Posts Tagged ‘music’

Lady Gaga gag video not banned by MTV

// March 16th, 2010 // No Comments » // p2p

p2pnet view Advertising:- Google has now officially aligned itself with everything that’s crass, tasteless and obscene, alongside fellow travellers Universal and Sony. It, France’s Universal and Japan’s Sony are the major stakeholders in Vevo, created “not to serve a new need for consumers”, but to “help advertisers and content owners”, according to Vevo’s Rio Caraeff. That’s him on the right, wearing the self-satisfied smirk . Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta’s latest ‘music video’ hasn’t been thrown off MTV because of scenes featuring close-ups of her crutch, lesbians punching each other out in jail, and general pornographic content. Oh, and a  Thelma and Louise-like car chase with Beyonce in the driving seat — swear-words beeped out, which is really wierd given the rest of the video. Ms Germanotta is Lady Gaga and her Vevo advertising video is a perfect example of everything that’s cheap and nasty in advertising. It’ll be a surprise if it doesn’t trigger angry responses from self-respectimg gay rights groups everywhere. Meanwhile, “CNN reported that the recently released video, which features scenes of sexual and violent behaviour, had been banned by the network, even though it has already debuted online”, says Monsters and Critics , going on: MTV’s executive vice-president of Music & Talent, Amy Doyle, said: ‘MTV did not ban Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s Telephone video – in fact, we premiered it on Friday, 12 March, on-air and online at MTV.com, two days before this story was falsely reported. ‘Fans can continue to catch the video as we repeat it on-air and online’.” Not if you’re in Canada. Not on MTV, anyway. “The MTV USA website is optimized for users within USA” and “many features of the site (including most videos) will not work for users outside of USA”, it says. - … .. … and identi.ca More First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi self-satisfied smirk – Vevo wasn’t created for consumers!, December 11, 2009 Monsters and Critics – MTV denies banning Lady Gaga music video, March 15, 2010 Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to - | | rss feed: http://-/feed -? - Click here to learn what technologies might help you bypass censorshiop in your area.

Big 4 labels forced Apple into iTunes LP

// March 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // p2p

p2pnet view Music:- Apparently there’s some kind of iTunes LP thingie out there. Who knew? But it is/was a non-event and now Apple spinsters are having to make sure it doesn’t get the blame. It’s all the fault of Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music, says GigaOm . The Big 4 talked poor old Apple into it, says the story. Codenamed Cocktail and “introduced at a ‘rock and roll event’ in San Francisco” it “promised to give consumers a new reason to buy albums instead of individual songs”, it says , going on > > > “Offering expanded cover art, lyrics, videos, animation and other digital goodies, iTunes LP was intended to evoke the feeling of spinning an LP record and holding the jacket in your hands. Especially when paired with a tablet computer (then rumored, now real) that would provide a new way to view large-format art, consumers were promised a digital experience that mimicked a physical one.” It’s somewhat ironic that the very company that atomized the album in order to sell individual tracks -– one of many causes for the music industry’s decade-long tailspin –- has encouraged the rebundling of songs with iTunes LP. But I’m told by an industry source who preferred to remain anonymous that iTunes LP wasn’t Apple’s idea in the first place. Rather, it’s the result of the same renegotiations between Apple and the major record labels that yielded DRM-free songs and flexible pricing early last year, a concession by Cupertino to make a gesture in favor of album sales as consumers increasingly show a preference for digital singles. “Neither Apple nor anyone else I spoke with was able to break out sales figures, but sources in various parts of the music industry agreed that the financial impact of iTunes LP on record sales has been tiny, if it’s had any effect at all”, the story adds. - … .. … and identi.ca More First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi GigaOm – Apple’s iTunes LP 6 Months Later: LP What?, March 9, 2010 Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to - | | rss feed: http://-/feed -? - Click here to learn what technologies might help you bypass censorshiop in your area.

