Ever since Classic FM’s owners made half-hearted attempts to stop overseas listeners from listening online a few years ago, people around the world have been listening quite happily to internet streams of the station. If the streams are accessed directly by URL, for example using a media player, there is no check of the listener’s [...]
The EU Commission is proposing an extension to copyright on sound recordings, the same idea having been rejected by the UK government last year. At present, copyright on a recording lasts for 50 years, after which it enters the public domain. The proposal is for the copyright to be extended to 95 years. Unsurprisingly, the [...]
Following the news that GCap Media are to scrap their theJazz and Planet Rock digital radio stations, it seemed that Classic FM, as an analogue station, would emerge unscathed. Unfortunately, the closures have had a knock-on effect that has changed Classic FM for the worst. In the week, I’m only really able to listen to [...]
Who would spend ages doing hard sums when you can use a calculator? Who would wash their clothes by hand when you can just put them in the washing machine? And who would listen to an old, hard-to-tune analogue radio when you could have a new DAB digital radio? That was the gist of a [...]
Copyright law in the UK allows few exceptions for fair use. People who rip their CDs to make MP3 files for their portable players are actually breaking the law, although record companies have indicated in the past that they won’t pursue people for doing so. Today, a consultation was announced on changes to copyright law [...]
I was quite surprised to hear the name David Gaukroger on the Classic FM Evening Concert this evening. His Romany Wood was the first work played on tonight’s programme. David Gaukroger taught my GCSE music class at King Charles I School, Kidderminster, in 1993–94. There were only seven of us in the class, so I [...]
Last month I described how a new licensing regime has meant that listeners from outside the UK may no longer listen to British independent radio stations. But certain stations, including Classic FM, only required the listener to enter a valid UK postcode to listen. Then, at the start of this month, something changed again, and [...]
From 1 April 2006, internet streams of British independent radio stations ceased to be available for listeners outside the UK. Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL), who collect royalties on behalf of record companies, informed broadcasters that they are only in a position to sell broadcasting rights for the UK. Therefore, when the old licences expired on [...]
In the early hours of this morning, the UK Theme was played for the last time on BBC Radio 4. Like many people, I’m not awake at 5:30am. But despite the fact that it’s broadcast at such an unearthly hour, the announcement in January that the theme would scrapped caused an outcry that reached as [...]
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