Clear Channel’s Instant Live unit and France’s Universal Music Group are to produce CDs of live concerts by “mixing recordings on the spot and selling them to club-goers as they exit concerts,” says the IDG News Service.

This will, “allow these recordings to be better edited and distributed online, and then, sometime next year, sold as downloads for MP3 players and other devices,” says IDG.

It will also “paves the way for production of live recordings with Universal’s various affiliate labels,” not to mention giving Universal a “template” agreement for “division of revenue and recording ownership”.

IDG points out that a “patent issue stirred controversy among bands and fans in 2004 when Clear Channel blocked bands from trying to make their own instant albums at ClearChannel venues,” claiming instant-recording and mixing system patent infringements.

But Instant Live’s Stephen Prendergast, “appears to want to make peace with bands that want to do their own recordings, and stressed that he will not use the patent as leverage,” says the story. “We want everyone to share it and use it, but we have to do it in a way that is feasible and is financial beneficial to all of us who are involved,” he said.

He said Instant Live will take a “service-oriented” approach, offering bands a list of options for on-site recording and production.
Via p2pnet.net