Image via CrunchBase The UK / EU web is buzzing with the news that Youtube (Google) has started to block or remove UK music videos because they have not been able to strike a new music licensing deal with the PRS-For-Music, the UK rights society which represents the songwriters and the publishers. I...

Image via CrunchBase Read: E-Commerce News: E-Commerce: Amazon: Only Copyright Holders Can Unzip Kindle's Lips.This is an interesting debate that once again shows that many rights holders will need some serious hand-holding when it's about understanding new technological implementations. I t...

Read Zuck's post: Facebook | Governing the Facebook Service in an Open and Transparent Way.When Facebook changed their Terms of Use last week, making it look a lot more 'controlling', all hell broke loose.  Even in Switzerland (where I live), the national TV news reported on the up...

Image by christophercarfi via Flickr Chris 'LongTail & Free' Anderson has dished up another great op-ed in the WSJ . Note: this link keeps having problems... maybe try this one, instead, or this. Below are some of the best snippets - and my comments. Chris writes: "Gratis can be a g...

Image by gleonhard via Flickr Everyone that follows my work knows what my message to the music industry has been, for the past 10 years: Change. Embrace technology and empower the User. Make the Artists Partners. Give Permission. Collaborate. Innovate constantly. Get out of your own way. Compensatio...

Image by gleonhard via Flickr *Cross-posted from the MidemNet blog I will be presenting my thoughts on the digital music flat-rate in a session at Midemnet 2009, and so I thought it may be a good idea to give you a heads-up on what's coming. Many of you may of course know my work from the past 10 ye...

Image by gleonhard via Flickr This Huffington Post column by Jack Myers is a must-read for anyone in the 'content' business, media an publishing: Print Media Face Staggering Challenges for the Foreseeable Future. Jack is presenting some very hard-hitting stats that are worth sharing here (and that s...

Image by gleonhard via Flickr This is a must-read: blackrimglasses (Ethan Kaplan / Warner Bros. Records - What the Obama campaign could teach the record business.  Just last week I wrote about the need for the 'Obama of the Music Business' so...this is a good fit. My favorite snippets: "Th...

Cory Doctorow has a great response to the IFPI's ongoing quest of getting the ISPs to threaten their users with disconnection if they go off the deep end and fileshare anything: Cory thinks the labels and industry organizations should be the ones disconnected if they send wrongful notices more than ...

Joichi Ito and the Ars Electronica people have invited me to join them for this conference that is promising to be very unique.  I will be giving a talk on September 5, 2008 - join me if you are somewhere close by (this event is held in Linz, Austria).  This is what Joi says about it: ...