mediaor

[Evolver.fm] Spotify Improves with Gapless Playback, Cross-Fading, More

Eliot Van Buskirk — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:43:27 +0000

[The Daily Rind] Digital Music News From Our World (To Yours)

Mollie Brown — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:19:07 +0000

[hypebot] Warner Music & Blavatnik Continue To Pursue EMI As Regulators Review Vivendi Deal

Bruce Houghton — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:13:54 +0000

Warner Music Group and its billionaire owner Len Blavatnik continue to pursue the purchase of EMI’s recorded music division even as a sale to Vivendi Universal is being reviewed by regulators, according to multiple sources. EU indie trade group IMPALA and others are vigorously opposing the sale which it believes would make Vivendi's Universal, already the world's largest recorded musical group, much too powerful. But Team Warners is apparently not just waiting to see if regulators squash the EMI/UMG deal.

Blavatnik is aggressively lobbying regulators at the European Commission and U.S. Federal Trade Commission to reject the deal outright or at least require so many concessions that Universal will drop their bid. At the same time, the billionaire is making it clear to EMI and owner Citigroup that he's ready to pick up the pieces, according to Bloomberg.

The European Commission has set a deadline of March 23rd to rule on the EMI deal. Universal Music has said it is “confident of securing clearance.”

[P2P News!] Freedom of the Internet Could Now Depend on EU Court’s Ruling on ACTA

Yonah — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:08:53 +0000

EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht (photo credit: thejournal.ie)

The European Commission asks the European Court of Justice for a legal assessment on the legitimacy of the controversial anti-piracy treaty

The amount of protests against ACTA (The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) – to which 22 EU countries, US, Japan and Canada have adhered so far – has reached unprecedented levels as people try to defend their freedom of expression on the Internet.

In this attempt, the rights campaigners have asked the European Union’s highest court to resolve whether the act respects “the EU’s fundamental rights and freedoms”.

Due to the protesters who took to the streets massively, some countries like Germany, Bulgaria and Denmark have withdrawn their support of the treaty.

Each state who has signed off the treaty can individually validate its terms but the importance of EU’s support for an implementation that complies with standards for copyright enforcement measures cannot be overlooked.

ACTA has been scheduled for debate in European Parliament in June.

[The Register - Music and Media] Obama pushes 'bill of rights' for punters' privates

Brid-Aine Parnell — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:01:18 +0000

[ARS Technica] Feature: Mastered for iTunes: how audio engineers tweak music for the iPod age

chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:51:59 +0000

[The Register - Music and Media] Xeroxiraptor: Boffins to print 3D robot dinosaur

Brid-Aine Parnell — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:37:09 +0000

[Music Ally] Viagogo fails in injunction bid to block ‘Great Ticket Scandal’ documentary

Music Ally — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:22:40 +0000

[MediaFuturist] The Burning Man ticket affair: can't go? consider the Lego set!

Gerd Leonhard — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:10:54 +0000

Many of you may have heard about the ticket troubles for this year's Burning Man: their new lottery system means that many veteran fans can no longer attend - what a mess. The Guardian has a good post on this; personally I think it's quite unfair towards those that have gone to Burning Man for a long time - after all, it is these people that created most of the 'content' there. Punish your most loyal followers for the sake of a lofty principle?

In any case, maybe this still fictitious lego set could offer some temporary reprieve :)

Image cross-posted via my own GreenFuturist.com blog, more shots and the whole story and other details at Laughing Squid, original source is Flickr.

'Burners' losing out on tickets to Burning Man festival (framework.latimes.com)
Burning Man Ticket Lottery Leaves Loyal 'Burners' Out In The Cold (sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com)
Burning Man Ticket Requests Far Exceed Supply (huffingtonpost.com)
Burning Man: Rites Of Passage, Burning Man Experience In Day & Night (laughingsquid.com)

[Music Ally] Apple ramps up its Mastered for iTunes offering

Music Ally — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:06:18 +0000

[The Register - Music and Media] Apple, Google, RIM plaster privacy warnings on prying apps

Anna Leach — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:03:09 +0000

[Music Ally] ACTA treaty sent to European Court of Justice

Music Ally — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:56:34 +0000

[MediaFuturist] An important meme that cuts across many industries: from Ownership to Access

Gerd Leonhard — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:48:14 +0000

This is a crucial meme for the next 3-5 years, and one I have written about many times (influenced, among many others, by the great Kevin Kelly - just watch this video), see:

The browser is the new iPod

Content 2.0: free vs paid

Shaping the networked society (video)

The future of music publishing (impact mag 2008)

The future of IPR and copyright (slideshow)

... and much more

2011: The Year in Memes (bits.blogs.nytimes.com)
This is a short but rather poignant video featuring some... (greenfuturist.com)
"Welcome to the Age of Big Data. The new megarich of Silicon Valley, first at Google and now..." (futureof.biz)
Gerd Leonhard: Read this: The SOPA Debate Ignores How Much Copyright Protection We Already Have (via The Atlantic) (mediafuturist.com)

[The Register - Music and Media] LinkedIn scoops up browser plugin Rapportive: 'We fell in love'

Kelly Fiveash — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:47:05 +0000

[hypebot] A2IM Announces Libera Awards Show For Independent Artists & Labels

Bruce Houghton — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:43:17 +0000

(UPDATE 2) The Grammys are cutting award categories, but the U.S. independent label community are adding a few of their own. The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), announced yesterday that it will produce "the first award show for independent artists and labels, nominated and voted on by independent artists and labels". The new Libera Awards will cap off A2IM's Indie Week 2012 in New York City this June.

The first A2IM Libera Awards ("The Libbies") are invite only at NYC's Le Poisson Rouge on June 21st, and are designed to recognize the growing market share of independent artists and labels with categories including Road Warrior of the Year (for the most engaged, hardest working independent artist), Indie Light Bulb Award (for the most innovative marketing campaign for an indie artist), and Indie Label of the Year.

All independent labels will be invited to submit their artists’ music for consideration with the submissions pared down by a "secret panel of indie experts". Winners will be voted upon by all A2IM members and announced live at the June event.

"This is our chance to celebrate the risk-takers of the music industry - the independent labels - and the amazing people we all work with every day, from music supervisors to designers," said Kill Rock Stars President and A2IM Board Member Portia Sabin in statement. "This is an exciting time for the independent community and we look forward to marking it with the A2IM Libera Awards ceremony."

[Music Ally] eMusic and AIM survey finds physical habits still strong in UK

Music Ally — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:30:48 +0000

[UNLIMITED | CMU » Digital] Mega extradition hearings not likely until August

CMU Editorial — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:15:48 +0000

[The Register - Music and Media] Woman spanked for dissing ex in Facebook snapshot

Lester Haines — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:14:07 +0000

[The Register - Music and Media] Microsoft apes Google social search master plan

Kelly Fiveash — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:03:10 +0000

[Techdirt] The Pointless Copyright Freakout Over Pinterest

(author unknown) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:07:57 +0000

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