music downloads

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Silent Song Is a Hit on iTunes
Silent Song Is a Hit on iTunes

Silent Song Is a Hit on iTunes

'A a a a a Very Good Song' has a role to play

(Newser) - No, the volume is just fine. It's the song. An unusual tune has found its way onto the top 50 on the iTunes charts, alongside Ed Sheeran and Keith Urban hits, the AP reports. The song is completely silent. "A a a a a Very Good Song" costs...

Richard Carpenter Files Lawsuit on Behalf of Karen

He's suing for unpaid digital royalties

(Newser) - The lawsuits may have only just begun: Richard Carpenter filed a suit in California Wednesday on behalf of sister Karen Carpenter's estate, saying record companies are cheating both of them out of digital royalties. Richard, the surviving member of the sibling duo, accuses Universal Music Group and A&M...

Adele's Comeback Song Breaks Download Record

'Hello' sells 1.1M digital copies

(Newser) - Adele's "Hello" has become the first song to sell one million tracks in a week. Nielsen Music said Monday that Adele's comeback track sold 1.11 million digital songs, setting a new record. Flo Rida's "Right Round" previously had the record for most downloads in...

Google Planning Music Store
 Google Planning Music Store 

Google Planning Music Store

Company aims to have service up before iTunes Match

(Newser) - Google is pushing further into the entertainment business with an online music store that it aims to have up and running within weeks, sources tell the New York Times . Music industry execs say the MP3 store will probably be linked to Google's Music Beta cloud service. Google wants to...

Judge Kills Off LimeWire
 Judge Kills Off LimeWire 

Judge Kills Off LimeWire

File-sharing site ordered to permanently disable software

(Newser) - File-sharing site LimeWire has been effectively killed off by a court order. A federal judge has issued an injunction ordering the service to permanently disable its software and to end the sharing of unauthorized music files, the Wall Street Journal reports. The popular site was found liable for copyright infringement...

Watch an Ad, Get an MP3 Download: Genius or Goof?

Free All Music is innovative, but still might not work

(Newser) - A new site thinks it has the answer the music industry’s woes: Free All Music will allow users to download a high-quality mp3 with no copy restrictions in exchange for watching a 15-second video ad of their choosing. The site then takes a user’s handle and uses it...

Dylan Album Out Early—if You've Got a Citi Card

Loyal Citibank customers get a 1-week jump on the rest of us

(Newser) - Citibank rewards customers will have first dibs on Bob Dylan’s first-ever Christmas album. The lucky cardholders will be able to download Christmas in the Heart online during the week before Oct. 13, when it goes on sale to the general public. An exec tells Reuters the offer will have...

New Zune HD Scores, but Lags on Content
 New Zune HD Scores, 
 but Lags on Content 

TECH REVIEW

New Zune HD Scores, but Lags on Content

Microsoft player is best yet, but purchasing media is a drag

(Newser) - Microsoft's Zune music player has long been the iPod's dowdy stepsister, but the new, fourth-generation Zune HD is finally "a portable media player that you can be proud to carry around," says Katherine Boehret of the Wall Street Journal. The new device features a "stunningly vivid" touchscreen,...

Radiohead: No More Albums
 Radiohead: No More Albums 

Radiohead: No More Albums

(Newser) - Radiohead has recorded its last album, frontman Thom Yorke told the Believer in a recent interview. Instead, the band will focus on download-only singles and EPs. “None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again,” he said. Though the band believes there’...

Radiohead Stuns With Anthem for WWI Vet
 Radiohead Stuns With 
 Anthem for WWI Vet 
MUSIC REVIEW

Radiohead Stuns With Anthem for WWI Vet

(Newser) - Radiohead made waves when they let fans download their last album for whatever price they wanted, yet a new online-only track has been released in the past week to far less fanfare. "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" commemorates the last British veteran of World War I, who died last...