Dead toddler mistook gun for Wii controller

// March 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // p2p

p2pnet view Games:- A toddler in Tennessee is dead after mistaking a loaded gun for a Nintendo Wii video game controller. Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan accidentally shot herself  after her stepfather left his loaded Smith & Wesson within her reach. Douglas and Ann Cronberger, both 32, were “inside their rural Norene home when the child shot herself Sunday night”, the Tennessean has Wilson County sheriff Terry Ashe saying. “Her mother was on the computer just a few feet away”, Ashe said in a statement. Cronberger “usually kept his gun unloaded and in a cabinet”, says the story, adding: “However, on Saturday night, Cronberger got out his gun, loaded it and went outside to look for what he thought was a prowler. When he came back inside, he put the gun on an end table in the living room and forgot about it, according to a Sheriff’s Department statement. “The statement also said Cheyenne learned how to use a gun from playing a Nintendo Wii game for days.” - … .. … and identi.ca More First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi Tennessean – Wilson County child’s shooting death blamed on gun-Wii mix-up, March 9, 2010 Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to - | | rss feed: http://-/feed -? - Click here to learn what technologies might help you bypass censorshiop in your area.

Court nixes individual track downloads of Pink Floyd albums

// March 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Individual Pink Floyd songs will soon disappear from online music stores. The British High Court has ruled against EMI, the band’s record label, saying that the band’s contract requires EMI to “preserve the artistic integrity of the albums.” In this case, that means keeping all the tracks together and in the order they were meant to be in, leading some to worry whether Pink Floyd’s music will disappear from popular online music stores altogether. When Pink Floyd signed with EMI back in the late ’60s, its members probably did not imagine an age when we would be ditching physical media en masse in favor of cherry-picked songs on a series of Internet tubes. It’s unsurprising then that the contract stipulated for the label to maintain the artistic integrity of the album itself—back then (and today as well, but perhaps to a lesser degree), musicians spent painstaking amounts of time crafting the entire album as a whole artwork. Those who only listened to select tracks were totally missing out. Indeed, as EMI has discovered, that still appears to be the case, at least when it comes to Pink Floyd. The High Court ordered EMI to pay £40,000 in court costs with the possibility of future damages and EMI may have to pull Pink Floyd’s individual offerings from places like the iTunes Store and Amazon MP3. (As of this writing, the albums with per-track purchases were still available. Get ‘em while they’re hot.) In addition, EMI must pay Pink Floyd an undisclosed amount in royalty payments. This doesn’t mean they wouldn’t become available again as full-album purchases, though—iTunes, for example, regularly offers albums that have one or two tracks that only come with a full album purchase. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Dark Side of the Moon come back to iTunes with every track marked “Album only.” Read the comments on this post

Pink Floyd sues EMI

// March 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // p2p

p2pnet view Music:- More trouble for battered Big 4 organised music gang member EMI. The UK company which, together with Vivendi Universal, Warner Music and Sony Music, has been trying to gain control of online music distribution by suing its own customers, claims everything in the garden is lovely, despite a crushing debt load and an alarming turnover of senior executives. Now it’s being sued by one of its most famous and consistent earners, Pink Floyd, a member of the anti-P2P, anti-file sharing Featured Artists Coalition. The surviving members are taking EMI to court over payment of online royalties and the marketing of their music, says the BBC , going on, “The group, signed to EMI since 1967, are disputing the way payments for their digital sales are calculated. “They are also seeking a ruling on whether the label can sell individual tracks from their original albums.” Within a few years of the contract being signed “both parties were faced with a whole new world of potential exploitation”, the Financial Times has Pink Floyd lawyer Robert Howe saying, continuing > > > The legal dispute is over the calculation of royalties for online sales, which were in their infancy in 1998 but now represent more than a quarter of record company revenues, with a $4.2bn (£2.8bn) share of all sales . Pink Floyd is also seeking a court ruling that EMI should not be allowed to “unbundle” songs from within albums and sell them individually online, which the band says EMI is already doing. Pink Floyd is among bands which, through the FAC, are supporting the entertainment cartel Three Strikes business plan which seems set to become law in the UK . A decision on the EMI case is expected tomorrow. - … .. … and identi.ca More First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi alarming turnover – EMI revolving door: Leoni-Sceti out. Allen in., March 10, 2010 BBC – Pink Floyd take EMI to court, March 9, 2010 Financial Times – Pink Floyd sues EMI in dispute over online sales and revenues, March 10, 2010 Three Strikes business plan – Dear Ed O’Brien …, January 23, 2010 become law in the UK – Corporate 3 Strikes scam to be law in UK, March 8, 2010 Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to - | | rss feed: http://-/feed -? - Click here to learn what technologies might help you bypass censorshiop in your area. over payment of online royalties and the marketing of their music. The group, signed to EMI since 1967, are disputing the way payments for their digital sales are calculated. They are also seeking a ruling on whether the label can sell individual tracks from their original albums.

