Misplaced Pages

#701298

101-543: The need to set a universal release date mainly stemmed from issues with music piracy , with the change from Tuesday to Friday releases arising as a result of a trend of Friday releases that started with Beyoncé's 2013 surprise drop self-titled album. The official announcement was made on 11 June 2015 by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the worldwide recording industry. The move means that new music will be available on

202-464: A university constituency if a university graduate. Once elected, Members of Parliament normally continue to serve until the next dissolution of Parliament. But if a member dies or ceases to be qualified (see qualifications below), their seat falls vacant. It is also possible for the House of Commons to expel a member, a power exercised only in cases of serious misconduct or criminal activity. In each case,

303-564: A bill so as to insert a taxation or supply-related provision, but the House of Commons often waives its privileges and allows the Lords to make amendments with financial implications. Under a separate convention, known as the Salisbury Convention , the House of Lords does not seek to oppose legislation promised in the government's election manifesto . Hence, as the power of the House of Lords has been severely curtailed by statute and by practice,

404-470: A bill that seeks to extend a parliamentary term beyond five years requires the consent of the House of Lords. By a custom that prevailed even before the Parliament Acts, only the House of Commons may originate bills concerning taxation or supply . Furthermore, supply bills passed by the House of Commons are immune to amendments in the House of Lords. In addition, the House of Lords is barred from amending

505-563: A citizen of either Britain, a British overseas territory , Ireland , or a member of the Commonwealth of Nations . British citizens living abroad are allowed to vote for 15 years after leaving. It is a criminal offence for a person to vote in the ballot of more than one seat which is vacant at any election. This has not always been the case: before 1948 plural voting was permitted as voters qualified by home ownership or residence and could vote under both entitlements simultaneously, as well as for

606-708: A citizen of the United Kingdom, of a British overseas territory, of the Republic of Ireland , or of a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations . These restrictions were introduced by the British Nationality Act 1981 , but were previously far more stringent: under the Act of Settlement 1701 , only natural-born subjects were qualified. Members of the House of Lords may not serve in the House of Commons, or even vote in parliamentary elections; however, they are permitted to sit in

707-498: A common free server without any regard for copyright laws. Napster was quickly shut down after lawsuits filed by Metallica and Dr. Dre and a separate lawsuit in regards to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act . Other music sharing services such as Limewire continued to be a resource to those searching for free music files. These platforms were also removed after a few years of service due to copyright laws and

808-469: A few hours later. Additionally, strong protest attempts were made across the internet when numerous high-profile online organizations including Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and participating in American Censorship Day on January 18, with some sites including Reddit and Misplaced Pages going as far as completely blacking out all of their pages, redirecting the user to SOPA protest messages. Ultimately, as

909-525: A law allowing seizure of counterfeit property. The film I'll Be Your Sweetheart (1945), commissioned by the British Ministry of Information , is based on the events of the day. The invention of the Internet and digital media created music piracy in its modern form. With the invention of newer technology that allowed for the piracy process to become less complicated, it became much more common. Users of

1010-452: A majority of the Commons. Although the House of Commons does not formally elect the prime minister, by convention and in practice, the prime minister is answerable to the House, and therefore must maintain its support. In this way, the position of the parties in the House is an overriding importance. Thus, whenever the office of prime minister falls vacant, the monarch appoints the person who has

1111-548: A new mechanism which remains in force) three days after becoming prime minister. The new session of Parliament was delayed to await the outcome of his by-election, which happened to be already under way due to a recent death. As anticipated, he won that election, which was for the highest-majority seat in Scotland among his party; otherwise he would have been constitutionally obliged to resign. Since 1990, almost all cabinet ministers, save for three whose offices are an intrinsic part of

SECTION 10

#1732844894702

1212-540: A new tax targeting wealthy landowners. This measure failed in the heavily Conservative House of Lords, and the government resigned. The resulting general election returned a hung parliament , but Asquith remained prime minister with the support of the smaller parties. Asquith then proposed that the powers of the Lords be severely curtailed. Following a further election in December 1910 , the Asquith Government secured

1313-638: A non-binding statement released by parliament after the debate. This new technique was used to pass the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 in March, as well as the No. 2 Act in September, both relating to Brexit . 2019 was the year Labour and Co-operative MPs became the fourth-largest political group in the House of Commons. In 2020, new procedures for hybrid proceedings were introduced from 22 April. These mitigated

