the BBC Executive and the BBC Trust. It is clear that the BBC Trust recognises that 6music is a distinctive and culturally valuable station that fulfils the BBC's remit of high quality programming, and we want to build on that, in the context of the wider review of the future digital radio".

And finally, the Trust's response to the Beeb's strategic review was also welcomed by RadioCentre, the trade body for much of the commercial radio sector. Their top man Andrew Harrison said: "We welcome the interim report from the BBC Trust, and in particular its emphasis on distinctiveness and value for money, as the next step in the process to review the future size and shape of the BBC".

He continued: "In our response to the BBC Strategy Review, we highlighted the importance of delivering more public value on BBC Radio's popular music services and the critical need for a much clearer commitment to radio's digital future from the BBC. We are pleased, therefore, that the BBC Trust has mandated BBC management to deliver greater distinctiveness on Radio 1 and Radio 2, and welcome its call to draw up an overarching strategy for digital radio with the commercial sector".

The Music Publishers Association has a new Chief Executive, in the form of Richard Mollet, who is currently Head Of Public Affairs at the record industry's main trade body the BPI. Mollet played a key role in presenting the record industry's viewpoint while the Digital Economy Act, and especially its three-strikes launching copyright section, was being drafted and debated in parliament earlier this year. He will join the MPA later this year, taking over from current CEO Simon Juden.

There has been much online chatter in the last 24 hours about a 'takedown request' sent by record label trade body the BPI to Google, requesting that the search engine block access to eighteen illegally posted MP3s which can be accessed via the search service by doing relatively straight forward key word searches involving artist and song names and then a word like 'MP3', 'download', 'upload' or the name of a file-transfer service.

It is widely known that copyright owners and their trade bodies frequently issue takedown requests to video sharing websites like YouTube and Vimeo when they believe their rights have been infringed (ie a video or track they own has been uploaded to a content sharing site which is not licensed by said content owner). Such takedown notices are usually submitted according to the takedown system set out in US copyright law, because the owners of such sites are usually American, even if the copyright owners themselves are not.

But the BPI takedown request being discussed online yesterday, which was leaked by the Chilling Effects website, relates to searches on Google rather than content uploaded to a YouTube style platform, which some tech journalists and bloggers claim is much more unusual, leading some to speculate this is a new more aggressive initiative on behalf of the BPI.

Some also note that the document includes not only a list of specific links to infringing content, but also a list of home page links to the services that have aided the infringement, such as MegaUpload, leading to additional speculation that the BPI is stepping beyond the strict remit of America's Digital Millennium Copyright Act and calling on Google to block access to whole website rather than just infringing content.

For their part, the BPI has denied there is anything out of the ordinary about their latest takedown notice to Google, other than that it has been leaked, of course. Spokesman Adam Liversage told C-Net that such documents were filed with Google on a regular basis by bodies like the BPI and that "in most cases, Google takes down the links in question, following its own internal procedures". While, perhaps unsurprisingly, not everyone in the tech blog community seems convinced by Liverage's explanation, I tend to think what he says is correct.

Although not as obvious as the takedown orders issued to Google's video site YouTube - where any resulting removal of content is apparent for all to see because the page that previously hosted the infringing video explains what has happened - notices requesting the Google search engine remove links to infringing MP3 files are by no means uncommon. Indeed, Google has previously discussed that kind of takedown notice (mainly to complain about the labels trying their luck on occasion), and then there was that time when the whole piratebay.org site was temporarily removed from the Google system in error while someone was dealing with a copyright owner's takedown notice.

As for the list of home page links in the BPI's document, the notice clearly follows a set format, and that section seems to simply be a summary of the sites that appear in the longer list of specific content links above it - ie that list is there for information, not because the BPI is asking Google to remove said content sharing websites from their search results completely.

