The decision in Sweden to send the operators of the Pirate Bay website to jail will "send shivers down" some of the other sites that facilitate illegal downloading, IRMA CEO Dick Doyle has told Hot Press.
The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) have today announced that they are launching 10 new cases against people believed to be illegally sharing large amounts of music via the internet.
IRMA, the Irish Recorded Music Association, has welcomed Friday’s decision from the High Court in Dublin, to compel a number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to release the names of the 17 individuals engaged in serial file sharing of music.
Veteran 2FM DJ Larry Gogan was honoured by IRMA earlier this month, in recognition of the forty years he has spent at the top of his profession. To mark the occasion, Hot Press catches up with the presenter to discuss the beginnings of his career during the showband era, how Irish music has changed down through the years – and the time he earned Larry Mullen's thanks for playing U2 records despite the protestations of station chiefs.
The Irish Recorded Music Association are offering music collectives, youth and community groups the chance to bag 15 high quality music equipment 'starter packs'.
A new row has broken out between computer giant Apple and record labels, with IRMA boss Dick Doyle telling Apple’s Steve Jobs to “wake up and smell the coffee”.
This week is your last chance to apply for the IRMA Trust's musician 'starter packs', which aim to give aspiring musicians a helping hand with free instruments and equipment.
Continuing the Coen brothers’ ongoing flirtation with something resembling the ‘mainstream’, this wholly unexpected remake of Alexander Mackendrick’s 1955 screwball comedy The Ladykillers is a real curiosity.
Since their debut single ‘Wired To The Moon’ went gold here The Revs have established themselves as Ireland’s hungriest and most energetic rock combo, with an appetite for gigging and an eye for publicity that has seen them embroiled in a number of amusing controversies. But behind the brash exterior is the fascinating story of three dedicated young musicians who have overcome their status as outsiders to build one of the biggest and most loyal grass roots following of any local act. Now with the release of their debut studio album, Suck, they are ready to go international.
When Enya s Watermark was released last September, few outside her closest associates could have predicted the runaway success which would ensue. To date, the album has clocked up worldwide sales of over 3 million copies with the Orinoco Flow single topping the charts in many countries, including Britain, Holland Venezuela! To promote her records, Enya undertook a gruelling promotional schedule in which the term globe-trotting took on a new meaning. This is an account of those travels . . . in her own words.
The dramatic announcement last week that the Irish Record Music Assocation was planning to sue 17 individuals the association has identified as "serial file-sharers" sent shock waves through the industry. IRMA chief executive Dick Doyle explains the background to to the move. Report by Tanya Sweeney.
This adaptation of Jacques Chardonne’s bullet-stopping 1936 novel Les Destinees Sentimentales represents a long-standing labour of love for arthouse darling Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep, Late August Early September).
The great news is that, owing largely to the familial, accessible and organic feel of the Irish music scene, the place is teeming with official bodies, advisory and educational organisations whose purpose is to put you and your label on the right track. Below is a list of some of the most immediately relevant
In a landmark ruling which will have repercussions world wide and especially in other EU countries, the individuals behind The Pirate Bay website have been found guilty of breaking copyright law and sentenced to a year in jail and fined 30 million Swedish Krona (about €3.6 million).
Misdirected criticism of U2 for their Sarajevo satellitre link up has plagued publications as diverse as The Independent and NME. But none of these has bothered to ask BILL CARTER, the American in Sarajevo who actually conceived the idea, what he makes of the whole thing. Here BILL GRAHAM does just that.
The future of online retailer CDWow is in doubt after it has been ordered to pay the British and Irish pop industry a record €61 million in damages (£41 million stg).
Recipient of the IRMA Honours Awars of 2006, celebrating 30 years of music.
Here we document the stories, sounds, politics and philosophies that have developed with Bob Geldof, from his Boomtown Rats days to his most famous status as a devoted humanitarian.
A police raid on a dublin record store has led to intense speculation that the Gardaí are about to commence a serious crackdown on the retail of bootleg CDs.
The latest radio listenership figures suggest that the once embattled Today FM is finally emerging as a credible national alternative to RTE. In the second of a three-part series, Jackie Hayden meets IRMA winner, Hot Press Readers' Poll champion and Pet Sounds-smith Tom Dunne
To some it is the great white hope in the battle against illegal file-sharing, and the idea that music on the internet comes for free. But to others, it is another nail in the coffin for artists who earn a paltry sum for the streaming of their music.
Artists and record companies are losing millions of pounds every year through piracy. New developments like Napster and MP3 will bring further challenges. Report: JACKIE HAYDEN.
From gigs with cider punks in limerick to playing for Fidel in Havana and from the low of Richey’s disappearance to the high of performing before Wales’ victory over Italy – life has never been boring for the Manic Street Preachers. Stuart Clark listens intently as Nicky Wire discusses their defining moments
One by one, the members of CHILL Ireland s answer to the Spice Girls occupy the Hot Press hot seat. Popping the questions: JOE JACKSON. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
Having already achieved a degree of acclaim with her soundtracks for The Frog Prince and The Celts -- with the release of her first fully-fledged solo album, Watermark , Enya seems set for the type of accolades reserved for major-league artists. Niall Stokes unveils the creative trinity behind the finished meisterwerk, talks to Enya and her collaborators Roma and Nicky Ryan, and ponders the question:what will commerce do to this thing of beauty?