1414-529: A number of theories, including the suggestion that it was to coincide with market day; this would ease voting for those who had to travel into the towns to cast their ballot. A candidate for a seat must submit nomination papers signed by ten registered voters from that area, and pay £500, which is refunded if the candidate wins at least five per cent of the vote. Such a deposit seeks to discourage frivolity and very long ballot papers which would cause vote splitting (and arguably voter confusion). Each constituency

1515-598: A party leader or as a private Member of Parliament. Customarily, members of the Government party/coalition and members of the Opposition alternate when asking questions. Members may also make inquiries in writing. In practice, this scrutiny can be fairly weak. Since the first-past-the-post electoral system is employed, the governing party often enjoys a large majority in the Commons, and ministers and departments practise defensive government, outsourcing key work to third parties. If

1616-502: A powerful lobby for the recording industry, is responsible for carrying out most of the lawsuits against music piracy in the United States. Enforcement of music piracy laws, which may cost copyright violators up to $ 150,000 per infringement, has been considered by some to be unreasonable, violating constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment . RIAA has been accused of outright bullying, as when one of their lawyers told

1717-412: A result of aggressive protests and lack of consenting opinions within the congress, SOPA was tabled on January 20 by its creator, House representative Lamar Smith. Piracy's actual effect on music sales is difficult to accurately assess. In neoclassical economics prices are determined by the combination of the forces of supply and demand , but the participators in the digital market do not always follow

1818-487: A substantive, "the common body of the people of any place; the community or commonalty" in the singular; "the common people, the commonalty; the lower order, as distinguished from those of noble or knight or gentle rank", or "the burgers of a town; the body of free citizens, bearing common burdens, and exercising common rights; (hence) the third estate in the English constitution; the body of people, not ennobled, and represented by

1919-514: A trend over the past few years. The RIAA blames Internet piracy for the trend, though there are many other causes that could account for this drop. SoundScan , for example, reports a more than 20 percent drop in the number of CDs released since 1999. That no doubt accounts for some of the decrease in sales... But let's assume the RIAA is right, and all of the decline in CD sales is because of Internet sharing. Here's

2020-444: A two-thirds supermajority of the house. These provisions were first used by Theresa May to trigger the 2017 snap election . The Recall of MPs Act 2015 created a mechanism for recalling Members of Parliament. Under the act, proceedings are initiated only if an MP is found guilty of wrongdoing fulfilling certain criteria. A petition is successful if at least one in ten voters in the constituency sign. Successful petitions result in

2121-470: Is a maximum: prime ministers can choose to dissolve parliament at earlier times, with the permission of the monarch, and often have. This was a return to the historic system that had been replaced by the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 , which fixed the term at five years. As of 9 July 2024, five of the twelve last prime ministers have attained office as the immediate result of a general election;

SECTION 20

#1732844894702

2222-405: Is also called a seat (as it was in 1885 ), as it returns one member, using the first-past-the-post electoral system, under which the candidate with a plurality of votes wins, that is greatest number of votes. Minors (that is, anyone under the age of 18), members of the House of Lords, and prisoners are not qualified to become members of the House of Commons. To vote, one must be a UK resident and

2323-520: Is dissolved , an action which is part of the royal prerogative . By convention the timing of the dissolution is chosen by the Prime Minister (see relationship with the Government above). Under the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 , if no early election is called, dissolution is automatic on the fifth year after its first meeting day. This Act effectively postponed the automatic date of

2424-475: Is more serious. The House of Commons technically retains the power to impeach Ministers of the Crown (or any other subject, even if not a public officer) for their crimes. Impeachments are tried by the House of Lords, where a simple majority is necessary to convict. This power has fallen into disuse, however; the House of Commons exercises its checks on the government through other means, such as no confidence motions;

2525-596: Is significantly less than 2005, the peak of the piracy phenomenon, when one in five users used peer-to-peer networks to gather music files. The emergence of free streaming services has decreased the number of users who pirate music on the internet. Services such as Spotify and Pandora have easy-to-use interfaces and decrease the risk for computer viruses and spyware. In comparison to the illegal software used by older music piracy networks such as Napster or Limewire, current music streaming services such as Spotify and Rdio offer cheap yet legal access to copyrighted music by paying