So, all in all, possibly a bit of a non-story, though for those not directly involved in the DMCA takedown process, it is still interesting to see the documents used by copyright owners. The one that has created so much chatter this week is at this URL:

http://chillingeffects.org/dmca512c/notice.cgi?NoticeID=40373

UK Music, The Association Of Independent Music, the BPI and the Musician's Union have all sent last minute pleas to the BBC Trust, asking for BBC 6music to be saved.

In a statement introducing a lengthy submission from UK Music, which includes a case study of the support 6music has given Moshi Moshi Records, and contributions from PR firm Anorak London and indie label Full Time Hobby Records, the trade body's head Feargal Sharkey says: "It is vital that as an industry our voice is heard clearly, prominently and with determination. If nothing else, the BBC needs to understand that its current proposals for 6 are misinformed, inappropriate and, as an industry, not an option we are prepared to explore".

Also contributing, in her role as an artist who released her first single through the aforementioned Moshi Moshi and who only received radio play on 6music at the start of her career, Florence 'And The Machine' Welch said: "6music gave me so much support at the start, and throughout my career, and I think the BBC would be failing to support young and upcoming talent if they were to take it off the air; no other radio station is as committed to playing new and alternative music, it would be a huge loss to the airwaves".

Echoing Florence's words, AIM's Alison Wenham said in her own organisation's submission: "It is right that the Association Of Independent Music - whose member companies are the finders and incubators of almost all new British music creators, performers and entrepreneurs - should stress the importance of 6music to independent music. 6music is a radio station which has quickly established itself as pivotal in this process of talent development. Readily available data clearly shows mainstream BBC music networks' content is dominated by the major multinational entertainment companies - which suits these networks' daytime audiences and competes with commercial music radio. Without 6music independent new music has no national radio station".

Communicating major as well as indie label support for 6, BPI boss man Geoff Taylor said: "6music is exactly the kind of programming the licence fee is there to support - distinctive, high quality broadcasting that the commercial market would not provide. This is a chance for the Trust to stand up for the rights of the listener, and save a national treasure.  Signing its death warrant would not only let down music fans, it would fail generations of British artists who do not get played otherwise".

The MU, meanwhile, broke its response down into twenty points of fairly balanced arguing, concluding: "[BBC management's proposals] contains a lot that the MU can support in terms of an overall strategy and vision for the BBC, but we are concerned that some of the cuts and reductions in current services seem to be aimed at appeasing the commercial and political forces that want to see a smaller and weaker BBC that does not fulfil its high ambitions. We would urge the BBC not to fall into the trap of offering unnecessary sacrifices in order to satisfy those who will always criticise the BBC".

The BBC Trust's public consultation on the Corporation's strategic review, which proposes the cutting of 6, that other incredibly important radio service the Asian Network, and a raft of other BBC services, closes today. You have until 5pm today to submit your views, which you can do here:

http://consultations.external.bbc.co.uk/departments/bbc/bbc-strategy-review/consultation/consult_view

Talking of the save 6 campaign, record label trade body the BPI has been surveying listeners of the BBC digital radio station via its previously reported website www.thejoyof6.com, and has published some of its findings. The BPI, like the rest of the music industry, want BBC bosses to rethink their plans to shut the music station, or for the BBC Trust to block the proposals. 

Unsurprisingly, nearly everyone surveyed on the joyof6 site said they liked discovering new music, and 70% strongly disagreed with the suggestion they "preferred music they were familiar with". Nearly a half of those surveyed said they listened to 6 daily, while a further third said they listened several times a week. Pretty much everyone said 6 played a lot of music they just didn't hear on other stations, and three quarters said they had been to see bands play live after hearing them on 6.  

I'm not sure any of that is much of a surprise. Perhaps more surprising is that 80% of those surveyed said they listened to 6music, at least some of the time, via the DAB digital radio network, compared to 53% who accessed the station via the web, and 36% who listened through their TV. 

