When Free is Profitable
"The first time Moe played San Francisco, the band didn't have a song
on the radio. It didn't have a video; it didn't even have a record
deal. Yet the group sold out the 750-seat Great American Music Hall.
The secret to Moe's success? A community of West Coast music fans had
been trading tapes of the New York band's concerts, duplicating
bootlegged recordings and distributing them to friends. The members
of Moe never saw a dime off those concert tapes, but they arrived in
San Francisco to a full house..."
http://usatoday.com/life/music/news/2004-05-20-file-sharing-main_x.htm
Calling all rocker has-beens
"Internet auction site eBay has a reputation as "the world's online
marketplace", but may soon be making a splash as a different kind of
record label. The idea is the brainchild of KJ Kjelgaard, an eBay
employee with experience in the music industry who realised that a lot
of his favourite bands had no outlet for their music... his UberSonik
label is on a trial basis, but if it works it will be launched as the
music arm of eBay. The ideal is to focus on artists with established
international followings but no record deal, whose new CDs can be
"advertised" on eBay's pages, which have racked up a global audience
of 105 million people...
http://www.gnutella.com/news/12203
MP3-to-Ringtone converter
"There's a new app that will convert your MP3 to ringtones and the
music industry is freaking out (despite the fact that phones like the
P800, which can play an MP3 without any conversion as a ringtone,
have been around for at least a year). ``It's problematic, because it
has the potential to eviscerate the business model early in its
development,'' said Ted Cohen, EMI Music's senior vice president of
digital development and distribution..."
http://www.boingboing.net/2004/05/23/mp3ringtone_converte.html
Cash Pours In For Arrested P2P Developer
"A group supporting the arrested developer of the popular file-sharing
software Winny has raised over 10 million yen for his lawyers, it has
been learned. And a site set up Wednesday in support of the
33-year-old developer, Isamu Kaneko, has received over 1 million hits a
day, it has been reported..."
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/articles/auto/05222004c.php
Survey shows most musicians oppose RIAA's lawsuits
"Though the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been
tackling copyright infringement by slapping lawsuits on online peer-to-
peer file sharers, recent research shows musicians are not convinced it
is in their best interest. New research from the Pew Internet Project
claims that most musicians do not believe the RIAA's lawsuits will
benefit artists..."
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/articles/auto/05222004a.php
Kazaa uses ancient law in copyright defence
"...Sharman License Holdings is defending its massive [Kazaa] hub from
copyright infringement charges with a 100 year old precedent.
Sharman's lawyer, JR Elliot, is using a case from 1899 for Sharman's
defence. The Boosey v. Whight case of 1899 was about copyright charges
being pressed on the production of pianola rolls. However, the court
found that reproduction of pianola rolls did not infringe English
copyright laws, which protected sheet music..."
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/articles/auto/05202004c.php
PayPal disgraces itself, cuts off FreeNet
"PayPal has frozen the account used to collection donation for FreeNet
(a censorship-busting technology used by world dissidents to
anonymously publish without risking government retribution). Shame on
them... 'Paypal has frozen the account we use to accept donations over
the web, they refuse to give any reason other than "use of an anonymous
proxy", which suggests that someone at Paypal took a dislike to the
goals of our project, since I have never used an anonymous proxy to
access Paypal...'"
http://boingboing.net/2004/05/18/paypal_disgraces_its.html
Online trading of TV episodes grows
"Missed the final episode of Frasier or Friends? Many college kids
aren't waiting for the reruns. They're downloading the shows instead.
With millions of unauthorized media files being traded on the Internet,
it's impossible to put an exact number on how many TV episodes are out
there... The Simpsons, Friends, The Sopranos and other shows are
readily available..."
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/articles/auto/05202004a.php
'Doof-doof' music danger for drivers
"Sound systems with powerful loudspeakers pumping out what has been
called "doof-doof" music have become the "must-have" car accessory –
despite concerns from motoring and health experts... Thomson's concerns
are supported by new Canadian research which reveals drivers' reaction
times can be significantly diminished by loud noise from their car
stereos..."
http://www.gnutella.com/news/12207
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