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Started by D Lim; Last updated Feb 27, 08 4:03 PM CST by D Lim | View history

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Music Industry

Stories

Stories 101 - 120 of 206

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January 2008
- Watermarking Sets Music Biz Up to Fail Again
  
  Ars Technica | Jan 17, 08 1:30 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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. More »
- Music Giant EMI Slashing 2,000 Jobs
  
  Wall Street Journal | Jan 14, 08 6:14 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - The new owners of record company titan EMI are cleaning house, starting with the elimination of 2,000 jobs—a third of its workforce—in a restructuring that could also include dumping artists, reports the Wall Street Journal . The layoffs come as new owner, Terra Firma Capital, tries to rejuvenate the fourth-place company during an industry skid that saw album sales drop 15% last year. More »
- Radiohead Album Offered Free Online Tops Charts
  
  Chicago Tribune | Jan 10, 08 8:00 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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. More »
- Hannah Montana Clone Doubles in Concert
  
  Chicago Tribune | Jan 10, 08 7:03 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Heartthrob singer Hannah Montana has pulled a switch on fans—using a body double who lip-syncs a song on stage in her hugely popular national concert, reports OK! magazine. The jig was up when an outraged fan, who said he felt "played for a fool," spotted the switch. A spokesman for Miley Cyrus, Hannah's real-life alter ego, confirmed that a lookalike replaces the singer so she can complete a costume change. More »
- FCC to Test 'Net Neutrality' in Comcast Case
  
  Associated Press | Jan 9, 08 12:54 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The Federal Communications Commission will investigate allegations Comcast hinders file sharing by blocking internet traffic for some users, the AP reports. Reports last year showed Comcast interfered with popular BitTorrent file-transfer protocol. Comcast has denied blocking data, rather claiming it delays such transfers to maximize network efficiency for all users. File sharing, widely used for online piracy, has substantial legitimate use as well. More »
- Napster Moves to MP3-Only Format
  
  Reuters | Jan 7, 08 3:30 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Bad news for digital music copyright advocates: Napster plans to sell music downloads as MP3s and stop selling DRM-protected songs, the digital music retailer said today. Digital rights management blocks consumers from illegally sharing music but is unpopular with users because DRM-protected songs will often only play on certain players and can’t be moved from one computer to another, reports Reuters. More »
- RIAA Boss Clarifies Lawsuit
  
  Engadget | Jan 5, 08 9:06 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - RIAA chief Cary Sherman says the recording industry has never prosecuted anyone for ripping or copying CDs for personal use, Engadget reports. Sherman appeared on NPR and characterized media reports about a recent high-profile suit as inaccurate. The legal action, he said, is against a man who ripped CDs not just for himself but to give others access as well through file sharing. More »
- U Wash Won't Cite Students on Swapping
  
  Ars Technica | Jan 4, 08 1:58 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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. More »
- Sony BMG Will Bail on DRM
  
  BusinessWeek | Jan 4, 08 1:20 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Sony BMG will begin offering at least part of its music catalogue online without restrictive digital rights management mechanisms, Business Week reports. The decision comes after the other three major labels—Warner, EMI, and Universal—decided to ditch DRM in 2007, challenging Apple's 80% share of the legal music downloads market. More »
- US Album Sales Plummet In '07
  
  Reuters | Jan 4, 08 11:25 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Album sales in the US fell 15% in 2007, to just 500.5 million units. The total represents both the lowest sales figure and sharpest decline since Nielsen began keeping track of music sales estimates in 1993. Total digital sales, including both albums and singles, were up 14% with 1.4 billion units sold, but still 19% short of last year’s figures. More »
- Online Music Sales Surge in Britain
  
  Reuters | Jan 3, 08 3:28 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Online music downloads in Britain surged during the last week of 2007, more than doubling the corresponding week of 2006, Reuters reports. With physical album sales still down and digital piracy continuing, analysts saw a high note: "The news should help induce optimism that the recorded music industry may be seeing the roots of recovery," one said. More »
- Digital Music Packaging Getting Jazzed Up in '08
  
  Reuters | Jan 2, 08 1:12 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Part of the reasons CDs are still popular in the age of digital music is the extras, Reuters reports. When you buy a CD, you get extended album art, lyrics, and liner notes. With an album downloaded digitally, it's just song titles and thumbnail art. The industry hopes to change that in 2008, and Apple's iTunes is expected to lead the way. More »
December 2007
- Radiohead to Webcast Show on New Year's Eve
  
  Guardian (UK) | Dec 27, 07 9:52 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Radiohead will celebrate the CD release of its buzz-generating new album In Rainbows by streaming a pre-recorded concert on its website at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The band broke new ground by first releasing the album online under a pay-what-you-want formula. The New Year's Eve show will include "songs and other bits,” as described by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Guardian reports. More »
- Amazon Gets Funky With Warner Music
  
  Digital Trends | Dec 27, 07 2:21 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Amazon’s burgeoning mp3 service landed another big fish today, adding Warner Music’s catalog to its online store. The Amazon shop aims to compete with Apple’s iTunes, selling songs for 89 cents as opposed to Apple’s 99 cents and without digital rights management software that makes sharing songs difficult and limits which players will play them. More »
- Jay-Z Leaves Def Jam Post
  
  E! Online | Dec 24, 07 7:15 PM CST