Author: Press Officer

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF ORIGINAL MUSIC

To celebrate their phenomenal forty years on the road, IMRO will host a special evening of live music and chat with iconic Irish band Bagatelle on Wednesday 30^th January. On the night the band will be presented with an IMRO Award in recognition of their 40th anniversary.

Bagatelle began their musical career back in 1978 and since then have remained ever popular on the Irish music circuit.  Over the course of their forty years, they’ve had several No.1 hit singles with iconic songs such as ‘Summer In Dublin’, ‘Second Violin’ and ‘Trump Card’.

With platinum and gold status album sales and classic emigration songs like ‘Streets Of New York’, ‘Flight of Earls’ and ‘Boston Rose’, Bagatelle have remained a firm favourite with Irish audiences across the globe.

Over the course of their forty years, the band have shared stages with legends and international icons such as Bob Marley, John Denver, The Pogues, Duran Duran, The Pretenders, Van Morrison, U2, UB40, George Michael and Jose Feliciano, to name just a few.

Just two years ago Bagatelle completed their “Final Year Tour” and retired (for all of about 3 months!). Bored not touring, the band then played a major series of “One For The Road” sold out gigs.

Bagatelle @ 40, A Celebration 40 Years of Original Music, is sure to be a special night of music and chat taking place in IMRO from 7.00pm-9.00pm on Wednesday 30^th January. The event is free but booking is essential through events@nullimro.ie

Date: Wednesday 30th January
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: IMRO, Copyright House, Pembroke Row, Dublin 2
Bookings:  FREE Event | Booking Essential | Email: events@nullimro.ie

EUROPE FOR CREATORS is launching a new website and a newsletter today, as part of a renewed effort to counter Google’s massive disinformation campaign around Article 13 of the European Copyright Directive.

The new tools are meant to fight back with facts. The website, www.article13.org and the newsletter, INSIGHT13, take a no-nonsense approach to the issue and go back to basics: What does the Directive actually say and how does the process work? 

Google has used its financial power and its YouTube platform to organise one of the largest lobbying campaigns the European Union has seen in recent years, with scant regard for truth. YouTube executives have claimed that Article 13 would cripple the platform in Europe, with 35 million accounts potentially at risk of being taken down. The platform and its allies have sought to manipulate children and young users to channel false claims about Article 13. It’s extremely worrying that a media platform in such a dominant position would use its service as a weapon to influence public opinion and advocate purely private and commercial interests through misinformation, fearmongering and fake news.

With a clear timeline, an FAQ and a paragraph-by-paragraph explanation of the European Parliament’s version of Article 13, the website provides accurate and easy-to-understand insights into the debate, while unveiling the benefits of Article 13 for creators and ordinary users. It is time that YouTube takes steps to ensure transparency, accountability and responsibility on its platform once and for all. And it will never do so without clear and fair rules in place.

Article 13 will facilitate the sharing of content in a fairer way and stop arbitrary removal of content and other unfair trading practices which platforms such as YouTube routinely resort to.

The newsletter will report on the latest developments in the process and the battle over public opinion. Brief analytical pieces will link to the best articles, videos, Tweets and memes on the subject.

Subscribe to the newsletter at www.article13.org or follow the debate on Twitter @EUForCreators with #EuropeForCreators.

EUROPE FOR CREATORS gathers citizens, creators and cultural organisations responsible for more than 12 million jobs in Europe. We represent European authors, composers, musicians, singers, painters, sculptors, directors, producers, journalists, writers, scientists and academics, committed to fight in favour of the Copyright Directive.

The shortlist for this year’s RTÉ Choice Music Prize, Irish Album of the Year 2018, in association with IMRO & IRMA, was announced today on RTÉ 2FM’s Tracy Clifford Show by Tony Clayton-Lea, chairman of the judging panel. The shortlist is as follows:

The Academic – Tales From The Backseat (ROOM6 Records)
Delorentos – True Surrender (Delo Records)
Just Mustard – Wednesday (Pizza Pizza Records)
Kojaque – Deli Daydreams (Soft Boy Records)
O Emperor – Jason (Big Skin Records)
Lisa O’Neill – Heard A Long Gone Song (River Lea Recordings)
Saint Sister – Shape Of Silence (Trout Records)
Rejjie Snow – Dear Annie (BMG)
Villagers – The Art Of Pretending To Swim (Domino Recording Co)
Wyvern Lingo – Wyvern Lingo (Ruby Works)

As part of RTÉ’s continued commitment to promoting Irish music, RTÉ 2FM celebrates the announcement of the shortlist across its schedule throughout the day with All Irish Music All Day from 6am to midnight.  Dave Fanning will also chat to Tony Clayton-Lea on his weekend show this Saturday about the album shortlist.

The shortlisted albums can be enjoyed in full on the RTÉ Choice Music Prize website www.choicemusicprize.ie and on  www.2fm.ie/rtechoicemusic.

The winning album will be announced at the RTÉ Choice Music Prize live event, held in Vicar Street, Dublin on Thursday 7^th March and broadcast live on RTÉ 2FM in a special four-hour extended show from 7-11pm. A special RTÉ2 TV programme of the event will be broadcast shortly afterwards.

The 14th annual RTÉ Choice Music Prize will once again celebrate the best in Irish recorded music.   The Prize has become one of the music industry highlights of the year since its inception in 2005. The Irish Album of the Year award is chosen from a shortlist of ten albums by a panel of twelve Irish music media professionals and industry experts.

RAAP and Culture Ireland are also official project partners of the RTE Choice Music Prize.

