COPYCENSE

"If forging a truce between the record labels and peer-to-peer services is dark, then Shawn Fanning — the creator of the original Napster file-sharing program — is guilty as charged.

"His aim with Snocap is not to sell tunes directly to consumers but to create a central global clearinghouse for digital music — a back-end system equipped with technology to monitor, authorize, and monetize the swapping of copyrighted tracks."

John Heilemann. Shawn Fanning’s New Tune. Business 2.0. April 27, 2005.

Related:
Snocap. About Snocap.

"Om Malik thinks online radio’s time has come. And gone. He’s wrong.

"I’ve never met Om but his blog is one of my must-reads for all things broadband and I respect his opinions though I don’t necessarily always agree with them. 

"Actually, I think the issue is partially a semantic one. Streaming, podcasting, satellite, analog and digital broadcdasting are all distribution technologies for audio content. As a consumer, I don’t really care what technology is behind the curtain, as long as the value it brings me is worth what I pay for it (whether it’s via my time to listen to ads or my money to subscribe)."

Rags’ Soapbox. The Case for Online Radio. April 26, 2005.

See also:
Om Malik. Who Needs Online Radio? Business 2.0. April 26, 2005.

"Slyck.com has been tracking the population of the largest P2P networks since we opened in 2000. We gather the statistics from the network clients, and verify them through a third party.

"In March of 2005, Slyck compiled our collected data. Starting with January of 2003, the respective statistics for eDonkey2000, Direct Connect, FastTrack, Gnutella and Overnet were averaged per month. Unfortunately there is no accurate way to gauge BitTorrent’s population (other than bandwidth consumption), therefore it is excluded. We then released our ‘Stats Expanded’ section, which graphically depicted the growth or decline of these five networks."

Thomas Mennecke. Interest in File-Sharing at All Time High. Slyck. April 27, 2005.

"File-swappers who distribute a single copy of a prerelease movie on the Internet can be imprisoned for up to three years, according to a bill that President Bush signed into law on Wednesday.

"The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, approved by the House of Representatives last Tuesday, represents the entertainment industry’s latest attempt to thwart rampant piracy on file-swapping networks. "

Declan McCullagh. Bush Signs Law Targeting P2P Pirates. News.com. April 27, 2005.

Commentary by K. Matthew Dames, Executive Editor, SNTReport.com:

I had an interesting conversation yesterday about this legislation with Siva Vaidhyanathan, a professor, author, cultural historian and copyright chronicler whose most recent book is The Anarchist in the Library. Siva was in Washington, D.C. yesterday to speak to members of the Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C. The speech, "How Fair and Useful Is Fair Use?," took place in the East Conference Room at the U.S. Supreme Court, mere steps from the courtroom where oral arguments (.pdf) in the MGM v. Grokster peer-to-peer case occurred last month.

Read the rest of this entry »

"Singer-songwriter Geoff Byrd’s Internet fame has been growing slowly over the past year. As an unsigned artist on the GarageBand.com Web site, his music was consistently rated high, and ultimately drew strong support from Live365 and Microsoft’s MSN. For a short time last December he was the most-played rock act on Net radio, beating out U2 and Green Day, according to Webcast raters RadioWave Airplay Monitor.

"All of that was enough to garner him attention from major labels, but no record contract. So this week, his managers–who include the founding member of the band Kansas–are signing Byrd to their own new label that will give him national distribution through a Universal Music Group affiliate and access to mainstream radio stations around the country."

John Borland. Singer Breaking from Net to Mainstream. News.com. April 22, 2005.

"Mike Homer sees the future of public broadcasting, and it’s on the Internet.

"Or rather, it is the Internet.

"Homer and erstwhile Netscape wunderkind Marc Andreessen are using file-sharing technology to distribute audio and video files for free online. Unlike Kazaa and other popular ‘peer-to-peer’ programs, however, Open Media Network allows only authorized sharing and weeds out bootlegged goods."

Jon Healey. Network Shares Audio and Video, Screens Out Bootlegs. LATimes.com. April 26, 2005.

See also:
Benny Evangelista. Startup to Offer Digital TV, Radio Shows Online for Free. San Francisco Chronicle. April 26, 2005.

John Borland. Netscape Pioneers Launch Free Content Network. News.com. April 25, 2005.

"Digital media company RealNetworks Inc. plans to unveil on Tuesday a new portable music service for digital music players as part of its subscription service portfolio, a source familiar with the plans said on Monday.

"The Seattle-based company, which operates the Rhapsody subscription music service, will now let listeners rent music on a monthly basis that can be stored on a range of supported digital music players."

Kenneth Li. RealNetworks to Launch Music on the Go – Source. Reuters. April 25, 2005.

See also:
John Borland. RealNetworks Readies New Music Service. ZDNet. April 25, 2005.