Technology News

iPhone Apps Gain Steam as Music Promo and Delivery Platform

Source: HypeBot
February 26, 2009

A growing number of artists and labels are using custom applications created for the iPhone and iPod Touch as both a promotional tool and an extension of the traditional album release.

Most recently, Universal released five similar yet customized apps for The Pussycat Dolls, Lady Gaga, Soulja Boy, The All American Rejects, and Keri Hilson. All five were created by popular mobile video service Kyte and offer behind the scenes video, news, live chat and other functions including music and ...

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The Digital Natives: Conclusions (Part Five)

Source: HypeBot
February 26, 2009

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor What's The Difference? In The Personalized Music Experience, the iPod was described as, “A personalized, maximized, and fully controlled experience that could be taken with you wherever you go and be plugged into docking stations that created a home like listening venue where you choose to set up." The subtle difference revealed between previous generations and Digital Natives is that for the natives, more and more, it wouldn't ...

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Obama's New Commerce Pick Has Tech Cred

Source: PC Magazine
February 26, 2009

Third time's the charm? President Obama nominated former Washington Governor Gary Locke as his pick for Commerce secretary Wednesday, a choice that drew support from the high-tech industry. “Gary will be a trusted voice in my cabinet, a tireless advocate for our economic competitiveness, and an influential ambassador for American industry who will help us do everything we can – especially now – to promote it around the world," Obama said in a statement. Obama previously nominated New Mexico Governor ...

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Ticketmaster: AEG May Cancel if Merger Succeeds

Source: All About Jazz
February 26, 2009

Ticketmaster's chief executive sought Thursday to allay antitrust fears over the ticket seller's planned merger with concert promoter Live Nation by revealing that a major venue operator has threatened to cancel its contract if the merger goes through.

The revelation, made before a House subcommittee examining the proposed merger for antitrust concerns, was meant to suggest the combination might somewhat weaken Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc.'s grip on ticket contracts with a majority of top U.S. venues.

Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff said ...

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Music Executive Ridiculed at Pirate Bay Trial

Source: All About Jazz
February 26, 2009

STOCKHOLM – Laughter filled The Pirate Bay trial here Wednesday when John Kennedy, the chief executive of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, testified that people would have purchased every music track they got free file sharing.

Kennedy answered an affirmative “Yes" to Pirate Bay defense attorneys when asked whether that was true. Bursting laughter could be heard from the audio room beside the courtroom where the trial's sound was being broadcast.

The sleek executive, flown from London, was clad ...

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No Doubt Shows Raise Doubt About Ticketmaster

Source: Michael Ricci
February 26, 2009

There’s no question that No Doubt is planning to close its reunion tour on its old Orange County turf with performances July 31 and Aug. 1 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine.

But those shows raise the question of how efficiently Ticketmaster is following through on its recent agreement with the New Jersey attorney general’s office to change the way it operates its TicketsNow.com resale operation.

On the same day that Live Nation announced that tickets would be put on ...

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Prosecution Alters Pirate Bay Charges in Bid to Win Conviction

Source: All About Jazz
February 25, 2009

The Pirate Bay prosecutor altered the copyright-infringement charges Tuesday to make it easier to convict the four defendants who co-founded the world's most notorious BitTorrent tracker.

Moments later, Hollywood investigators testified about the ease with which they obtained copyright works using the 5-year-old site. But at the outset of Tuesday's proceedings, the prosecutor, Håkan Roswall, announced a alteration of the charges, which legal scholars suggested would make it more likely to win a conviction.

The prosecutor removed one sentence from ...

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Live Nation Ticketmaster Merger Hearing Becomes Battle over Chicago Music Scene

Source: All About Jazz
February 25, 2009

The Live Nation Ticketmaster merger was brought before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights yesterday, with the Chicago music scene at the epicenter of testimony both for and against the merger.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Windy City was used as an example of how the merger wouldn’t violate antitrust laws, with Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino citing that his company only put on 16 percent of the concerts in Chicago, compared to the 29 ...

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