Ah, the Kingdom of Sweden. I have always heard how wonderful it is to spend the summer in Sweden, but apparently things have changed. It is now the “fantastically cool freculture country of Sweden” according to Professor Lessig, with what the professor describes as the “very interesting” “Piracy Party”.
This is as much a tale of Professor Lessig as it is the Pirate Party. If you cut through the Nutty Professor’s thinking, writing and blogging about his obsessed opposition to copyright laws, at least one core idea is constant throughout: It’s not only morally acceptable to steal, there is a moral mandate to steal. However, since Professor Lessig appears to enjoy his status as a law professor in his madrasah at the Google…sorry…Stanford Law School, he doesn’t quite come out and say that.Â
Law professors are—at least on some level—not supposed to advocate theft. And of course if one is not only a law professor but also a member of the bar, one has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. (By the way, if anyone knows where Professor Lessig is admitted to practice law, please tell me because I’ve never seen him list a bar umber on any of the pleadings he’s filed and I can’t find him listed in the lawyer directories of the California, District of Columbia or New York bar associations.) CONTINUE READING
DC based Hotspur were named one of the top 4 unsigned bands at this year’s SXSW. After extensive touring up and down the east coast, radio play on over 300 college and commercial stations, selling nearly 3k copies of their EP and landing multiple licenses with MTV, Hotspur have released their first full-length album ‘Beta.’ Produced by Chris Grainger and Russ Long (Switchfoot, Wilco, Dropping Daylight), ‘Beta’ comes across as a collection of hits as opposed to a typical album, each track a radio-ready dance rock single. Tales of their guerilla marketing techniques have been making their way into the press, as well as their Snakes on a Plane spoof video circulating on the internet. Currently playing regional dates with further touring plans for later this year. Hotspur will be playing at The Underscore in NY on October 8th. No legal attached. For more information contact Joe Mach
The British record industry is calling on the Government to extend its research and development tax-credit scheme to music companies, to try to help it keep the UK at the forefront of the global music scene.
The BPI – record industry’s trade body – argues that the music sector spends a bigger proportion of its profit on R&D than the aerospace, motoring and defense sectors put together. Yet it does not qualify for any of the financial support from the Government like other sectors.
Peter Jamieson the chairman of BPI said the music industry spends 200 million+ a year on developing new talent such as Corinne Bailey Rae, one of the biggest new British acts. He said that such levels of investment were on a par with the pharmaceutical sector.
“We believe the time is right for government, together with industry, to consider closely a tax-credit regime for A&R [artist and repertoire], which is the music business’s research and development,” he said. He also said that the music industry’s £200m a year spend on R&D makes an enormous contribution to the British economy. He said music industry sales generated £300m of VAT revenues alone for the Government last year
It’s worthy a try.
YouTube has finally named its price according to a US newspaper report that claims the video sharing website is holding out for $US1.5bn ($1.99bn) offer from would-be suitors.
Yesterday’s report in the New York Post said the figure had come from a senior industry source and it named potential buyers as Viacom, Disney, AOL, eBay, and News Corp, parent company of The Post.
Youtube is seeking out new ways to generate revenues on the back of its success through advertising and content deals and is also facing a battle to legitimise its activities amid industry accusations that much of its video content violates copyright protection.
Other labels, including Capitol Records, have also been dabbling with the idea of releasing commercial videos on YouTube and NBC is using YouTube to promote some of its television content after the two forged a partnership in June.
Media companies looking to acquire internet sensations Facebook or YouTube would need to take a “big leap of faith” to pull the trigger on a deal at the valuations of close to $1bn being discussed, said Dick Parsons, chairman and chief executive officer of Time Warner. He said the two most attractive assets available to increase web traffic were Facebook and YouTube. “[But] it’s a tough assignment. Valuations that are put on those businesses that currently make no money are astronomical and you have to have a big leap of faith,” he said.
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