Minnesota Mom Fined $1.9M for Illegal Music Downloads

Guilty verdict given in do-over of country's first file-sharing trial

(Newser) - A Minnesota woman has been fined $80,000 per song for each of 24 music files she illegally downloaded, CNN reports. The court ordered Jammie Thomas to pay $1.92 million to the Recording Industry of America. Her original trial—America's first for music file-sharing—granted the RIAA just $220,...

Music Gang Busted in iTunes Royalties Scam

Group boostsrankings, bank accounts by buying their own music with stolen cards

(Newser) - A group of ten British DJs have been arrested for allegedly using stolen credit cards to download their own music from iTunes and Amazon, the Times of London reports. The gang is believed to have made $300,000 in royalties from the $750,000 they spent buying 19 compilations they...

Web Killed Big Acts, Saved Music: Kot
 Web Killed Big Acts, 
 Saved Music: Kot 
interview

Web Killed Big Acts, Saved Music: Kot

Each tech advance stirred unfounded fears: Kot

(Newser) - The Internet has so fragmented music that there may never be another big act like U2. But that’s just fine for music critic Greg Kot, author of Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music. “Art thrives best when it’s created without regard to making any kind of...

Danger Mouse's Latest Album a Blank CD

Producer pushes listeners to illegally download, burn songs

(Newser) - Legal wrangling reportedly led to the shelving of Danger Mouse’s latest album; now, instead of dropping Dark Night Of The Soul, the producer behind acclaimed Beatles/Jay-Z mash-up the Grey Album is releasing a book of photographs by director David Lynch—with a blank CD enclosed, XXL reports. “For...

To Combat Digital Piracy, Try Stealing

Composer pitches real-world thievery to help raise awareness

(Newser) - A Hollywood composer wants you to stop illegally downloading music, and he's willing to put his freedom in jeopardy to make his point. Because the public doesn't seem to equate swapping digital files with stealing, Richard Gibbs is pushing for people to swipe other products in a nationwide "day...

95% of Music Downloads Illegal: Industry

40B tracks shared illegally, group claims

(Newser) - Nearly all—95%—of music downloads globally are illegal, at least according to the industry, Techdirt reports. The numbers come from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and indicate that even a 25% increase in online music purchases last year couldn’t overcome the effects of piracy. According to...

Sonos Zaps Tunes to All Rooms
 Sonos Zaps Tunes to All Rooms 
Product Review

Sonos Zaps Tunes to All Rooms

Listen to downloaded and internet music where you want it, when you want

(Newser) - A Sonos Music System has revolutionized the musical life of producer/director Barry Sonnenfeld. "It may be one of the electronic devices I can't do without," he writes in Esquire. What a Sonos can do:
  • It streams music wirelessly throughout the house, sending different tunes to different stereos
...

iTunes to Sell Music Without Copy Protection

Prices change: They'll range from $0.69 to $1.29

(Newser) - Apple will remove DRM anti-piracy software from the music it sells on the iTunes store, the New York Times reports. As part of a new deal reached between Apple, Sony BMG, the Universal Music Group and the Warner Music Group, songs will be DRM-free and will be priced differently. New...

Boss Pens Halloween Screamer
 Boss Pens Halloween Screamer 

Boss Pens Halloween Screamer

(Newser) - Just in time for Halloween, Bruce Springsteen has released a song chronicling the life of the infamous Jersey Devil, the Star-Ledger reports. It's a free download on his website. In the accompanying video, Springsteen plays the part of the cloven-hoofed denizen of the Jersey Pine Barrens. “Sixteen witches cast...

Put It Away: iPods Are So Yesterday
 Put It Away: iPods 
 Are So Yesterday 
opinion

Put It Away: iPods Are So Yesterday

(Newser) - Soon iPods will seem as outdated as Walkmans—the only question is whether iTunes goes out the door with them, Kevin Maney writes in Portfolio. Consider how old-fashioned the iPod already is: You pay for downloads, fill up a hard drive with them, and cart them around, "like keeping...

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