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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PA backs publisher admission over piracy costs

Written By: Philip Jones and Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 12/04/2011 - 09:15 Publishers are having to spend more money to keep up with the pace of piracy, the chief executive of the PA has said, as robust debates over piracy affecting royalty rates dominated the first day of London Book... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Android Market ebooks goes live; music and movies to follow?

By Tim Conneally, Betanews The Android Market has never had any specific ban on carrying and selling straight up text documents, and users could search through the market and find apps that were, in effect, standalone ebooks. Now, however, there is a section dedicated specifically to ebooks... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Paste Returns? Music Mag Acquired, Set to Relaunch as Digital Edition

The assets of music magazine Pastewhich folded in print last fall but kept Pastemagazine.com alivehave been sold to Wolfgang's Vault, owner of a variety of music sites including Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What's wrong with Gillian McKeith

For years, 'Dr' Gillian McKeith has used her title to sell TV shows, diet books and herbal sex pills. Now the Advertising Standards Authority has stepped in. Yet the real problem is not what she calls herself, but the mumbo-jumbo she dresses up as scientific fact, says Ben GoldacreCall her the... Continue reading at The Guardian