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1st DECEMBER 2006

Cherie Blaire, David Lammy MP, Joan Armatrading, Julian Lloyd-Webber are amongst 150 dignitaries who listened to live performances of Katie Melua and All Angels at the House of Commons when launching PLAYTIME, the online music for schools service that, for the very first time, makes the entire music industries repertoire available for education.

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There was a loud applause at The House of Commons on Thursday afternoon when Whispering Bob Harris launch a new service called PLAYTIME which, for the very first time, makes the music industries entire repertoire available online to schools colleges and universities for the purpose of education. The 150 dignitaries from the worlds of politics, education and music, including David Lammy – Culture Minister, Cherie Blaire, Joan Armatrading and Julian Lloyd-Webber, who enjoyed stunning live performances from Katie Melua and All Angels were the icing on cake of a brilliant initiative and launch party.

Whispering Bob congratulated the music industry on their support for PLAYTIME and followed this with the serious point that the music industry was happy to offer their repertoire at a substantial for education but could only do so through the revenues they generate out of these same copyrights.

Bob ask the educators to teach their student to respect copyrights and to explain to them the effects if they illegally downloaded music. Bob continued by asking the politicians to support the industry with legislation to protect their copyrights and to extend the term of the sound recording copyright to 70 years. These last two points were supported by over two minute’s rapturous applause from all of the attendees.

PLAYTIME is the initiative and brainchild of Broadchart, the leading supplier of music and technology solutions to business and the owners of the famous ‘Phil Swern’ Music Collection which has a multimillion track music library that has all genres of music as well as every Top 40 hit single since the charts began in 1952 to date. Broadchart update the library on a daily basis with thousands of new releases.

“It was brilliant that Bob made these very important points about teaching children to respect copyright, legislation to protect copyrights and extending the term of the sound recording copyright” said Andy Hill – Broadchart’s CEO –

 Hill Continued. “Bob was making the simple statement that the music industry has, for the very first time, made their entire repertoire available to education for education at a massive discount and it could only do this if their revenues were protected. You can’t fault the argument”

QUOTATIONS

PLAYTIME is a rich and exciting resource that will benefit young people. All young people will relish the chance to make use of this amazing range of songs across many decades  within music lessons and across the wider curriculum”

“Making links between the music industry and music education is something I feel passionately about. I am pleased to support PLAYTIME as a great example of this in practice.” – David Lammy – Culture Minister

“I know this music collection and it is remarkable and comprehensive. To make this available to all students in the UK of all ages will deliver untold benefits. I would encourage government, educational establishments and the business community to support this worthwhile and unique opportunity” - Andrew Lloyd Webber

PLAYTIME offers teachers a service which they can’t get anywhere else. There is nothing else quite like it. The good thing is that PLAYTIME can be used across the whole curriculum” - Leonora Davies MBE - Chair of the Music Education Council (MEC) and member of the Music Manifesto’s Steering Group.

“It’s absolutely fantastic. We were looking for some really obscure songs and they had them. PLAYTIME really enhances the library and the music staff think it’s a brilliant resource for everyone to use”- Sarah Reed - Learning Centre - South Downs College

“We have been testing the service and we found it to be fast, simple to use. This is important as the many uses and classes we use the service require student of all ages an capabilities to be able to use and enjoy this incredible resource”Chris Bryan – Headmaster – St Birinus Boys School.

It has taken a long time to launch the service and we have had tremendous support from the record companies and music publishers. The point that took the time to agree was not the principle of the service, as this was never questioned, but the price payable to the copyright owners for use of their property.

The debate was to ensure people did not consider music to be free whilst ensuring that all children and teachers have access to this unique resource at a substantial discount. It took time and we achieved a very good price versus that charged to commercial organisations and the record companies and music publishers should be thanked for this understanding.

All we ask of the teachers is that they take a little time to explain to their students the reason for copyrights, explain that music is not free and the effects on peoples lives when they download music from illegal music sites. Similarly, we would ask the politicians to help us protect copyrights and extent the term for the sound recording. It is only through the revenues that are generated from these copyrights that allow services like PLAYTIME to be offered to education. A typical school can have unlimited access to this unique resource for less than the price of a CD per week. The stipulation is that the service is for education not recreation” – Andy Hill – CEO – Broadchart Limited

“This collection has been a life time obsession for me and to see it used in schools across the country will give me enormous pleasure.  I’m sure students and teachers alike will discover and enjoy music that they would never find and will have it available immediately at their fingertips. It is also the vision and technology of my colleagues at Broadchart that will provide an unrivalled resource to the children of this country and will help secure the future of our music industry” – Phil Swern – Direct or Music – Broadchart Limited

PLAYTIME is an amazing resource for schools. Good quality, broad ranging material that can be easily accessed, will stimulate and support learning whatever the age and phase of students and their teachers! The addition of suggestions for listening and other activities drawn from particular pieces is especially valuable.

Sarah Hennessy - Chair of National Association of Music Educators

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ABOUT BROADCHART

Broadchart are the leading supplier of music and technology services to businesses. They own the unique and invaluable Phil Swern Collection which is a multimillion track music library with all genres of music including every Top 40 Hit single that has ever been released since the charts began in 1952. They add thousands of new releases every day.

Broadchart have all of this unique library digitised and hosted on massive computer servers with licenses from the record companies and music publishers and offer services to advertising agencies, broadcasters, retail stores and digital jukeboxes.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT

 

ANDY HILL                                                 TRUDIE MYERSCOUGH-HARRIS
BROADCHART LIMITED                             BROADCHART LIMITED
TEL NO: 020 7637 8800                               MOBILE: 07801 459 202

MOBILE: 0780 1231415                               WEB: www.broadchart.com

 

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