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Music industry analyst Mark Mulligan has sparked huge debate with a series of posts which explain why music can’t just be free.

His statements won a round of vituperative responses, and the analyst responded to these with a post on his own blog this afternoon.

Mulligan points out that as an active musician and an industry analyst, he (and we agree with him) doesn’t believe artists should be returned to some romantic position as unpaid minstrels travelling from town-to-town in hope of earning a few cents to get by on.

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We know Apple already offers music DRM-free through iTunes Plus from EMI, and are convinced reports Sony BMG is already preparing its music for introduction through the service, now it seems the two remaining majors Warner and Universal, are in “discussions” to offer their music DRM-free through Apple’s service as well.

That’s over a year since EMI signed-up, and in the meantime the majors have left the majority of legitimate music consumers, who overwhelmingly use iTunes, consigned to purchasing a flawed, DRM-laden product.

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One time manager of Pink Floyd, Sincere Management’s Pete Jenner slammed iTunes for its effect on album sales at a UK music industry event this week.

Speaking at a MusicTank conference, he said Apple’s music store has “had the disastrous effect on the record industry of debundling the album.” He complained cherry-picking tracks from albums means consumers now “buy the two album tracks that are worth buying,” Music Week informs.

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A collection of leading UK musician members of the PPL have today sent a letter to Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, complaining musicians aren’t being given a fair crack of the copyright whip - effectively becoming second place figures in the UK creative industry.

Europe, as well as the French and German governments, is already pushing through legislation to extend the copyright term on sound recordings.

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The value of unlicensed music trafficked on P2P networks in 2007 was $69 billion, according to new MultiMedia Intelligence research, though the researchers warn the value shouldn’t be seen as lost revenue but instead reflects the “fair value” on a per–track basis of traded music files.

“A $69 billion figure is staggering to contemplate, but it effectively illustrates the impact of piracy on the music industry,” according to Rick Sizemore of MultiMedia Intelligence.

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Snow Patrol’s iPhone application generated 30,000 downloads during its first week of release, a senior executive from the band’s label has revealed.

Polydor’s head of digital Paul Smernicki says the label is pleased with the performance of its recently released Snow Patrol iPhone application, which promoted the band’s new album. “We’re relatively pleased with the results,” he exclusively told Music Ally, Distorted Loop can reveal.

The executive also noted that the release of the software did help generate interest in the band’s latest album, ‘A Hundred Million Suns’.

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Music labels face the inevitable counter-punch to their years of merciless litigation against file-sharers in the US courts, with the coalition of the willing beginning to show significant cracks as key players reconsider their support for the RIAA.

A huge salvo was sent across the music industry bows this week, when the judge in the famed Napster case, Judge Miriam Hall Patel, calling for major copyright reforms,

Her plan includes a new public/private body to preside over the licensing and enforcement of copyright, Listening Post informs.

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Music Ally will this month pitch two world class speakers against each other in a unique mock-trial on the promise of the mobile music industry.
 
Titled “Mobile Music in the Dock” the event promises to put the claims made by the mobile industry about mobile music on trial. Speakers will be Mobile Entertainment Forum chairman Ralph Simon and Sibelius Software’s Jeremy Silver acting as defence and prosecution respectively.

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Way back we warned that you should expect a wave of iPhone applications from musicians promoting new albums, now Fall Out Boy has joined Snow Patrol, Pink, David Cook and the Nine Inch Nails in making a music-focused pitch at fans using the Apple device.

Fall Out Boy will introduce its own iPhone application before the December 16 release of new album “Folie a Deux”, Billboard helpfully notes.

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The much-publicised cosy deal between the BPI, Ofcom and the ISPs has raised howls from civil rights campaigners - who quite rightly protest that music consumers have had no voice in these discussions.

The Open Rights Group (ORG) has submitted its response to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s consultation into legislative options to tackle illicit peer to peer file-sharing, warning of muddy thinking throughout the proposals made so far.

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