Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Olivia Munn – Sunset Strip Music Festival After Party 2010
October 23rd, 2011 | 
Author: Olivia Munn attends Virgin America Official Sunset Strip Music Festival (SSMF) After Party on August 27, 2010 in West Hollywood, California.
Posted in 2010, afterparty, California, Music, Olivia Munn, Party, West Hollywood | 
Tags: 2010, after party, California, Event, Olivia Munn, Party, SMMF, Sunset Strip Music Festival, Virgin America, West Hollywood | 
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Music publishers: ‘copyright should be technology neutral’
Composers, music publishers, and songwriters have told federal lawmakers that regardless of whether music is distributed to consumers via TV, DVDs or digital download, they need legislative help to ensure they get their fair share.
Two weeks ago, I wrote a story about how some of these groups want iTunes and other Web music retailers to pay performance fees for downloads of TV shows and films. They also want online music stores to cough up fees for 30-second song previews. Those revelations didn’t go over well with many techies.
But to get a better understanding of what the artists want from Congress, I asked David Israelite, president and CEO of the National Music Publishers Association, to forward me a copy of a March 10 letter written to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a consortium of trade groups representing songwriters, composers, and publishers. He agreed.
In the letter, signed by Israelite and representatives of such groups as Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI); American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP); and Songwriters Guild of America, the consortium wrote: “Technology should not be used to strip rights from songwriters, composers and music publishers. The choice of certain audiovisual delivery systems or methods over others should not result in a diminution of creators’ rights or royalties.”
The group later made this statement: “There is no question that copyright should be technology neutral” and asked Congress to make “a clarification to the copyright law” that specifically says that “the public performing right is implicated in digital downloads” of audiovisual works that feature music.
“We believe Congress intended the current law to be platform neutral,” the music consortium wrote to the Senators. “The conflicting interpretations demand clarification, for without it, performing right income of songwriters, composers and publishers is seriously threatened.”
The lobbying efforts of the songwriters, composers and music publishers continues.
All of this started with the shift in the way the public consumes media. Songwriters and publishers have for a long time collected performance fees from broadcast TV networks and film studios, but now more and more consumers are watching films and TV shows downloaded to their iPods or laptops, which at this point aren’t considered public performances.
A federal district judge court ruled in 2008 that “there is no copyright protection for the public performance right when a work containing music is digitally transmitted for future playing or viewing” the consortium wrote in the March 10 letter.
The music creators have appealed the decision.
How is this the consumer’s problem?
To critics, composers, songwriters and publishers are asking for a guarantee that they will get paid for public performances even if there isn’t any public performance.
Fred von Lohmann, senior attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group for Web users and technology companies, disagrees with the argument that copyright should be technology neutral.
“The Copyright Act has never been technology neutral,” von Lohmann said. “The (Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s) Safe Harbors only applies to online services. There are areas that apply only to cable and satellite providers. The Copyright Act is always trying to strike a compromise.”
He added that music creators already collect other licensing fees, for such things as synchronization rights and he maintains, iTunes or other music retailers shouldn’t be responsible for making up losses for music creators.
“The copyright owner is going to get paid,” von Lohmann said. “Whether it’s called a performance or a reproduction the copyright owner is going to get paid. This is just a turf war between middlemen about who is going to take a piece off the top. The copyright office has tried to broker some sort of solution between the various parties for years with little success.
“We’ll get some more guidance from the courts soon,” he continued, “but I doubt that will be the last word. As (Israelite’s) letter suggests the parties can all go fight it out in Congress now.”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10370513-261.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Over-the-air downloads come to BlackBerry
Online music provider 7digital is bringing over-the-air music downloads to recent BlackBerry phones, such as the Storm, Bold, and Tour. The rumors have been circulating for several months now. On Tuesday the company is set to launch its application–developed by DevelopIQ–on the BlackBerry App World store, as well as on the 7digital Web site.
After installing the free app, BlackBerry users will be able to buy and download more than 6 million songs from all four major labels and all the big independents, all in unprotected MP3 format. The app adapts automatically to the speed of the user’s connection–when connecting over a wireless data network, it will download a relatively low-quality version of the song. Then, when the user enters the range of a previously known Wi-Fi network, it will automatically–in the background–update the MP3 with a higher-quality version (320kbps in most cases).
7digital is based in the U.K. and is fairly well known in Europe–it powers the download store for free streaming service Spotify, among other partnerships–but has been relatively obscure in the United States. That’s changing Tuesday as well: the company is launching its online music store in the U.S., bringing more competition to the likes of iTunes and Amazon. Standard pricing for songs and albums will be 77 cents and $7.77 respectively, which is a play on the company’s name (although variable pricing means that some popular material will cost more). The company also offers a free digital locker service, which backs up all your downloads in case you lose them.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10367606-27.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in Blackberry, cell phone, Communication, Entertainment, Internet, Music |
Tags: 7digital, Blackberry, Bold, DevelopIQ, downloads, over-the-air, Storm, Tour |
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Chris Brown sentenced to 5 years probation in Rihanna assault
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Pop singer Chris Brown was sentenced Tuesday to serve five years probation and more than 1,400 hours in “labor-oriented service” for assaulting his pop star girlfriend, Rihanna.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg said in the sentencing she wants to see Brown conduct “actual physical labor, as opposed to some type of community service.”
The sentencing was delayed earlier this month because documents detailing Brown’s proposed community service plan in Virginia, where he maintains a legal residence and wants to serve his sentence, had not arrived in time for Schnegg to review them.
Brown’s probation will be overseen by the state of California, the judge said.
He must also complete domestic violence counseling.
Source :
Posted in Entertainment, media, Music |
Tags: Chris Brown, domestic violence, Music, Rihanna |
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U.K. government eyes sanctions for file sharers
The U.K. government has made new proposals that would see Internet users disconnected if they are suspected of illicit file-sharing.
The proposals (PDF) were announced on Tuesday by Lord Mandelson’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). They arrive in the middle of the department’s own public consultation on legislation on the misuse of peer-to-peer (P2P) technology, which is scheduled to end in September.
“Our thinking on the process supporting the objectives and the obligations [of the consultation] has developed, and we thought it would be helpful to share these thoughts with stakeholders at this point, so that they can take them into account when responding to the consultation,” the government said in a statement.
The new proposals make two major additions to the initial plans. The first is a new sanction against illicit file sharers, which calls on the ISP to suspend the suspected subscriber’s account. Lord Carter discounted this measure as unnecessarily harsh in his Digital Britain report, which kicked off the P2P consultation in June. However, the government now says it is “considering the case for adding suspension of accounts into the list of measures that could be imposed.”
Full Story :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10317001-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Source :
CNETNews U.K. government eyes sanctions for file sharers http://bit.ly/60lhp
Posted in Government, Internet, media, movies, Music, U.K., video |
Tags: Government, the internet, U.K. |
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