That stat would possibly suggest one proposed compromise to put to BBC bosses who want the station closed - that 6 become a cheaper-to-run internet only service - wouldn't be very satisfactory to a large part of the station's most dedicated listeners. It possibly also adds credence to the argument that now - when the wider radio industry is desperately trying to persuade more people to buy DAB radios - is precisely the wrong time to be turning popular DAB-based services like 6music off. 

Commenting on the stats, BPI CEO Geoff Taylor told CMU: "6music's listeners have told us that they love discovering new bands, and, for them, the station is airing new music that isn't getting playlisted elsewhere. The proposed closure of 6music would mean less exposure for new music, which would have a significant and negative impact on Britain's cultural heritage".

The survey stats were published as another string of big name artists added their support to the BPI-organised Save 6 website. Coldplay, La Roux and some decent bands are among the latest artists to go public with their 6 support, though our favourite of the latest quotes comes from Icelanders Sigur Rós, who write: "Take it from a country who knows a thing or two about both financial ruination and cultural isolation, do not cut this service. Britain needs this grass roots exposure for new music and great old music, or else it's going to be wall-to-wall X-fucking-factor and the 'consumer-analysis' marketing nincompoops will have won".

In related news, the Association Of Independent Music earlier this week gave its support to a poster campaign being organised by perennial campaigners 38 Degrees calling on the BBC to rethink its plans to close both 6 and the Asian Network. The campaigning group have put up billboards in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leicester, London and Manchester, where possible in the vicinity of BBC buildings 

AIM boss Alison Wenham said she liked the fact the 38 Degrees campaign in particular was involving people from the comedy and journalism communities as well as musicians and music fans, observing: "So many different groups are going to be badly affected by the proposal to axe 6music, so we felt it was [right] to join forces [with 38 Degrees] to make a general point on behalf of the creative community".

More sales stats anyone? Record label trade body the BPI published its annual book of facts and stats yesterday, and in it we discover that Ubisoft's 'Just Dance' was the biggest selling 'music game' in 2009, despite it only being launched in the latter part of the year. It seems more people would rather dance for real than pretend to play guitar.

That said, various incarnations of the 'Guitar Hero' franchise filled six slots in the music game top ten last year, while it's 'DJ Hero' pretend-to-DJ sister title came in at eleven. Though the much hyped Beatles edition of rival pretend-to-play game 'Rock Band' only came in at number fifteen, which is surely a bit of a disappointment to EA, MTV Games and EMI, who surely thought they'd have the biggest music game of the year on their hands. Singing along also proved popular in 2009, with 'Lips', the Take That version of 'SingStar' and a 'High School Musical' sing-along game all appearing in the top fifteen.

The music games market was worth £95.1 million in 2009, down from £107.7 million the year before, proof music gaming has peaked following those few months two years ago when everyone was saying "gaming is the future of music". Still, it's still a sizable earner for both the music and gaming industries, the former benefiting in particular from the growth in the download stores that accompany the main gaming franchises, meaning labels and music publishers continue to earn from gameplay even after the initial game has been sold. 

Commenting on the music games market in 2009, BPI boss Geoff Taylor told CMU: "The most encouraging trend is the growth of a market for music track purchases direct to consoles to use with existing games and peripherals. 'Rock Band' now has over a thousand tracks available to buy, and more than 60 million have been downloaded worldwide in the last two years".

On developments in the music gaming market, he continued: "Not only is the genre expanding into artist-specific titles - including [those involving] UK acts [like] Take That and Queen - but the enormous success of 'Tap Tap Revenge' and 'Riddim Ribbon' shows that mobile is also proving its worth as a platform for music-based games".

Good news for fans of research that confirms the obvious, we have two lots of stats for you today. Hoopla. First up this. Pop music was big in 2009. You knew that. I knew that. But now we have stats from record label trade body the BPI to prove it's true, which is something we should all celebrate with a little dance.