2626-507: Is that because many people in the world illegally download music because they cannot afford to purchase legitimate copies, not every illegal download equates to a lost sale. This has some effect on music sales, but as Lawrence Lessig points out, there is wide asymmetry between the estimated volume of illegal downloading and the projected loss of sales: In 2002, the RIAA reported that CD sales had fallen by 8.9 percent, from 882 million to 803 million units; revenues fell 6.7 percent. This confirms

2727-403: Is the copying and distributing of recordings of a piece of music for which the rights owners (composer, recording artist, or copyright -holding record company) did not give consent. In the contemporary legal environment, it is a form of copyright infringement , which may be either a civil wrong or a crime depending on jurisdiction. The late 20th and early 21st centuries saw much controversy over

2828-465: The Oxford English Dictionary , the historical dictionary of the English language, can only attest to the word meaning advocated by Pollard from the 19th and 20th centuries onwards, whereas sources for the meaning given in the previous section date from the late Middle Ages, i.e. the time of the establishment of the House of Commons. The current Commons' layout is influenced by the use of

2929-655: The Academy of Information and Management Sciences Journal in 2010, shared an estimate of 12.5 billion dollars lost annually due to file sharing and music piracy, and 5 billion of that is profits lost from the music industry directly. Due to this loss in profits the music industry has been forced to cut down their staffing. Music piracy has become such an issue that the industry is encouraged to adapt to this new era and change. The article, "The Music Industry On (The) Line? Surviving Music Piracy In A Digital Era" By Jelle Janssens, Stijn Vandaele, and Tom Vander Beken presents an analysis of

3030-605: The Acts of Union 1800 brought about the abolition of the Parliament of Ireland and enlarged the Commons at Westminster with 100 Irish members, creating the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Middle English word common or commune , which is derived from the Anglo-Norman commune , meant "of general, public, or non-private nature" as an adjective and, as

3131-854: The Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act . Since 1950, every constituency has been represented by a single Member of Parliament. There remains a technical distinction between county and borough constituencies ; its only effects are on the amount of money candidates are allowed to spend during campaigns and the rank of the local authority co-opted Returning Officer who presides over the count. Geographic boundaries are determined by four permanent and independent Boundary Commissions , one each for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland . The commissions conduct general reviews of electoral boundaries once every 8 to 12 years, and interim reviews. In drawing boundaries, they are required to prefer local government boundaries, but may deviate from these to prevent great disparities in electorate; such disparities are given

Global Release Day - Misplaced Pages Continue

3232-468: The Parliament Act 1949 ). Since the passage of these Acts, the House of Commons has become the dominant branch of Parliament. Since the 17th century, government ministers were paid, while other MPs were not. Most of the men elected to the Commons had private incomes, while a few relied on financial support from a wealthy patron. Early Labour MPs were often provided with a salary by a trade union, but this

3333-641: The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was proposed in October 2011 by the United States House representative Lamar S. Smith . The general scope of the law was to fulfill the goal of putting a stop to online piracy by expanding upon existing criminal laws regarding copyright violations. The essential goal of the bill was to protect intellectual property of content creators by raising awareness of the severity of punishments for copyright infringement. Naturally,

3434-558: The coronavirus pandemic with measures including a limit of 50 MPs in the chamber, physical distancing and remote participation using video conferencing . Hybrid proceedings were abolished in August 2021. Later in December 2020, the Conservative government published a draft Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (Repeal) Bill, later retitled the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill when it

3535-447: The first-past-the-post system and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved . The House of Commons of England began to evolve in the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1707 it became the House of Commons of Great Britain after the political union with Scotland , and from 1801 it also became the House of Commons for Ireland after the political union of Great Britain and Ireland . In 1922,

3636-478: The " alternative vote " (AV) method. The proposal to introduce AV was rejected by 67.9% of voters on a national turnout of 42%. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 was passed by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition , transferring the power to call an early election from the Prime Minister to Parliament, and setting out the procedure for this. Under the act, calling an early election required

3737-497: The 19th century still retained their ancient right of electing two members, in addition to other boroughs that had never been important, such as Gatton . Among the most notorious of these " rotten boroughs " were Old Sarum , which had only six voters for two MPs, and Dunwich , which had largely collapsed into the sea from coastal erosion . At the same time, large cities such as Manchester received no separate representation (although their eligible residents were entitled to vote in

