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 ]
The resurgence of vinyl has everybody talking, and listening. Maybe you've thumbed through a trend piece in The New York Times, crediting analog-loving millennials as the impetus for the revival. Or, you've read in Billboard or on Pitchfork about the trouble that comes with manufacturing vinyl.... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A collection of speakers at the Tuesday event discussed suppression of free speech in public schools, the protection of intellectual property, and how some educational software is now being crafted in the form of social media. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Of Tesco's three ailing digital Blinkbox services, its ebook store appeared to be the only one that would go gently into that good night. Eventually, it did, while Blinkbox Movies found a new owner in TalkTalk (which finally got 'round to rebranding... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2016-01-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a small press first, Algonquin released a 45 to promote Ed Tarkington's debut novel, which is shot-through with ‘70s music. It features two original songs written and performed by Grammy-nominated country musician Will Hoge. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sydney Morning Herald report taken down from website as editor-in-chief concedes they understated money paid out by Humpty Dumpty FoundationFairfax Media has apologised to the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, a children’s charity, for an article that underestimated the charity’s return on... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The winner of the 2015 Stephen Spender Prize for poetry in translation, Allen Prowle, has withdrawn his entries and returned the prize money, amid claims of "blatant plagiarism". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Guardian investigation has revealed Amazon is selling illegal weapons on its website, including stun guns, pepper spray pistols and knuckledusters. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 'Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars,' Stephen Prothero narrates the history of the American culture wars from the country's founding through today, with some interesting revelations along the way. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new traveling Trio exhibit, which debuted at the SIBA trade show in September and celebrates Southern culture, will visit fairs, museums and bookstores around the Southeast. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen Hayward, who has died of a heart attack aged 61, founded the independent publisher Serif in 1992 and ran it from his east London home with great creative care. The book jackets, by Pentagram Berlin, are works of art in themselves.Stephen, the son of Gay (nee Goulding), an orthoptist, and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This week, Jonathan Franzen's latest book, "Purity," tops the Los Angeles Times bestseller list after seven weeks on the chart. Franzen is among America's most high-profile novelists, and he likely reached many new readers with an appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." In a sketch... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Discussing his first book, LeDrew critiques the New Atheist movement for being 'a kind of secular fundamentalism.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The US indie website, bought this week by the publisher of Vogue, continues growing as the NME goes free, and Q and Mojo’s print circulations slideIf music journalism is dying a slow commercial death, then no one told Pitchfork. While British magazines such as NME (for which I write reviews), Q... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scribner has scooped up the rights to most of Stephen King's works, in every format you can imagine, the publisher announced Monday. The deal includes many of King's horror classics, including "Christine," "IT," "The Dead Zone," "Cujo," "Misery," "The Tommyknockers," "Firestarter" and "Dolores... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The gig: Jody Gerson is the chair and chief executive of Universal Music Publishing Group, representing songwriters such as Demi Lovato and Big Sean. UMPG is part of Santa Monica-headquartered Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company. Early days: Gerson, 54, grew up in... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple began offering its three-month-old music streaming service as well as movies and electronic books in China on Wednesday, promising a library of content geared toward its most important market outside of the U.S.Apple Music, the iPhone maker's answer to streaming services Spotify and... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Take and Popular understand how magazines are fundamentally different from other media. The post Two New Magazine Launches Are So Good, You’ll Hear Music appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2015-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Think of video piracy, and talk of BitTorrent probably isn’t far away. While torrented movies and TV shows account for a large proportion of pirated material, it is far from being the end of the story. Even sites as seemingly innocuous as Facebook can be part of the problem. The social network... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2015-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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From user-made clips to content from big media properties, video is all over Facebook (and more people than ever are using the social network). Along with that trend comes the problem of piracy: plenty of video publishers are seeing their work dist... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2015-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Several western journalists have accused Algoritm Publishing House in Russia, a firm that specializes in political titles on Putin, of plagiarism. The post Russia’s Algoritm Publishing House Accused of Piracy appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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