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Limewire Goes Buh-Bye, And A CA. Appeals Court Sez RIAA "Not A Direct Victim Of Music Piracy"
October 29, 2010
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Most people still steal music. We can build the technology, but there are still ways for people to steal music.
-- Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, in 2004.The company behind veteran music file-sharing application LimeWire, announced that it will stop distributing and supporting the application in order to comply with a court-ordered injunction. You can read about it here: http://tiny.cc/ytlix
The RIAA statement about it: "For the better part of the last decade, Limewire and Gorton have violated the law. The court has now signed an injunction that will start to unwind the massive piracy machine that Limewire and Gorton used to enrich themselves immensely. In January, the court will conduct a trial to determine the appropriate level of damages necessary to compensate the record companies for the billions and billions of illegal downloads that occurred through the Limewire system."
Another P2P website down and only a million more to go before the RIAA wins the battle to shut down all existing P2P websites. Long after the RIAA is gone, or reduced to insignificance due to a loss in funding from labels who will eventually realize all the money they sent their alleged industry association in Washington D.C. never did anything to create new revenue solutions because all they did was spend millions in legal fees, illegal file-sharing will still exist.
Again, I do not condone illegal file-sharing. But the war the RIAA wages against all P2P websites was lost years ago.
Earlier this month, "California's Fourth District Court of Appeal struck down a restitution award to the Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA) for music piracy from criminal defendants. People v. Micah Akeem Kelly and People v. Robert Trongale. The court held that the RIAA was not a direct victim of defendants' music piracy crimes...The RIAA, as a trade association representing the U.S. recording industry, sought restitution for the amount of $14,606.66 based on the wholesale value of the counterfeit compact discs that were alleged to be at issue. The trial court granted the restitution award to the RIAA, basing its judgment on an earlier ruling that a trade association "standing] in the shoes of direct victims" is entitled to restitution.
The Court of Appeal addressed the "threshold issue of whether RIAA is a direct victim" of the sale of counterfeit compact discs. The court vacated the trial court's restitution order, noting that while the record companies and musicians may have lost profits, the RIAA had not and therefore could not claim lost profits or other losses caused by defendants' crimes. In short, the RIAA did not suffer any economic loss necessary to be considered a direct victim of defendants' alleged crimes." (Source: http://tiny.cc/jcz6d )
Limewire is gone. Does anyone actually believe the people who were using it to download music will just stop doing so? If they do, I suggest they: a) look at the statistic from the research in next news blip "Online Video Is Now Bigger Than P2P File-Sharing,' which says that actual P2P usage is "still growing in absolute terms," and: b) follow Neo and get out of The Matrix so they can return to the real world.
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 2
NEW REPORT: ONLINE VIDEO IS NOW BIGGER THAN P2P FILE-SHARING
The Cisco(r) Visual Networking Index (VNI) Usage research is part of an ongoing initiative to measure the impact of visual networking (a combination of video, social networking and advanced collaboration applications).
Highlights of the research: Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing is now 25% of global broadband traffic, down from 38% last year, a decrease of 3%. While still growing in absolute terms, P2P is growing more slowly than visual networking and other advanced applications; Over one-third of the top-50 sites by volume are video sites. Contrary to popular belief, none of the top 50 global websites (by traffic volume) featured explicit adult content; In an average day, Internet "prime time" ranges from approximately 9p to 1a around the world.
Of course, all this means (yet again) the TV networks have even more to worry about. More time away from the TV means more audience erosion.
Read more of the research here: http://tiny.cc/0s6pg
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 3
TAYLOR SWIFT IS GONNA 'SPEAK NOW' AND EXPLODE AT RETAIL
Taylor Swift's new album, "Speak Now," is exploding at retail and will debut at #1 next week with monstrous sales. Half of the iTunes Top 20 tracks are from the album.
An artist who sell this many albums today at retail proves once again that despite all the illegal downloading and file-sharing that exists, when the artist creates a great album of great music, it sells BIG time.
Of course, that's no surprise or revelation, it just means that the RIAA and the labels can't blame the Internet for all their problems. It's obvious great talent, coupled with great artist development, goes a whole lot further than those records put out by mediocre talents that contain only one or two decent tracks. And every time artist like Taylor Swift, Eminem, Lady GaGa, Lady Antebellum, and others sell multi-Platinum, it's apparent that the industry needs more real artists and less disposable flavor-of-the-month music.
