Six Reasons Why Recorded Music Should Be Free
Grooveshark is getting it from all angles. Not only did its only major label deal (with EMI) collapse, but the company is now being sued by all four major labels for large-scale copyright infringement due to its policy of letting users upload music into its system, where over 30 million people stream it for free…
Splash.fm Launches ‘Twitter for Music’ to Public
There’s no shortage of social music discovery services billing themselves as “Twitter for music.” A Google search for that exact phrase turns up over 78,000 results, and with good reason. If your friends on Twitter (and Facebook and email) like something, you might like it too. That’s no guarantee, of course, as a simple glance…
Amazon Prime Streaming Movie Service Now Available for PS3
Amazon just enabled Prime streaming on PS3, bringing together the best Netflix alternative with the best Xbox alternative. If you’re a Prime subscriber and want to get the all-you-can-watch service working, fire up your Playstation, download the app from the TV/Video services category, and then you can watch as much Arrested Development as you want.…
Something Is Broken If Internet Radio Has to Charge Bands to Make Money
Pandora and other webcasters who fought for lower royalty rates a few years ago rejoiced when they achieved rates they thought would allow them to achieve profitability, back in 2009. Yet questions still surround the ability of webcasters such as the now-public Pandora to turn a profit, given that their payments to copyright holders increase…
Living on a Stream: The Rise of Real-Time Video
A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a friend about streaming. I was marveling how easy it’s becoming to beam a live video feed, anywhere, not only to a friend or a group, but, essentially, the entire world. The province of the network news team with satellite truck has now extended to anyone…
How Jay-Z, YouTube, and Bonnaroo Are Like Airport BBQ
Was this prophecy about 2012 true? Or perhaps this prediction about 2008, if belatedly so? Perhaps because it sits at the crosshairs of live music (where some of the money is) and digital music (where most of the fans are), the prospect of sending live music over the internet is shaping up to be a…