Filed in archive
Society & Public Policy
by jeff goldman on October 29, 2008
The new organization UK Music was formed this week to represent the entire music industry in the UK in designing a united plan for the future.
"The organisation represents a wide range of music b...
Filed in archive
Society & Public Policy
by Jordan Grodecki on March 7, 2008
Denver Airport has decided that it has the right to stop users from going on sites it thinks are at all risque on it's free Wifi system, and critics are saying that it is using technology very m...
Filed in archive
Society & Public Policy
by Jordan Grodecki on December 11, 2007
The People's Republic of China has taken the somewhat extraordinary step of completely banning US films from cinemas in the country. Well, actually, they haven't officially taken this step, ...
Filed in archive
Commentary
, Government
, Internet
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on August 10, 2007
In How's That U.S. Broadband Working For You? we reported how the U.S. fell further behind in world Broadband penetration and price. The OECD report rated the U.S. 15th out of 30 countries. Robert...
Filed in archive
Fun
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on August 3, 2007
P2P makes you blind, puts Los Angeles grips out of work, and now is killing U.S. farms.
Forget the fact that corn farmers are experiencing record corn prices due to government subsidies and increasi...
Filed in archive
Government
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on July 31, 2007
This post is part of a series on the US House of Representatives hearing on P2P.
1. U.S. Witch Hunt
2. Who Stole My P2P Cheese
3. What the Feds Say
4. The Industry Talks
5. Clark Wants Gov. Regulation...
Filed in archive
Society & Public Policy
, Stats
by Marc on July 3, 2007
The NPD Group's latest research confirms research from other sources that P2P is not the top offender in unauthorized downloading. The finding questions the record industry's war against its f...
Filed in archive
Business
, Entertainment industry
, Free and Legal Files
, Society & Public Policy
, Video
by Marc on June 26, 2007
It's a comedy 3,000 years in the making and Viacom shut it down.
The DMCA makes it easy for copyright holders to request content be removed. But what about when they get it wrong?
Viacom has se...
Filed in archive
Commentary
, Companies
, Entertainment industry
, Finance
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on June 12, 2007
This article is part of a series on the changing music business.
1. Weakly Album Sales
2. It's Not About the Album
3. Album Sales Are Like US Box Office
4. EMI Sale: The Continuing Destruction of ...
Filed in archive
Business
, Entertainment industry
, Marketing
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on June 12, 2007
Leading online music store eMusic with has driven song prices down as low as 25¢ if you max out their song bundles. eMusic offers over two million tracks, all in open MP3 format.
But many labels aren...
Filed in archive
Consumer rights
, Government
, Legal
, Privacy & Security
, RIAA, MPAA
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on May 30, 2007
RIAA is taking a new tactic in its fight on pirates of all stripes - jump on the Bush administration bandwagon to create a police state. The Bush administration, fresh on the heels of its success on t...
Filed in archive
Commentary
, Legal
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on May 28, 2007
In "A Great Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn't Its Copyright?" Mark Helprin writes "No good case exists for the inequality of real and intellectual property, because no good case can exi...
Read more of Copyrights Forever?
Filed in archive
Artists
, Commentary
, Fun
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on May 26, 2007
A young filmmaker talks about pirates who bootlegged his independent movie, and concludes "two wrongs don't make a right. But it's a start."
Filed in archive
Fun
, Legal
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on May 18, 2007
Science fiction author Spider Robinson wrote a brilliant story about copyrights 25 years ago, long before the ongoing fight we have today.
"Melancholy Elephants" won the 1983 Hugo Award fo...
Filed in archive
RIAA, MPAA
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on May 15, 2007
As predicted here and by other industry experts, the harder the entertainment industry pushes consumers, the harder they will push back with more evasive technologies.
The renewed RIAA offensive on ...
Filed in archive
Commentary
, People
, RIAA, MPAA
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on May 10, 2007
RIAA continues its campaign to co-opt universities in curtailing alleged copyright infringement by its students with mixed success. Harvard staff and alumni Wendy Seltzer and Charles Nesson from the B...
Filed in archive
Commentary
, Entertainment industry
, Society & Public Policy
, Technology
by Marc on May 4, 2007
Open wireless Internet like WiFi represents a huge threat to RIAA. It's virtually impossible to track and identify WiFi users. Wireless users typically share the same IP address. The Internet serv...
Filed in archive
Commentary
, Internet
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on April 20, 2007
Bob Cringely writes "We Don't Need No Stinking Best Effort: Net neutrality may have been just a fantasy all along." Bob, welcome to the real world.
One of his readers writes:
"I u...
Filed in archive
Legal
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on April 2, 2007
Physical pirates who churn out counterfeit CDs and DVDs say that the P2P networks, the so-called digital pirates, are ruining their business.
TorrentFreak published a profile of Tony, a UK counterfe...
Filed in archive
Commentary
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on February 12, 2007
Bob Lefsetz reader Thomas Wironen writes that music is a service, not a product, and P2P is both the problem and solution. I agreed and have long written on this.
My only clarification is on the caus...
Read more of Music Is a Service, No Longer a Product
Filed in archive
Commentary
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on February 7, 2007
Bob Lefsetz reader Michael Brandvold writes about the multiplicity of CD packaging with bonus tracks and downloads. He says it's a plot to extract more money from music fans.
I don't agree. I...
Read more of CD Bonus Explosion and Piracy
Filed in archive
Commentary
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on February 5, 2007
The major labels act as if music is new, proprietary, and controllable. It's not. Man has always had his music. It's the voice of the establishment and the Revolution, the group and the indivi...
Read more of Lefsetz on Music is Life
Filed in archive
Companies
, Entertainment industry
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on January 30, 2007
Music distributor Ruckus Network focuses on the college market. They had limited success selling subscriptions with only 20 institutional customers.
Meanwhile the recording labels accepted that coll...
Filed in archive
Legal
, People
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on January 29, 2007
We reported previously on the Guntram Graef lawsuit as an example of DMCA abuse. Mr Graef responded to us as below. Allegations of ID theft and Sexual abuse are important. We do not pretend to judge t...
Filed in archive
Society & Public Policy
by Marc on January 28, 2007
Music distributor Ruckus Network focuses on the college market. They had limited success selling subscriptions with only 20 institutional customers.
Meanwhile the recording labels accepted that coll...
Filed in archive
Legal
, People
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on January 22, 2007
The abuse of the DMCA by not only the entertainment industry, but also others, has long been documented. It's easy to complain. All it takes is a cease-and-desist letter to invoke the law. There i...
Filed in archive
Society & Public Policy
by Marc on January 19, 2007
Now that HD DVD DRM has been cracked, the first HD DVD has hit the file sharing networks. The movie "Serenity" has been seen on Bit Torrent. Unlike typical 1 to 2 GB movie downloads, the HD ...
Filed in archive
Fun
, Marketing
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on November 10, 2006
In an amusing turnabout, fans are billing Universal Studios for their marketing effort. Universal released the movie Serenity, which was based on the TV show firefly. So Universal's marketing arm ...
Filed in archive
Community
, Consumer rights
, Society & Public Policy
by Marc on November 4, 2006
A new activist organization, Digital Freedom, has launched. The group has a strong pedigree in both the technology and consumer rights sectors with over 12 partners, including the Consumer Electronics...
Filed in archive
Commentary
, Society & Public Policy
, Standards
by Marc on October 18, 2006
Business 2.0 came out with "DVDs: They will survive." It is a PR piece in disguise for the Sonic Solutions and Macrovision deal it covers. There is no mention about all the problems and cons...
