DJ Danger Mouse releases blank CD-R, tells fans to pirate the tracks
DJ Danger Mouse, famous for being one half of Gnarls Barkley, and for his 2004 mashup CD They Grey Album (mixing the Beatles ‘White Album’ with Jay-Z’s ‘the Black Album’) is releasing a new album this week, however there is one catch; there wont actually be any music on it.
In the case of the ‘Grey Album,’ record label EMI sent out cease-and-desist letters to all fans who posted the album anywhere online and even threatened those who protested the label’s actions. The label and the DJ are still in an ongoing dispute and therefore Danger Mouse is not allowed to release any music under his own name.
The new album, Dark Night Of The Soul, as a way to get around EMI, will simply be cover art and a blank recordable CD-R. Burn the tracks (however you find them) to the CD-R and enjoy the music, says the DJ.
His official statement reads:
Danger Mouse’s new project Dark Night Of The Soul consists of an album length piece of music by Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse and a host of guest vocalists, along with a collection of original David Lynch photography inspired by and based on the music.
The photographs, which provide a visual narrative for the music, are compiled in a limited edition, hand numbered 100+ page book which will now come with a blank, recordable CD-R. All copies will be clearly labeled: ‘For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.’
Due to an ongoing dispute with EMI, Danger Mouse is unable to release the recorded music for Dark Night Of The Soul without fear of being sued by EMI.
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AT&T rationalizes blocking SlingPlayer from 3G network
When Steve Jobs first demonstrated the iPhone 3G at last year’s Apple Worldwide Developer Conference he bragged about the speed of its internet connection. Since then AT&T seems determined to stop people from using very much of that supposedly plentiful bandwidth for anything more than loading web pages or reading email.
Now AT&T officials find themselves on the defensive after the release of the iPhone SlingPlayer, which is only able to use the phone’s Wi-Fi connection.
AT&T spokesperson Mark Siegel told Macworld it would be a violation of the company’s terms of service for a program to stream video across their 3G network. He said “It’s about making sure all our customers have access to the wireless network,”
He claims it falls under the category of “redirecting television signals for viewing on Personal Computers” which is indeed prohibited under the TOS language, as is any use that causes “extreme network capacity issues and interference with the network.”
Siegel suggested that those who want to use the SlingPlayer for iPhone or any other mobile platform such as Symbian or Blackberry should take advantage of the company’s Wi-Fi hotspots instead.
New York Times considering charging for online content
Following media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s note that he may begin charging for online content for all newspapers in his empire, the New York Times has begun floating the same idea.
The Times has been hit particularly hard by the global recession as well as the decline in ad revenue for traditional media, and over the past five years has seen its stock price drop 90 percent. Currently, the NYT does not charge for online access to its content, but asks all guests to register one time.
In 2006, the company started the TimesSelect service, which forced users to pay extra to access archives and opinion columns but the service was a failure and in late 2007 the entire site was re-opened for everyone, free of charge.
A NYT staff writer, Jennifer Lee, via her Twitter page has discussed what occurred during a meeting with shareholders and explains that the company is currently “exploring a new online financial strategy” that would implement membership levels. Each level would have different access to content with obviously the most expensive having full access to the entire site.
Perhaps more notably, is the company’s reflection on the failed TimesSelect service. They believe the service itself was sound (had over 500,000 subscribers) but failed because of poor marketing strategy. TimesSelect to make a comeback in 2009?
House committee votes 21-9 in favor of new radio royalties
On Tuesday the Judiciary Committee in the US House of Representatives approved the Performance Rights Act for consideration by the full House. If enacted into law as currently written, it would require most terrestrial radio stations to pay royalties to the copyright holder of each recording they play.
Under the current arrangement these broadcasters only have to pay publishers’ royalties. This system was put in place based on the idea that radio exposure sells music.
Just like they seem to do with any use of a recording that doesn’t make them money directly, the labels have characterized this as piracy. As usual they believe the problem isn’t their own business model, but rather that people simply aren’t giving them enough money.
The bill is still a long way from becoming law. A companion bill was introduced in the Senate earlier this year, but hasn’t made it out of committee yet.
Despite claims that radio exposure no longer drives sales, labels continue to provide music to radio stations free of charge. If they really believe what they claim shouldn’t they have stopped by now?
If they do believe it and haven’t stopped isn’t that the sort of thing that suggest a need for new management instead of propping them up with another royalty scheme?
Nokia stops investing in Ovi Share
Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker has announced this week that it will stop all investments into the Ovi Share media sharing site. The site had been the company’s first major push into online services.
“Ovi Share … is planned to be maintained in its current state,” said the company, noting that the site would remain up and running for the foreseeable future.
Nokia started the service after it acquired Twango in 2007, finally launching the service to the public in early 2008.
