Ultimate Chart (a/o May 20th):
Updated: Members of the Russian trio Pussy Riot have now been convicted of 'hooliganism' driven by religious hatred, with two-year jail sentences now issued. The group performed a controversial set in a Moscow's main cathedral, the beginning of an internationally-watched ordeal and widescale protest.
Eventbrite, a web-based provider of events and ticketing services, is picking up steam. The company just completed ticketing and entry management for five stops of the 2012 Vans Warped Tour, specifically the only ones available for non-traditional vendors. Eventbrite made the most of the opportunity: sales in Pomona increased by 18 percent, Ventura attendance gained 14 percent and the show in San Francisco sold out with over 21,000 people in attendance. This all comes shortly after an Eventbrite partnership with Disco Donnie, a well-known promoter of nightclub events.
Rdio has just signed deals to add content from CD Baby and Tunecore, an important move in a game where missing content can kill legitimacy in the mind of the user. The pair of partnerships expands Rdio's catalog to roughly 18 million tracks (Spotify last reported they had 17 million, though they already have CD Baby and Tunecore locked down). Regardless, the competitive advantages here are slim: Rdio has built a model of providing ad-free music streaming, but only for a limited trial period. Otherwise, pricing for the paid version is consistent with Spotify, at $4.99/month for the unlimited web version, and $9.99/month for access across any device (including smartphones, tablets, and Sonos and Roku systems). Of course, Spotify remains the heavy favorite, and it will be interesting to see if Rdio can gain ground.
Movieclips, a company that works with movie studios to track and monetize YouTube posts, is rebranding itself as ZEFR (an homage to the Z-Boys of Venice Beach). This change marks a new direction for the company, as it expands its services to sports, music, and television companies. ZEFR has just closed a Series C funding round of $18.5 million, led by US Venture Partners. Zach James and Richard Raddon, co-founders of ZEFR, tell AllThingsD that their company has helped change the mindsets of studios to view people who share content as ‘fans’ and ‘assets’ rather than threats. If you can’t beat 'em, charge 'em. Check out the full video interview Kara Swisher of AllThingsD did with James and Raddon here.
Google is likely to be launching several new features to Google Play, according to The Android Police. Hackers analyzed the code of the update, version 3.8.15, and discovered that additional functionality has been added to support gift cards as well as a wishlist feature. Google has yet to comment on these assertions, and it remains speculative where the gift cards would be distributed (images of the gift card here.)
Facebook (FB) is now hitting new lows on Wall Street, a continuing problem for hitched and IPO-possible operations like Spotify. Shares lulled below the $20-mark on Thursday, part of an ongoing hangover related to Facebook's future monetization and growth prospects; Zuckerberg has lost roughly $600 million in net worth on the tank.
Visitor Friday, August 17, 2012
Pussy Riot: 2 years in prison!
This is shocking.
Casey Friday, August 17, 2012
I like Rdio. I'd subscribe if I got faster internet.
Visitor Saturday, August 18, 2012
I've searched and searched, but I can't find Google's official protest against the Pussy Riot verdict.
Where is it?
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