Is football hooliganism really the new rock ’n’ roll and should little boys be wearing Boot’s No.7 blusher? Stuart Clark fears for the moral wellbeing of the nation’s youth as Manic Street Preachers wage holy war against MTV, Take That, Kate Moss and poor old Gerry Ryan.
Pix: Cathal Dawson.
When blues legend B.B. King came to town for his recent bash at College Green, as part of the Guinness Blues Festival, BILL GRAHAM caught up with the man whose extraordinary career has spanned many decades and which shows no sign of abating.
Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
PIGEON-HOLE THEM AS BELFAST HARDCORE MERCHANTS AT YOUR PERIL - IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS THERAPY? HAVE RELEASED TWO CLASSIC PUNK-POP EP'S THAT SHOOK THE BRITISH CHARTS, AND EVEN GOT THEM INTO THE PAGES OF TEEN-BIBLE SMASH HITS. AS THEY BEGIN RECORDING THEIR NEW LP, THEY TAKE TIME OUT TO GET NERVOUS ABOUT FEILE, GET ANGRY ABOUT THE BEATLES, AND EXPLAIN WHY THE DAYS OF THE NINE-MINUTE INSTRUMENTAL EPIC ARE OVER. INTERVIEW: LORRAINE FREENEY
Pigeon-hole them as Belfast hardcore merchants at your peril in the past few months Therapy? have released two classic punk-pop EPs that shook the British charts, and even got them into the pages of teen-bible Smash Hits. As they begin recording their new LP, they take time out to get nervous about Fiile, get angry about the Beatles, and explain why the days of the nine-minute instrumental epic are over. Interview: Lorraine Freeney.
When Siniad O Connor tore up a picture of the pope on the Saturday Night Live television show in the US recently, she unleashed a storm which has been swirling around her ever since, causing her at one point to announce her premature retirement from the music industry. One month on, bruised and weary she may be but Siniad is neither downhearted nor repentant. Having declared war on the Roman Catholic Church she is determined to keep taking the battle to the real enemy. Interview: Niall Stokes.
Neil Hannon fought off tough competition from the likes of Duke Special and The Immediate to win the second Choice Music Prize at Vicar St, Dublin, last night.
Directors and their wives have, down the ages, accounted for a hell of a lot of used celluloid. Sometimes, as in the case of Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate on The Fearless Vampire Killers, they’ve only just found love on the casting couch. Then there are the genuine married muses of cinema – Anna Karina for Jean-Luc Godard, Gena Rowlands for John Cassavetes, Melissa Mounds for Russ Meyers.
The pirate music industry is now making millions of pounds each year. But that s at the expense of those legitimately entitled to earnings from their work. Report: JACKIE HAYDEN.
The free music for ads driven site, SpiralFrog has closed it's doors. When the concept was launched in a blaze of hype at in autumn 2006, it was seen by some commentators as a brave attempt to 'monetise' the free downloads that the record industry were blaming for declining revenues.
JACKIE HAYDEN reports on IMRO s recent CONFERENCE ON PIRACY in Dublin, where the music industry movers and shakers joined forces to discuss ways of fighting back against the pirates.
The Irish music industry has spawned a number of official bodies and companies, who provide invaluable services especially relevant to artists going the independent route. But what do these operators actually do? Here, we present a handy run-down on the key bodies and expert companies out there waiting to serve you.
In a special hotpress feature Colm O’Hare investigates how the music business is attempting to deal with the single biggest threat facing the industry today – piracy.
Pipped to the post by Tom Dunne in both the Hot Press Readers' Poll and at the recent IRMA/Meteor Awards, and now this... the legendary Dave Fanning show to change format
So Bono and the lads did appear at last night’s IRMA Meteor Music Awards in the end (you would, too, if you had eight of them to collect). Read on for the IRMA results in full
The Music Show was a huge success, with people from all aspects of the music industry coming together to participate in an event which, as well as showcasing all the latest instruments and equipment, was rich in ideas, information and, above all, great music
Music Piracy is a continuing problem, and it s not just internet innovation which is fuelling its rise. COLM O HARE spoke to some of those trying to
preserve legitimate music
IT’S BEEN a strange month. Hot Press has been at the centre of controversies before – but never quite like this! Elsewhere in this issue, we cross swords with Eoghan Harris and the Sunday Times regarding an issue of defamation.
The first day of The Music Show saw some hot debates, great music and Glen Hansard in stirring form.
Reporting: Peter Murphy, Celina Murphy, Niall Stokes, Stuart Clark and additional Hot Press reporters
In today's music industry, it s vital that artists know as much as possible about the key business decisions they will be called upon to make. JACKIE HAYDEN talks to some of the organisations which are there to help.
There are those who believe that the future of music as an art form is seriously under threat from the rise of music piracy. Where will it all end? The truth is that no one truly knows.
Freddie Middleton, the General Manager of BMG Records in Ireland has been twenty years in the music business. Here Hot Press, and his many friends in the industry, pay him a special tribute.