3838-468: The Commons (as opposed to the unelected Lords) and their direct accountability to that House, together with empowerment and transparency, ensures ministerial accountability. Responsible government is an international constitutional paradigm. The prime minister chooses the ministers, and may decide to remove them at any time, although the appointments and dismissals are formally made by the Sovereign, acting on

3939-568: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act. After finding some loopholes, piracy began to exist in more legal forms, an example being Pirate Bay . This technical legality was due to the format of the websites and their country of origin and administration. The websites were set up so that the site itself did not host any of the illegal files, but gave the user a map as to where they could access the files. Additionally, in Pirate Bay's case,

4040-507: The House of Commons is clearly the more powerful chamber of Parliament. The British parliament of today largely descends, in practice, from the Parliament of England , although the 1706 Treaty of Union , and the Acts of Union that ratified the Treaty, created a new Parliament of Great Britain to replace the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland , with the addition of 45 MPs and sixteen Scottish representative peers . Later still

4141-449: The House of Commons or the House of Lords. A handful have been appointed from outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament in a by-election or by receiving a peerage (being made a peer). Since 1902, all but one prime ministers have been members of the Commons at time of appointment; the sole exception was during the long summer recess in 1963: Alec Douglas-Home , then the 14th Earl of Home, disclaimed his peerage (under

Global Release Day - Misplaced Pages Continue

4242-401: The House of Lords by creating pro-Reform peers. To avoid this, the Lords relented and passed the bill in 1832. The Reform Act 1832 , also known as the "Great Reform Act", abolished the rotten boroughs, established uniform voting requirements for the boroughs, and granted representation to populous cities, but still retained some anomalies. In the ensuing years, the Commons grew more assertive,

4343-534: The House of Lords, have belonged to the Commons. Few major cabinet positions (except Lord Privy Seal , Lord Chancellor and Leader of the House of Lords ) have been filled by a peer in recent times. Notable exceptions are Sir Alec Douglas-Home ; who served as Foreign Secretary from 1960 to 1963; Peter Carington, 6th Lord Carrington , who also served as Foreign Secretary from 1979 to 1982; David Cameron , former Prime Minister who served as Foreign Secretary from 2023 to 2024; David Young, Lord Young of Graffham , who

4444-474: The House of Lords. The Lords may not delay a money bill (a bill that, in the view of the Speaker of the House of Commons, solely concerns national taxation or public funds) for more than one month. Moreover, the Lords may not delay most other public bills for more than two parliamentary sessions, or one calendar year. These provisions, however, only apply to public bills that originate in the House of Commons. Moreover,

4545-522: The Lower House of Parliament" in the plural. The word has survived to this day in the original Anglo-Norman phrase soit baillé aux communes , with which a bill is transmitted from the House of Lords to the House of Commons. The historian Albert Pollard held a somewhat different view on the word's origins in 1920. He agreed that commons could be derived from Anglo-Norman communes , but that it referred to "civil associations" or "the counties". However,

4646-445: The MP vacating the seat, triggering a by-election. In 2019, MPs used "standing order 24" (a parliamentary procedure that triggers emergency debates) as a means of gaining control of the parliamentary order paper for the following day, and passing legislation without the incumbent government's consent. This unusual process was achieved through tabling amendments to the "motion in neutral terms",

4747-507: The Speaker that the member was suffering from a mental disorder. However, this disqualification was removed by the Mental Health (Discrimination) Act 2013 . There also exists a common law precedent from the 18th century that the deaf-mute are ineligible to sit in the Lower House; this precedent, however, has not been tested in recent years. Anyone found guilty of high treason may not sit in Parliament until she or he has either completed

4848-550: The Speakership). Most members also claim for various office expenses (staff costs, postage, travelling, etc.) and, in the case of members for seats outside London, for the costs of maintaining a home in the capital. There are numerous qualifications that apply to Members of Parliament. One must be aged at least 18 (the minimum age was 21 until s.17 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 came into force), and must be

4949-544: The US Congress passed the Copyright Act of 1909 , it deliberately gave less copyright control to music composers than that of novelists: "Its fear was the monopoly power of rights holders, and that that power would stifle follow-on creativity". According to the internationally established Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , "Existing laws and regulations may be too broad and general to deal adequately with

