The Ankara Penal Authority Discipline Board penalized 63 prisoners in Sincan Prison for chanting slogans and singing on 1 May 2011.

Source: Freemuse

Artistic freedom must be protected. In collaboration with Danish Pen, Freemuse is in the process of inviting key international artists’ organisations to Copenhagen with the aim of creating a global network for the protection of artistic freedom of expression.

Source: Freemuse

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - A coalition of Broadway composers and musicians and representatives from the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera and The Juilliard School said Monday they have teamed up with the non-profit Council for Living Music to launch a nationwide campaign called "Save Live Music On Broadway."

Source: Reuters

Sales of digital music in the UK have hit £1bn since the launch of legal online music services in 2004, with a third of that spent last year alone.

Source: The Independent 

Rock legend Bob Dylan took to his website yesterday to dispute accusations he bowed to censorship for his first ever concerts in China last month.

Dylan was criticized by Western media and by Human Rights Watch for not performing some of his best-known protest songs on his China tour in April.

Sources: The Independent

Tyler, the Creator and Lil B are the latest rappers to turn the spotlight on homophobia in hip-hop, but the attention their lyrics attracts suggests attitudes are slowly changing.

Source: guardian.co.uk

UK Music report estimates nearly 8 million people spent £1.4bn on festivals and visits to sites featured on album covers.

Source: guardian.co.uk

LOCAL artists and creative industry stakeholders are calling for the immediate amendment and endorsement of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Bill.

Source: allAfrica.com

ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) released its financial results for 2010 at its General Annual Membership Meeting in New York City.

Source: Mi2N

Government cuts hit the arts today as Arts Council England (ACE) announced its cuts. The decisions followed the Government's decision to cut 30% of the ACE budget.

Source: Mi2N

Arts Council England unveiled its National portfolio of funded organisations, following its landmark decision in 2010 to introduce a new funding system and framework for the arts in England, and the 29.6% grant in aid (GIA) cut to its 2011-2015 budget from government. 14.9% of this cut has been passed on to the budget for portfolio organisations.

Source: Arts Council England Press Office

Organisers have called off plans for a massive "supergig", which was to benefit the relief effort in Japan. Live Nation was reportedly "unable to secure artists" for the Wembley Arena concert in London, which was to be broadcast worldwide.

Source: guardian.co.uk

The Republic’s Government, through the Culture Secretariat of the Presidency, presented on February 22 the Institutional Strategic Plan that will set the foundations for new cultural policies up to the year 2014. This is a historic event because it is the first time that the Presidential institution in charge of promoting and disseminating culture offers such detail in its cultural conceptualization and in its projects for the next five years.

Source: IFACCA

The budget of the Algerian Ministry of Culture continues to follow an increasing curve since 2005.

It is about 314 million dollars according to the Finance Law of 2011, an increase of +6% over 2010, and 0.82% of the state budget.

Source: Action Culturelle Algérienne

The UK music industry (March 7th) welcomes Government support for Lord Clement-Jones' live music bill, following its second reading in the House of Lords on Friday March 4th. The private members bill seeks to exempt small venues from the need to obtain a licence for the performance of live music. It will now advance to Committee stage in the Lords.

Source: Mi2N

If the Harper government's proposed copyright legislation, Bill C-32, were to pass, it would reduce by $34.9 million the revenues songwriters and music publishers earn from licensing the right to reproduce songs. The lost revenue would represent 45% of the annual royalties collected by CMRRA-SODRAC Inc. (CSI), which collects royalties for the reproduction of songs.

Source: Mi2N

The White House's IP czar Victoria Espinel is calling on Congress to further expand and toughen U.S. intellectual property law, which is already among the most sweeping and strictest in the world. Copyright regulation has grown into a massive and complicated bureaucratic system, which has lost sight of it purpose and limits.

Source: Mi2N

The case of an American cellist, Kristin Ostling, who was sent back to Chicago by British immigration officials when she came to the UK to take part in an unpaid recital, has fuelled demands for an overhaul of the visa system for visiting artists and musicians.

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Ramy Essam, the creator of the famous #Jan25 Tahrir song that was played throughout the Egyptian revolution, has appeared with severe marks of torture after being detained by security forces, reported Egyptian bloggers via Twitter and Facebook.

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A group of 17 young rap musicians in Luanda’s city centre who were reading poems and distributing pamphlets saying they intended to participate in an announced anti-government demonstration later that day, were held in custody by the criminal investigation police and released the following morning without any further explanations, reported Human Rights Watch.

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A BBC orchestra caught up in the Japanese earthquake is cutting short its 17 day tour of the country. Ninety musicians with the Manchester-based BBC Philharmonic experienced the tremor travelling on a coach from Tokyo to Yokohama.

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Sony Music and MTV have apologised after a Japanese pop group appeared on primetime television wearing Nazi-style uniforms, triggering a protest from a Jewish rights group.

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Singer plans to give away money she received for performing for the family of Libyan leader in 2007.

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During North Korea's "arduous march" of the 90s, brought about by the collapse of the USSR and a series of natural disasters, illegal markets of smuggled goods sprang up across the country. It marked the beginning of a slow influx of outside culture still enjoyed by North Koreans today.

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Is it pure coincidence that, 5 years after the General Assembly of UNESCO adopted its Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, one of the cornerstones of this document is already put into question by many of the signatory states?

Source: ERICarts   View item Issue number 349

As business leaders, we have a vested interest and share in the responsibility to ensure the survival of our community's art and cultural landscape. This is especially true in today's economic climate when non-profit arts organizations are dependent more than ever on the private sector for support.

Source: Miami Herald   View item Issue number 349

This Committee meeting, the first held in Sub-Saharan Africa, was attended by some 400 representatives of States Parties to the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and of civil society as well as observers.

Freemuse has received an unconfirmed report that the musician Refila Boy was arrested during a concert and treated with such violence by agroup of police officers that his skull was fractured. The reason for the arrest is allegedly that police officials feel assulted by his song 'Cinzentinha'.

Source: Freemuse   View item Issue number 349

The cash crisis facing arts organisations nationwide can only be solved by changing tax rules for philanthropic giving, says the Royal Opera House's chief executive, Tony Hall.

Source: The Independent   View item Issue number 349