2007_08_01_archive

Music Industry

Starbucks Records: Number One With A Latte

USC Music Industry Professor praises Starbucks for finding a new and

successful business model for selling CDs and points to live music as

the new music business where the growth potential exists.

By Jerry Del Colliano, Inside Music Media, August 9, 2007

Going postal

New postage rates have increased the price of mailing CDs by 34%.

Although reviewers and radio stations may prefer receiving promotional

CDs rather than promotional mp3 files, the Digital Audio Insider

wonders whether the cost of sending CDs is proportional to the

benefits reaped.

Digital Audio Insider, August 6, 2007

Large Webcasters And SoundExchange to Continue Negotiating Soon

Negotiations between large webcasters and SoundExchange over the CRB

ruling are tentatively scheduled to resume in two weeks.

By Eliot Van Buskirk, Wired blog, August 8, 2007

Other

Who has to pay if music plays?

Following ASCAP's lawsuit against a Seattle restaurant owner for

failing to pay royalties to play music inside its venue, the Seattle

Times asks intellectual property lawyer Matt Geyman to explain the

workings of public performance right.

By Kristi Heim, Seattle Times, August 8, 2007

RIAA Lobbying Expenses Cross $650,000 During First Half

According to documents uncovered by the Associated Press, the RIAA has

already spent $650,000 during the first half of 2007 on lobbying

expenses alone. These documents provide insight on the RIAA's budget,

which focuses on file-sharing lawsuits and piracy among other issues.

By Paul Reskinoff, DigitalMusicNews, August 7, 2007

Posted by FMC at 10:13 AM 0 comments

Labels: Digital Rights Management (DRM), RIAA, webcasting

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Did ATT censor Pearl Jam and can we trust them with the Internet?

Pearl Jam closed Lollapalooza in Chicago on Sunday night with what was

by all accounts a rousing performance, but if you weren't there you

didn't see the whole show. According to a Pearl Jam press release,

ATT, which had the exclusive rights to webcast Lollapalooza via its

"Blue Room," silenced a piece of video from its live webcast that

featured anti-Bush lyrics.

During the song "Daughter," Eddie Vedder sang "George Bush leave this

world alone" to the tune of "Another Brick in the Wall." When he

repeated the line again and then sang "George Bush find yourself

another home" the sound was muted, even though it can clearly be seen

Vedder was singing. The editing was first discovered by Pearl Jam

fans, who notified the band.

According to the release, when asked about the incident, ATT told

Lollapalooza that one of its content monitors had made a mistake.

Whether it was a mistake or blatant censorship, the incident is a

cautionary tale that shows what can happen when one company has

unfettered control over Internet content.

Of course, ATT and other big telecoms have been pushing for several

years to increase their control over Internet content. They want to

create an Internet where they determine which web sites download the

fastest. The Pearl Jam incident gets to the crux of why this is

dangerous.

If this kind of incident happens during a webcast of a concert,

imagine what type of power ATT or any other telecom might wield if

they determined which web sites you are able to effectively access?

Would they degrade access to web sites that feature political views

they don't agree with, or perhaps, ones that compete with their

commercial interests? We don't know and we don't want to find out.

This is exactly why 713 musicians through the "Rock the Net" campaign,

liberal groups like Moveon.org, conservative groups like the Christian

Coalition, and thousands of others have been pushing for "net

neutrality." Net neutrality means the web remains a level playing

field - no single company (or anyone else for that matter) has the

power to block or degrade the download speeds of any web site.

We need a law or rules that positively affirm the principles that have

made the Internet open and democratic. We shouldn't wait until ATT or

anyone else decides what we see, read or hear on the Internet. By

then, we might not even know what we're missing.

Here's the silenced version:

This is an unmuted version shot by a fan at the concert. The important

section begins at the 1 minute mark:

Posted by FMC at 1:27 PM 1 comments

Labels: ATT, net neutrality, Pearl Jam

Friday, August 3, 2007

Bottom of the Hudson needs your help

The Philadelphia/Brooklyn band Bottom of the Hudson was in a tragic

accident on Sunday while touring to promote their new album Fantastic

Hawk. The band's tour van flipped over a number of times after a tire

blew out on a North Carolina highway.

The accident killed bassist Trevor Butler. Drummer Greg Lytle is in

intensive care in a North Carolina hospital (fortunately stable

though), while the rest of the band escaped with only minor injuries.

Absolutely Kosher, the band's label, posted the following on its web

site:

"We didn't have an opportunity to get to know Trevor Butler as well

as we would have liked, but he was a great guy and a great

musician. He was instrumental in the evolution of the band's sound

over the years. In addition to playing in Bottom of the Hudson for

the last several years, Trevor also was a founding member in

fellow-Philadelphia group Coyote. He was utterly devoted to music

and helped many, many bands set-up shows in Philadelphia. We are

devastated by his loss and he will be greatly missed. Our thoughts

and prayers go out to the band and their families. Thanks to

everyone who has sent condolences and well-wishes."

The Absolutely Kosher folks are collecting money for Greg's medical

bills. If you would like to make a donation, you can send one via

Paypal at both@absolutelykosher.com. Our condolences and best wishes

go out to Bottom of the Hudson.

FMC has also set up a hotline called HINT, Health Insurance Navigation

Tool, that helps artists get health insurance.

Posted by FMC at 9:49 AM 0 comments

Labels: Bottom of the Hudson, HINT (Health Insurance Navigation Tool)

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Senate leader backs off anti-piracy initiative tied to education bill

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, has quietly backed off a

controversial proposal that would have required the Secretary of

Education to monitor college's anti-piracy efforts.

Reid's proposal, which was folded into the reauthorization of the

Higher Education Act, included a provision mandating the 25 schools

with the most piracy violations begin filtering P2P filesharing

networks on their campus. Critics, including the Digital Freedom

Campaign and some educators, charged such filtering would inevitably

catch perfectly legal filesharing as well as unauthorized downloads.

Jennifer Stoltz, a spokesperson for the Digital Freedom Campaign, said

in a public statement:

"This amendment is the just latest in a series of legislative

efforts by wealthy record labels to require our tax dollars to be

spent on policing college students...no one supports illegal

downloading or file sharing, but the Digital Freedom Campaign and

its members believe that Universities have more urgent things to do

with their scarce budgets than collect information on their

students for the government and for the [Recording Industry

Association of America]. Academic resources would be better spent

educating students rather than spying on them at the behest of

large corporations."

Late last week, Reid substituted the bill's stronger language for a