New IP Minister Baroness Wilcox Attends Seminar Marking Copyright Tricentenary

The new Business, Innovation and Skills Parliamentary Secretary in charge of Intellectual Property Baroness Wilcox will introduce herself to the music industry at a Black Music Congress (BMC) event marking the tricentenary of the Statute Of Anne, the world’s first copyright act.The event entitled Talking Copyright: Reflecting On A 300 Year History & The Music Industry, which takes place at the University Of Westminster’s London campus on Regent Street on 15th June, forms part of a raft of BMC music industry-focused seminars and master-classes to mark British Black Music Month (BBMM), an initiative started by the BMC in 2006 to celebrate domestic black music, address issues within the sector, and to improve music industry knowledge.The minister will hear accounts of the progress of copyright history, landmark cases, causes célèbre, 'good' and 'bad' copyright stories and policies, before making a short speech to an audience made up of practitioners of the music industry, lawyers, students and music consumers.The panel of the event, organised by Black Music Congress in association with University Of Westminster’s Centre For Black Music Research, is drawn from the fields of music, law and education, consists of David Stopps (Music Managers Forum UK & International copyright & related rights director), Kienda Hoji (lawyer/BA programme director University Of Westminster commercial music), Pauline Henry (ex-Chimes singer/intellectual property consultant), Dave Laing (researcher/lecturer), Ben Challis (lawyer/lecturer), and Kwaku (BMC founder/lecturer).“We usually hear about copyright in the context of illegal down loading news stories. So we decided to put on this event to show that, as copyright underpins the music and creative industries, it needs to be talked about and understood outside of the closeted world of academia and law,” says BMC founder Kwaku.For more details of Talking Copyright or further seminars including Keeping It Legal: Live And On-Air, British Black Gospel: An Invisible Industry?, Trailblazing British Black Music Album Anatomy: ‘Osibisa’ (MCA 1971), and Kissing History: Reminiscing Over 25 Years Of Kiss FM, visit BritishBlackMusic.com.Event details:6:30pm - 8:30pmTuesday 15th June 2010Old Cinema, University of Westminster, Regent's StreetIf you wish to attend please contact:KwakuBMC foundereditor@britishblackmusic.com020 8450 5987www.britishblackmusic.comNotes to editors:1. Black Music Congress (BMC) founder Kwaku publicly uses only name. If your house style does not allow for one moniker, you are welcome to use “founder” or “spokesman”. He founded BMC to continue similar work carried out by the Black Music Industry Association (BMIA), an organisation he served as a committee member, editor of its newsletter and organiser of its seminars and other events. The BMIA fizzled out in the late 1990s due to withdrawal of funding – BMC works with partners but decidedly does not rely on funding to operate.2. BMC is a not for profit organisation. It was founded in 2002 to provide a forum for discussing black music issues with a British bias; networking; and a pathway to music industry education. Its focus is on black music and music industry practice, but its constituency is not exclusively African. Between 2002-2008, there were several BMC debates delivered each year at City University London.3. BMC is working with Akoben Awards, a new organisation focused on bringing together creators and consumers of positive black music, on the £10,000 New Music Entrepreneurs Grant during BBMM. This will offer up to ten new and young potential music entrepreneurs of African descent a challenge to develop a business with a grant of a £1000 each. Application deadline is July 8. For further details: akobenawards@gmail.com, www.britishblackmusic.com.4. BMC has worked with voluntary organisation BTWSC (www.btwsc.com) to deliver a wide range of community events, and both accredited and non-accredited courses. In addition to its OCN Level 2 Music Industry course, BMC in partnership with Akoben Awards and BTWSC will be launching later this year ‘Copyright & Contracts For Music & Cultural Industries’, a new accredited course aimed at improving specialist knowledge to help upskill especially young people and the unemployed.5. Black Music Month (BBMM) is focused on June, though increasingly activities are spreading into July. It is a BMC initiative which aims to focus attention on domestic black music through various platforms, such as seminars, master-classes, album anatomies, club nights, edu-tainment concerts, radio programmes, etc. The annual event started in 2006.6. BMC works with a range of partners to achieve its aims, especially during BBMM. Such as intellectual property advisory agency Own-It, record industry body BPI, managers association Music Managers Forum, and educational institutions such as City University London, University Of Westminster and Collage Arts, and media outlets such as Colourful Radio.