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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Writer Alan Bennett has claimed Nina Stibbe "misremembered" him in Love, Nina (Viking... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Our Clip of the Week comes to you courtesy of "The Colbert Report," which is, of course, hosted by Stephen Colbert, America's greatest living media critic, branding expert and patriot. In this brief (3:00) segment, Colbert aims right for our sweet spot with his take on the latest American... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen Hawking has gone to great lengths to promote science through books and videos, but he has been conspicuously absent in the software world -- until now, that is. The astrophysicist has just teamed up with Random House on Snapshots of the ... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Broadcast Music Inc., No. 24 on Crain's list of the top privately held companies, will have a big year in 2014. The music-rights management company will celebrate its 75th anniversary, and its president of nearly 10 years, Del Bryant, who climbed the ranks from artist liaison in 1972, will step... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The print book business in Latin America remains dominant, but digital is rising. Are there lessons to be learned from the music business? Several Argentine music pros weigh in. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There is nothing wrong with Google scanning millions of book and making that text available as snippets in search results. This is the ruling made today by a judge in New York, bringing to an end an eight year legal battle between Google and The Authors Guild in conjunction with several specific... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2013-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Biteback has signed a book on the Profumo affair written by Geoffrey Robertson QC. The book,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Some 150 publishers - from the U.K. and Europe, from the U.S. and Latin America and of course from across the Arab world - gathered at Sharjah's Chamber of Commerce this week for the two-day professional program that preceded the 32nd Sharjah International Book Fair. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Students are the worst when it comes to ebook piracy, says an online data monitoring company. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2013-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At this year’s fair, piracy has been a noticeably absent topic, replaced by a new, more pressing concern for publishers in the digital age: pricing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Berg's memoir chronicles the death of his brother and the aftereffects of the crime. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The best-selling author behind The Shining has returned to its central character, 36 years after the book was first published, for his latest novel. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Music licensing on YouTube was thrust into the spotlight last month after the National Music Publishers Association filed a lawsuit against YouTube content network FullScreen over copyright infringement. As Brandon Martinez, co-founder/CEO of the digital music-focused INDMUSIC put it so... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2013-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Business, Innovation and Skills select committee has criticised the government's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Faber c.e.o. Stephen Page has joined the board of Bloomsbury as an independent non-executive... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Head of Zeus has signed a new history title from Guardian journalist Stephen Bates. Heirs to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The music industry’s lawsuit against a popular YouTube channel this week could indicate that publishers are looking for savvier ways to attack piracy besides going after YouTube itself, a legal expert said. The National Music Publishers Association Tuesday filed a copyright infringement suit... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Illustrated publisher Rizzoli has bought world rights in a title by former Roxy Music frontman... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Challenged by shrinking sales and online piracy, Poland’s publishing industry aims to mitigate losses with more stringent price regulation, reports Jaroslaw Adamowski. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bookshop Band write songs inspired by the books of visiting authors like The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry's Rachel Joyce. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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