Done that? Right. Well, according to the BPI's big book of record industry stats for 2010, which is out next week, pop music accounted for 29% of all album sales in 2009, up from 25.3% in 2008, and its biggest share of the overall market since 2003.

Of course, you could say that, by definition, any big selling album is 'pop music', in that it's clearly popular. But I think for these stats 'pop' means music that sounds, well, poppy. Lady Gaga, Paolo Nutini, Robbie Williams and Lily Allen albums all feature in these stats. The pop genre accounted for nearly 30% of album sales despite only accounting for just over 13% of new releases.

'Rock' remains the biggest album genre, both in terms of output and sales, accounting for 40.2% of releases and 31% of sales. Pop's rise was at rock's expense though, 31% is the smallest market share for the rock genre since 2004. R&B accounted for 9.6% of album sales, while dance was down slightly to 7.3%.
 
Stats fan and BPI boss Geoff Taylor told CMU: "There's no doubting that 2009 was a vintage year for pop - some fantastic records led to a strong performance by the genre in both albums and singles. British urban talent shone in the R&B sector, virtually doubling their sales last year thanks to Tinchy Stryder, Dizzee Rascal, Chipmunk, N-Dubz and Taio Cruz. This strong performance looks like carrying into 2010 with hits from Taio again, Tinie Tempah, Plan B and Professor Green, amongst others".

In singles, perhaps unsurprisingly, pop sales accounted for even more of the market, putting pop ahead of rock. Only one rock single made it into the Top 10 singles of the year chart, and that was Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing In The Name', which wasn't really meant to be there in the first place.

The UK wasn't the only market to see digital sales start to compensate for the ongoing slump in CD sales in the recorded music space in 2009.

As previously reported, UK record label trade body the BPI revealed at the start of the week that the British record industry saw albeit modest market growth for the first time in a while last year, with the market up 1.4% overall. According to the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, which published its own book of 2009 sales stats yesterday, India, South Korea, Thailand, Mexico and Australia all also saw the growth in digital sales offset physical decline.

Nevertheless, on a global level record industry revenues fell once again, down 7.2% to $17.03 billion. Worldwide, although digital revenue was up 9.2%, and physical sales decline slowed down on recent years, the 12.7% drop in CD sales meant an overall slump. And declining CD sales in the two largest music markets in particular, so that's the US and Japan, offset successes in those other six territories to ensure another revenue slide overall.

In Europe, the UK did well and Sweden saw its recorded music market soar 11.9%, possibly because of the previously reported new IPRED law which made it easier for copyright owners to identify online infringers, and which did seem to result in a slump in illegal file-sharing in the country (though it's possible that was partly because more prolific file-sharers got better at hiding their infringement).

Another country that has been getting hardline about online piracy, France, saw its record industry decline 2.7%, though that's a modest slide compared to recent years. In Germany, where the record industry is lobbying political types for French-style three-strikes legislation, the market was down, but only by 3%. Spain and Italy, meanwhile, suffered yet more serious decline, down 14.3% and 17.4% respectively.

As always, most markets relied heavily on big sales of a small number of albums. Worldwide the big bank roller was Susan Boyle, who sold 8.3 million copies of her debut album in 2009, despite it coming out pretty close to the end of the year.

A journalist has discovered that a seemingly independent report presented in support of the anti-piracy components of the Digital Economy Act was, in fact, based on stats provided by record label trade body the BPI.

Although one would assume that something called the International Chamber Of Commerce would be more on the side of business than the average file-sharing kid, some argue that, because the organisation doesn't directly represent the interests of copyright owners, its report claiming that a failure to change anti-piracy laws could lose the world's content industries 240 billion euros by 2015 was taken to be more credible than those presented by music and film industry trade bodies.

