The Prime Minister has rejected a last-ditch Maori Party bid to get Maori seats for the Auckland City governing body, by making them a conscience vote issue. Russell gives his reasons why he thinks there needs to be Maori seats. We also preview the PPNZ panel discussion on this week’s Media 7. Russell Brown is chief blogger at publicaddress.net.
Managing Director of Phonographic Performances NZ, Kristin Bowman, responds to outrage in the NZ Herald this week at a possible music royalty fee increase for gyms, cafes and retail.
A concern for small independent music producers is the method by which music royalty fees are distributed. Unlike radio there is no record keeping of what is actually played in businesses where royalties are collected. Therefore many independent artists are seeing their royalties go to major label artists. Kristin admits the model is not perfect and it is up for review.