New lawsuit against Google Buzz

// March 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // p2p

p2pnet view P2P | Advertising:- Google is  again in trouble over Buzz, its ’social networking’ application which blasted user data across the Internet. It’s facing a new lawsuit. “Jennifer Stoddart, Canada’s privacy commissioner, says she has serious concerns centering on Buzz, Google’s disastrous attempt to horn in on rich advertising territory so far staked out by the likes of Fa$ebook” said p2pnet recently, going on > > > In the US, EPIC has gone further, demanding an FCC investigation. Google, a giant US online advertising company with major control issues, set itself up for one or more class actions after its ’social networking’ application splashed private and personal user data across the Internet, generating non-stop negative buzz worldwide. Then, “A class action complaint filed in San Jose federal court alleges that Google Inc. broke the law when its controversial Google Buzz service shared personal data without the consent of users”, said the San Francisco Chronicle . Eva Hibnick “is seeking to bring the complaint on behalf of all Gmail users whose accounts were automatically linked to Buzz”, said the story, going on, “The filing noted there were 31.2 million Gmail users in January and that Google ‘added the Buzz program to most or all of these accounts’.” Now it’s being sued by Gmail user Andranik Souvalian who claims that, “Google intentionally exceeded its authorization to access and control confidential and private information” in violation of the Stored Communications Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, says InformationWeek . “Google, through its Buzz social networking tool, has unlawfully disclosed its customers’ private communications and records, including but not limited to, the automatic and unauthorized importing of its customers’ private e-mail contacts into the Buzz social network”, says the complaint states, also stating: “Buzz has raised privacy concerns including, but not limited to automatic importing of private contacts and showing them to friends and importing without authorization the customers’ private photos onto the Buzz social network.” Stay tuned. - … .. … and identi.ca More First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi p2pnet – Google Buzz: Situation Normal … AFU, February 17, 2010 non-stop negative buzz – ‘Fuck you, Google!’ Part Deux, February 15, 2010 San Francisco Chronicle – Local class action complaint filed over Google Buzz, February 17, 2010 CBC – Privacy commissioner reviewing Google Buzz, February 16, 2010 InformationWeek – Google Buzz Stung By Lawsuit, March 8, 2010 Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to - | | rss feed: http://-/feed -? - Click here to learn what technologies might help you bypass censorshiop in your area.

EMI revolving door: Leoni-Sceti out. Allen in.

