The Board also recommended the name of famous French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre to succeed Robin Gibb (of The Bee Gees fame), who passed away last year, as president of the global body.

Javed Akhtar with former president of the CISAC, Robin Gibb

Once confirmed by the General Assembly, Javed Akhtar’s role will represent the 3 million creators registered with the 231 Authors’ Societies and Guilds in 121 countries and, based on his successful experience in India, help mobilize and lobby for their rights with governments and in various international fora. During the World Creators Summit in Washington (June 3-5), he will join in a high-level discussion on “What Public Policies for the Arts?” This conference is the leading international and cross-industry forum addressing the future of the creative community ((music, film, visual arts, and literary) and the entertainment business in the digital economy. Now in its fourth edition, this biennial event brings together the world’s most prominent creative artists, government officials, and industry leaders to exchange views on the value of creative works, the future of copyright, the role of creators, and the collective management of authors’ rights. The debates will cover a wide range of topics that have a direct effect on creators and the creative industries worldwide, from copyright’s effect on innovation to direct licensing and business models for ebooks and films, and will be looking at modern collective management of rights.

CISAC (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) was founded in 1926 as a non-governmental, non-profit organisation to represent creators across the globe and ensure that royalties for flow to the authors for the use of their work anywhere in the world. CISAC provides business, legal and IT standards to protect creators’ rights and to support the development of the international network of collective management societies. In 2011, worldwide royalties collected by CISAC members on behalf of creators reached $10.3 billion (Rs 56,430 crores).

Visitors will be able to try out the instruments at the booth. Some of the brands participating in the trade show are Fender, GB&A, Gibson, Korg, Ibanez, Konig & Meyer, Sabian, Vic Firth, Tama, Pearl, Paiste, Godin, Mukund Flutes, Dunlop, Selmer, etc. Into its third year, the Harman Palm Live Arena will be equipped with the latest in stage and live sound technology, along with high-end laser, lightning and visual entertainment gear.

Another highlight of the expo will be the Piano Floor, which will provide visitors with a range of pianos by various renowned brands. Other events at the expo include the Palm Light and Sound Awards for creativity and excellence in live event technology and sound engineering, as well as the Indian Recording Arts Academy Awards for music recording, sound designing and soundtrack.

Visitors and distributors can register for Music Expo’13 by going to ‘Visitor Registration’ at www.musicexpo.in .

The entire album went LIVE at wee hours on iTunes on 14 May2013. “Get Lucky” broke Spotify’s streaming records, and it shot to the top of the iTunes charts few minutes post release.

The ardent fans had been waiting with bated breath for the album “Random Access Memories,” the duo’s first album in eight years. Social media is already abuzz with tweets and updates which is a testimonial enough of the band’s iconic status.

Daft Punk have been working on Random Access Memories since 2008, and the album will be out on 21 May 2013.

The Ultimate Ears line-up comprises of portable Bluetooth speakers like UE Mobile Boombox and UE Boombox, over the ears headphones UE6000 and UE 9000 and professional Quad armature wired earphone UE900. This collection will cater music lovers who enjoy their music seamlessly through wireless audio, facilitating discovery and making sharing simple with a complete line of music products.

Commenting on the launch, Mr Subrotah Biswas, Director, Logitech India and South West Asia, said, “Artists on stage or people in their living rooms are all united by the music they live for. And we are dedicated to creating products that bring pure and undiluted music. There’s a new category of music fans that are shifting from the traditional methods of music consumption towards services which suit their evolving lifestyles and are easily accessible through mobile devices. Our commitment to precision technology and consumer understanding is the inspiration behind everything we do. You don’t need to be a rock-star to enjoy music, but you just need the passion and a fine listening device.”

The UE Mobile Boombox is available for Rs 8,995; UE Boombox for Rs 21,995; UE 6000 for Rs 17,995; UE 9000 for Rs 31,995 and; UE 900 for Rs 34,995.

Christian Heil, CEO of L-Aacoustics With Manish Mavani, Director, Sound & Light Professionals

Mumbai-based Sound & Light Professionals (SNL Pro) India has boosted its inventory with the addition of French audio maker L-Acoustics’ K1, Kudo, Kara and La-Rak wide line source speakers, that are specially designed to be used in stadiums/theatres/ and for other large gatherings.

Over a period of six years, SNL Pro has provided audio support to gigs like NH7, Sunburn, David Guetta, Snoop Dogg, Enrique Igleasias, Norah Jones, Swedish House Mafia, etc.

