Grex Music Conference

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Grex Music Item 23: The Twenty-Fifth "Napsterization" Item [linked]
Entered by gull on Wed Jul 19 18:47:35 UTC 2006:

The usual canned introduction:

The original Napster corporation has been destroyed, its trademarks
now owned by an authorized music retailer which does not use 
peer-to-peer technology.  But the Napster paradigm, in which computers 
and networks give ordinary people unprecedented control over content, 
continues.

This is another quarterly installment in a series of weblog and
discussion about the deconstruction of the music industry and other
copyright industries, with side forays into "intellectual property,
freedom of expression, electronic media, corporate control, and 
evolving technology," as polygon once phrased it.

Several years of back items are easily found in the music2 and music3
conferences, covering discussions all the way back to the initial
popularity of the MP3 format.   These items are linked between
the current Agora conference and the Music conference.

13 responses total.

#1 of 13 by gull on Wed Jul 19 18:50:47 2006:

Record labels are suing XM in New York over its "Inno" device, which 
allows users to record music off satellite radio for later listening, 
and organize it by artist and title.  They say this is "massive 
wholesale infringement."  XM is asking for the case to be dismissed, 
claiming the device is legal under the 1992 Home Recording Audio Act.

The Consumer Electronics Association and the Home Recording Rights 
Coalition have joined the suit on XM's side.

Complete article:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/277862_xmsuit18.html

#2 of 13 by tod on Wed Jul 19 19:14:28 2006:

re #1
Awesome

#3 of 13 by krj on Wed Jul 19 21:26:23 2006:

   ((( Summer Agora #78  <--->  Music #23 )))
 
   (and, thanks to gull for keeping the traditional form! :) )

#4 of 13 by gull on Wed Jul 19 22:52:40 2006:

Re resp:3: Hey, why mess with what works? :)

#5 of 13 by naftee on Thu Jul 20 21:46:52 2006:

i like canned salmon

#6 of 13 by krj on Fri Jul 28 16:49:31 2006:

The Kazaa company has reached a worldwide settlement of all 
copyright infringement cases against it.  Kazaa is to pay about 
$100 million to the recorded music industry, an amount to be
determined later to the movie industry, and it is to (somehow)
shutdown unauthorized file sharing on its system.

From a technical perspective, that last one should be interesting
to watch.  :)
(Kazaa might be able to disable portions of the network; in the past,
they pulled some sort of forced upgrade which kicked customers of 
Morpheus, another file sharing client using the same underlying
FastTrack network, off the network.)

Supposedly Kazaa is going to turn into an authorized content
distributor, but no file sharing operation has ever made that
transition after reaching a settlement with the copyright 
interests.
 
DigitalMusicNews had a comment on the whack-a-mole game:

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/#072806parting

#7 of 13 by krj on Sat Aug 19 04:52:42 2006:

The LA Times classical critic has an essay on what the end of CD
retail and the rise of downloading means for classical music.  Haven't
fully digested it yet, but I wanted to paste the link in here before I
lost it:

http://www.calendarlive.com/music/classical/cl-ca-downloads20aug20,0,772425
5.story?coll=cl-classical

When Tower Records closes -- rumors on the music biz board Velvet Rope
say that closing could be Monday -- that will be near
the end for classical music storefront retail in the USA.  Borders'
classical CD stock has been cut to maybe 30% of what it was, and I
don't think any other national retailer stocks more than a 
shoebox-full of classical titles.

#8 of 13 by remmers on Sat Aug 19 12:59:21 2006:

Interesting essay.  Overall the author is optimistic that the download
paradigm will benefit classical music.  An instance of the "long tail"
phenomenon.

#9 of 13 by void on Sun Aug 20 11:56:18 2006:

Warner just recently quit recording classical.

#10 of 13 by krj on Wed Sep 6 21:51:14 2006:

The Coolfer music blog delivers the weekly sales roundup:

http://www.coolfer.com/blog/archives/2006/09/chart_recap_dyl.php

If I read this correctly, sales at independent stores are down
           ***  24% ***
for the year-to-date period, compared to 2005.  Sales at mass
merchants are down only 3%.

This would imply a lot more independent CD stores going away after the
Christmas shopping season, I think, or as their leases come up for
renewal.

Only 5 CD titles sold over 100,000 copies for the week:   Bob Dylan,
Danity Kane (who?), Young Dro (who?), Christina Aguilera and Jessica
Simpson.     (Not recognizing two of the top five sellers makes
me feel really old.)

-----

There was a blivet of Tower Records news today:  12 potential buyers
have expressed interest in bidding for the assets of the chain.

#11 of 13 by jadecat on Thu Sep 7 00:46:13 2006:

Danity Kane is a girl group that I believe was put together by P Diddy
(Or is he Puff Daddy again?) on a tv show or something similar.

#12 of 13 by jenevious on Sat Sep 9 05:45:53 2006:

I think dro's the TI-shoulder-lean guy

#13 of 13 by naftee on Sat Sep 9 17:51:25 2006:

unlucky

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