Startup promised free, legal, iPod-compatible downloads rom all the major labels
CNET Jan 28, 08 12:31 PM CST
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Startup Qtrax has been promising free, legal music downloads from all the major labels via an ad-supported site that was supposed to launch this morning. Too good to be true? Maybe. On the eve of its debut, things started to unravel, with Warner, Universal and EMI all denying agreements with the startup, reports CNET.
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Smartphone users are choosing to share music rather than pay for downloads
Reuters Jan 19, 08 7:50 CST
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Apple has sold 4 million iPhones since last summer’s launch, and it’s become the industry leader in mobile web access, while having just 1% of the handset market, reports Reuters. But the sleek smartphone hasn’t appeared to have made a bump in music downloads. Overall, downloads to handsets have been a disappointment to the music industry.
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OPINION
DRM wasn't answer,
but tagging tunes
is no better
Ars Technica Jan 17, 08 1:30 PM CST
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Digital rights management is dying, but Ken Fisher writes in Ars Technica that the music industry is “barking up the wrong tree” if it turns to watermarks instead. The technology—which encodes owners' info into tunes—isn’t a practical copyright infringement fix or good from a privacy standpoint. Watermarking isn’t an “access control,” so the law doesn’t speak to it—dulling the prosecution threat.
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'In Rainbows' still popular even after months of free downloads
Chicago Tribune Jan 10, 08 8:00 CST
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Rock band Radiohead's new album "In Rainbows" debuted in the No. 1 spot in record sales on Billboard charts this week despite being available for free on the band's website for months. The down side: only 122,000 copies were sold—good but not great—and the release topped the charts in part because there have been few other new offerings in this traditionally slow post-holiday stretch.
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Second school defies RIAA request to pass along warning letters
Ars Technica Jan 4, 08 1:58 PM CST
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The University of Washington has become the second Pacific Northwest school to refuse to pass along warning letters from the RIAA to students whose IP addresses were used for illegal downloading. The RIAA considers students liable for any swapping connected with their IP addresses, but the UW, along with the University of Oregon, argues that there's no way to know who was using a computer at a given time.
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Beijing court cracks down on users downloading music
Associated Press Dec 21, 07 3:21 PM CST
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Yahoo China—40% owned by the US Internet giant—can no longer allow users to download unlicensed music on its Web site. A Chinese court yesterday upheld a decision that the company violated copyright laws in effect since last year. The US has long complained about rampant music and movie piracy in China, and the decision could signal a tougher stance, reports the Wall Street Journal .
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Monday's last chance
to pay what you want; iTunes may be option
Wired Dec 6, 07 7:04 PM CST
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Radiohead is set to lay to rest its pay-what-you-will offer, which lets fans download the recently released album "In Rainbows" for as much, or (more likely) as little as they like. The promo ends Monday, after which the album will only be available on CD or record, Wired reports—unless iTunes can strike a deal with the band.
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Revenue-sharing model allows artists to set music prices for direct sale on MySpace
New York Times Dec 5, 07 1:47 CST
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MySpace will host and sell videos of exclusive musical performances on its MySpace Music site, reports the New York Times . Artists will record a series of exclusive videos for the site, and will be able to set their own prices, unlike Apple's iTunes flat-rate prices. The system, called Transmissions, won't require users to leave MySpace, as an earlier, failed system did.
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New Ovi.com platform will go head-to-head with likes of Google
PC World Dec 4, 07 11:59 PM CST
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Nokia has announced bold plans to move beyond mobile phones and compete head-on with big tech and Internet names like Apple, Google and Microsoft, PC World reports. Its Ovi.com site will act as a gateway to all of its music, photo-sharing and games services: "Ovi" is the Finnish for "door".
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Promotion deal pushing music companies to switch to DRM-free MP3 format
Reuters Dec 2, 07 11:55 PM CST
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Pepsi and Amazon aren’t music producers, but they may inspire large-scale changes in the industry, Reuters says. The two companies will launch a music download promotion of MP3 songs during the Super Bowl next year, a deal pushing music titans like Warner Music and Sony BMG to consider distributing songs in the same format, which bypasses digital rights management technology.
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Slams music industry's subpoenas for privacy abuses
ComputerWorld Dec 2, 07 1:02 PM CST
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The Oregon AG is playing hardball with the Recording Industry of America in a battle that could set a precedent for how the RIAA conducts its crusade against music sharing, ComputerWorld reports. Pitting alleged piracy against privacy, the AG is investigating the data mining RIAA used to subpoena the IDs of 17 U of Oregon students it suspects of piracy.
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Move to stem high-tech theft raises worries about civil liberties
Financial Times (UK) Nov 23, 07 8:34 CST
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French internet pirates, beware. Big Brother is watching. Or, he will be if a three-strikes-and-you’re-out industry proposal backed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy moves forward, the Financial Times reports. Under the plan, ISPs would forward data on users illegally sharing files to the government, which could terminate problem internet accounts after two warnings. Critics say the plan threatens civil liberties.
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Pirate Bay admins, hounded by lawyers and tails, 'not worried'
Ars Technica Nov 19, 07 3:47 PM CST
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Things are heating up for BitTorrent search site The Pirate Bay, as lawyers for Prince pressure advertisers to drop it and a Swedish prosecutor promises to sue site administrators. One admin tells Ars Technica that investigators driving cars with Danish license plates are following and photographing Pirate Bay operators -- a move he's inclined to blame on Prince.
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Long-awaited move follows settlement of Apple trademark case
Reuters Nov 16, 07 12:54 PM CST
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The long and winding road leads to your computer: The Beatles' catalogue should finally arrive online in 2008, says Paul McCartney. The release has been expected since February’s settlement in the trademark dispute between record label Apple and iTunes-provider Apple. The Beatles' work is among the most high-profile still unavailable in digital format, Reuters writes.
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Company said 62% chose not to pay in experimental album release
Wired Nov 9, 07 3:59 PM CST
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Just how successful has Radiohead's experimental pay-if-you-want online album release been? That's in debate as the band denies a report that just 38% of fans opted to pay for In Rainbows , and most paid under $4. Radiohead said the the figures from comScore Inc. are "wholly inaccurate," reports Wired News .
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