But Glyn Moody of Computer World has discovered that most of the ICC's figures actually came from record label trade bodies in the territories reviewed by their report, included the UK's BPI, France's SNEP and globally focused trade organisation IFPI. He writes: "The figure is not from independent research, it's not even from an independent organisation, but from the very industry group that pushed so hard for the Digital Economy Act - and probably did so drawing on this report, whose figures it had supplied". Moody then goes on to pick holes in the BPI's original data, referencing a BBC report that was critical of the stats when they were first published.

Responding to a Telegraph report on Moody's article, the BPI have stressed that while the ICC report did utilise the results of research it had commissioned, that research was "carried out by reputable independent third-party research companies". They also point out they have previously disputed the BBC report that Moody references when trying to pick holes in the trade body's data.

The UK recorded music market grew 1.4% last year based on total trade income, according to the annual industry income survey undertaken by record label trade body the BPI. According to the report, the industry was worth £928.8m. Although a modest growth, those who opposed the anti-piracy provisions in the Digital Economy Act say the new report proves the major record companies were being disingenuous when they claimed the growth of file-sharing had taken their industry to the brink.

Needless to say, the continued growth of digital,  music revenues enabled the slight overall increase, with digital revenues now representing a fifth of the sector's income, when digital is said to include mobile, subscription and ad-funded streaming services as well as straight iTunes-style download platforms. Physical CD sales were down 6.1%, though music DVD sales saw another increase.

Needless to say, a handful of key releases accounted for a bulk of the record industry's good fortune, including new albums by Susan Boyle, Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé and Robbie Williams, plus the Beatles reissues and, in the DVD domain, the Take That live DVD.

Commenting on the stats, BPI chief Geoff Taylor told CMU: "It's encouraging to see industry revenues stabilise and even show modest growth in 2009. This is testament to continuing investment by UK labels in talented artists despite challenging economic conditions, and the innovation labels have shown in licensing new digital services".

Keen to overcome allegations that the 2009 stats proved the doom and gloom talk presented by BPI types during the DEA debates was actually false, he continued: "But let's put it in broader perspective: 2009's modest result follows a five-year drop in annual income, and total industry income has not exceeded £1bn since 2006. The CD continues to show greater resilience than many predicted - it is an excellent digital product. The pace of growth of new digital services is encouraging, but the size of the market continues to be constrained by competition from illegal downloads".

How quickly did those "celebrity X stuck in city Y because of ash cloud" stories get old? Who cares? Though we will report on this ash cloud story, but it's the only one, OK? Record label trade body the BPI has had to cancel a 'Sync Licensing Mission' to LA which was due to take place this week involving reps from 40 UK music firms, because of the airspace shut down.

The trade body's Director Of International Events, Julian Wall, told CMU: "With the travel situation being so uncertain, there was no choice but to look at postponing the event. It is with great reluctance that we took this decision and obviously this is a huge disappointment for everybody concerned. I am optimistic that we can reschedule and look forward to announcing another date soon".

He added: "In the meantime, I am now a firm believer in that part of chaos theory which states that the outpourings of a 1000 year old plus volcano in Iceland can affect the gathering of a few UK music people in a city 5000 miles away..."

And that's it, no more ash cloud stories from us, thank you very much. Even though we had the total exclusive on Andy CMU's girlfriend being stranded in New York. But we're not going there, you'll just have to hope one of the tabloids runs with that story later.

More positive spin from the British music industry, again in relation to how well the UK business is doing abroad.

Following upbeat reports from collecting societies PRS and PPL regarding the money being generated by British artists abroad last year, record label trade body the BPI has revealed that 2009 was another good year for British music in the all important North American market. Although the UK industry's share of the American market slipped slightly (from 10% to 9.6%), it's still true to say, more or less, that one in ten albums bought in the US and Canada comes from British talent.

Of course, that impressive stat is really thanks to a handful of artists and releases, in 2009 Susan Boyle, Jay Sean and The Beatles re-releases in particular. Though successful sellers from Lily Allen, Depeche Mode, Imogen Heap, Muse, Rod Stewart, The Ting Tings, Adele and Sting all helped. The BPI adds that this year is also looking pretty good, with Sade, Gorillaz, Corinne Bailey Rae and Taio Cruz all doing well.

