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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The creators of Jetflicks and iStreamitAll are facing federal charges for running two of the largest illegal streaming sites in the United States. A federal grand jury today charged eight people with conspiring to violate copyright law for their invo... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2019-08-28 00:59:00 UTC ]
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In more “thing becomes other thing” news, Sleeping Beauties, the more-than-700-page fantasy novel that Stephen King wrote with his son, Owen, is being adapted into a 10-part comic book series. The novel imagines a world in which all the women in the world except one have come down with a disease... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-16 19:06:16 UTC ]
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Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw’s “Songs of America” looks at music’s role in our nation’s history. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-07-10 13:53:10 UTC ]
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Stephen Budiansky describes the judge’s intellectual humility as a model for our polarized age. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-06-27 12:59:23 UTC ]
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City officials are going after a group of landlords, accusing them of operating a ring of illegal short-term rentals that they marketed on popular booking sites including Airbnb, booking.com and... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2019-06-20 17:52:51 UTC ]
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City officials are going after a group of landlords for operating a ring of illegal short term rentals that they marketed on popular booking sites including Airbnb, Booking.com and Homeaway.com. The... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2019-06-20 17:52:51 UTC ]
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A newly formed electronic music book publisher, Velocity Press, has launched with a book promising to be “a radical reworking of British dance music’s origin story”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-20 07:05:53 UTC ]
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The horror writer said it was “impossible” to watch the show without thinking of the president. Continue reading at The Huffington Post
[ The Huffington Post | 2019-05-31 09:36:40 UTC ]
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In 'Talking to Strangers' (Little, Brown, Sept.), Gladwell goes in search of an answer to the question at the root of his obsession with the case of Sandra Bland: “What happens when we have to deal with the unfamiliar?” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-05-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Ever wonder what the silhouetted figures on road signs do when no one’s around? Stephen Savage shares his findings in a wordless picture book, 'Sign Off' (S&S/Beach Lane, May). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-05-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Social media giant breaks its own rules on violence and animal trading, say campaignersFacebook has been accused of giving a global platform to dogfighting after an investigation found the site is being used by fight organisers and unscrupulous puppy traders.Lady Freethinker (LFT), the animal... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-05-26 07:00:06 UTC ]
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ByteDance is looking to target territories where traditionally paid streaming music services haven’t caught on. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or don’t have or know a teenager, you’re probably aware that the hottest social media app on the planet right now is TikTok. Well, now the app’s... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2019-05-21 06:07:11 UTC ]
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Indoor cycling company Peloton pedaled into some legal trouble in March—to the tune of $150 million—when the brand was sued for trademark infringement by a group of music publishers representing the likes of Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. For Peloton, which has made a name for itself by selling a... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quiller has signed the recently-discovered memoir of music impresario Bryan Morrison, the man who represented Pink Floyd, T Rex, The Jam and Wham!. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One month after a group of music publishers sued it for copyright infringement, Peloton is firing back with a countersuit claiming anticompetitive conduct. On Tuesday, the New York-based fitness startup filed an answer to a complaint by members of the National Music Publishers’ Association and... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Although the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books panel was called Drop the Beat, it started with a moment of silence. Amid the celebration of literature of 1990s-era rap music, former KDAY-Los Angeles radio show host Greg Mack — who was the first DJ to play the genre on air in 1983 — made a point... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-04-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Society of Authors president Philip Pullman and 32 other leading writers have called on the government to tackle “the blight” of online book piracy. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Musician Shirley Collins’ memoir All in the Downs (Strange Attractor) has won the Penderyn Music Book Prize for 2019. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Book piracy threatens authors' livelihoods' according to a new appeal from the Society of Authors to the British government to help protect copyright. The post Society of Authors Calls on UK Government to Fight Online Book Piracy appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"Are you surprised that rich parents are bribing their rich kiddies into top schools? Shocked, even? Don't be." Continue reading at The Huffington Post
[ The Huffington Post | 2019-04-05 08:06:32 UTC ]
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