On the occasion of this announcement, Manish Mavani, Director of Sound & Light Professionals, said, “We are very proud to own K1 – the flagship product of L-Acoustics. It is the most rider friendly system and the choice of every engineer to work on. As we are the first company to be a K standard partner with a certified crew, it automatically puts us in a different league. We are looking forward to many more opportunities in the future.”

Sound and Light Professionals will soon be deploying its new K1 system at several large upcoming tours and festivals in India.

Marantz NA 11S1

Audio technology giant, Marantz is celebrating its 60^th anniversary this year. The company, which is known for its iconic products like the Model 7 (pre-amplifier), the Esotec series and the CD63 CD player, was founded in 1953 by Saul Marantz.

To celebrate its 60^th anniversary, Marantz is hoping to unveil a new era in audiophile expectations with the launch of the NA-11S1 network player and the Consolette wireless streaming player. The company claims that both the new products will redefine how audiophiles listen to new media.

Marantz Consolette

Speaking on the philosophy behind Marantz products, Terry O’Connell, MD of Marantz said, “On every piece of printed literature we publish, on every website and every advert, we state ‘because music matters’. But this is not just a slogan, a piece of marketing. It is a philosophy that has driven our company from the very beginning and I believe it is what makes Marantz stand out from other audio solution manufacturers.”

The A1 is 10mm thing and weighs 0.197 kg. It is a dual core, Android powered smartphone with a 5.3” capacitive touchscreen, 960×540 pixel display and a 8MP rear camera with flash and a 2MP front facing camera. It runs on the Android 4.0 ICS OS, has a 1 GB RAM, 4 GB of internal memory and upto 32GB expandable memory. Lemon claims that its 2500mAH battery gives four hours of talk time.

Launching the new phone into the market, Sandeep Mushran, Director, Fastrack Communications said, “With a perfect viewing experience and advanced features, users can express thoughts easily and manage tasks more efficiently. Our motive is to make every Indian a part of the mobile revolution with innovative, stylish and feature rich phones. For anyone who wants to be creative, expressive and unique, the Aspire A1 series is the ideal device available at the most affordable price.”The Lemon Aspire A1 is available through online retailers like snapdeal.com and Infibeam.com for Rs. 14,999.

Vivaan Is Third From Right

The band made an announcement regarding the same on their Facebook page, saying, “As a founding member, he will always remain an integral part of the band’s beginnings and we wish him all the very best in everything he pursues.” The remaining members of the band include vocalist and keyboardist Rohan Rajadhakshya, vocalist and guitarist Ankit Dayal and guitarists Hartej Sawhney and Siddharth Talwar.

According to the announcement made by Sony Music on 9 May, the company will release MFIT versions of the Tamil movie ‘Maryan’, which has music by AR Rahman, and the upcoming Bollywood movie ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, which has music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. The albums will be specifically mastered and engineered at iTunes-certified studios.

Currently, this section contains roughly 100 albums, spanning classics and masterpieces  like Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’, numerous classical albums and U2′s ‘Achtung Baby’, to name a few. Today, most studio tracks are recorded at 24 bits. The process of mastering a recording is taking the raw, mixed song and copying it to another format, with adjustments in the amount of information that can be transferred to the new medium and attendant tweaks to ensure it sounds as good as possible given the new format’s limitations. The music on standard commercial CDs is encoded at 16 bits.

Bob Ludwig, a mastering engineer who remastered Coldplay’s latest album, ‘Mylo Xyloto’, for the new “Mastered for iTunes” store, says, “From a technical viewpoint, there are cases where the 24-bit AAC file would be superior to the lossless CD. I did an early demonstration for some engineer friends of mine and the difference between the ‘Mastered for iTunes’ file I created and the one that was ripped from a 16-bit CD was easily heard on the little speakers on my MacBook Pro.”

You can read more about MFIT here

Magicon UltraSmart Q7 also includes a G-sensor, proximity sensor, GPS (Global Positioning System), 512 MB RAM, 4GB internal memory (expandable up to 32 GB) and a powerful long-life 1600 mAh battery. Its ability to play high definition (HD) videos, in-built gaming options etc., make it the best buy in the category. Priced at Rs 8,999 it comes bundled with attractive data and voice plans from Aircel – 1 GB of data, 250 minutes of talk time and 250 SMS messages for three months.

The phone is available in two colours—white and deep metallic blue. It can be purchased online on the following e-commerce portals – infibeam.com, gadgets.in, naaptol.com, shopclues.com and HomeShop18.com.