music industry

After Terrific Year, Music Biz Demands That World Adopt 'SOPA Plus'

Lindsy Embree — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:21:51 -0500

Full article: Ars Technica
Nate Anderson
In order to protect itself from piracy, the worldwide recording industry needs a few favors from governments and corporations around the globe, and a major new digital music report from the industry's worldwide lobby IFPI lays them out. When placed end-to-end, it's a lengthy list -- and its one that comes after a year of surprisingly strong growth for the industry.

Record Labels Still Carry a Big Price Tag

Lindsy Embree — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:38:55 -0500

Full article: New York Times
Ben Sisario
For a business that has been watching its own erosion for a decade, the music world's biggest surprise this year was that the old major record labels are still worth a good deal of money.

Google Courts Record Companies Before Its Planned Music Store Debut

Lindsy Embree — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:23:08 -0500

Full article: Los Angeles Times
Alex Pham
Google, which plans to launch its long-rumored music store, is still furiously working behind the scenes to get key music companies onboard with its plan to take on Apple's iTunes and challenge numerous competing digital music services.

Compact-Disc Death Foretold for 2012

Lindsy Embree — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:13:42 -0500

Full article: Hardware
Caleb Cox
The major record labels are planning to kill off the CD format by the end of next year to make way for digital downloads only.

No Beatles for You! EU Adds 20 Years to Music Copyrights

Lindsy Embree — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:25:20 -0400

Full article: Ars Technica
Nate Anderson
It took three years of doing, but the music industry has finally won its European battle to lock up in-copyright sound recordings for another 20 years. Looking forward to the Beatles' music entering the public domain as the 50-year copyright terms expires? Not going to happen.

Music Publishers, YouTube Settle Copyright Spat

Lindsy Embree — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:35:17 -0400

Full article: Politico
Brooks Boliek
Music publishers will be able to cash in when people upload videos of cats dancing to their music on YouTube, under a settlement of a copyright lawsuit. The agreement reached between the National Music Publishers' Association and the Google-owned online video platform settles part of a 2007 copyright-infringement lawsuit by giving music publishers the ability to receive royalties from YouTube for musical works in videos posted on the site.

Did File-Sharing Cause Recording Industry Collapse? Economists Say No

Lindsy Embree — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 09:19:22 -0400

Full article: Ars Technica
Matthew Lasar
There's no question that recorded music sales have declined over the last decade -- down from over $26 billion in 2000 to under $16 billion last year. But the relentless focus on P2P sharing ignores other factors. The most important of these is the gradual weakening of the consumer economy over the last decade, particularly over the last two years of global recession. And it's going to get worse.

Vevo Gets Ready for World Domination

Lindsy Embree — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 08:52:25 -0400

Full article: GigaOM
Janko Roettgers
Vevo is getting ready to expand to the U.K. within the next few weeks. Launching in the U.K. makes sense for Vevo. The music market there is very similar to the U.S., and the country is home to major label EMI, which has licensed its content to Vevo without owning a stake in the company.

Cassette Tapes Get a West Coast Rewind

Lindsy Embree — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 11:12:38 -0500

Full article: NPR
Neda Ulaby
Remember cassettes? They were, for many of us, our first opportunity to record sound and carry music around. Mixtape love letters, kids' violin lessons, early hip hop releases -- cassettes were a cheap way to capture and circulate sonic expression. That's still true. Believe it or not, cassettes haven't gone away.

Warner Music's Revenue Fell 14 Percent in First Quarter

Lindsy Embree — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:58:00 -0500

Full article: New York Times
Ben Sisario
Warner Music Group lost $18 million in the last three months of 2010, or 12 cents a share, as new albums by artists like Josh Groban, Michael Bublé and Kid Rock fell short of expectations, the company announced.