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The Good, The Bad, The Ugly...The Internet
August 25, 2006
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"America Online customers are upset because the company has decided to allow advertising in its chat rooms. I can see why: you got computer sex, you can download pornography, people are making dates with 10 year-olds. Hey, what's this? A Pepsi ad? They're ruining the integrity of the Internet!"
-- Jay LenoAh, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune on the Internet. They seem to occur daily.
It seems like (despite the best efforts of the RIAA and other similar organizations around the world) there were still an estimated 9.7 million simultaneous file-sharers worldwide in May 2006, with about 6.7 million right here at home in the USA according to BigChampagne. By contrast, in May 2005, BigChampagne tracked 8.6 million average users globally and 6.2 million in the United States. (Source)
Of course these numbers are not absolute, but they do provide some empirical statistics about P2P usage, and the trend clearly evidences nothing has really changed out in cyberspace in regards to people file-sharing online.
Four years ago I wrote in this newsletter: " The Internet is the 'new media'...and the reality is downloading is never going to go away and the most important reality is: IT CAN NEVER BE ELIMINATED no matter how much effort the RIAA, labels, and others try to do so. Any software programmer will tell you the hard core (ugly) truth is this: anything that can be encoded digitally can be decoded and replicated with a little work. It's time the labels recognize this fact, accept it, and now spend time brain-storming on how new revenue streams can be created within the framework of all the technology at hand. Of course you can argue this point if you care to ad infinitum, but having worked with several technology companies over the past decade, I'm quite confident the people who spent hours telling me why the industry would fight a losing battle in this arena (by trying to stop the downloading) are correct."
It's four years later. The tech folks were right.
This week The New York Times and other newspapers and media reported a new "virtual battleground for the music industry" because trade groups representing music publishers are now threatening to use copyright lawsuits to shut down guitar tablature sites like Olga.net, GuitarTabs.com and MyGuitarTabs.com, and even Google discussion groups like alt.guitar.tab and rec.music.makers.guitar.tablature, where amateur musicians trade notations for songs they have figured out or copied from music books for free.
"It's hurting the songwriters," Lauren Keiser, President of the Music Publishers' Association and chief executive of Carl Fischer, a music publisher in New York, told the New York Times. Publishers, who share royalties with composers each time customers buy sheet music or books of guitar tablature, maintain that tablature postings, even inaccurate ones, are protected by copyright laws because the postings represent "derivative works" related to the original compositions. Of course website owners insist the tablatures lead to increased interest in and sales of sheet music.
While I understand completely the concern on Ms. Kaiser's part and the association she represents (the composers, songwriters, et al), attempting to shut down all the websites she's named (and dozens of others) is not going to solve a thing. People who want to share guitar tablatures will simply do so one on one via e-mail or Instant message, on offline Intranets, or on "darknets."
I'm not condoning the theft of copyrighted material. I've said that repeatedly here in the newsletter over the past four years. I'm merely stating the realities that exist in attempting to find a solution to try and undo technology already developed. The reality is of course, nobody can turn back the hands of the digital clocks that keep ticking faster every second and bring us even newer techno developments every day.
The tech folks were right.
The Internet creates a myriad of problems for media and entertainment companies, and I'm sure we'll see new attempts to pass new legislation to protect those who create intellectual property (whether its music, writings, films, video, etc.) unfold many times in the coming days and years. By all means those people who do create such work(s), should somehow be protected and somehow some formula compensation created for their properties that are exploited online. That's going to take some doing, but it will be a whole lot easier in the long run to start work on these issues. Thinking that shutting down websites will solve the problem has already proved completely useless.
The tech folks were right.
The Internet also provides a myriad of new opportunities and revenue streams that can be generated in ways we have never dreamed about. That's the good part about the Internet and the best part as it evolves daily. ( Read the story below titled 'The Infinite Album' to see how Beck will utilize new technology and the Internet to reinvent the entire album concept )
Back in April 2004, Carly Fiorina, then the Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, said in her NAB keynote speech, "What we have found in industry after industry, is when it comes to digital technology, is that if you wait until the change that's required is obvious to everyone, it's probably too late."
It's not too late. But like I said, the digital clocks are picking up speed.
Google Starts Tracking Music Trends
From: BetaNewsGoogle is testing out a new service as part of its Google Talk instant messaging client that tracks the music that its users are listening to and ranks the tracks by genre. From the Google Music Trends site, users can see the top songs and click them for more information.
