Archive for August 2005
BBC Strategy Includes Music Downloads
"The BBC wants to be a major player in the digital media world and is
considering partnerships with private businesses to sell music
downloads, Director-General Mark Thompson said on Saturday.
"The
publicly-funded broadcaster is testing software called MyBBCPlayer to
let users download its TV and radio programing, and plans to use its
powerful presence to take its place among Internet media giants like
Google and Yahoo."
Adam Pasick. BBC Targets Music Downloads in Internet Strategy. Reuters. Aug. 29, 2005.
See also:
Jane Martinson. ‘Big Beast BBC Won’t Swamp Commercial Rivals in New Media’. Guardian Unlimited. Aug. 29, 2005.
Related:
BBC News. BBC TV Channels to be Put on Net. Aug. 27, 2005.
Labels’ Itch for Higher iTunes Prices
“Two and a half years after the music business lined up behind the chief executive of Apple, Steven P. Jobs, and hailed him and his iTunes music service for breathing life into music sales, the industry’s allegiance to Mr. Jobs has eroded sharply.
“Mr. Jobs is now girding for a showdown with at least two of the four major record companies over the price of songs on the iTunes service.”
Jeff Leeds. Apple, Digital Music’s Angel, Earns Record Industry’s Scorn. The New York Times. Aug. 27, 2005.
Update:
Reuters. Apple, Record Labels to Face Off Over Pricing. News.com. Sept. 23, 2005.
New Release to Bypass Audio-Only CD Format
"When Ohio-based rock band the Sun releases its first full-length album
next month, it will be available on DVD, online and on vinyl record.
But not on the medium that’s still the biggest seller in the music
industry today: the compact disc.
"Warner Bros. Records Inc.expects the Sun to be the first of many artists to embrace a no-CD, video-only strategy."
Yuki Noguchi. Web, DVDs Could Mark CDs’ Slow Death. WashingtonPost.com. Aug. 26, 2005.
See also:
No author. Fans Can Burn Own CDs from The Sun’s DVD. USA Today. Aug. 25, 2005.
(Editor’s Note: The Post allows free access to their stories on the Web for 14 days before sending the stories to the paper’s fee-based Archives.)
MPAA Uses P2P Logs to Target Lawsuits
"Hollywood studios filed a new round of lawsuits against file
swappers on Thursday, for the first time using peer-to-peer companies’
own data to track down individuals accused of trading movies online.
"The Motion Picture Association of America said it filed 286 lawsuits
against people around the United States based on information acquired
from file-trading sites shut down earlier in the year. Most of those
sites were hubs connecting people using the BitTorrent technology, a
peer-to-peer application designed for speeding downloads of large
files."
John Borland. Studios Mine P2P Logs to Sue Swappers. News.com. Aug. 25, 2005.
See also:
John Borland. Court: Hollywood Gets P2P Giant’s Server Logs. News.com. Feb. 25, 2005.
Warner Prepares Download-Only Label
“Warner Music Group is creating a new music-distribution mechanism that will rely on digital downloads instead of compact discs.
“Edgar Bronfman Jr., Warner Music’s chairman and CEO, said Monday that the new mechanism will be called an ‘e-label,’ in which artists will release music in clusters of three songs every few months rather than a CD every few years.”
Declan McCullagh. Warner Music Readies CD-Free ‘E-label.‘ News.com. Aug. 22, 2005.
See also:
Warner Music Group. Edgar Bronfman, Jr. Delivers Keynote Address at Progress and Freedom Foundation’s 2005 Aspen Summit. Aug. 22, 2005.
Competing DVD Formats Possible Next Year
“The possibility that consumers will have to choose from two competing DVD formats next year is growing now that negotiations have broken down between the groups behind the different standards.
“Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp., which supports a format known as Blu-ray, and a bloc led by Toshiba Corp., which backs the rival HD DVD system, began discussions this year to see whether they could agree on a unified format. But the talks have been suspended indefinitely.”
Associated Press. Talks Between DVD Groups Break Down. SiliconValley.com. Aug. 23, 2005.
See also:
DVD Forum: An international organization composed of hardware, software, and entertainment companies that use and develop the DVD format. The group also licenses the DVD format and logo. DVD Forum is promoting the HD DVD standard.
Blu-ray Disc Association: An international organization composed of hardware, software, and entertainments companies that is promoting and further developing business opportunities for Blu-ray Disc, an optical disc format that has higher capacity (22 GB) than the HD DVD format (17 GB).
Resources for Digital Copyright & Licensing
"The
digitization of life in our world is creating more and more questions in the
world of copyright and licensing.
"The following information is meant to give
you a brief overview of some of the many issues you may encounter.
Additionally, it is meant to provide you with some reliable resources to use in
your quest to obtain appropriate permissions for the use of copyrighted works."
Therese A.Clark Arado. Copyright and Licensing Digital Materials – A Resource Guide. LLRX.com. Aug. 19, 2005.
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