Tim Westergren, founder of Internet radio station Pandora, has sent out a letter to listeners asking for help regarding the increase of licensing fees specifically for Internet radio. It revolves around a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to nearly triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. Click here to help save Internet radio (the process is streamlined and takes approx. 30 seconds) and read below too see what Tim has to say:
Category: Music
Why I Switched to iTunes from Musicmatch 5 Years & 5,000 Songs Later
I’ve always been one to root for the underdog. In this case, I picked Musicmatch five years ago and even skipped out on the iPod craze by using another brand of digital music player. But for all my time spent with Musicmatch, I was somewhat disconnected from that group of friends big into using iTunes. So I decided to give iTunes a test run, and now I don’t think I can go back. Here’s why:
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DRM-Free Is Here: iTunes Now Sells EMI Non-DRM Music for $1.29 per Song
Apple’s Steve Jobs joined EMI Group CEO Eric Nicoli in London to host a press conference at EMI’s headquarters. The press had already taken rumors and run with them. But now it’s confirmed. The big announcement: EMI Music is launching DRM-free downloads and Apple’s iTunes Store will be the first online music store to sell the new format. Details below along with some slides from the press conference:
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New iTunes Feature: “Complete My Album” at a Discounted Price
Apple today is introducing a new offering at its iTunes store. Called “Complete My Album,” the new service allows you to purchase the remaining songs of an album at a discount if you’ve already purchased singles from that album. So, for example, if you have already bought two songs for 99 cents, you could buy the rest of the album for $8.01.
Will you go back to buying music the old way? Will this help boost sales of albums? Probably not much, but it’s still a great option, anything that provides us with more flexibility in our music purchases is a good thing.
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1 in 4 Students Pay the RIAA When Sent a Letter, So the RIAA Keeps Sending
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that it has reached 116 settlements after going after 400 students / computer users at 13 universities just a few weeks ago. More settlements are expected, as the RIAA sent out another batch of letters last week.
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Purdue University Warns Students: The RIAA Wants Info on Thousands of You
Last week, 40,000+ students at Purdue (including myself) received a warning email. In short, stop illegal downloads, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is coming. Purdue is advising all computer users to remove or at least partially disable any peer-to-peer file sharing software on their computers.
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Booming Game Industry Influencing Stalling Music Industry
Electronic Arts has a new page on its site specifically designed for buying music that has been featured in its games. The music is being sold through iTunes but is more easily found on EA’s site (called EA Trax), which just links you to iTunes when you’re ready to make a purchase. The EA site also offers much of the same music available as ringtones for your cellphone. The buzz surrounding this move is that video games are playing a much larger role in promoting new music, as the game industry is booming while the music industry is stalling.
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RIAA Sends “Pre-Litigation” Letters to 400 Students at 13 Universities
The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) wants to give hundreds of college students an alternative to being sued for copyright infringement. A new site has been setup, P2PLawsuits.com, as a way for the RIAA to interface with these suspected students. The idea is that settlements out of court will be more of a convenience / cheaper for those who might otherwise find themselves in the middle of a lawsuit.
The RIAA is sending letters offering discounted settlements to 400 students at 13 universities. And that’s just the first round: the intention is for hundreds of these pre-litigation letters to go out to university computer users every month.
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