Google apparently fed a story to the press that it’s made a deal with the MCPS/PRS, Britain’s combined mechanical royalty collection society and performance rights organization. The MCPS/PRS also announced the deal, so it’s true. The deal as announced is a flat fee for the use of (a) MCPS/PRS members’ works (b) in the UK. […]
Here’s a newsflash for all you tech investors out there. There’s an innovative new stealth company we heard about that’s developing a supercool freculture product innovation that serves no ads, and blocks all innovative advertising you encounter in your life. Not only will this innovative product block all advertising on the Internet, but it innovatively […]
It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years, but Girlstart is having its 10 anniversary, and if you ever needed evidence that good ideas come from citizens who are proud of their city, Girlstart is it. Girlstart is a non-profit organization founded in Austin, Texas in 1997 to empower girls in math, science, engineering and […]
As I go through my day, I frequently encounter folk in the online community who make statements about practices in the music industry as though they were facts, i.e., true. In keeping with the Cult of the Amateur that attempts to persuade by means of “flaming” and other mob activity, no one is too interested […]
I was on a public policy panel in Seattle this week and had an exchange with another panelist that bears repeating. In the context of a discussion of the woes that have befallen the music industry at the hands of technology “innovators” such as Kazaa, Grokster and YouTube, I was admonished that as a matter […]
For those of you who find that you are looking for the fourth circle of hell as relief from enduring the “distinctions” between tangible property and intellectual property spewed by the EFFluviati and other fellow travelers of Professor Lester Lawrence Lessig III (affectionately known as “Trip” Lessig in these pages), you “must read” The Structural […]
Fred von Lohman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation treats us to the workings of his mind in this post to the Los Angeles Times opinion blog where he claps on one and three regarding the desire of the creative community to extend the digital performance right to terrestrial radio. He writes: “Copyright is a tax […]
Google announced this week that it’s really trying to come up with a filtering solution for YouTube, but, dude, it’s like so hard. And like, you know what, it’s just as hard this year as it was last year when they said they were going to filter. So, dude—that must mean it’s like REALLY hard. […]
Music Technology Policy 