5050-468: The bill was met with considerable opposition from various parties. One instance of this was an article comment by Edward J. Black, president and CEO of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, who questioned the potential effectiveness of the bill by reasoning that the major pirate websites that SOPA attempts to eliminate could just as easily respawn under a different name if taken down as early as

5151-524: The body became the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland after the independence of the Irish Free State . Under the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 , the Lords' power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The government is solely responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as they retain the confidence of

SECTION 50

#1732844894702

5252-731: The chamber during debates (unlike the King, who cannot enter the chamber). A person may not sit in the Commons if they are the subject of a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order (applicable in England and Wales only), or if they are adjudged bankrupt (in Northern Ireland), or if their estate is sequestered (in Scotland). Previously, MPs detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 for six months or more would have their seat vacated if two specialists reported to

5353-449: The corresponding county seat). Also notable were the pocket boroughs , small constituencies controlled by wealthy landowners and aristocrats, whose "nominees" were invariably elected. The Commons attempted to address these anomalies by passing a Reform Bill in 1831. At first, the House of Lords proved unwilling to pass the bill, but it was forced to relent when the prime minister, Charles, 2nd Earl Grey , advised King William IV to flood

5454-440: The defendant in one lawsuit, "You don't want to pay another visit to a dentist like me". In that same case, according to Lawrence Lessig , "the RIAA insisted it would not settle the case until it took every penny [the defendant] had saved". Further attempts at progress towards controlling the privacy of public media content by targeting the elimination of piracy were made when the highly anticipated yet often debated bill known as

5555-419: The digital copy of the music to prevent consumers from copying the music. For the most part, the music industry has argued that, if not DRM, then some similar measures are necessary for them to continue to make a profit. Critics of the record companies' strategy have proposed that the attempts to maintain sales rates are impeding the rights of legitimate listeners to use and listen to the music as they wish. When

5656-435: The economic mechanisms behind the production and distribution of content, and how piracy works for digital as opposed to physical products: "the main consequence of the non-physical form of digital products is their virtually negligible marginal cost of reproduction and their ability to be digitally delivered." The cost of burning a CD drastically lowered the overhead for record companies, as well as for music pirates, and with

5757-482: The ethics of redistributing media content, how much production and distribution companies in the media were losing, and the very scope of what ought to be considered piracy – and cases involving the piracy of music were among the most frequently discussed in the debate. In August 1906 The Copyright Law for Music Act 1906 , known as the T.P. O'Connor Bill was passed by the British Parliament , following many of

5858-549: The fixed election date of the first Thursday in May five years after the previous election, which occurred (as a special case) on 7 May 2015 . As an ordinary Act, it was also possible for parliament to bypass it with a special purpose Act of Parliament passed by simple majorities in both houses, which occurred in 2019 . All general elections in the UK since 1935 have been held on a Thursday. The origins of this convention are unknown but there are

5959-582: The following year replaced almost all multi-member constituencies with single-member constituencies. In 1908, the Liberal Government under H. H. Asquith introduced a number of social welfare programmes, which, together with an expensive arms race , forced the Government to seek higher taxes. In 1909, the Chancellor of the Exchequer , David Lloyd George , introduced the "People's Budget", which proposed

6060-697: The formal term malapportionment . The proposals of the Boundary Commissions are subject to parliamentary approval, but may not be amended. After their next Periodic Reviews, the Boundary Commissions will be absorbed into the Electoral Commission , which was established in 2000. As of 2024, the UK is divided into 650 constituencies , with 543 in England, 32 in Wales, 57 in Scotland, and 18 in Northern Ireland. General elections occur whenever Parliament

6161-480: The general public including Napster, Limewire, and Spotify. Napster was a free file sharing software created by college student Shawn Fanning to enable people to share and trade music files in mp3 format. Napster became hugely popular because it made it so easy to share and download music files. However, the heavy metal band Metallica sued the company for copyright infringement. This led to other artists following suit and shutting down Napster's service. Likewise, Limewire

SECTION 60

#1732844894702

6262-407: The government has a large majority, it has no need or incentive to compromise with other parties. Major modern British political parties tend to be so tightly orchestrated that their MPs often have little scope for free action. A large minority of ruling party MPs are paid members of the Government. Since 1900 the Government has lost confidence motions thrice—twice in 1924, and once in 1979. However,

