| Posted in Articles | Posted on
* AYLING QUITS SANCTUARY
Sanctuary Group chairman Robert Ayling and three nonexecutive directors have exited the London-based music company's board. Ayling departed along with James Wallace, Tina Sharp and John Preston, following the Aug. 2 announcement that Universal Music Group had secured acceptance from Sanctuary shareholders of its £44.5 million ($87.7 million) bid for the company. Wallace was senior independent nonexecutive director/chairman of the audit committee, Sharp chaired the remuneration committee, and Preston was a member of the audit and remuneration committee. Sanctuary's board now consists of chief executive Frank Presland and finance director Paul Wallace. Sanctuary hired Ayling in April 2006 to solve financial issues that had nearly brought the company into bankruptcy. Ayling was chief executive of British Airways from 1992 to 2000.
-Lars Brandie
* MOBOSS WAP ALBERT FOR O2
The 12th edition of the United Kingdom's Music of Black Origin Awards, taking place Sept 19, will be the first industry awards ceremony to be held at London's new 02 Arena. The venue, on the south bank of the River Thames In Greenwich, opened July 7. Owned and operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group, it was previously known as the Millennium Dome. The MOBOs have been held at the 126year-old Royal Albert Hall in London for the past three years. The London-based MOBO Organization stages the event.
-Juliana Koranteng
*ITALY'S DIGITAL SALES UP 44%
The value of digital music sales in Italy soared In the first six months of 2007, according to research that auditing company Deloitte conducted on behalf of industry body FIMI. Digital album sales increased 66% in 2007's first half, while singles grew 33% compared with the same period in 2006. The overall value rose 44% to euro2.7 million ($3.7 million). Unit figures were not available. According to FIMI president Enzo Mazza, "Digital sales now account for about 7% of the Italian market. We estimate that can be divided into roughly 3% online and 4% mobile."
-Mark Worden
*ROK LAUNCHES MOBILE MUSIC SERVICE
U.K.-based mobile-technology developer ROK Entertainment Group has launched an international digital-entertainment service. ROK Media Store aims to challenge the dominance of Apple's iTunes Music Store and iPod players. Free "jukebox" software available at rokmediastore.com allows users to upload their CD collection to a computer hard drive. Users can then side-load their collection onto memory cards to play on mobile phones. Copyright is protected via ROK's proprietary encryption and compression technologies. The site also sells online music from a catalog comprising tracks from independent labels; ROK says it is talking to the four major labels about expanding its selection. Tracks cost £0.79 ($1.59) for U.K. buyers, euro0.99 ($1.36) in continental Europe and $0.99 for U.S. customers. Video material will be made available later this year. "The majority of mobile phones come with a memory card," ROK marketing director Bruce Renny says. "And as there are far more mobile phones than there are IPods, we're aiming for that much larger market."