The service is completely opt-in and is compatible with Apple's iTunes, Windows Media Player, Yahoo! Music Jukebox as well as Winamp. Google will also store the music as part of its Personal Search history, so users can look back and see the artists they listened to on any given date. Information on Google Music Trends is updated nightly and includes data from the past week.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Big Musicians Flex Their Muscle With Record Labels
Talent agency The Firm encourages its musicians to cut out the middle man, make more money for themselves, writes Fortune's Devin Leonard.
(Fortune Magazine) -- Jeff Kwatinetz, CEO of the Beverly Hills management company known as the Firm, made the rounds to several major record companies with a proposition earlier this year. His client, the rapper-actor Ice Cube, was preparing to record his first album in six years. Did they want to put it out? How could any record company resist?
Ice Cube is a founding father of West Coast gangsta rap. His profanity-laden classics like Lethal Injection and Death Certificate sold millions in the early '90s. Sure, gangsta rap is old school. These days so-called crunk acts like Dem Franchize Boyz are the rage with hip-hop fans. But Cube hasn't been lounging by the pool reading The Source. He's been producing and starring in movies like "Are We There Yet?" and "Barbershop 2: Back In Business." In short, Ice Cube has become a mass-market brand like Snoop Dogg, another Firm client.
There was a catch. Typically, music companies own the records their artists make. After all, they underwrite the costs of production, marketing, and distribution. But Kwatinetz explained that Ice Cube didn't want a traditional record label deal...The rules of the music business are changing fast in the Internet Age, and no manager is trying harder to exploit this than Kwatinetz. Record companies don't like deals like the one he cut for Ice Cube, and until recently they rarely needed to do them.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Old Records Go In, CD's Come Out
Are you over 30? Sorry to hear it. That makes you part of the Transition Generation, those who have witnessed the world's shift from analog to digital recordings. You therefore probably have a collection of phonograph records, audiocassettes and videotapes sitting in a closet somewhere at this very moment.
Maybe you still maintain a turntable and cassette deck, which you use to listen to your tunes just as you have for decades. If that's your situation, congratulations; you may skip to the next article.But it's more likely that you've been staring at those piles of records and tapes and wondering if there's some easy way to transfer them to shiny new CD's. You imagine how nice it would be to have your music collection on convenient compact discs that can play in your car, home stereo or portable CD player - without having to buy them all over again.
The answer is yes: there is now a single machine, the Teac GF-350, that can turn your records into CD's. (Most people spot it in the Hammacher Schlemmer or SkyMall catalogs for $400, although you can find it online for as little as $330.)
Read more about it by clicking here.
MTVN Follows Its Own Web Creed
There have been no multibillion-dollar Murdochian splurges, and no overnight game-changing deals for a MySpace or a YouTube. But over the last year or so, Viacom's MTV Networks has strung together a series of doubles in the face of News Corp.'s new-media home runs. The company's Aug. 10 $200 million acquisition of Atom Entertainment-which specializes in short films and casual gaming-was its fifth major Web purchase since June 2005. And while the headlines have been muted, most credit the cable giant for amassing a potential-filled online portfolio.
According to MTVN president Michael Wolf-while some might see a disjointed effort to buy Web leftovers-these properties have been careful selected. "Each of these fits into an overall plan-building and broadening MTV Networks' presence on the Internet," Wolf said.
Read more about it by clicking here.
The Daily Reel Refines Web Video Search
By The Hollywood ReporterCarson Daly has signed on as a contributor to The Daily Reel, an online video publication from film producer Jamie Patricof and publishing executive Jeffrey Stern designed to help entertainment professionals narrow their Web video searches for undiscovered talent. "Half Nelson producer Patricof and former Details magazine president and publisher Stern will oversee the site, which uses a team of editors to distill the best content from more than 250 video sites, including YouTube, Google Video, Ifilm and Atom Entertainment. It also provides detailed production notes and filmmaker contact information.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Sony Gets Into Video Sharing With Acquisition
Sony, which has struggled to piece together a winning Web strategy, has acquired video-sharing site Grouper for $65 million, the companies are expected to announce on Wednesday.
Grouper is 8th largest among the companies that host user-generated videos on their Web sites, according to statistics provided in May by traffic-tracking firm Hitwise. Online video is white hot and analysts have predicted that several big entertainment companies would begin shopping for acquisitions that could offer audiences.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Paris Hilton Showcases YouTube's New Ad Concepts
Site is introducing "brand channels," where companies try to sell a product, and video ads that can be rated just like regular content.
With a little help from Paris Hilton, video-sharing site YouTube today announced the launch of two new advertising concepts that take queues from the site's own user-generated content. "Hey, YouTubers, it's Paris," purrs socialite and aspiring pop-singer Paris Hilton in a new video that graces the right sidebar of the online video hub's front page.
