June 29, 2012

Labels: David Lowery, file sharing

February 21, 2012

Studies show that the appeal of piracy has waned in France since the so-called three-strikes law, hailed by the music and movie industries and hated by advocates of an open Internet, went into effect. Digital sales, which were slow to get started in France, are growing. Music industry revenues are starting to stabilize.

For all the companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, earnings are on track to post a 6.6% year-on-year rise in the fourth quarter. Once Apple's earnings are factored out, the expected fourth-quarter gain shrivels to just 2.8%, according to UBS.

It was a Vegas choreographer who clued him in to the importance of writing his own songs: Arrange someone else's composition and you get paid once; write the original song and every time it is performed or a record is sold you get a royalty.

When a distributor of one of Granz's labels complained that one of his artists sold too few copies, Granz roared that if just 1,500 people wanted to hear the musician, that was enough -- and he fired the distributor.

Labels: copyright, file sharing, music piracy

December 30, 2011

Labels: eMusic, file sharing, Pandora, Rhapsody, Spotify

August 05, 2011

The issue may come down to what Napster lead attorney David Boies, who successfully prosecuted the Department of Justice's case against Microsoft, describes as "the definition of commercial or noncommercial uses." It is perfectly legal for consumers to copy music for their own enjoyment--i.e., noncommercial use. Congress has even declared, in the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, that it is legal to make recordings and lend them out to people, provided it is not done for commercial purposes. It is unlawful, of course, if it's done to make a profit. "The law does not distinguish between large-scale and small-scale sharing or lending," insists Boies, who puts Napster's chance of winning the suit at fifty-fifty.

Labels: 2000, 2000s, file sharing, Friday Flashback Fun, Napster