Music+5



=**Felina Tambakos**=



[|Rhapsody Breaks iMonopoly] [|Rhapsody for Blackberry]

 Rhapsody recently released an App for SIM's Blackberry. For $10 a month, Blackberry users can access any song in Rhapsody's 10.5 million song collection while connected to their 3G network. There are plenty of online services that allow music streaming under a subscription, but until now Blackberry's have not been able to access it. Rhapsody's numbers have been declining over the last few years, and so it is assumed that they anticipate more users/subscribers to jump on the pay-as-you-go bandwagon. There were previous programs that work on the iPhone, or through certain providers (such as Verizon's Vcast and Sprint Music), but this is the first thing of its kind for all Blackberry users. Again the music industry is playing catch up to all other branches of media and technology, while still trying to find its feet post-Napster.

=Cameron Nash =



[|Apple confirms move to 90-second iTunes samples]

 It was recently reported, and confirmed, that Apple would be extending their song samples to a 90-second sample. Samples are currently offered as 30-second samples. The 60-second increase would only take affect towards songs that exceed 2 minutes and 30 seconds. If a song is shorter than that the sample will remain at 30-seconds. Apple believes that the increased sample time will boost sales of the music being offered through iTunes. The deal has nearly been finalized. Being a purchaser of iTunes music, and using the sample feature, I do believe that consumers will be more prone to buy music when they will have been allowed to hear probably more than half of the song via the sample. When the samples start being offered at a longer length I agree that it should definitely benefit the artists, & music companies in terms of music being purchased more.

=David Chmura =  Nov. 3, 2010



 Pandora Radios' last stand may be near soon. I found [|this article] from the Washington Post; and frankly I'll be seriously bummed if this awesome App (at least for iPhone) collapses. The article in the Washington Post explains how this internet radion giant may be facing its last stand after a ruling by "an obscure federal panel" ruled that Pandora must increase the royalty fees to artist which would total to 70% of its $25 million revenue. This Oakland, Calif. based company may be facing its demise because of this monetary hit. Traditional radio doesn't have to pay royalty fees and Satellite Radio pays more nominal fees.

 The issue that strikes me more-so is that I feel like record/label companies are becoming increasingly greedy. I know everyone is in it for the money and they try to exploit every possible avenue to gain as much profit as possible; but come on! There is a point where greed becomes ridiculous. It appears to me, in situations like this, that these companies are cutting off their nose to spite their face. Pandora is huge, it's in iPhone's top 10 App downloads. I use it almost daily and the fact that I can tailor radio stations to my liking, and listen to a vast variety of music is simply amazing. I have personally bought many full CD's because of the singles I've heard on Pandora.

 There was an episode of Southpark a while back that poked fun at artists and music companies explaining that artists should be doing what be performing because they are doing what they love, not just to become super wealthy. Seriously, how many of these major artists are lacking financially. It's ridiculous. And I seriously doubt that the CEO's of these major labels are very poor either. It just seems like greed is getting a bit ridiculous.

 Posted November 3, 2010
 * Allison Trygar **



[|Fourth time is the charm?]

 How much do you think 24 songs downloaded from the internet are worth? How about $62,500 per song, totaling $1.5 million? In a final trial appearance today after five years ,Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a woman who downloaded 24 songs from the illegal website called Kazaa will have to pay. Thomas-Rasset has faced three previous trials to determine what the right amount would be for her to pay for downloading and sharing her 24 songs. This trial was the first in the US to be filed against an individual user for using the music downloading program. Although $1.5 million is incredibly high for an individual to pay for a small amount of songs, Thomas-Rasset’s previous trials came up with a $1.92 damage award. In similar cases, the damage award has not been as nearly high as the final award for Thomas-Rasset to pay. So what is the explanation for the disparity between the chargers created per song? Do standards need to be created in order to assure that fairness will be reached for all piracy trials?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> As being a person who use to use sites like Kazaa and Limewire, I myself never contemplated the idea of being caught by the law and sued by the RIAA until I became familiar with the consequences of even downloading one song. Music piracy is a serious issue that users need to be aware of. You may think that you’re just one of more than a million people who illegally download music, and that’s exactly what Jammie Thomas-Rasset thought and now she will be paying her damage award for the rest of her life. **Cheyne Prock** **<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 24px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; border: 0px initial initial; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Artist embeds USB file-sharing network into walls]. **


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span class="categories" style="clear: both; color: #4f4f4f; display: block; font: normal normal normal 0.6875em/normal Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">By Duncan Geere //<span style="font-style: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em; padding-top: 0px;">| // 01 November 2010 //<span style="font-style: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em; padding-top: 0px;">| //Categories: [|Culture]  <span class="art-img" style="display: block; height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding: 0px; width: 100%;">[[image:http://cdni.wired.co.uk/674x281/s_v/usbwall.png caption="Artist embeds USB file-sharing network into walls"]]  ** **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="art-img" style="display: block; height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding: 0px; width: 100%;"> Have you ever just so happened to be walking down the street with your computer and wanted to get new songs? Now you can. In New York City, an artist named Aram Bartholl has thought of an interesting way of file-sharing. Flash drives are being put into walls, curbs and buildings for anyone to use. His project called, " [|Dead Drops] " allows people to walk down the street and find files or put files on a dead drop. When you plug in, a file lists where the other dead drop areas are. Thinking out side the box like this will spark new creative and innovative ideas.    **