BPI boss Geoff Taylor told CMU: "The continued success of UK artists in major international markets like the US highlights not only the strength and depth of UK talent, but also the skill and investment by UK record companies in marketing and promoting British music overseas. The revenue this generates helps to fund new British music that fans at home and abroad can enjoy".

Record label trade body the BPI yesterday issued a statement formally calling for the BBC to save digital music station 6music, which, of course, Corporation bosses want to close next year. The statement follows the previously reported industry delegation who rocked up at the BBC Trust earlier this week to try and persuade bosses there to block the Beeb's proposed radio cutbacks. 

In the industry delegation was Sony Music's Paul Curran, Universal's David Joseph, Warner's Jeremy Marsh, EMI's Andria Vidler and Infectious Music's Korda Marshall plus reps from trade bodies the BPI, UK Music, the Association of Independent Music and the Music Managers' Forum.

Yesterday's statement outlined the argument the music industry bods presented earlier this week. They argued that 6 provided a music service that could not be replicated in the commercial sector, and therefore the station is an excellent example of the BBC's public service mission in action. That the station plays an important role in the country's cultural life, by showcasing new and alterative artists. That 6 should be thought of as contemporary music version of Radio 3, rather than an alternative to Radios 1 and 2, and its audience size should be viewed in that context. And that putting the bigger 6 shows on Radios 1 and 2 would just see alternative music saddled with graveyard slots.

They also used the opportunity to complain again about the lack of a weekly music show on prime-time BBC TV since the demise of 'Top Of The Pops'.

Confirming the industry's support for 6, BPI chair Tony Wadsworth told CMU: "We cannot see the sense in pulling the plug on a successful outlet for artists, both new and established, that are not being played on either Radio 1 or 2. 6 Music has significant cultural worth and public value that you can't measure by audience numbers alone, and it provides programming that commercial radio does not".

Oh, for the days when fighting piracy simply meant taking on shady operators who were running CD bootlegging facilities out of their garages, or were providing pubs in the North East with unlicensed jukeboxes, small groups of small-time criminals who could be easily targeted, arrested by the police, and locked up in dark damp cells to rot for eternity (well, given a sizable fine and six months community service). Targeting these pirates was so much easier, and a lot less politically sensitive.

Of course, such pirates still exist, and record label trade body the BPI and recording rights society PPL have just scored a result in their efforts to shut down one such shoddy operation, an unlicensed jukebox company operating from the Newcastle area called Access All Areas. The three men behind the operation, Malcolm Wylie, his son Peter Wylie (not The Might Wah frontman) and William Ross, were arrested in 2008 and found guilty of copyright crimes this week.

A joint investigation by Gateshead Trading Standards, BPI and PPL found evidence to suggest the three men had made profits of hundreds of thousands of pounds during the seven years they ran the unlicensed jukebox operation. The defendant's corporate literature claimed they were licensed by both PPL and the relevant bit of PRS, but no such licences had ever been obtained.

Welcoming the conviction of the three men this week, PPL's Richard Stewart told CMU: "This is the first joint PPL/BPI prosecution and I am very pleased to see it come to a successful conclusion with the conviction of all three defendants. The defendants supplied illegal audio/video jukeboxes to the leisure industry since 2001 and in this period had a turnover of over £3 million. It was quite apparent from the prosecution evidence that they traded through a series of phoenix companies defrauding not only our members of many hundreds of thousands of pounds of revenue but also deceiving scores of companies across the UK including hundreds of licensees who in good faith paid substantial sums to the fraudsters for what they were led to believe was a fully licensed system".

The three men will be sentenced in early July.

As the Digital Economy Bill heads to the House Of Lords for its third reading today, the amendment to the controversial Clause 17, the just as controversial Amendment 120A, is likely to be amended. Which is fun.

