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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Controversial piracy website OceanOfPDF returns

OceanOfPDF.com, a website that was giving away pirated ebooks, has returned under a .net domain name. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Are We Asking the Wrong Questions About Magazines? Linda Thomas Brooks Thinks So

Although magazine media got plenty of attention earlier this year due to the blockbuster deals made by Meredith and Hearst to acquire Time Inc. and Rodale, respectively, as well as the ripple effects each deal caused, the months that followed were relatively quiet. And as the expression goes, no... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2018-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A memoir from indie music star Jeff Tweedy of Wilco is coming this fall

Jeff Tweedy, the alternative country pioneer and frontman of the band Wilco, has written a memoir that's slated for release in November. Tweedy's "Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording With Wilco, Etc." is scheduled for publication on Nov. 13 by Dutton. In a news... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Piracy website Oceanofpdf taken down

Oceanofpdf, a website that was illegally giving away ebooks for free, has been taken down. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Soon you may pay Apple by the month for video, music, and news

Such a service could go toe-to-toe against Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify. Apple has been thinking about bundling together its growing menu of digital content and selling it in a single bundle for a competitive price. The subscription package, according to a new report from the... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Morality clauses: are publishers right to police writers?

Offensive opinions. Bullying. Sexual misconduct. As the literary world is rocked by scandal US publishers are asking authors to sign contracts with ‘morality clauses’. Are they really the answer?When the American Libraries Association awards its Andrew Carnegie medals in New Orleans later this... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lionel Shriver is wrong. Penguin’s push for diversity will translate into better books

Penguin Random House’s vow to make its output ‘reflect British society’ has been met with predictable howls of outrageLionel Shriver has directed another broadside at the publishing world, this time taking aim in The Spectator at a Penguin Random House directive that by 2025 its hiring and... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Investigation reveals illegal workers making Kindles in China

An investigation has reported that thousands of agency workers who make Amazon’s Echo smart speakers and Kindles in China have been hired and paid illegally. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen King Library Debuts for Smart Speakers

Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant users in the United States and Canada will be able to download a free “Stephen King Library” onto their smart speaker platforms beginning today. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors facing increasing pressure on 'morality'

The Royal Society of Literature’s president Marina Warner has lamented the increasing pressure on authors to “win gold stars for conduct”. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook Users Will Be Able to Add Licensed Music to Their Videos

Sing along with Facebook? The social network announced Tuesday that it is testing the ability for people to include music in the personal videos they create, and it introduced a new feature, Lip Sync Live. Facebook now has licenses through millions of songs through deals with music publishers... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2018-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BookCon 2018: Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel: You Can Judge a Book By Its Musical

The creators of the six-time Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen have collaborated with a novelist to turn their story into a book. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple Music sets up publishing division as it chases down Spotify

Apple Music has been on its way to overtake Spotify in terms of subscriber base for a while now. The service got a new boss, Oliver Schusser, this past April, as well. Now, Schusser's first major initiative appears to be the launch of Apple's own mus... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2018-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple Music steps closer to becoming a record label–and why not?

Apple’s services business is proving that the company has a built-in audience–a sort of affinity group–that’s ready to buy everything from apps to books to accessories. Apple Music is reportedly launching a publishing division. This would make it easier for Apple to license music, and it could... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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iBooks Bestsellers: Stephen King's 'Outsider' Crowns the List

Stephen King, a man who is no stranger to the top of any bestseller list, saw 'The Outsider,' his latest, take the #1 spot in Apple's iBooks store last week. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When 'hipster fascists' start appearing in the media, something has gone very wrong | Arwa Mahdawi

The Sunday Times profiled members of Generation Identity and made them look like members of a boyband. This dangerous trend of humanising extremists must stopFascism is all the rage these days. Hate is haute, white nationalism is the new black and neo-nazism never looked so good. So the Sunday... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-05-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen Hawking's last book to be published in October

John Murray is publishing Stephen Hawking's Brief Answers to the Big Questions - the last book he was working on before he died. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Copyright and piracy explored at IPA Nigeria seminar

The threat to copyright, and thereby to African publishers, posed by "big tech" was raised by International Publishers Association President Michiel Kolman at the IPA’s first seminar on African publishing held in Lagos, Nigeria. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nigerian Publishers and IPA Hold First International Seminar in Lagos: Progress and Piracy

Nigeria's first collaborative seminar with the International Publishers Association will focus on issues including a fierce battle African publishers are waging with book piracy. The post Nigerian Publishers and IPA Hold First International Seminar in Lagos: Progress and Piracy appeared first on... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Significant' piracy problem explored at New York's BISG

There was a core of optimism at the Book Industry Study Group’s annual meeting in New York, despite sluggish trade sales and challenges facing the business – from old problems roaring back, like returns and piracy, to that new mystery, blockchain technology. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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