Congratulations to Taylor Swift on an incredible week, and big time congrats to Scott Borchetta, President at Big Machine Records!
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 4
CHINA'S NEW SUPER-COMPUTER BEATS U.S.
The United States no longer owns the world's fastest super-computer. A computer called Tianhe-1A, unveiled on Wednesday at a conference in Beijing, China, can run calculations faster than the previous speed leader, a computer at a U.S. lab in Tennessee.
Read about it here: http://tiny.cc/jv5xb
And Now For Some News ...
Sony's Walkman, 1979-2010, R.I.P.
CNETI thought this had already happened, but I was wrong. (Who was still playing cassette tapes? Where did they get them the past decade?)
After more than 30 years on the market, and 200 million sold, Sony has ceased production and sales of their Walkman portable cassette players. The final units were produced in Japan back in April of this year and as soon as they're sold, there will officially be no more.
Read more about it by clicking here.
NAB Endorses Compromise On Performance Fees
NAB.ORGThe National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), a trade group representing radio stations, TV networks and others, has submitted a proposal aiming to settle an ongoing dispute over performance royalties for radio.
"NAB remains 100% opposed to performance fee legislation pending in Congress," said NAB Radio Board Chair Caroline Beasley, CFO of Florida-based Beasley Broadcast Group. "However, in a good faith effort to resolve this issue in the best interests of both radio and the music industry, we have endorsed a solution ensuring that broadcasters have a foothold in digital platforms of tomorrow."
Read more about it by clicking here.
Internet & Mobile Usage Triples Among Young Demos
MEDIA POSTThe average amount of time spent by 12-24-year-old Americans online has roughly tripled from 59 minutes per day in 2000 to two hours and 52 minutes per day in 2010.
The proportion of young Americans who own a mobile device has surged to 81% in 2010. So again, we're definitely "going mobile."
Read more about it by clicking here.
Keith Richards "Life"
THE WALL STREET JOURNALThis Rolling Stone has plenty to talk about.
Keith Richards new biography, "Life," is out, and The Wall Street Journal's Jim Fusilli profiled Keith this past week and gave readers some glimpses into the book.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Spotify Is Close To Label Deals For U.S.
CNETSpotify has allegedly stirred the major labels in the U.S. by offering big money advances, sources said. Whatever is going on behind the scenes, Spotify wants to launch here in the U.S. before year end.
Read more about it by clicking here.
ASCAP Tells Artists It's Cutting Payments, Brags To Press About Collecting More Money
TECH DIRTASCAP feels like the gift that keeps on giving to those covering it. If you're an artist ... not so much.
TechDirt covered many examples of how ASCAP's aggressive efforts to shut down venues from hosting up-and-coming singers is harming local musicians.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Studios & Tech Firms Sign On To Digital Entertainment Content ID Registry
ENTERTAINMENT IDENTIFIER REGISTRYA new international coalition, led by MovieLabs, CableLabs(r), Comcast and Rovi Corp., today announced the launch of the Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR), a non-profit global independent registry that provides a uniform approach to cataloging movies, television shows, and other commercial audio/video assets with unique identifiers (IDs).
Read more about it by clicking here.
SEX SELLS:
The Sex.com Internet domain has been sold for $13 million in an auction, after former owner Escom declared bankruptcy earlier this year, the BBC reports.
A BILLION GAGAS:
Over the weekend, Lady Gaga became the first artist in YouTube history to reach a BILLION views on the website.
NO GO, JOE:
Joe Jackson was denied by a California judge in his attempt to seek control over his late son's estate, and challenge the executors who were named in Michael Jackson's last will.
CARS BACK IN PRODUCTION:
After a 23-year break, the Cars have reunited with original frontman/songwriter Ric Ocasek and are working on their first album together since 1987's "Door to Door."
NIN RE-RELEASING DEBUT ALBUM:
Although it's one of the most influential albums of the late-'80s, Nine Inch Nails' "Pretty Hate Machine" has also long been one of the most difficult to purchase, due to legal conflicts with TVT Records. Trent Reznor has finally remastered his debut album, and will reissue it on November 22nd.
