Next Big Sound (a/o May 16th):
It took more than 10 years, but the original author of the 90s classic 'Whoomp! (There It is)' has just won a significant court victory over DM Records for exploitation of the track. DM claimed to have purchased the recording and publishing rights to the song (and others) in a bankruptcy auction in 1999, though a Texas jury found no evidence that this included publishing assets and awarded Al Bell north of $2 miillion in damages.
Looks like reports of file-sharing's death have been greatly exaggerated. Enter the heavily-fanged BitTorrent, which is now simply another piece of a growing, ever-complicated consumption pie. A recently-released study from Musicmetric finds that 3 billion songs were torrented during the first half of this year alone, with 78 percent part of albums and 22 percent singles. The group also found 405 million different music releases (or more accurately, torrents) getting at least one download, though on a broader scale, streaming audio and video now take the volume cake.
A Los Angeles judge is now reviewing details of Chris Brown's 180-hour community service obligation, and a hearing is expected next week. Brown is also sifting through probationary details, as well as the possibility of a massive lawsuit that stems from an altercation with Drake's posse in a nightclub in June.
Richard Strasser has just been slotted as an interim judge at the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). That follows the recent departure of Stanley Wisniewski, and temporarily fills the third slot before a permanent judge is named.
There's more expansive thinking coming from the direct-to-fan camp. Just moments after ReverbNation expanded Promote It to include ads across a number of prominent music publications, Topspin is revealing a pair of services designed to give artists better syndication and distribution online. Topspin's GoDirect and ArtistLink API work together by allowing fans and developers to easily pull data, downloads, streaming, and commerce offers directly from artists. "It's not enough to just give artists tools to put their music online," Topspin CEO Ian Rogers relayed. "They need to have their content and offers distributed to places where fans can find it." The first touchpoint for Topspin will be Artists.MTV.
There's more on the decline of Dangerbird Records. Cofounder Jeff Castelaz is apparently courting an offer to head Elektra (Warner Music Group), according to a Billboard source.
And that was fast: just moments after the departure of Maura Johnston, the Village Voice has tapped Brian McManus as its next music editor. McManus was formerly music editor at Philadelphia Weekly.
It makes sense to someone: while Jammie Thomas-Rasset is saddled with a per-track fine of $9,250 per song, BMG Rights Management seems comfortable with a $20 wrist-slap. According to Torrentfreak, it looks like BMG is going to shoehorn the $20 fines into DMCA letters forwarded by ISPs.
And, Shazam now counts an impressive 250 million users. The successful identification app is now also equipped for complete TV recognition, with matches functioning similarly to songs.
Visitor Tuesday, September 18, 2012
"The group also found 405 million different music releases getting at least one download."
How many releases are on iTunes? It is no wonder people torrent. If a person can't buy a song legally, that doesn't stop the vast majority for getting the song. I honestly can't blame them. It doesn't affect the artist. A lost sale is a lost sale. If the music is not available for sale then the artist is not losing a dime if someone torrents their music. Look at Miranda Lambert's self-titled album for instance. The only way to buy the music legally is to buy an album used on Ebay for $300+. Hence is why the album is torrented and posted on youtube.
paul Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Sean Parker mentioned that it would be nice to get Spotify's catalog to a Napster-like, completely full collection (ie, remixes, mashups, everything). But realistically, that is a very difficult feat that could take many years to accomplish.
In the meantime, I think you're spot on.
I also noted that this 405mm figure refers to torrents, so there could be overlap between the 'releases,' but yeah, still a massively a largely comprehensive 'catalog'.
/paul
Visitor Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Uhmmm Good Grief... can we get this right eventually...
it's $20 Per DOWNLOAD...
but $9,250 per INFRINGMENT, if Convicted... like say... Jaime Thomas and Joel Tenenbaum...
So... how did rolling the dice work out for those two?
DownSouth Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Funny, you have not the slightest idea what you're talking about.
Jammie Thomas was hit with that fine for "making available" those songs in a shared folder, the only thing the RIAA can prove.
YEs though she was offered a deal ahead of time (like BMG) but chose to fight the charges (seems like to the death).
well Tuesday, September 18, 2012
They were given a lot of chances to stop their illegal activities.
How many times do you need your lawyer to explain you that you are doing something that will put you into serious trouble?
DownSouth Tuesday, September 18, 2012
So "making available" is illegal now? I think Jammie Thomas is "fighting for principles."
ethicalfan Tuesday, September 18, 2012
The reason why the standard is "making available" is because hundreds of millions of BitTorrent users are using 15% of all US internet and 30% of asian and european internet traffic (sandvine) to collapse multiple content industries and put tens of thousands of people out of work (music down to $15B worldwide from $27B in 2000, home video down 25% since 2006, video games down 25% since 2010). The cost of monitoring, completing and retaining a full file transaction for 15% of all US internet traffic is in the billions of dollars. The making available standard makes it economically viable to fight this cancer on our economy. Secondly, in the US, the copyright owner has the exclusive right to determine who may distribute their copyrights (17 USC 106). Unlike a criminal trial, in a civil trial, a preponderance of the evidence is the standard of proof. That is why the monitoring is done on a "making available" basis.
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