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Cacaphony @ CBC

By Howard Knopf

A few days ago, a publicly listed company named Dittybase announced in a press release (here's a resulting story) that:

Victoria, British Columbia CANADA -- Dittybase Technologies Inc. (DTTY
- OTCBB), is proud to report a landmark agreement between its
wholly-owned subsidiary, Dittybase Inc. and the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation (The CBC). Dittybase, a pioneer of digital music licensing,
becomes the worldwide distributor for the digital distribution and
licensing rights for the vast CBC Music Collection. This unsurpassed
collection of recorded Canadian music has been compiled over the last
seven decades, and includes every imaginable genre, including
Classical, Opera, Folk, World/Ethnic, Jazz, Rock and Electronica, from
Canada's brightest Independent artists, orchestras and Canadian icons.

It goes on from there....

Turns out that CBC didn't see it this way and issued a press release on April 17 that starts out:

    TORONTO, April 17 /CNW/ - Dittybase Technologies Inc. (OTCBB:DTTY)
yesterday issued a news release concerning its business relationship with the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). The vast majority of information in
the release was misleading. By way of clarification, the CBC today notes the
following:
-   CBC/Radio-Canada, through its Merchandising Division, has agreed to a
non-exclusive license with Dittybase, effective February 1, 2008, for
a term of two years; through this agreement, Dittybase may use its
music-sourcing technologies to offer CBC-approved recordings for use
in television programs, films, commercials, etc.;
-   this is specifically a business to business service and not for
retail consumers;
-   the agreement does not include the entire CBC music catalogue;
recordings are individually selected and made available to Dittybase
by CBC;
-   prior to any licenses to Dittybase clients, CBC must approve the
license in writing and Dittybase must clear the underlying rights
with all appropriate rightsholders;
-   CBC has not released to Dittybase any material that it has not
approved for licensing;
-   Dittybase is not "the worldwide distributor" of music for the CBC;
-   the relationship between CBC and Dittybase does not constitute
"a strategic partnership";
-   "CBC Radio directors" are not "an integrated part of Dittybase";
-   "CBC Radio Canada" is not "a division of The CBC";
-   CBC has not licensed "The CBC Music Collection," "CBC Radio
Sessions," "CBC Radio 3," or "CBC Records" to Dittybase;
-   CBC has not licensed to Dittybase work by any of the artists
mentioned in Dittybase's April 16 news release.

Not the normal way to launch a new business relationship...

I have no idea what this mess is all about but it sure looks interesting...

It sounds like something that journalists may want to check out. It seems that CBC radio management may have some interesting times ahead, as they say...

In any event, things are sure getting "Curiouser and curiouser"...
HK

Full post as published by Excess Copyright on April 18, 2008 (boomark / email).