KINGS OF LEON SCORE BIG IN U.K:
49,000 British fans downloaded Kings of Leon's new album, "Come Around Sundown," as it debuted, giving the rockers the U.K. record for the most digital album sales in one week. The album is #1 on the British charts.
WHITE iPHONE DELAYED:
Apple's announcement Tuesday that the eagerly awaited white iPhone would be delayed again until spring means it could be trumped by that other mythic Apple device -- the Verizon iPhone -- expected to appear as early as January. Apple said in July that the white iPhone hardware had proved "more challenging to manufacture" than originally expected.
The Music Industry Past, Present & Future, And The Internet I answer questions on EconTalk
I did an interview about the industry and the Internet at EconTalk with host Russ Roberts. Russ is also a professor of economics at George Mason University, blogs at Cafe Hayek, and has written three novels that teach economics. He's also the co-creator of the Keynes-Hayek rap video. (And if your understanding of the economic meltdown that occurred needs to be enlightened, this video will do it)
In the interview we talk about the evolution of the music industry, the impact of the digital revolution, and I give my reasons for believing in the virtues and potential of the Internet in enhancing the music industry. I point out, as I have many times here in the newsletter, that the internet allows numerous artists to make money from their music and it can enhance revenues from live performances by expanding an artist's base. We also discuss the challenges facing record companies and I suggest that the full potential of the Internet as a distribution channel has yet to be fully exploited. There's a lot of ground covered, but based on the comments already posted of those who have tuned in, they've enjoyed it.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Quotes of the week
"Rather than being a record of outtakes, it's a separate record. It's a fully realized, separate piece of our history. It was sort of a collection of material that ... the one thing it had in common was that it didn't get on the record, which meant it was probably a little more maybe genre-based soul music, garage rock. Amazingly, when we put it all together, you realize it holds up as a double-record pretty well."
-- Bruce Springsteen talking about the songs never released before from the upcoming deluxe release of his "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" album in RollingStone"In every sense it was a normal marriage ... He was like a drug for me. I always wanted to be around him. I never felt like that feeling with another human being except for one -- my father."
-- Lisa Marie Presley talking about Michael Jackson, on 'Oprah'"I don't know how they got me to do half the stuff I did."
-- Lea Michele, on the racy photos she and her Glee castmates Cory Monteith and Dianna Agron posed for in the magazine, to GQ. Oh, c'mon Lea ... please! You knew exactly what they were doing and you were glad to do it."It's like, this is album number three. You guys have had fair warning!"
-- Taylor Swift, on her tendency to call out her former flames in song, to PEOPLE"I wish you all the love and happiness. No pressure - but if you happen to find a husband and have 1,000 kids, I'd really be happy."
-- Kris Jenner, toasting daughter Kim Kardashian at her 30th birthday bash at Tao Las Vegas. Kids? Right now that 1,000 number only is in reference to her number of boyfriends past and current.
The B-Side - 'Blips'
THE ONION (www.theonion.com) STORY OF THE WEEK:
Studio Admits Entire Israeli- Palestinian Conflict Just Marketing Campaign For 'You Don't Mess With The Zohan' That Got Out Of Hand
HOLLYWOOD, CA-Columbia Pictures president Doug Belgrad admitted Monday that the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was merely a promotional gimmick for the 2008 Adam Sandler vehicle You Don't Mess With The Zohan that spun a little out of control.
Read the rest here and laugh: Click Here.
The Blogs
Check out Jerry Del Colliano's (the founder of INSIDE RADIO) daily blog, by clicking here: http://www.insidemusicmedia.blogspot.comWebsite
Check out attorney Ray Beckerman's website at: http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com where he prints news about the RIAA's ongoing activities
Smart Marketing Consulting Services
Smart Marketing Consulting Services has been in business sixteen years, and consults clients in the music, entertainment, attraction, media, and technology industry on branding, marketing, online exploitation, maximizing new media, and more.
"And the beat goes on, the beat goes on ... drums keep poundin' rhythm to the brain."
"Work is life, you know, and without it, there's nothing but fear and insecurity." -- John Lennon
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