Clause 17 was the provision within the copyright section of the DEB that would give future ministers the power to introduce new anti-piracy systems without going through the full parliamentary process. Amendment 120A removes that provision, but instead gives the High Court the right to shut down (and force ISPs to block access to) websites that prolifically infringe copyrights.

It is widely believed that record label trade body the BPI initially supported Clause 17 because they saw it as a way to get the proposals set out in Amendment 120A put into law after the Bill had been passed by parliament. With Clause 17 obviously likely to be cut for the Bill, the BPI threw the more specific Amendment 120A into the mix and the Lib Dems formally proposed it. The BPI want to ensure the new copyright rules introduced deal with more than just P2P file-sharing.

But Amendment 120A has caused just as much outrage from the anti-DEB brigade, who claim the High Court injunction system would be misused, and could be utilised by content owners against the likes of Google and YouTube. That seems really rather unlikely, but concern in the web community was enough to persuade the major web firms to join the internet service providers in formally opposing the amendment in a letter in the Financial Times last week.

Responding to that opposition, the Lib Dems are planning to amend the amendment. In particular, they plan to put increased liability for the legal costs of applying for a shut-down injunction on the content owners, so that said companies don't start applying for High Court orders on whim. The tweaked provision will also clarify how accused websites can appeal, and obligates content owners to alert website operators of their intent to apply for an injunction, and to provide a list of all infringed copyrights, before going to court.

According to a confidential BPI update on its lobbying activity intended for the trade body's members, which was leaked on the internet this weekend, it's not only web giants, ISPs and Stephen Fry who are opposed to Amendment 120A. Apparently MI5 are as well, though quite why isn't clear. Given the scale of the opposition, even some political types who generally support the copyright section of the DEB reckon the shut-down injunctions provision will have to be dropped in order to get the rest of the proposed legislation through parliament before the looming deadline of the General Election.

Speculation remains as to whether or not any of the Bill will make it onto the statute book before parliament is dissolved for the latest series of 'Politician Idol'. Assuming it gets through the Lords this week it will then progress to the House Of Commons. The aforementioned leaked BPI email is quite positive about the chances of the Bill slipping through the Commons on the nod, with the trade body reporting that opposition to the new copyright laws among MPs is isolated, and many Members accept that, given the looming deadline, the legislation will have to be voted on with relatively little debate.

So much so, the BPI email reports that meetings have already occurred between them, the Music Publishers Association and ISPs Sky and Virgin, on how the three-strikes system the DEB will make law might work on a practical basis. Consumer rights group Which? - who have said they believe a well run three-strikes system for combating file-sharing is better than the current system where file-sharers in theory face direct infringement litigation - are also said to be inputting on these discussions.

But, with opposition outside parliament still pretty damn vocal, and many of the groups opposing the DEB calling on their supporters to start bugging their election-sensitive MPs on this issue, some reckon there may be more shenanigans to be had in the House Of Commons on these proposals than some lobbyists currently expect. And while Sky and Virgin maybe willing to start considering how three-strikes will work already, as content owners themselves they've always been the more friendly ISPs on this issue. TalkTalk, for one, will continue to fight this until the final parliamentary vote is cast.

And, probably, beyond, because even if the DEB and three-strikes become law, TalkTalk are expected to hinder the new copyright system at every possible opportunity. Proving they still see this as a fight worth fighting, TalkTalk published research on Friday which claimed that 80% of 18-34 year olds who currently file-share said they would continue to do so even if three-strikes becomes law, and that they would circumvent the new net suspension system by using the various software systems out there will hide a user's online activity.

The ISP's Director Of Strategy, Regulation & Record Company Baiting Andrew Heaney told reporters: "Whatever measures are taken it will have little impact on the music industry's coffers but will leave in its wake innocent customers disconnected from the internet".