The video is an example of what the company calls "participatory video ads," or PVAs. Like other YouTube videos, PVAs can be rated, commented upon, and embedded in blogs and MySpace profiles. The clip pushes Hilton's newly released debut album, "Paris," and is part of YouTube's initial big test of the online advertising waters.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Cable Gains Leave Satellite Struggling
Not long ago, satellite operators looked poised to beat back cable companies for ascendance in the pay television market, but after the sector's two leading players saw subscriber growth slow to levels last seen in the 1990s, cable appears to have regained the upper hand.But is it too soon to consign DirecTV Group and EchoStar Communications Corp. to permanent status as niche players serving rural markets out of reach of cable lines?
Wall Street attributes cable's resurgence to its ability to offer customers a "bundled" package of TV, phone and high-speed Internet service - what they call the "triple play." Most major operators began offering the last piece - Internet-based phone service - in 2004.Neither satellite company, so far, offers a nationwide broadband Internet service, although each has signed local or regional partnerships with telecommunications companies. A DirecTV spokesman called that a "short-term solution."
Read more about it by clicking here.
AOL To Sell Digital Movie Downloads
AOL is adding digital movie downloads from several studios to its video site and providing more on-demand TV shows. The company said on Thursday that it has cut deals with several movie studios--Twentieth Century Fox Film, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Bros. Entertainment--to make full-length movie downloads and related content available on its AOL Video site.
Any visitor to the video portal, not just AOL members, can get a movie download, with titles ranging in price from $9.99 to $19.99. Other film-related content, like trailers and outtakes, can often be streamed for free, AOL said.
Read more about it by clicking here.
The Infinite Album
Release a traditional 13-track cd? No thanks, says Beck. Instead, he serves up a collection of songs, remixes, and videos that fans can piece together any way they want.
Interscope recording artist Beck is readying a new album that aims to reinvent the entire concept. His next as-yet untitled album will be a cycle of songs, remixes and videos that fans can string together any way they want. 'Wired' magazine calls the new project "The Infinite Album," and suggests this may be the future of a format badly in need of a makeover. In an age where consumers can download songs for $0.99 (or free), artists have to do something more to add value to their records. For Beck, the 21st-century album is "something to be heard, seen, and reconstituted by artist and audience alike," expanding "the range and potential of the form." Fans will be able to create their own albums--and possibly their own music videos.
It would also allow the music biz to make something more out of an album's release. They could price differently and set up their own distribution path. This isn't the first time Beck has opened up his music to fans "There was something inspiring about the variety and quality of the music that people gave back," he says. "In an ideal world, I'd find a way to let people truly interact with the records I put out--not just remix the songs, but maybe play them like a video game."
Read more about it by clicking here.
THIS WEEK'S 'WHO CARES' NEWS ITEMS
ITEM#1: David Beckham ( UK Soccer star) and his wife, ex-Spice Girl Victoria, unveiling a his-and-her fragrance line dubbed Intimately Beckham for Him and Intimately Beckham for Her. Just what the world needs, more celebrity fragrances.
ITEM#2: Turner Broadcasting bowing to pressure from British regulators and editing out scenes of cartoon characters smoking from animated shows, including Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo. Evidently the British take stock in how cartoon characters behave.
ITEM#3: GLAAD noting that the new TV season features only nine homosexual characters, down from last year's count of 10. Only GLAAD would even be aware of this...don't they have more important things to do?
ITEM#4: Paramount Pictures has ended its fourteen year relationship with Top Gun Box Office star Tom Cruise. The jumping on Oprah's couch thing might be one reason; dressing down Matt Lauer on the TODAY show could be another; the whole Scientology thing yet another...ah, heck take your pick.
ITEM#5: 'Saturday Night Live' is undergoing a major overhaul and as part of that undertaking at least four cast members will not have their contracts renewed. Since the show stopped being funny and lost its cutting edge a long time ago, it's amazing all the cast members weren't let go.
RICK TO CLICK IN L.A. MORNING DRIVE
Emmis Communications launching new L.A. radio station Movin' 93.9, with Rick Dees slated to host the morning drive-time show. So it will be Dees versus Ryan Seacrest on KIIS.
WE ALREADY KNEW THIS, BUT IT'S WONDERFUL TO SEE IT IN GUINNESS
Paris Hilton has made the Guinness Book of World Records for being "the most overrated celeb." A spokesperson for the book says it based its ranking on magazine polls in which readers voted on their "least favorite" and "most overrated" celebrity. Obviously, Ms. Hilton scored highest in both categories.
BUSTA BUSTED
Busta Rhymes arraigned on an assault charge Sunday after he reportedly attacked a man for spitting on his car. The rapper's lawyer claiming the arrest was retaliation by the NYPD, who have wanted to interview Rhymes since the February shooting death of one of his bodyguards.
