Apple Reveals Subscription Service for Apps

By Nathan Spicer at 4:15 PM on February 15, 2011

Apple has revealed plans for a subscription service for apps. “All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app,” Steve Jobs said in a statement, "so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app.”...  read more

AOL Acquires Huffington Post

By China Reevers at 2:49 PM on February 7, 2011

AOL Inc. will buy The Huffington Post for $315 million, creating a media group that will reach a combined 117 million visitors in a month in the U.S. and 270 million monthly visitors globally, AOL said in a statement....  read more

Summit Entertainment Wants $9.5m or Liquidated Assets from Blockbuster

By Nathan Spicer at 1:35 PM on February 7, 2011

The production company Summit Entertainment wants the rental chain Blockbuster to either pay $9.5 million or liquidate its assets, reports TheWrap.com....  read more

Torrent Study Shows Surprising Results

By Max Blau at 2:00 PM on February 4, 2011

For much of the past decade, record companies have used music pirating as an excuse for explaining their crumbling revenues and broken business model. But compared to other entertainment industries, music labels may have it easy. According to a recent P2P file-sharing study funded by NBC Universal, music pirating only constitutes a small portion of the total file-sharing going on at just under three percent. Contrary to popular belief, music is shared in surprisingly small amounts compared to pornography (35.8%), movies (35.2%), TV (14.5%), Games (6.7%) and Software (4.2%)....  read more

Rupert Murdoch to Debut First iPad-Only Newspaper

By Wyndham Wyeth at 6:00 PM on January 31, 2011

The world’s first iPad-only newspaper will see the light of day on Wednesday. The Daily will operate much in the same way that newspapers are currently presented online: covering general news and culture stories complete with video from journalists working at various news agencies....  read more

Sundance, Facebook and Kickstarter Announce Collaboration

By China Reevers at 12:30 PM on January 31, 2011

The Sundance Institute and Kickstarter will be working together following the recent agreement on a three-year deal....  read more

MPAA Shuts Down 50+ Torrent Sites

By Max Blau at 10:30 AM on January 31, 2011

The Motion Picture Association of America and Dutch anti-piracy advocacy group BREIN terminated over 50 torrent sites after bringing their massive copyright violations to the attention of each respective site’s hosting providers....  read more

Nintendo Quarterly Profits Fall 46%

By Nathan Spicer at 2:00 PM on January 28, 2011

Q3 hasn’t been kind to Nintendo. The company saw a 46% decline in quarterly profits. The news comes just as Nintendo’s readying the launch of its new 3D-gaming system, 3DS, which may explain the large drop in sales of the original DS....  read more

Google to Hire More Than 6,000 People in 2011

By Nathan Spicer at 11:00 AM on January 28, 2011

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google Inc. “plans to grow its workforce by more than 6,000 employees—or 25% above its current headcount.”...  read more

Paste Magazine Acquired

By Josh Jackson at 12:47 PM on January 25, 2011

Today, the parent company of Wolfgang’s Vault announced that it has acquired all assets of Paste Magazine. Paste joins other Wolfgang’s Vault properties including Wolfgangsvault.com (home to the world’s largest collection of live music audio, video and merchandise), Daytrotter (the leading site for unique live performances from emerging bands), and Crawdaddy! The Magazine of Rock. The resulting group of websites boasts over 3 million visits per month....  read more

Morgan Spurlock Gets Major Sponsors for POM: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

By Nathan Spicer at 10:30 AM on January 25, 2011

Morgan Spurlock, the Oscar-nominated director of the documentary Super Size Me, which explores the detrimental effects of a fast-food diet on the human body, has acquired numerous big-name sponsors for his film The Greatest Movie Ever Sold....  read more

Misra Records Relaunches, Releases 15 Free Tracks

By Bo Moore at 4:00 PM on January 21, 2011

Venerable indie-rock imprint Misra Records has announced that it is now under the management of Misra partner and Southeast Engine drummer Leo DeLuca. In honor of the relaunch, Misra is offering its Misra Legacy Compilation Volume I, featuring songs hand-picked by members of Deer Tick, Drive By Truckers, Deerhoof and more....  read more

Warner Brothers is Rebooting Every Movie Ever

By Paste News at 10:00 AM on January 21, 2011

Via The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Brothers is rebooting and/or remaking a large number of classic titles like Lethal Weapon, The Dirty Dozen, Oh, God, Tarzan, Westworld and The Wild Bunch....  read more

Spotify Inks First U.S. Agreement with Sony Music

By Max Blau at 4:40 PM on January 20, 2011

Spotify’s long awaited U.S. arrival may finally occur in the near future. While there have been many discussions about the European music-streaming service making its way across the Atlantic, the company finally agreed to a deal with Sony Music Entertainment—a move that may open the doors to subsequent agreements with other major labels....  read more

Netflix Looking to Stream More, DVD Less

By Nathan Spicer at 11:05 AM on January 20, 2011

Movie and television subscription service Netflix, which allows users to stream content through a variety of media including television, gaming consoles and computers, is looking to capitalize on the growth of streaming media and the declining emphasis on DVDs....  read more

Lolcats and Fails Attract Huge Money

By Bo Moore at 2:41 PM on January 18, 2011

Apparently, venture capitalists like cute kittens. Like, $30 million like them....  read more

Diaspora: The Anti-Facebook?

By Nathan Spicer at 1:57 PM on January 17, 2011

From humble beginnings, Facebook has exploded to its modern-day status of 500 million users. Nearly everyone with access to the internet knows about the site, and increasingly, they know about its flaws. Burgulars have discovered who’s away from home by checking statuses, telemarketers grab phone numbers and spam them and hackers break into users’ accounts to send viruses to the masses. Now, the creators of the social-networking site Diaspora* are sick of it....  read more

Bob Geldof Announced As SXSW 2011 Keynote Speaker

By Max Blau at 6:03 PM on January 12, 2011

As we approach the 25th anniversary of SXSW, the announcements regarding the Austin-based film, interactive and music conference have started to slowly roll in. Earlier today, SXSW Music announced that Irish singer-songwriter Bob Geldof would be this year’s Keynote Speaker and Showcase Performer....  read more

Library Of Congress to Preserve and Digitize 200,000 UMG Recordings

By Max Blau at 3:00 PM on January 11, 2011

Over the past month, the Library of Congress has started working with Universal Music Group on archiving approximately 200,000 metal, glass and lacquer master discs dating back to a period between 1926-1948. According to their mutual agreement, Universal Musical Group will grant the Library of Congress ownership of these physical formats. These discs largely consist of American popular music recordings over that 22-year period, ranging from blues to jazz to early rock ‘n’ roll recordings....  read more

Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Selling Promo CDs

By Max Blau at 10:02 AM on January 10, 2011

If you write about music or regularly visit independent record stores, you’re probably familiar with those intimidating labels warning of legal repercussions against anyone who sells or copies promotional CDs. Apparently those are not enforceable, according to a recent appeals court decision in the case of UMG vs. Augusto (via Ars Technica). The decision, upholding a lower court’s ruling, states that having just a stamp on a CD label cannot a make a recipient abide by a licensing agreement. As a result, individuals may resell promotional CDs as they wish, regardless of warnings....  read more