In the context of the latest EU copyright reform, a coalition representing 500.000 performers across Europe launched the Fair Internet for Performers Campaign to secure royalty payments on streaming. This Leverhulme-funded study carried out at the University of Cambridge examined i) the political reform process; ii) the effectiveness of the campaign; and iii) whether relative bargaining power predetermined success. The full peer-reviewed article resulting from this case study can be found here.
Read MoreThe government is increasingly steering universities to demonstrate the impact of their research projects through the so-called ‘impact agenda’. Scholars are therefore expected to engage with industry and government to find out what the key issues might be and help to address them through research. I offered this course in collaboration with Professor of Intellectual Property Lionel Bently to provide a platform for scholars to engage critically with the impact agenda by entering in direct conversation with some of the music industry’s most influential stakeholders.
Read MoreThe rise of digital technologies in the 1990s threw the record industry into crisis. Artists and entrepreneurs were forced to think creatively in order to survive. Among these was the London Symphony Orchestra, a century-old organisation used to recording weekly for the best-known labels. When recording commissions started to dry up, the orchestra set up its own label, LSO Live. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with the orchestra, this study reflected on the aesthetic, economic and legal implications of moving from studio to in-house live recording. Findings can be found in this peer-reviewed article and book chapter.
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