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German Court Fines Rapidshare $34 Million
The cost of allowing about 5,000 copyright-protected music files to be shared freely online? About $34 million, declared the regional court of Hamburg in Germany today, finding the file-hosting and -sharing website Rapidshare guilty of violation of German copyright law.... read more
Found in: Music, NewsMore MySpace Layoffs and Office Closings Announced
CEOs usually harbor a talent for softening the blow of really bad news by exaggeratedly emphasizing the good. But when the really bad news is that your company, a social networking site called MySpace, is laying off two-thirds of its international staff and closing at least four internationally located offices (this on top of the 30-percent domestic employee reduction last week), it's hard to articulate a positive spin.... read more
Found in: Culture, NewsSongkick and Livekick: Explaining the Differences Between the Similarly Named, Only-Kinda-Similar Services
We know it's obvious that just because two things share similar names doesn't mean they're the same. Charles Barkley and Gnarls Barkley, The World Wildlife Fund and The World Wrestling Federation, and Michael Bolton and Michael Bolton taught us that. But can you blame us that we got confused when we learned that two not-so-interchangeable concert databases, Songkick and Livekick, launched recently?... read more
Found in: Concerts, NewsMinnesota Court Awards RIAA $1.92M for Theft of 24 Songs
Court is adjourned in the high-profile RIAA case against Jammie Thomas-Rasset for the download of two-dozen songs: a Minnesota jury awarded the Recording Industry Association of America $1.92 million in their suit against Rasset for sharing 24 songs on the Kazaa P2P network. Rasset is ordered to pay the fine to four major labels for damage compensation.... read more
Found in: Culture, NewsMySpace Lets Go of 400 Employees
In an attempt to stay financially afloat and not become another social networking flash-in-the-pan (Remember ICQ? Friendster? No?), MySpace announced yesterday that it's laying off 400 employees, which is roughly 30 percent of its entire staff. Owen Van Natta, a former Facebook employee who was only recently christened CEO of MySpace in April, released an official press release that made the reality clear: The times are a-changin'.... read more
Found in: Culture, NewsBing: The Next Big Search Engine?
In an attempt to divert cursors away from Google's search engine and onto Microsoft-owned territory, Bill Gates' empire pulled out a big gun called Bing. The replacement for Microsoft's Live Search product was unveiled two weeks ago after investing about $100 million in ad campaign dollars, and it's generating quite a buzz.... read more
Found in: Culture, NewsMary Poppins and Sine Waves Combine for "Expialidocious" Remix
Remix impresarios like Girl Talk have carved a nice little niche for themselves by cribbing from diverse arrays of songs and yoking samples into a coherent tune, but there's no analogous industry for doing the same with movies and video clips. Not yet, anyway. An aspiring mash-up artist who goes by the unfortunate web moniker Fagottron may be the one to kick off a veritable arms race of video remixes, if his current work is any indication.... read more
Found in: Music, NewsWe Feel Fine: Online Artwork Documents a Web of Emotion
I feel like my heart is in the right place and things may be going in a good direction. I feel I just have endless questions.I feel I can relate to Obama. I feel gassy.... read more
Found in: Culture, NewsDownload Gasoline Heart's Cucumber Riot, for Free
Hard times are here to stay, and it seems like everyone but you is getting a handout, doesn't it? read more
Found in: Music, NewsSony and eMusic Join Forces
Apple is a giant when it comes to selling music: iTunes accounts for 70-80 percent of all digital music sales, everywhere. The prospect of any one company taking on Steve Jobs' empire is basically the equivalent of David taking on a thermonuclear-armed Goliath. Rather than go it alone, eMusic and Sony have just announced that the former will be selling the latter's back catalogue (everything two years and older) beginning fall of this year.... read more
Found in: Music, News
The 20 Best Gadgets of the Decade…
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
The 50 Best Albums of the Decade…
The 25 Best Movie Performances of the…
The 20 Best Live Acts of the…
Kim Taylor - Days Like this
Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
Gregory Alan Isakov - The Moon Song
B.O.B. - Put Me On
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
David Bazan - Hard To Be
Anya Marina - Whatever You Like
