$50 million in royalties due to thousands of artists the labels have “lost track of”: David Bowie may not need the extra money, and Elvis Presley will not be able to spend his windfall. But under an agreement announced yesterday by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, record companies will …
Read More »Tag Archives: Business
Economics Finally Pushing Scout’s to the Internet
We’ve been hearing about how the Internet would revolutionize the way music is found, distributed and promoted for ten years. Until recently that wasn’t the case – at least with the majors – who have just now been dragged kicking and screaming into digital music sales over the Internet, and …
Read More »Future of Music Policy Summit Blog
The Future of Music Policy Summit 2004 is going on right now in DC. Since most of us aren’t there, a great way to keep up with the proceedings is via the blog that CD Baby’s Derek Sivers is keeping. Topics up so far include This Panel Kills Fascists, The …
Read More »Want to Hear the New Super Smart Album? Pick Up the Phone
German band Super Smart have released their new album only on ringtones: Super Smart have turned their backs on vinyl and CDs and instead have decided to just release their album as ringtones. The album, Panda Babies, is published by a German company that focuses on digital music for mobile …
Read More »Blah Blah More RIAA Lawsuits Blah Blah
The beat goes on, 477 more: Since January, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), employing the “John Doe” litigation method, has sued more than 2,000 people. The RIAA is using this method because the names of the 477 people accused of illegally distributing copyrighted sound recordings on peer-to-peer services …
Read More »CNET Music Site Up
This is seriously bare bones so far: Online technology company CNET Networks Inc. on Monday launched a free digital music service, allowing users to search and download what it said were thousands of songs contributed by independent and unsigned artists. The service, based on CNET’s Download.com Web site has been …
Read More »On the Jackson Front
Times are tough for Michael Jackson: a grand jury says he has to stand trial, his career is in limbo, and tawdry details came out about the charges against him. The grim details: US broadcaster ABC has revealed details of what it says is a police report on child abuse …
Read More »Online Music Idiocy
The Onion has spoken on the subject of online music stores: I can’t believe the idiots at the labels are talking about RAISING their prices: iTunes has been hailed as the first successful online music store, with over 50 million songs downloaded. Its success has been due largely to Apple’s …
Read More »Future of Music Policy Summit 2004
Hard to believe it’s already been a year since the last Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit, but it has. The cost is quite reasonable, the topics crucial, and the star power impressive: Now in its fourth year, the FMC Policy Summit is a forum for musicians, lawyers, academics, policymakers …
Read More »Felten’s Unified Theory
On his Freedom to Tinker blog, Princeton computer science professor Edward Felten presents his “Grand Unified Theory of File Sharing,” which attempts to explain discrepancies in various studies comparing file sharing activities with CD sales: First, let’s review the three main results that have to be explained. Survey-based studies, which …
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