6363-449: The government's agenda. The annual Budget is still considered a matter of confidence. When a government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons, the prime minister is expected either to resign, making way for another MP who can command confidence, or request the monarch to dissolve Parliament, thereby precipitating a general election. Since the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 Parliament sits for up to five years. This

6464-407: The growing tendency toward online distribution among legitimate and illicit distributors alike, the expense of distributing shrunk further from the costs of printing and transporting CDs to merely the costs of maintaining a website . By sheer volume of file transfers, though, distributing music through traditional web servers and FTP servers were not as popular as peer-to-peer (P2P) now, because

6565-511: The house between the government and opposition benches is 13 feet (3.96 m), said to be equivalent to two swords' length, though this is likely to be purely symbolic given weapons have been banned in the chamber for hundreds of years. The House of Commons underwent an important period of reform during the 19th century. Over the years, several anomalies had developed in borough representation. The constituency boundaries had not been changed since 1660, so many towns whose importance had declined by

6666-461: The influence of the House of Lords having been reduced by the Reform Bill crisis, and the power of the patrons reduced. The Lords became more reluctant to reject bills that the Commons had passed with large majorities, and it became an accepted political principle that the confidence of the House of Commons alone was necessary for a government to remain in office. Many more reforms were introduced in

6767-408: The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806. Bills may be introduced in either house, though bills of importance generally originate in the House of Commons. The supremacy of the Commons in legislative matters is assured by the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 , under which certain types of bills may be presented to the sovereign for royal assent without the consent of

6868-539: The latter half of the 19th century. The Reform Act 1867 lowered property requirements for voting in the boroughs, reduced the representation of the less populous boroughs, and granted parliamentary seats to several growing industrial towns. The electorate was further expanded by the Representation of the People Act 1884 , under which property qualifications in the counties were lowered. The Redistribution of Seats Act of

6969-530: The musician in a small way instead of simply illegally downloading the music, but it also moves customers away from buying hard copies of music or even legally downloading songs which is severely reducing artists' income. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) since Shawn Fanning started the program file sharing program Napster in 1999 music revenue has gone down 53% from $ 14.6 billion to $ 7.0 billion in 2013. The RIAA,

7070-455: The next election after 2019 by more than half a year, from 2 May 2024 to Tuesday 28 January 2025; but the election was ultimately called for 4 July 2024 . The current regime around dissolution is substantially the same as that established by the Septennial Act 1715 (as amended by the Parliament Act 1911 ), under which that automatic dissolution instead occurred five years after issuance of

7171-509: The official country charts try to adapt to the new "global day" for releases such that they capture a full week's sales and streaming from Friday mornings to Thursday nights. The UK Top 100, for example, published by The Official Charts moved from being published on a Sunday to a Friday with the BBC moving its new Top 40 charts program from Sundays at 4 p.m. local time to Fridays at 4 p.m. local time. Many publications have argued that 24 September 1991

7272-501: The original St. Stephen's Chapel in the Palace of Westminster . The rectangular shape is derived from the shape of the chapel. Benches were arranged using the configuration of the chapel's choir stalls whereby they were facing across from one another. This arrangement facilitated an adversarial atmosphere representative of the British parliamentary approach. The distance across the floor of

7373-404: The others have gained office upon the resignation of a prime minister of their own party. A prime minister will resign after party defeat at an election, if unable to form a coalition , or obtain a confidence and supply arrangement, and may be forced to resign after a successful motion of no confidence (either from the House as a whole, or from their own parliamentary party ). In such cases,

7474-457: The passage of a bill to curtail the powers of the House of Lords after threatening to flood the house with 500 new Liberal peers to ensure the passage of the bill. Thus the Parliament Act 1911 came into effect, destroying the legislative equality of the two Houses of Parliament. The House of Lords was permitted only to delay most legislation, for a maximum of three parliamentary sessions or two calendar years (reduced to two sessions or one year by

7575-447: The popular music writers at the time dying in poverty due to extensive piracy during the piracy crisis of sheet music in the early 20th century. Sheet music peddlers would often buy a copy of the music at full price, copy it, and resell it, often at half the price of the original. Music publishing associations hired police officers and former soldiers to raid printing presses and shops, confiscating sheet music from street sellers under

