Music Industry News

Ascap Attacks Creative Commons, the Eff and Advocates of Free Music

Source: HypeBot
June 29, 2010

"our biggest challenge ever."

Last week ASCAP sent a fund raising letter to its members launching a campaign to counter the efforts of the country's most vocal advocates of copyright reform.

“Many forces including Creative Commons, Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation and technology companies with deep pockets are mobilizing to promote 'Copyleft' in order to undermine our 'Copyright.' They say they are advocates of consumer rights, but the truth is these groups simply do not want to pay ...

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Muenster-Dummel

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
June 29, 2010

Rifftides reader Dave Bernard sent this inquiry:

For those born after the LP era, the terms may draw a blank. Norgran was one of two labels founded by Norman Granz (1918-2001), who created Jazz At The Philharmonic in the 1940s. His other early label was Clef. Norgran and Clef eventually morphed ino Verve. Granz was a pioneer of the jazz concert and a tough, resourceful businessman. He guided the careers of ...

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Notes from the Net: A Rare Miles Davis TV Appearance; the J@LC Visits London; Plus News, Reviews, Interviews and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
June 29, 2010

Here's the latest compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:* There's lots of Miles Davis news this week, starting with, appropriately enough, a post from Howard Mandel on his Jazz Beyond Jazz blog reflecting on Davis' continued ubiquity nearly 20 years after his death. Then there's the recent ...

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French Ready to Nab 50,000 Infringements Every Day

Source: HypeBot
June 29, 2010

Is The U.S. Next?

Recent French vows to stop illegal file sharing have new teeth with the anti-piracy outfit Trident Media Guard being chosen to track and report illegal file-sharers . The company, also known seeding of file-sharing networks with fake data, will provide much of the evidence needed to prosecute users under France's tough new 3 strikes laws.

Sound Exchange Distributes Record $54.8m

Source: HypeBot
June 26, 2010

SoundExchange announced that it will distribute $54.8 million to artists and right holders for the second quarter of 2010. It's a record for the non-profit performance rights organization appointed by Congress to collect digital royalties. Their previous top quarter was the $51.7 million paid out in Q1. Each quarterly distribution includes royalties earned through play on Internet radio, satellite radio, cable TV music channels and increased revenue from foreign societies. Digital royalties are on the rise across the board, but ...

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10 Years Later, garageband.com Closes

Source: HypeBot
June 28, 2010

After more than ten years of operation, the online music community Garageband.com has announced that on July 15th they are shutting down. Users can register for an account on the social music discovery site iLike to have their page contents and song files automatically transferred over. Anyone who has purchased music on the site and believes they deserve a refund can contact the company to request one, but it must be done before July 31st.

Here's the letter sent to ...

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B.J. Jansen on Helping Artists Help Themselves

Source: We All Make Music
June 28, 2010

B.J. Jansen accepts and welcomes the changes faced by the music industry. Rather than look at them as catastrophic, Jansen sees them as “kind of a revitalization." “Everyone should stop complaining and try to become master of their own destiny!" Music business acolytes say that kind of thing all the time, but Jansen, who has over a decade of experience as a baritone saxophonist, bandleader, producer, composer, arranger, and independent record label owner, has had first-hand experience in nearly all ...

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RealNetworks Cuts 85, 25% of Executive Staff

Source: HypeBot
June 24, 2010

Even after the recent spin-off of Rhapsody, RealNetworks continues to struggle. Today the company announced another round of layoffs that include 85 jobs or 6% of the total workforce. The cuts include 25% of its executives and will shrink offices in Europe, Asia and its Seattle headquarters. Real also consolidated its Technology Products and Solutions and Media Software and Services business units.

“This reorganization marks a significant milestone in our transformation of RealNetworks," according to Bob Kimball, president and ...

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