Search Results for: System of a Down

Napster has become so effective in blocking the trade of copyrighted material that the sharing of songs on the service has virtually ground to a halt, research firm Webnoize said on Wednesday. Webnoize said users of Napster’s latest software, which incorporates file identification technology, had an average of 1.5 song files to share at any given time as of Wednesday, down from a peak of 220 songs in February. The newest version of the once-phenomenally popular song-swap software includes audio fingerprinting technology, developed by Relatable, which helps Napster filter out copyrighted songs in order to comply with a court injunction.… Read more »

Loudeye Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of services and infrastructure for the authorized delivery of digital content, today announced it has acquired privately owned Addition Systems, Inc. (ASI), a leading developer of advanced server-side streaming ad and content insertion solutions. Terms were not disclosed. Addition Systems’ proprietary technology is designed to allow Internet broadcasters to dynamically insert targeted advertising and personalized content into streaming media programming without annoying delays and rebuffering. Sophisticated targeting algorithms, including geographic and demographic targeting, can be used to provide broadcasters the means to collect revenues from high-CPM advertising and private-label brand syndication. For terrestrial rebroadcasters,… Read more »

File-sharing service Napster has inked an exclusive pact to license the digital music technology of MusicNet, a nascent online distribution company backed by three of the five major record labels. However, the MusicNet founders – particularly Warner Music and EMI – stressed that none of their songs will come anywhere near Napster’s service until the file-swapper’s network includes iron-clad protection for their copyrights. Under the terms of the deal, users of the secure, next-generation Napster service will have access, for an additional fee, to the MusicNet platform, and will be able to trade files with other Napsterites who have signed… Read more »

EMI is teaming up with U.S. new-media company Roxio to become the first major music label to create a legitimate online business for burning music onto compact discs. Consumers will be able to download music from EMI’s catalog online and use Roxio’s decryption software to transfer songs to CD. The pair hope the easy-to-use system will undercut the popularity of burning pirated music. As it typically does in its new-media deals, EMI is taking a small equity stake in Roxio, which is based in Milpitas, Calif. EMI has more than 40 deals in place with new-media companies.

Napster, the former music industry bad-boy, is close to inking a distribution deal with three major record labels that are launching a music subscription service this summer, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday. An agreement between Napster and the members of MusicNet, which could be announced as soon as Wednesday, would be the biggest step Napster has taken so far toward legitimacy. MusicNet is a venture between record label owners AOL Time Warner Inc., Bertelsmann and EMI Group, as well as Seattle-based RealNetworks, whose software allows users to listen to music and watch video via streaming technology over the… Read more »

RealNetworks is scrambling to stem investor jitters that the online streaming-media giant is about to lose its exclusive agreement to provide streaming media services to users of AOL, the world’s most popular ISP. The company’s stock tumbled nearly 20 percent early last week on speculation that AOL Time Warner is poised to dump Real and provide Microsoft the opportunity to replace RealNetworks’ technology as media player of choice for AOL’s estimated 29 million subscribers. Analysts believe that AOL is unlikely to dump RealNetworks anytime soon, but ongoing talks between AOL and Microsoft over a key co-distribution deal within Microsoft’s new… Read more »

Napster’s CEO remains defiant despite increasing legal pressures from the recording industry and an apparent exodus of users from the system. On the heels of Recording Industry Association of America CEO Hilary Rosen declaring that working with Napster’s style of file-trading (free and unsecured) was a dead issue for the record companies, a research report found that Napster users were beginning to look elsewhere for their music. Napster’s Hank Barry insisted that, despite the new filtering technology, the file-trading company remains the market leader. He cited a report from PC Pitstop, which found that Napster was installed on 40 percent… Read more »

Since the release of their first album in 1972, the year of the Watergate break-in, the Residents have perpetuated a cover-up that would have astonished Richard Nixon. To this day, no one outside their business management knows their names; they like it that way and maybe it keeps them sane. They’ve lost neither their weird edge, nor their rabid cult of sometimes wildly costumed fans, nor their ability to baffle those on the outside. Yet for a band with such gleefully anti-commercial tendencies, their marketing machine has gone into overdrive. East Side Digital is issuing new Residents albums and re-releasing… Read more »

Songbird, the software brainchild of a 20-year-old Internet entrepreneur, was launched on Wednesday with song-swap company Napster firmly in its sights. The technology, billed as the first offered to everyone as an Internet search tool, enables artists and musicians to track down who has done what with their compositions. The software, invented by Utah-based Travis Hill, won the backing of the record industry’s IFPI watchdog and 10 organizations representing artists, songwriters and publishers. Songbird was introduced at IFPI’s London headquarters. “Songbird gives music copyright holders a completely new insight into how Napster is using their music and, if they want… Read more »

KS95-Minneapolis OM/PD Leighton PeckIn an age of radio where “localness” is being de-emphasized, one example of a station stepping up and serving its community, and a stellar example at that, is KS95 (KSTP/FM)-Minneapolis’s Third Annual “KS95 for Kids Radiothon.” Held last month at the Twin Cities’ Mall of America and hosted by KS95 morning duo Van Patrick & Cheryl Kaye, the 84-hour (!) event helped raise an astounding $1.54 million, breaking the national record for a fundraiser of this type. Amazingly enough, the record the Hot A/C broke was their own, set at last year’s Radiothon. What’s even more amazing… Read more »