// March 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // p2p

p2pnet view Music:- EMI isn’t in dire straits, despite the massive $3,012,441,629 millstone (more than three billion dollars) hanging around its neck and the fact Warner is once again casting a covetous eye upon it. Au contraire, according to the Big 4 organised music cartel’s IFPI , “Over the past two and a half years, EMI Music has become a stronger and growing company, with a talented senior team, significant creative success and a more rigorous approach to marketing and operations. This has resulted in increased sales, improved market share and industry-leading EBITDA margins.” But its revolving door is still turning. From then to now … In the spring of 2007, “Terra Firma plans to “build on EMI’s current position as one of the world’s leading music companies and accelerate the development of its digital and online strategy,” said Guy Hands (top). His Terra Firma Capital Partners was buying EMI Group Plc for £2.4 billion ( $4.7 billion ). A year later  Douglas Merrill quit his job as CIO of the net’s largest advertising company, Google, to  become president of EMI saying,  it’s a, “ poor business model to sue your customers. I don’t think that’s a sustainable strategy.” By March, 2009, he was gone and Guy Hands had resigned as CEO to “focus on running the private equity firm’s companies which include troubled EMI and dealing with its investors,” said the Independent , going on: “Tim Pryce, who will assume the role of chief executive, is another founder member of Terra Firma. He worked with Mr Hands at Nomura, and is a member of the group’s investment advisory and remuneration committees as well as general counsel.” Next up as CEO was Elio Leoni-Sceti who “successfully led EMI Music through the first phase of its operational turnaround,” according to the IFPI. Leoni-Sceti had worked on such music industry projects as Veet hair remover and Finish dishwasher tablets. He didn’t last long and leading the new talented senior team is former Charles Allen (bottom), “recruited by Guy Hands” as non-executive chairman in 2009, said the Guardian . Digital platform “Elio has done a great job”, says Allen in the IFPI puff piece. What now? “I will support and guide the group’s strong team, keep EMI’s focus on creativity and superb A&R, and deliver a digital platform”, says Allen. Ahhh. A digital platform “This is a great business – our task is to ensure it has a great future.” EMI artists will no doubt be thrilled to learn that. Stay tuned. - … .. … and identi.ca More First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi $3,012,441,629 millstone – EMI $3,012,441,629 in the hole, February 8, 2010 covetous eye – Warner, EMI: soon to be wed?, February 10, 2010 IFPI – Charles Allen becomes Executive Chairman of EMI Music, March 10, 2010 Guardian – Former ITV chief Charles Allen joins EMI, January 16, 2009 $4.7 billion – EMI sold for $4.7 billion, May 21, 2007 quit his job – Google guy jumps ship to run EMI, April 2, 2008 poor business model – Don`t sue, new EMI boss tells Big Music, April 3, 2008 Independent – Hands resigns from top job at Terra Firma, March 18, 2009 Veet hair remover – EMI to step up attacks on its customers, February 23, 2009 Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to - | | rss feed: http://-/feed -? - Click here to learn what technologies might help you bypass censorshiop in your area.

Ovum solves the online music problem

// March 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // p2p

p2pnet view Music | P2P:- How does it go? Someone creates a work of music, intrumental or with words, someone else listens to it and likes it and then pays the creator, happily going home to listen whenever, wherever and on whatever s/he likes? Everyone is happy. The music lover has his/her music and the artist has been paid. And online, it’s much the same, except the music is exposed to potentially millions of people. That’s the way it should be, anway. But thanks to the Big 4 middlemen, France’s Vivendi Universal, the fattest and richest, the other three being Sony (Japan), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US, but controlled by a Canadian), that’s the way it isn’t. Ovum, however, has the answer. In a ’study’ paid for by Universal and called “Is There A Commercial Argument For ISP Music Services” [it forgot the question mark] it says > > > Ovum has interviewed more than a dozen ISPs, platform enablers and web-based operators providing digital music services in the European markets, with the full range of revenue and costs models for the provision of digital music services represented in the sample. This includes advertising-funded, premium subscription streaming and hybrid streaming and download-to-own services. The revenue forecasts assume adoption of a recommended best-practice strategy of a low cost, £6.49 per month service, delivering premium streaming with limited download allocation, and a defined additional retail target per user per month.  It is a medium-level service adoption scenario. It is assumed that the music offerings themselves would be ‘tethered’ to the broadband service as part of a bundle.  The revenue forecasts do not include income from standalone music download or subscription services already in the marketplace, which Ovum estimate to be around £250m. “Ovum interviewed several digital music service providers, content platform producers and ISPs offering digital music services today to examine the economic case for the provision of on-demand digital services by ISPs” says the ’study’, offered up for general consumption by the Big 4’s BPI (British Phonographic Industry).  “Their report concluded that ISPs are a critical channel for the provision of future digital music services”, it says. With that under its belt “Ovum considers the blueprint for success is for ISPs to pursue a strategy based around a subscription streaming service incorporating bundled download-to-own tracks and additional recommendation-driven retail”, it says.  “This would fulfil a strategic objective for ISPs — implementing value-added services to their product portfolios, creating a sustainable way to participate in the demand for rich digital media.” Apparently, Ovum doesn’t understand how the net works, and hasn’t been told there’s no such thing as streaming. Nor did its ’study’ ask online music lovers if they’d go for any of this twaddle. As always, it’s ‘assumed’ they will. Not a bad idea from the labels’ points of view, though. As well as forcing them to act as copyright cops against their own customers, they’d also be distributing corporate  copyright crap, at the same time gaining access to all kinds of priceless ‘consumer’ data. Nice one. - … .. … and identi.ca More First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi no such thing – There’s no such thing as ’streaming’: Part II, December 7, 2009 BPI – Digital Music Services Could Earn UK ISPs £100m By 2013 , 8 March 2010 , March 8, 2010 Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to - | | rss feed: http://-/feed -? -

