Stephen Witt: ‘Music piracy is illegal – but morally, is it wrong?’

Kitty Empire talks to Stephen Witt about his eagerly awaited book charting the rise of the MP3 file, the online pirates who exploited it and the record industry that ignored its cultural impact until it was far too lateExtract: Going for a song: the hidden history of music piracy How Music Got Free is in essence the gripping tale of three men: Karlheinz Brandenburg, the German scientist whose lab cobbled together the MP3; Doug Morris, the old-school record company executive who presided over the rap boom and began the fight-back against piracy; and Bennie Lydell “Dell” Glover, the North Carolina CD pressing plant worker, whose light fingers and computer skills singlehandedly led to a haemorrhage of A-list rock and hip-hop releases – Eminem, Kanye West, Queens of the Stone Age, Björk – being freely available on the internet two weeks before release.The three men never met, but Witt reveals how their lives overlapped and irrevocably changed those of anyone who listens to music. Brandenburg’s genius lay in shrinking sound files down so that they could easily be sent over the internet, back when most files were huge and modems still dialled up. Owing to the bitter internecine rivalries within acoustic engineering, no one recognised the scope of Brandenburg’s technology; the inferior MP2 kept winning industry accolades and commercial applications. Universal executive Morris presided over an industry rich from the obscene profits generated by CD sales, until the secretive... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]

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‘Diversify your revenue streams, period’: IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg thinks relying on solely on advertising is ‘wrong’

The news publishing industry may be getting squeezed by the pandemic economy, but for Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO Randall Rothenberg, it set itself up for failure long ago, by leaning too heavily on advertiser revenue. "When the United States became a national marketplace in the mid to... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2020-05-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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W H Allen acquires How Not to be Wrong by James O'Brien

W H Allen is to publish How Not to Be Wrong: The Art of Changing Your Mind by James O'Brien, with editorial director Jamie Joseph acquiring all rights directly from the author. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-04 12:59:16 UTC ]
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Bookshops should be among the first retailers to re-open, says Stephen Page

Stephen Page has said the pandemic is presenting a "very challenging time for businesses", as UK bookshops remain closed. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-23 20:22:12 UTC ]
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‘If It Bleeds’ reaffirms Stephen King’s mastery of short fiction

A new collection contains stories that cover a surprising amount of emotional territory but can still be read in a sitting. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-20 07:41:00 UTC ]
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An Ersatz Wonderland: On Stephen Wright’s “Processed Cheese”

IN A CAREER of almost four decades, American author Stephen Wright has produced exactly five novels. He doesn’t do short stories, he says; when he sits down to write, “I just jump in the pool and start swimming to the deep water.” And his novels are most definitely deep, his key themes being... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-04-14 12:30:54 UTC ]
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In Julia Alvarez’s ‘Afterlife,’ a widow faces a moral quandary

A Dominican American woman’s conundrums echo our national conversation about migrant communities. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-08 14:57:00 UTC ]
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Internet Archive accused of using Covid-19 as 'an excuse for piracy'

The ‘National Emergency Library’ has made 1.4m ebooks freely available, many by current bestsellers, and sparked outrage from writers’ organisationsThe Internet Archive has launched a “National Emergency Library”, making 1.4m books available free online – but has been accused of “hitting authors... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-03-30 17:13:20 UTC ]
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Music history was shaped by rebels

Ted Gioia's latest book is a fresh, cogent journey through the long history of personal expression through musical rebellion. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-03-13 18:21:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #musical rebellion #personal expression #long history #cogent journey #ted gioia #music history

Music history was shaped by rebels

Ted Gioia's latest book is a fresh, cogent journey through the long history of personal expression through musical rebellion. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

Music history was shaped by rebels

Ted Gioia's latest book is a fresh, cogent journey through the long history of personal expression through musical rebellion. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

What the Literary World Gets Wrong About Accessibility

Almost two years ago, I walked through a forest and found myself thinking of fairy tales. The forest is a magical place, so perhaps this is not surprising; what was surprising at the time was the creeping realization, as I walked among the trees, of how inaccessible the forest is for those who... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-12 08:48:53 UTC ]
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In a time of crisis, poetry can help focus our fears and transform ‘noise into music’

These days, many elegiac poems have an unwelcome resonance — and yet offer solace, too. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-10 16:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen King attacks axing of Woody Allen book

Writer ‘uneasy’ over US publisher’s decision to drop director’s memoirAuthor Stephen King has hit out at publisher Hachette over its decision to drop publication of Woody Allen’s memoir after a protest from his son, the author Ronan Farrow, prompted a walkout of staff at the publishing group’s... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-03-08 08:10:29 UTC ]
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A Buoyant 2020 Audie Awards Celebrates 'The Only Plane in the Sky,' Stephen King

At the Audio Publishers Association's annual Audie Awards, which marked a quarter century this year, 'The Only Plane in the Sky' took home the top award and Stephen King received a lifetime achievement as host Mo Rocca and others saluted the progress of the audiobook form over the past 25 years. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Danse Macabre: Stephen King’s Dance of Death

In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle reviews Stephen King’s early non-fiction book about horror In 1999, the prolific author Stephen King had his own dance with death. One afternoon, he was walking on the shoulder of a road near his home in the US state […] The... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2020-02-28 15:00:22 UTC ]
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Dan Brown pens Puffin picture book and composes classical music album

Dan Brown has penned a Puffin picture book about the adventures of an orchestra-conducting mouse, backed by a classical music album composed by The Da Vinci Code writer. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-20 17:20:14 UTC ]
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A photograph that is right for the website can be wrong for social media | Elisabeth Ribbans

Serious thought is given to publishing troubling images, of death or distress for example, but even then context is keyOn the morning after the Streatham terror attack, the Guardian’s print edition carried a single-column photograph of the perpetrator, Sudesh Amman, at the bottom of the front... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-02-16 19:00:37 UTC ]
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Revisiting Stephen Wright and Historical Fiction

This week, Kevin Wilson reviews Stephen Wright’s new novel, “Processed Cheese.” In 2006, Laura Miller wrote for the Book Review about “The Amalgamation Polka,” Wright’s novel about the descendant of both ardent abolitionists and unwavering slaveholders. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-01-31 10:00:10 UTC ]
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Rolling Stone Tunes Into Music Industry Pros With Latest Product Launch

Since being acquired by PMC Media in 2018, Rolling Stone has undergone a series of changes to transform its business. It invested in writing talent, and hired a new publisher to lead the business-side of the brand. The print magazine reduced frequency from biweekly to monthly, and increased the... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2020-01-28 17:09:10 UTC ]
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