Culture and Society

The Beatles refuse to license their music for online sales, with their spokesman saying, “I don’t see any reason for it at all.” This is a very neat statement of the recording industry’s attitude toward the Internet in general until file sharing forced them into the new millennium three years …

A strategic management paper [registration required] by a Wharton School legal studies professor says suing your customers is a less than ideal marketing strategy. He also finds a fascinating parallel from exactly 100 years ago: having a strong legal claim on the merits is only one factor in legal strategy …

We received this from the CEO of the Wippet online music service: We’ve all seen EMusic’s model put under pressure to ‘conform’ and end that dastardly unlimited subscription model before too many music lovers used to it and consider it the norm. And without even giving that nice .99c per …

Here is an example of how deeply file sharing has penetrated into society, and a pretty good indication that it isn’t just about money. Consider the words of Canadian quarterback Jesse Palmer, interviewed by the Toronto Star: Q If you want to chill out, what music are you going to …

We have discussed the “appropriate” pricing for music in the form of CDs, downloads, streaming, etc., with some frequency here. Amy Harmon gives some good background and perspective on the issue in the NY Times: Since the introduction of vinyl records after World War II, recorded music has assumed many …

Well, at least one of yesterday’s absurdities has been mitigated. SunnComm now says it won’t sue John “Alex” Halderman for publishing the “shift key” hole in their CD copy-protection system: SunnComm Technologies, Inc. announced yesterday morning it would sue first-year graduate student John Halderman over his recent critique of the …

Thanks to our most excellent pal Brad Hill for this review of the new Napster – visit his Digital Songstream site often!: Review: Napster 2.0 by Brad Hill The beta launch of Napster 2.0, an upgrade of Pressplay 2.0 by parent company Roxio, occurred on October 9, 2003. Napster 2.0 …

Current and potential webcasters, take note of this: SUMMARY: The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is requesting public comment on the adoption of regulations for records of use of sound recordings performed pursuant to the statutory license for public performances of sound recordings by means of digital audio …

Is it the moon, something in the water, the Cubs and Red Sox both getting out of the first round of the playoffs? First the Tommy Chong sentence, now this. We told you a couple of days ago about the Halderman report on the flaws in SunnComm’s “secure digital” format. …

This guy is GOOD. You want to learn how to beatbox? You just want to be amazed? No need for a drum machine with Max around.