EMI Quits Selling CDs to Indie Record Stores:
"The music industry knows how to hang out itself, even if it lacks the correct length pf rope. EMI, certainly reeling from declining physical album sales like the other Big 4 record labels, is now apparently telling independent album retailers that it will no longer sell them CDs."
"KAYE: Right. Dick Gregory is a comedian, a good friend of Michael Jackson's. They met many, many years ago -- decades ago, in fact -- when they were doing 'The Wiz' together.
And he was actually with Michael Jackson during the second child molestation trial. And he told me that Jackson's parents called him and said that Michael wasn't well, can he come and help him. And a few days before the trial ended, Dick Gregory told me that he went back to Neverland with Michael Jackson, and that Jackson hugged him and said -- quote -- 'Please don't leave me. They're trying to kill me.'
Gregory says he asked Jackson when the last time he ate was, because he didn't look well, and that Jackson told him -- quote -- 'They're trying to poison me.' He asked him when he last drank water, and he said Jackson told him again -- quote -- 'They're trying to kill me.' "
Why The New Webcasting Rates Are A Death Sentence For Webcasters | Techdirt:
"Meanwhile, small webcasters don't get much of a break either. Live365 is pointing out that these rates will basically kill off every webcaster it hosts by requiring a $25,000 fee. As the company notes, the guy running the Armenian folk music station for $10/month isn't going to pay $25,000 and certainly isn't going to make enough revenue to pay up. "
"Michael knew it and his advisers knew it. Anyone who caught even a fleeting glimpse of the frail old man hiding beneath the costumes and cosmetics would have understood that the London tour was madness. For Michael Jackson, it was fatal."
San Francisco - All Shook Down - Green Day to Wal-Mart: Fuck Censorship:
"Looks like everyone who called Green Day sell-outs owes the band an apology. After releasing 21st Century Breakdown, their most ambitious album ever, the band followed up by doing the most punk thing they've ever done: refuse to sell a clean version in Wal-Mart, America's largest retailer, and the #2 retail outlet for music (behind iTunes). "
anti-telemarketing EGBG counterscript:
"The Direct Marketing sector regards the telephone as one of its most successful tools. Consumers experience telemarketing from a completely different point of view: more than 92% perceive commercial telephone calls as a violation of privacy.
Telemarketers make use of a telescript - a guideline for a telephone conversation. This script creates an imbalance in the conversation between the marketer and the consumer. It is this imbalance, most of all, that makes telemarketing successful. The EGBG Counterscript attempts to redress that balance."
B*tches Ain't Sh*t A Capella - CollegeHumor video:
""
RIAA v. The People: Five Years Later | Electronic Frontier Foundation:
"On September 8, 2003, the recording industry sued 261 American music fans for sharing songs on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks, kicking off an unprecedented legal campaign against the people that should be the recording industry’s best customers: music fans.1 Five years later, the recording industry has filed, settled, or threatened legal actions against at least 30,000 individuals.2 These individuals have included children, grandparents, unemployed single mothers, college professors—a random selection from the millions of Americans who have used P2P networks. And there’s no end in sight; new lawsuits are filed monthly, and now they are supplemented by a flood of 'pre-litigation' settlement letters designed to extract settlements without any need to enter a courtroom.3"
LIVENEWS.com.au > Entertainment > Movie company deems actor as 'ugly, black and unbankable':
"Acclaimed Australian director Rowan Woods had to fight to keep Oscar winner Forest Whitaker in his new film Winged Creatures after a film company executive dismissed the actor as 'ugly, black and unbankable.'"
Techdirt: Judge Declares Mistrial In RIAA's Only Court Victory:
"The RIAA's only court victory in its years-long legal battle against individuals who engage in unauthorized file sharing has been declared a mistrial, and the $222,000 fine against Jammie Thomas has been thrown out. Jammie Thomas may now face a new trial, but this time, the jury will be instructed that the record labels need to have shown actual infringement -- and that simply making files available is not infringement. This is a pretty huge loss for the RIAA, who had been running around like crazy using the Thomas verdict to (a) claim that the courts recognize that 'making available' is infringement and (b) that this case somehow proves that file sharers will get huge fines. Yet, now the RIAA is back to having no actual court victories against file sharers, and its 'making available = infringement' argument is once again rejected. "
Bush administration opposes RIAA-based copyright bill | Politics and Law - CNET News:
"The Bush administration has announced its strong opposition to a bill backed by the recording industry that would let federal prosecutors file civil lawsuits against peer-to-peer pirates.
In a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that amounts to a veto threat, the administration said it was 'deeply concerned' that the proposal would divert resources from criminal prosecution to civil enforcement, and create 'unnecessary bureaucracy.' Currently prosecutors have authority to file criminal charges.
The two-page letter said that copyright owners already have plenty of legal methods to target infringers, including seeking injunctions, impounding infringing materials, recovering actual damages plus statutory damages, and, in some cases, obtaining attorney's fees. The letter was signed by Keith Nelson, a principal deputy assistant attorney general, and Lily Fu Claffee, the Commerce Department's general counsel. "
MySpace Music hears the antitrust song • The Register:
"Charles Caldas, head of Merlin - the distributor and clearing house for independents - said negotiations with MySpace were ongoing, but expressed his disappointment.
'For all of the PR about how much they loved independent music, and how it was the lifeblood of MySpace, when they went to commercialise it only three major labels were invited to take equity,' he told us."
Senate panel approves RIAA-backed copyright bill | Politics and Law - CNET News:
"WASHINGTON--A U.S. Senate panel on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a bill backed by the recording industry that would give federal prosecutors the power to file civil lawsuits against peer-to-peer users who violate copyright laws.
By a 14-4 margin, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted for the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act, which would create stricter IP laws, as well as increase the ability of the White House and Justice Department to enforce those laws. All four dissenters were Republicans: John Kyl of Arizona, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Sam Brownback of Kansas, and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma."
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