7676-411: The premiership goes to whomever can command a majority in the House, unless there is a hung parliament and a coalition is formed; the new prime minister will by convention be the new leader of the outgoing premier's party. It has become the practice to write the constitutions of major UK political parties to provide a set way to appoint a new party leader. By convention, ministers are members of either

7777-496: The prevalence of piracy in music trade, which has affected the global sales of CDs. This article points out that technological development such as file sharing, MP3 players, and CDRs have increased music piracy. The most common forms of music piracy are Internet Piracy and compact disc piracy. It also discusses the association between music piracy and organized crime, which is defined as profit-driven illegal activities. The fact that digital products are virtual instead of physical affects

7878-460: The prime minister's advice. The House of Commons formally scrutinises the Government through its Committees and Prime Minister's Questions , when members ask questions of the prime minister; the house gives other opportunities to question other cabinet ministers. Prime Minister's Questions occur weekly, normally for half an hour each Wednesday. Questions must relate to the responding minister's official government activities, not to their activities as

7979-449: The rapid technological developments that facilitate digital piracy, and policy makers may need to consider enacting some specific provisions to deal with these infringements. Such provisions should not unduly impede legitimate digital communications, nor unreasonably impact on the Internet as an effective communications platform, commercial channel and educational tool..." There have been several means of free access to copyrighted music for

8080-655: The remaining markets had to switch their day of release when the new albums and singles would become available. This move effectively ends the earlier phenomenon where new music was unavailable in one country when it was legally available elsewhere. However, in some markets, in particular, Asia, music intended for local markets will continue to be released on other days. For example, domestic artists in Japan will continue to release new music on Wednesdays, two days earlier than music from international markets. The move has changed earlier traditional days where charts were being published as

8181-622: The rights holders through money made off of payments made by premium users and through advertisements. House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Like the upper house , the House of Lords , it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 members known as members of Parliament (MPs), who are elected to represent constituencies by

8282-408: The rub: In the same period that the RIAA estimates that 803 million CDs were sold, the RIAA estimates that 2.1 billion CDs were downloaded for free. Thus, although 2.6 times the total number of CDs sold were downloaded for free, sales revenue fell by just 6.7 percent... [So] there is a huge difference between downloading a song and stealing a CD. University of Idaho professor Darryl Woolley, writing in

8383-514: The same day worldwide rather than on varying national release days, being Mondays for releases in France and the United Kingdom, Tuesdays in United States and Canada and Fridays, for example in Germany and Australia. Music releases are now uniformly available around the world on Fridays at 00:01 local time in all 45 signatory countries. Of these, 11 countries already had their release music on Fridays, while

8484-412: The same election), including University constituencies , were abolished. In May and June 2009 revelations of MPs' expenses claims caused a major scandal and loss of confidence by the public in the integrity of MPs, as well as causing the first forced resignation of the Speaker in 300 years. In 2011, a referendum was held, asking whether to replace the present " first-past-the-post " system with

8585-441: The same week as 24 September. Similarly, many publications have argued that 29 September 1998 was the best ever day for hip hop album releases. On this day, Jay-Z 's Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life , Black Star 's Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star , Outkast 's Aquemini , A Tribe Called Quest 's The Love Movement , and Brand Nubian 's Foundation all released simultaneously. Music piracy Music piracy

8686-729: The support of the house, or who is most likely to command the support of the house—normally the leader of the largest party in the house—while the leader of the second-largest party becomes the leader of the Opposition . The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence. Confidence and no confidence motions are phrased explicitly: for instance, "That this House has no confidence in His Majesty's Government." Many other motions were until recent decades considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such: in particular, important bills that were part of

8787-532: The term of imprisonment or received a full pardon from the Crown. Moreover, anyone serving a prison sentence of one year or more is ineligible, per Representation of the People Act 1981 . Finally, members of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) and Northern Ireland Assembly are disqualified since 2014. Article 159, Section 2 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 formerly disqualified for ten years those found guilty of certain election-related offences, until this section

8888-517: The threat of rebellions by their own party's backbench MPs often forces governments to make concessions (under the Cameron–Clegg coalition , over foundation hospitals and under Labour over top-up fees and compensation for failed company pension schemes ). Occasionally Government bills are defeated by backbench rebellions ( Terrorism Act 2006 ). However, the scrutiny provided by the Select committees

