Archive for August, 2007

mtv, verizon, real rhapsody team to take on itunes

• The three media powerhouses announced on Tuesday their intent to topple iTunes’ cupcakes by streamlining the delivery of music and media to PCs, portable devices and mobile phones. The new conglomerate company called Rhapsody America will offer exclusive services from all involved. Former general manager of MTV Network’s URGE, Michael Bloom, will now be leading Rhapsody America on its newly founded quest. The MTV Network includes MTV, CMT and VH1 (which is nearly a music video broadcast monopoly) - and effective immediately, users of MTV’s URGE, Real’s Rhapsody, and Verizon’s V CAST can cross-platform and access all three media services.     

• Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 | Posted in Special Features | No Comments »

terrestrial radio vs. satellite and digital resources

• Patrick Walsh, CFO of Indianapolis based AM/FM giant Emmis Communications, is playing down the impact that satellite radio is having on terrestrial radio – Walsh describes satellite broadcasting as a niche business that will have no measurable effect on terrestrial radio as a whole. Walsh’s comments are primarily based upon Emmis’ opinion that as long the public is buying into the popular music markets, terrestrial radio will continue to lead the broadcast industry. Although, deep down inside, the entire terrestrial radio industry fully understands the threat that commercial AM/FM faces due to the growing popularity of satellite radio combined with the digital music market and its applications.

  Although it is currently estimated that over 90% of Americans listen daily to FM/AM radio, with most of that market controlled by the major labels and fueled by commercial interests, the public is aggressively seeking alternatives - And - with nearly a million iPods sold thus-far in America in 2007, and projections for digital music sales skyrocketing, it is blatantly apparent that by 2010, the commercially driven FM/AM marketplace will succumb to the awesome fury of “personal choice” – a concept that the terrestrial radio industry has scoffed at for decades.  

  I mean, really, who actually wants to sit and listen to 15 minutes of commercials just for the off-chance that the computer at the radio station will actually play the ONE decent song it has in rotation? 

• Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 | Posted in Global Broadcast, Special Features | 1 Comment »

merlin adds weight to independent music industry

• Kevin Arnold (USA - IODA founder and CEO), Tom Silverman (USA - Tommy Boy Records founder and CEO), Martin Mills (UK - Beggars Group chairman), and Yongge Shen (China - Zu Shu Entertainment founder) are just a few names that craft Merlin’s elite board of directors. Rumors of the magic behind Merlin have been spreading like hot liquid through the music industry over the past several months, and now that the syndicate has incorporated with such a formidable team of independent music directors, business should be right on schedule. Merlin’s primary goal is to properly represent the independent music industry to ensure that their business and common interests are recognized throughout the world marketplace and beyond. 

• Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 | Posted in Special Features | No Comments »

internet broadcasters find breathing room with soundexchange

• Since March, small webcasters have been sweating bullets over unrealistic broadcasting rates set forth by the Copyright Royalty Board. Now SoundExchange has stepped up and is offering webcasters the same rates previously seen via the former Small Webcaster Settlement Act (SWSA), with royalty fees between 10-12% of total revenues. Webcasters have until September 14th to accept the agreement or get thrown to the sharks.

  The new agreement will last until 2010 and will apply to SoundExchange members only.

• Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 | Posted in Global Broadcast, Special Features | No Comments »

new music piracy study claims $12.5 billion dollar annual loss

• Intellectual Property Products such as music and media are the driving force behind the American economy. The Institute for Policy Innovation has just released the results of a study focusing on global music piracy and its effects on the American music industry and economy. The IPI study claims that United States economy looses $12.5 billion dollars per year, while industry workers lose over 71,000 jobs and $2.7 billion in earnings. It is also estimated the Fed looses around $422 million dollars a year in tax revenues. 

• Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 | Posted in Special Features | No Comments »

Myspace music hack closed – for now

• One of the biggest known hacks on MySpace has been subdued for the time being. A Madrid-based hacker named Ocavio Chango recently provided a workaround website which allowed the public to download MP3’s from MySpace pages using a stream-ripping technology that is aggressively being utilized by hackers worldwide. Chango is still distributing the source code for his pirating software although all of his websites are currently iced.

  

• Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 | Posted in Special Features | No Comments »

Tilera releases signature tile64 chip to the marketplace

• The technology within the TILE64 chip uses a tiled architecture of processors connected through an I/O network; cores have 2 levels of cache for information storage, and each core connects through a shared 3rd level cache. A microscopic network switch is built into each core, and the data is routed to the other switches - then to the processors themselves through a system called iMesh (interactive mesh). The iMesh allows a terabit of bandwith per each “tile” (a “tile” being composed of each switch + the processor), eliminating data chip congestion.

  Chips are currently being sold by Tilera to technology producers in bulk (10,000+) at $435.00 a pop.

  

• Monday, August 20th, 2007 | Posted in Special Features | No Comments »

DVD formats bid for studio support

• As the DVD technology wars continue to escalate, both in the consumer and production markets, Paramount has just announced exclusivity to Toshiba’s HD DVD format – this move encompasses DreamWorks, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies, among other studio imprints. Thus far in 2007, sales figures for Blu-ray discs have doubled that of the HD DVD discs. The move could be seen by the industry as a counter balance brought on by Toshiba to even the competition – it is rumored that Toshiba paid as much as $150 million to secure the Paramount exclusivity.

  Other major league HD DVD supporters include Universal and Microsoft.

  

• Monday, August 20th, 2007 | Posted in Special Features | No Comments »

Lyric websites make big bucks from unauthorized content – maybe not for long.

• Lyric websites are big business when it comes to Google advertising and are some of the most searched sites on the Net, the only problem is that 99% of the music lyric sites in operation do not have authorization from the publishers and copyright owners of the lyrics themselves. This creates a shady-tree conundrum for all involved, and publishers are in an uproar over the issue. It is estimated that if regulated properly, publishing authorizations for the websites in question have the potential to generate over $100 million a year for the music industry.

  So, what are the publishers and copyright holders of pirated lyrics doing about the situation?    

  For starters, the legal council for the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) has already met with Google to discuss the advertising issue, since most of the content sites utilize Google ads to pay the bills. And the lawyers are firing DMCA notices to all commercially oriented lyric websites profiting from the copyrighted material. The NMPA has also mentioned plans to begin notifying the Internet Service Providers hosting unauthorized lyric websites.

  In short, the music business as a whole is rebounding from the digital punches taken over the past ten years or so by bucking-up to the widespread theft of its copyrighted media on all fronts.

  Ata’boy!

  

• Friday, August 17th, 2007 | Posted in Special Features | No Comments »

Violent femmes get violent in federal court

• Just off tour in South Africa, Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie has sued load vocalist Gordon Gano in a United States District Court, claiming misappropriated song credits and the misadministration of royalties. The suit also claims that Gano damaged the band’s reputation by allowing the Femmes signature hit song “Blister in the Sun” to the used in a Wendy’s commercial. Gordon Gano has declined response to the claims, only to say that there are few exceptions concerning co-writes with Ritchie.

  

• Thursday, August 16th, 2007 | Posted in Special Features | No Comments »