Spotify’s COVID Rocket Fuel
Spotify finally admits it profits from COVID.
Category: News from the Data Lords
Uncle Sugar is Back, Baby, Because That’s Where the Money Is
Eric “Uncle Sugar” Schmidt is back in town and is finding a trough for every snout.
European Commissioner: Section 230 Dogma “has collapsed” so bring on the EU’s Digital Services Act
The coordinated moves by Silicon Valley to silence Donald Trump are having unintended consequences, but consequences that the legions of Big Tech lawyers must have thought through. Setting aside the fact that they took down so many accounts so quickly on Twitter that they must have been working from a list prepared long ago, and setting […]
Bird is the Word: @Jack the Racketeer Skips Out on @SenThomTillis’s DMCA Hearing
Let’s be honest–Jack Dorsey is a weird guy. He may not be full-blown Howard Hughes no-mani/pedi and urine sample bottles in pentagrams weird, but he’s getting there. Keep an eye on those Vegas hotel sales. The latest manifestation of his weirdness is flipping the bird to Senator Thom Tillis’s well-meaning investigation into making the DMCA […]
@jack the Racketeer Gets a Tillisgram From @SenThomTillis–Now What?
Regardless of your politics, one message should ring out loud and clear from the election regarding Big Tech: Politicians are learning what artists have known for well over a decade. They do not care. They don’t care about Congress, they don’t care about the nation state, they don’t care about artists, songwriters, photographers, authors, none […]
Notes and Materials on TikTok from MusicBiz Conference
I was pleased to moderate a panel on TikTok’s situation for the Music Business Association with an all-star panel of experts. You can access our voluminous panel materials here including the panelists biographies. The following is my opening statement followed by the panel outline with some page number cross references to the panel materials. Opening […]
This is the Only Question for the Next Head of the Copyright Office
At some point in the coming days, there will be an announcement for the new head of the U.S. Copyright Office. I fully expect that everyone will have their litmus test for whether the new person (called the “Register” for historical reasons that have probably outlived their usefulness) should be appointed. The fact is that […]
Stop Senator @RonWyden and Big Tech from Crushing Creators’ Hopes for S. 1273 the CASE Act
Pick up the phone and call Senator Ron Wyden at the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Tell him to take his hold off of S. 1273. And then ask your senators to support S. 1273 the CASE Act.
Follow the Money: YouTube’s Failure to Pay Retroactively Gives “Conversion Rate” a Whole New Meaning
A performance metric one hears from the digerati is the term “conversion rate.” “Conversion rate” for a streaming service usually means the rate at which users of an ad-supported free service are “converted” to paying users. That motivation is usually because they are so fed up with the advertising they are willing to pay. […]
The Royal Scam: Content ID and Google’s Massive Profits From Piracy and Crime
If Congress wants to fix the DMCA, Congress needs to fix Google’s scam operations, too.