8989-649: The traditional direct download method is slower. The 2008 British Music Rights survey showed that 80% of people in Britain wanted a legal P2P service. This was consistent with the results of earlier research conducted in the United States, upon which the Open Music Model was based. In addition, the majority of filesharers in the survey preferred to get their music from "local sources" such as LAN connections, email , flash drives , sharing with other people they know personally. The other most common method of filesharing

9090-510: The usual motives and behaviors of the supply and demand system. First, the cost of digital distribution is minuscule in comparison to the costs of distribution by former methods. Furthermore, the majority of the filesharing community will distribute copies of music for a zero price in monetary terms, and there are some consumers who are willing to pay a certain price for legitimate copies even when they could just as easily obtain pirated copies, such as with pay what you want vendors. Another issue

9191-456: The vacancy is filled by a by-election in the constituency, with the same electoral system as in general elections. The term "Member of Parliament" by modern convention means a member of the House of Commons. These members may, and almost invariably do, use the post-nominal letters "MP". The annual salary of each member is £86,584 effective from 1 April 2023. Members may also receive additional salaries for other offices they hold (for instance,

9292-428: The web began adding media files to the internet, and prior potential risks and difficulties to pirating music, such as the physicality of the process, were eliminated. It was much easier for people with little to no knowledge of technology and old piracy methods to gather media files. The first application that demonstrated the implications of music piracy was Napster . Napster enabled users to exchange music files over

9393-541: The website was hosted under Swedish law, where this "map" was not illegal. Fearing an impact on potential sales from internet piracy, industry associations like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) lobbied for stricter laws and more severe punishments of those breaking copyright law. Record companies have also turned to technological barriers to copying, such as DRM , to some controversy. These organizations have tried to add more controls to

9494-423: The writ of summons, a slightly longer period. Between 2011 and 2022, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 was in force, under which control of the timing of elections instead lay with the House of Commons, which could pass a motion of no confidence or (as occurred in 2017 ) of early election with a two-thirds majority; absent such motions, Parliament would automatically dissolve 17 working days (about 4 weeks) before

9595-447: Was a free peer-to-peer file sharing software similar to that of Napster. The software enabled unlimited file sharing between computers and ended being one of the most popular sharing networks around. Like Napster, Limewire struggled through multiple legal battles and inevitably wound up being shut down. Spotify and other on-demand streaming services are offering a way for consumers to still get their music for free while also contributing to

9696-481: Was an Irish Sinn Féin candidate, Constance Markievicz , who therefore became the first woman to be an MP. However, owing to Sinn Féin's policy of abstention from Westminster, she never took her seat. Women were given equal voting status as men in 1928, and with effect from the General Election in 1950 , various forms of plural voting (i.e. some individuals had the right to vote in more than one constituency in

9797-473: Was appointed Employment Secretary in 1985; Lord Mandelson , who served as Business Secretary; Lord Adonis, who served as Transport Secretary; Baroness Amos, who served as International Development Secretary; Baroness Morgan of Cotes , who served as Culture Secretary ; and Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park , who served as Minister of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Minister of State for International Development . The elected status of members of

9898-455: Was declared illegal by a House of Lords judgement of 1909. Consequently, a resolution was passed in the House of Commons in 1911 introducing salaries for MPs. In 1918, women over 30 who owned property were given the right to vote, as were men over 21 who did not own property, quickly followed by the passage of a law enabling women to be eligible for election as members of parliament at the younger age of 21. The only woman to be elected that year

9999-481: Was introduced to the Commons in May 2021, which would repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act in its entirety, restore the monarch's prerogative powers to dissolve Parliament at the prime minister's request, and ensure that a parliamentary term automatically ends five years after Parliament's first meeting and polling day being 25 working days later. The bill was given royal assent on 24 March 2022, becoming

10100-495: Was the greatest day for album releases of all time. The date saw the releases of albums such as Nevermind by Nirvana , Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers , The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest , and Trompe le Monde by the Pixies . In addition, Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden was originally scheduled to come out on the date but got delayed to 8 October, and Screamadelica by Primal Scream came out

10201-459: Was with P2P technologies. By 2007, P2P networks' popularity had grown so much that they used as much as 39% of the total volume of information exchanged over the internet. Statistics have shown that since the early 2010s, there has been a decline in music piracy. According to a NPD survey, in 2012, approximately one in ten Internet users in the United States downloaded music through a file sharing service similar to BitTorrent or LimeWire. This number

#701298