Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Radiohead to Testify Against the RIAA

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

radiohead-riaaRadiohead, the band that made millions of dollars by giving away their music for free, has very little to complain about when it comes to piracy. On the contrary, in a landmark file-sharing case, Radiohead has responded positively to a request to testify against the RIAA.
Last month, Radiohead expressed its growing discomfort with record labels that abuse copyrights for their own benefit. In an attempt to take a stand against the labels, the band and several other well known artists formed the Featured Artists Coalition, a lobby group that aims to end the extortion-like practices of record labels and allow artists to gain more control over their own work.

In addition, the artists are unhappy with the fact that the labels, represented by lobby groups such as the RIAA and IFPI, are pushing for anti-piracy legislation without consulting the artists they claim to represent. Fans are unnecessarily portrayed as criminals according to some.
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Posted in Interesting, Music, World | 2 Comments »

BitTorrent Freed Music, and Now It’s Yours

Monday, March 16th, 2009

The Internet and file-sharing networks like BitTorrent have shifted music promotion from the labels to the people. Increasingly, record labels are losing control over what music the masses are listening to, and according to some musicians this is is actually a good thing.
Meet Chris Zabriskie, a full-time musician whose career started roughly 8 years ago. Like many other artists, Chris has decided to give all of his music away for free. This isn’t down to Chris lacking a desire for money, but because he thinks that his music should be heard – and that it’s pretty much impossible to sell music nowadays without giving the public the option to “try before they buy.”

Zabriskie, himself an avid BitTorrent user, said he has leaked all of his albums on torrent sites ahead of their official release date. And he’s not the only one doing this. “I can tell you from numerous conversations and firsthand experience that there are few artists left, even in the big leagues, that do not. You wonder where the early leaks come from? Don’t be so surprised.” he writes.
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Posted in Internet, Music | 2 Comments »

Eminem sues Universal over digital royalties

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Eminem’s lawsuit against his label finally went to trial this week after two years, in a case worth hundreds of millions of pounds to artists worldwide.

Eminem’s publishing company, FBT Productions, is suing Universal Music Group for $1.6m (£800,000) in alleged unpaid royalties. But what’s at stake is not just an unpaid bill – it’s the definition of digital royalties.

When a song or ringtone is bought online, at the iTunes Music Store or anywhere else, the artist receives a royalty. The amount of this royalty is governed by a contract between labels and artists. For many artists, however, that digital royalty is not explicitly stated – millions of contracts, after all, predate iTunes and did not anticipate the boom in digital music sales.
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Singing Spiderman Swings into a Broadway Musical

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

On February 2010 we’ll find out what happens when you mix up Spiderman, Bono and a Broadway musical together. The website for Spider-Man, Turn Off The Dark has gone live and come June you’ll be able to sign up for tickets for a show that promises a new take on the story of Peter Parker, whose life is turned upside down when he’s bitten by a genetically altered spider.
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Pirate Bay Plea: Stop Hacking the Music Industry!

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Indicating support for The Pirate Bay team, hackers have attacked several of the IFPI’s websites, defacing one of them with a message for the trial prosecution. However, Peter Sunde feels the attack is misguided and says such actions don’t help their cause. He is pleading with the hackers to stop.
There can be no doubt. This week has seen a level of support for The Pirate Bay that has taken almost everyone by surprise. Sure, everyone knows it is the biggest BitTorrrent site and sure, the people who run it are some of the biggest characters in the scene, but the interest has been over and above what most people expected.

Some are showing support by getting up in the middle of the night and translating the case for others. Some have been outside the court in the cold, while others have released a documentary. Many millions have been following every development online and posting words of support feverishly to blog and forum.
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