Analysts believe however that this recent move is an admission of failure. The site has low usage numbers thanks to stronger sharing sites such as Facebook or Flickr.
“They definitely need to collaborate with Facebook instead of trying to replace it. Same thing with Twitter and Flickr,” GC Research analyst Tero Kuittinen added
Sony reports first annual loss in 14 years
Sony has reported this week that the company, for the fiscal year ended March 31st, had a loss of $1.04 billion USD, the first time the company has reported a loss since 1995. Perhaps even more notably, the company said it expects a bigger loss in upcoming quarters as sales slide and the Yen grows stronger against the US Dollar.
Revenue for the period also fell 13 percent to $81 billion USD, with the company blaming a number of factors including “the slowdown of the global economy, the appreciation of the yen and the decline in the Japanese stock market.”
The “PlayStation” division saw the biggest slowdown in sales year-on-year, mainly due to the strengthening Yen and a large decrease in sale of the aging PlayStation 2. Revenue in the division fell to $10.7 billion USD. Operating profit losses were cut in half however, to $597 million USD, thanks mostly to large reductions in the cost of manufacturing the PlayStation 3 gaming console.
Over 10 million PS3 units were sold for the year, along with 14 million PSPs and 8 million PS2 units. Software sales exploded for the PS3, up almost 100 percent to 103.7 million units. PSP software sales saw a decline of 10 percent.
For the Q4 2008, Sony reported that the Yen was 13 percent more expensive versus the USD and 30 percent more expensive versus the Euro compared to the fiscal year before it. For the upcoming year, Sony is predicting a $1.26 billion USD loss.
VUDU to offer ad-supported music and video
VUDU has announced today that it will begin offering music and video for free through its service, fully ad-supported.
The deal, made with Brightcove, will initially only include Sony music and videos. The company hopes to eventually add long-form content to the new service but there is no set roadmap.
The move will make VUDU one of the first media hubs to try to add advertisements as part of the working business model. Rivals such as the Apple TV and Roku provide access to existing services or use the standard pay-per-title model.
The ad-backed model has not been thoroughly tested but for the most part has failed miserably with the notable exception being Hulu, the video site which continues to see huge growth.
Piracy cost software industry $50 billion, says BSA
According to a new annual study from the Business Software Alliance, losses related to software piracy amounted to $50 billion USD last year, an 11 percent increase from last year.
The study did note however that most of the increase was a result of the weakening U.S. dollar.
Notable members of the BSA are Microsoft, Dell, Intel and IBM.
For the United States, the number related to piracy was $9 billion USD, and the study concluded that piracy rates were among the lowest in the world, with a number around 20 percent. However, because the US dominates the software market, the losses where higher than any other one nation.
A few of the notable findings, from the report are:
* While emerging economies account for 45 percent of the global PC hardware market, they account for less than 20 percent of the PC software market. If the emerging economies’ PC software share were the same as it is for PC hardware, the software market would grow by $40 billion a year. Lowering global piracy by just one point a year would add $20 billion in stimulus to the IT industry.
* The lowest-piracy countries are the United States, Japan, New Zealand, and Luxembourg, all near 20 percent. The highest-piracy countries are Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia, and Zimbabwe, all over 90 percent.
* The highest-piracy regions are Central/Eastern Europe (67 percent) and Latin America (65 percent). The lowest regions are North America (21 percent) and the European Union (35 percent).
5 more arrested in Canada for piracy
Five more Canadian citizens have been arrested and face jail time and large fines this week, after being accused of pirating and selling DVDs of new full feature releases.
The five citizens are charged with violating Canada’s copyright act, which many, including the United States, believe are very weak. Just two weeks ago, the United States added Canada to its piracy Priority Watch List, calling the nation one of the worst “offenders of copyright piracy.”
The current arrests are occurring at a time when the IFPI is telling Canada that free trade talks with Europe will be halted if the nation does not reform its copyright laws.
Time Warner revenue falls 8% in first quarter
First quarter revenue from Time Warner’s Filmed Entertainment division, which includes motion picture, home video, and television production and distribution, was down more than $200 million from the same period last year. Despite the drop, profits for the division were up 10%.
The news wasn’t as good for other divisions. While income for their Network Division, which includes of Turner Broadcasting and HBO, saw more than a 5% increase in revenue, the Publishing and AOL divisions’ revenue dropped by half a billion dollars combined.
Total revenue fell fell $525 million, resulting in a profit of just under $1.2 billion.
Although this is another clear sign that the entertainment industry is being affected by global economic conditions it also shows that they are still doing very well. It’s certainly better than their former music division, Warner Music Group, did over the same period.
Last week WMG reported a 17% drop in revenue compared to 2008.
