“Some loosening of restrictions is inevitable as the music industry grows more comfortable distributing songs over the Internet, the critics said. But they argued that setting music free would roil an industry that is finally pulling out of a five-year slump — one that coincided with the rise of Napster and other online services that … Continue reading “Recording Industry, Fans Disagree Over Copy Locks”
“But they are tuning in to more than a musicologist’s online toy: services like Pandora have become the latest example of how technology is shaking up the hierarchy of tastemakers across popular culture. In music the shift began when unauthorized file-sharing networks like the original Napster allowed fans to snatch up the songs they wanted, … Continue reading “The New Critics (Or What Passes For Them)”
When Kazaa agreed this week to pay $115 million in damages to the recording industry and relaunch itself as a legal music download service, it perpetuated a business model that many observers see as shortsighted and seriously flawed. “Aside from the fact that there’s no clear mechanism for getting this money to the artists who … Continue reading “More Money For The Big Guys, Less Music For Us”
A couple of years ago, Kazaa was the poster child for illegal file-trading services, and found itself on the receiving end of a blistering legal assault by the recording industry, which is determined to stamp out music piracy online. Now, Kazaa has agreed to pay out millions of dollars in penalties, and is hoping to … Continue reading “Kazaa Pays Up, Goes Legit”
“The rise of the on-demand world has local suppliers of content everywhere unsettled. In one sense, it’s the classic tale of old-guard businesses struggling to withstand a disruptive technology. (Think Napster and the record industry.) But it’s also a lesson in how media are benefiting by embracing the new broadcast landscape of content without boundaries.”
“File-sharing barons are facing their own day of reckoning after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer. Over the last four months, several Napster heirs have shut down and others are contemplating what they once couldn’t abide — doing business by the entertainment industry’s rules to survive.”
It will still be a while before video on demand makes it possible to see whatever you want whenever you want it. “With the rise of portable video devices, viewers are starting to change the way they watch television. The networks, meanwhile, don’t want to be left behind. In many ways, TV is where the … Continue reading “Remaking The Video Experience”
Norman Lebrecht on the Supreme Court ruling holding software companies liable for the illegal file-swapping: “The music industry… can now stop penalising innocent teens in their bedrooms and go for the geeks who make the stealing systems.” On the huge demand for free Beethoven downloads from BBC: “There is clearly a demand for more – … Continue reading “Can Downloading Save Classical Music?”
So Big Media has decided that filesharing networks are a threat to their existance and the courts hav backed them up. “Six years after Napster arrived, it should be clear that geeks and fans are simply going to bypass a legal framework that was built for sales of sheet music and discs. As they did … Continue reading “Filesharing – Friend Or Foe? (Maybe Both?)”
Will the ubiquitous iPod become obsolete in the face of new cell phone technology? At least two companies are hoping so, as they gear up for the release of a major direct-to-phone music service next year. The companies, Napster and Ericsson, say the service will allow users to download music directly to their phones, or … Continue reading “Multifunctional Overdrive?”