KEANE DELAY
Keane postponing a planned U.S. tour while singer Tom Chaplin undergoes treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. The news comes after the band announced last week that Chaplin was suffering from the ever-popular "exhaustion."
OKLAHOMA GETS A NEW SONG
Vince Gill and Jimmy Webb collaborating on a new song celebrating Oklahoma as the state's centennial approaches.
WHITNEY'S NUMBER ONE FAN?
Sudanese poet and novelist Kola Boof, who claims to have been Osama bin Laden's sex slave, has written in her autobiography, "Diary of a Lost Girl," that the al-Qaida leader was obsessed with Whitney Houston. The New York Post quoted Boof as saying bin Laden told her Houston was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. As for Houston's husband Bobby Brown, Boof said bin Laden talked about having him killed.
HI, THIS IS MEL GIBSON AND I WANT TO APOLOGIZE...UH, HELLO?HELLO?
Website TMZ.com reporting that Mel Gibson is reportedly calling up Jewish heavyweights in the entertainment industry to personally apologize for his anti-Semitic rant. According to reports, not once did he offer to get some cream cheese and lox, bring it over, and talk about it.
AND NOW THIS WEEK'S GENERAL KNOWLEDGE QUESTION - HOW MANY PLANETS ARE THEIR IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM? NINE? WRONG!
Leading astronomers in Prague, declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight. After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. Perhaps it was simply too ridiculous to have a planet named after Mickey Mouse's dog.
COMING SOON!
- Bob Dylan, Modern Times (8/29)
- Old Crow Medicine Show, Big Iron World (8/29)
- Jessica Simpson, A Public Affair (8/29)
- Audioslave, Revelations (9/5)
2006 Industry Conferences
Date Name Location CMJ October 31 - November 4 New York
Quotes of the week
"I, like, cry, when I listen to it, it's so good."
-- Paris Hilton egomaniacally talking about listening to her debut album (let's hope her ONLY album), Paris, to Blender magazine."I just think we ignore him...He's a joke, basically."
-- Elliot Wilson, editor in chief of XXL magazine, talking about Kevin Federline's debut performance at the Teen Choice Awards."I'm happy. I think I pulled it off pretty well. [But] I'm overly critical of myself."
-- Kevin Federline, who apparently lives in another universe (or is delusional...or both), giving 'People' his thoughts on his performance on the Teen Choice Awards."The person I feel saddest for is Britney."
-- Paula Abdul, after watching Kevin Federline perform his single "Lose Control" at the same Teen Choice awards show."I tried anorexia for five minutes, and then I got really hungry. I'm from Chicago...We eat."
-- Jenny McCarthy in 'Star.' Obviously, most of Hollywood's new rail thin starlets aren't from Chicago."I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really. You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like ... static."
-- Bob Dylan, making comments this week in the press."Mel Gibson has a new movie coming out about trying to patch things up with the Jewish community. It's called 'Mission: Really Impossible."
-- Jay Leno"I just want to start off by saying, 'Awkward--a little bit.'"
-- Nick Lachey, accepting his award for 'Choice Love Song' at the Teen Choice Awards, which were hosted by his ex-wife, Jessica Simpson."And votes were cast by 800 billion teens..."
-- Jessica Simpson, hosting the Teen Choice Awards, and proving again that she is just a natural blond joke."A lot of actors show up late as if they're God's gift to the film and it's inexcusable. They should have their asses kicked."
-- Lindsay Lohan's 'Bobby' costar William H. Macy at CelebrityWeek.com.
The B-Side - 'Blips'
THIS KIND OF MISTAKE WILL MOST LIKELY RESULT IN BETTER RATINGS: STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Sweden's state broadcaster SVT showed a little too much when it mistakenly showed a porn movie in the background of a news broadcast. Viewers of a 5-minute news update at midnight Saturday could see explicit scenes from a Czech porn movie on a TV screen behind a news anchor.
The monitor -- one of many on the wall of a control room visible behind the studio -- normally shows other news channels during broadcasts. But staffers who earlier in the evening had watched a sports event on a cable channel -- which often shows X-rated films after midnight -- had forgotten to switch it back, said news director Per Yng.
"This is highly embarrassing and unfortunate," Yng said. "It must not happen again."
A producer quickly spotted the sex scenes and ran into the control room and turned off the monitor, Yng said. He said there had been no complaints from viewers about the mishap.
(My question is: How many viewers called to say "Put the film back on!")
Check The Daily & Weekly Box Office (and more film info) at: www.boxofficemojo.com.
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