Net Music Thrives on Brand Recognition
"U2 singer Bono strode onto stage at Apple Computer’s iPod release party last month with his trademark swagger and sunglasses, along with words of praise for the company and its music products.
"In the online music business, where top artist exclusives are the subject of bitter competition, this was a singular coup. On the eve of a major record release, U2 was freely giving Apple the rights to use its first single in an iPod commercial, was lending its brand to a new version of the music player, and giving the company first crack at selling its new single and album online.
"This combination of idealism, fear and hunger for publicity is driving a cozy new relationship between the music business and young online music services, which insiders say is likely to define the online music industry for years to come."
John Borland. For Net Music, Exclusives are King. News.com. Nov. 26, 2004.
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
Technology Industry Outguns Entertainment Industry?
"Is the entertainment industry losing its clout on Capitol Hill? At first blush, a lot of people might find that to be a laughable proposition. But a prominent architect of the Recording Industry Association of America’s legal strategy confided to me last week that his colleagues are being ‘outgunned’ in the legislative skirmishing over new copyright laws.
"It may seem counterintuitive, but there is some truth to that statement. It explains why Marybeth Peters from the U.S. Copyright Office is saying that the entertainment industry won’t get what it wants from Congress before politicians leave town for Thanksgiving.
"Predicting what copyright legislation will be enacted in the last days of the 108th Congress is a risky business, but one thing is certain: The list of laws will not include the Induce Act, which is revered by the entertainment industry but reviled by technology companies."
Declan McCullagh. Outgunned on Copyright?. News.com. Nov. 22, 2004.
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
Open Access vs Tradional Publishers
"The benefits to scientists of open access scientific publishing provided by the internet are too significant to be ignored, says Matthew Cockerill.
"The progress of science is ultimately defined by peer-reviewed journal articles: they record the results of research and act as a foundation for all future research.
"In the UK alone, billions of pounds of tax-payers’ money are spent annually on research, so the government might be expected to take a prudent interest in how the resulting journal articles are published, archived and made accessible. Surprisingly, though, copyright to publicly funded research articles is routinely signed over to publishers, who then sell limited, subscription-based access back to the scientific community.
"The cost of publishing a scientific research article is a tiny fraction of what it costs to do the research in the first place; yet publishers end up controlling access to the findings."
Matthew Cockerill and John Enderby. Internet Upstarts v Traditional Publishers. FT.com. Nov. 25, 2004.
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
U.S. to Anoint Copyright Czar
"Buried inside the massive $388 billion spending bill Congress approved last weekend is a program that creates a federal copyright enforcement czar.
"Under the program, the president can appoint a copyright law enforcement officer whose job is to coordinate law enforcement efforts aimed at stopping international copyright infringement and to oversee a federal umbrella agency responsible for administering intellectual property law."
Reuters. Lawmakers OK Antipiracy Czar. News.com. Nov. 23, 2004.
SNTReport.com™ Covering the Intersection of Collaboration and Technology. A Seso Group™ Venture.
Rip & Burn Made Legal
"While the music industry attempts to shutter peer-to-peer services in court and in Congress, one company is using P2P networks to promote and pay artists.
"Shared Media Licensing, based in Seattle, offers Weed, a software program that allows interested music fans to download a song and play it three times for free. They are prompted to pay for the ‘Weed file’ the fourth time. Songs cost about a dollar and can be burned to an unlimited number of CDs, passed around on file-sharing networks and posted to web pages."
Katie Dean. File Sharing Growing Like a Weed. Wired News. Nov. 22, 2004.
SNTReport.com™ Covering the Intersection of Collaboration and Technology. A Seso Group™ Venture.
Rip & Burn Made Legal
"While the music industry attempts to shutter peer-to-peer services in court and in Congress, one company is using P2P networks to promote and pay artists.
"Shared Media Licensing, based in Seattle, offers Weed, a software program that allows interested music fans to download a song and play it three times for free. They are prompted to pay for the ‘Weed file’ the fourth time. Songs cost about a dollar and can be burned to an unlimited number of CDs, passed around on file-sharing networks and posted to web pages."
Katie Dean. File Sharing Growing Like a Weed. Wired News. Nov. 22, 2004.
SNTReport.com™ Covering the Intersection of Collaboration and Technology. A Seso Group™ Venture.
The Problem with U.S. Copyright Policy
"Imagine a process of reviewing prescription drugs which goes like this: representatives from the drug company come to the regulators and argue that their drug works well and should be approved. They have no evidence of this beyond a few anecdotes about people who want to take it and perhaps some very simple models of how the drug might affect the human body. The drug is approved. No trials, no empirical evidence of any kind, no follow-up.
"Even the harshest critics of drug regulation or environmental regulation would admit we generally do better than this. But this is often the way we make intellectual property policy. Representatives of interested industries come to regulators and ask for another heaping slice of monopoly rent in the form of an intellectual property right. They have doom-laden predictions, they have anecdotes, carefully selected to pluck the heartstrings of legislators, they have celebrities who testify – often incoherently, but with palpable charisma."
James Boyle. A Natural Experiment. FT.com. Nov. 22, 2004.
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
COPYCENSE 