Listening to rap in California

// March 6th, 2010 // No Comments » // p2p

p2pnet view Music:- Oz rap-fan Nathan Michael Wilkie was arrested for listening to what local cops called “offensive” music . Warrnambool magistrates heard he was listening to lyrics such as “shut your f—— mouth bitch, f—— motherf—–” and in “what could be a legal test case”, Wilkie faces a charge of offensive behaviour,  says the Herald Sun . He was listening to underground rapper Kid Selzy while he, Wilkie, was parked outside a supermarket waiting for his mother, says the story. Wilkie “allegedly” told the cops, “You’re a joke, go do some real police work.” They nailed him and Kid Selzy says he’ll turn up when the case continues on June 11. But he got off light, says a Reader’s Write because … … “The cops here DO WANT THEY WANT TO DO.” ‘Here’ is California. The comment goes on > > > Make sure you have a valid driver’s license and vehicle registration and an insurance policy or otherwise you’ll get your car impounded. Playing loud rap music will get you stereotyped as a gangbanger and you will get jacked by the county sheriff’s department or the California highway patrol and you car get ripped apart for drugs and weapons. Why draw attention to yourself ? You will not like it when you get a .357 Smith and Wesson pistol stuck in your face by a cop and a 12 gauge shotgun stuck in your face by his partner. I suppose people like you complain after your rights were violated and you want a lawyer claiming police brutality. Quess what your claim will get thrown out of court. The judicial system and the police review board always sticks together and will almost never convict a cop for wrongdoing. “Immaturity is not obeying the law and not willing to pay the consequences”, the post adds. - … .. … and identi.ca More First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi “offensive” music – Rap-lover arrested for ‘offensive music’, March 5, 2010 Herald Sun – Teen Nathan Wilkie arrested for playing ‘offensive’ rap music from car, March 6, 2010 Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to - | | rss feed: http://-/feed -? -

Sony drops promo CDs

// March 6th, 2010 // No Comments » // p2p

p2pnet view Music:- “I know all the arguments about the decline of physical product but this move shows that record companies don’t understand what goes on in the head of a hack who gets scores of new records every day, most of them by people he’s never heard of. In a tiny minority of cases he just looks at the cover or the name, thinks ‘that looks interesting’ and puts it on the office CD player. “If it’s any good somebody else in the office will say ‘what are we listening to?’ and a short conversation will ensue. This conversation is the very first tiny step in getting known. It’s a social event in the physical world in response to a physical object.” That’s David Hepworth (right)  in his And Another Thing blog on the news that Sony is about to drop physical promo CDs in favour of digital versions. “On May 1, the major will switch to a digital e-card system for the distribution of promotional music,”   says Music Week , going on: “Sony already uses this digital system for many releases but Sony UK chairman and CEO Ged Doherty reveals that the major will be phasing out the mailing of physical stock at the same time.” Hepworth remarks: “I’m sure there are lots of good reasons for Sony making this move. Should send a shiver through the Jiffy Bag business for a start. “I also predict that within a year when they want reviewers to take notice of something they’ll start sending out copies again.” - … .. … and identi.ca More First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi And Another Thing – The end of the promo copy, March 3, 2010 Music Week – Sony set for digital promo switch, March 3, 2010 Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to - | | rss feed: http://-/feed -? -

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