This year RTÉ Choice Music Prize also partnered with Yangaroo Music Ireland who have provided all eligible artists with a simple, free method of instant delivery of a digital copy of their eligible album directly to the Irish Album of the Year judging panel.  Yangaroo Music Ireland (http://www.yangaroomusic.ie) offer a professional digital delivery service for Labels and Artists to deliver their new music releases instantly to media, venues, festivals and promoters in Ireland.

Culture Ireland will fund the attendance of influential overseas Industry executives to attend the RTE Choice Music Prize Live Event on March 7^th. First Music Contact (FMC), as part of their international profiling activity, will again advise on the selection of overseas delegates and oversee their integration into the individual mentoring sessions with the artists and the conference.

RTÉ Choice Music Prize “Conversations” will return and take place on the 7^th.

Tickets for the Choice Music Prize live event are on sale now from all Ticketmaster outlets and from http://www.ticketmaster.ie priced €28.00 including booking fee.

The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan T.D., today announced the appointment of five Cultural Ambassadors. The new positions will see high-profile figures from Ireland’s arts and culture community promote Ireland globally as part of the Government’s Global Ireland 2025 initiative.

Global Ireland 2025 is aiming to double Ireland’s footprint globally by 2025 though a mix of actions in the cultural, diplomatic, business, education and tourism areas. Ireland’s strong reputation for culture and creativity is central to the initiative, which proposes a number of actions to enhance the promotion of Ireland’s culture globally, including the appointment of Cultural Ambassadors.

Master musician and founding member of The Gloaming, Martin Hayes, leading architects, Shelly McNamara and Yvonne Farrell of Grafton Architects, awarding winning actress Ruth Negga and Pulitzer Prize winning poet Paul Muldoon have all accepted the role of Cultural Ambassador for a period of three years. The Cultural Ambassadors will endeavour to raise the public focus on arts and culture as a means of promoting Ireland globally, provide advice and input on strategic cultural initiatives and participate in key events and projects.

In announcing the appointment of the Cultural Ambassadors, Minister Madigan said: “Ireland’s artists have been outstanding ambassadors for the country, since the era of the creative genius of Shaw, O’Casey, Synge, Yeats and Beckett. The current generation of musicians, actors, architects, poets and other artists are continuing this invaluable work. They are the people that set our small island nation apart, the storytellers who convey Ireland’s story in a unique and memorable way, be it through word, music or design. We greatly appreciate each Cultural Ambassador’s acceptance of the role. In continuing to do what they do best, they will be among Ireland’s greatest representatives globally.”

 “This Government understands the importance of culture and is committed to supporting it. This is why the Taoiseach has committed to doubling funding levels for culture, heritage and the Gaeltacht by 2025. The announcement of €1.2bn in capital funding for these areas last year and the significant increase for current funding for the arts in Budget 2019 are proof of this.”

The first event, which will be attended by a number of the Cultural Ambassadors, is a conference of cultural stakeholders being held in Dublin on 24 January which will discuss and debate how best to advance Ireland’s global visibility and strengthen global relationships.

Further appointments of Cultural Ambassadors may be made over time in line with the Government’s geographic and other priorities.

The Minister presented the four attending Cultural Ambassadors with a silver emblem by silversmith Seamus Gill to mark their appointment.  The emblem is based on the treasured boat of the Broighter hoard held in the National Museum, on which the Culture Ireland logo is modelled. Paul Muldoon, who could not be present owing to the commitments in the US, will be presented with his award at the end of the week in the Irish Arts Centre in New York when the Minister visits the city.

The Irish Music Rights Organistation CLG (IMRO) announces a new partnership with song data hub Auddly.

Auddly, a Swedish start-up co-founded by former ABBA co-frontman Björn Ulvaeus and leading international songwriter/producer Max Martin, is an app and web-based tool that helps with the collection of music metadata to ensure the correct allocation of royalties owed to songwriters, publishers and performers.

The partnership will enable IMRO songwriter, composer and publisher members, to capture their song and composition data, including agreement on share splits at the point of creation, using a new tool powered by the Stockholm based tech start-up. Auddly users who are songwriter or publisher members of IMRO can verify their membership status and their unique international identification number (IPI/CAE number) at the point of registering on the Auddly platform.

Auddly’s aim is to facilitate the registration of more accurate data from the outset which will assist IMRO with royalty distributions to its members around the world.  Auddly itself does not distribute royalties or deal with individual copyright issues.

Speaking about the announcement of the partnership IMRO Chief Executive Victor Finn said, “In recent years there has been the rapid explosion in the amount of data generated worldwide from public performances of music, particularly in relation online usages.  Clarity with regard to song ownership is essential to ensure songwriters, composers and music publishers are correctly paid for the use of their works.  Auddly is an important step forward for the music industry in the verification of song metadata and IMRO is delighted to be an early international partner with this pioneering company”.

Niclas Molinder, Founder and CEO, Auddly commented: “We are delighted to launch the partnership and the IPI Verification with IMRO in order to help their members to manage their metadata more efficiently. Capturing this data accurately and completely from the start enables PROs to allocate money to songwriters, so this is a significant step towards securing correct compensation. Early data identifiers are key in order to form a sustainable music industry and this is an important part of making Auddly the global reference point for all song metadata.”

https://auddly.com/

The medieval hillside town of Castiglion Fiorentino, one hour from Florence/two hours from Rome by train, will host the March 17-24 Listening Room Retreat, held in the lovely Residence Le Santucce, with modern comforts and amenities within walls dating back to 1000 A.D. and a €70 discount for IMRO members) off the €595* price.  (*Housing and meals booked separately to provide greater budget flexibility for participants).

www.listeningroomretreats.com