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PressPlay, an online music venture between Universal Music and Sony Music, said on Thursday it signed licensing deals with six independent record labels that offer music by a wide variety of acts, from rappers 2 Live Crew to country singer Kenny Rogers to jazz legends Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday. PressPlay, set to launch its service to subscribers this fall, noted that its latest deals with Madacy, Navarre, OWIE, Razor & Tie, Roadrunner and Rounder will add music from hundreds of artists to its already large catalog of music for streaming and downloading. The company said the six labels were… Read more »

Look out, music pirates: The recording industry wants the right to hack into your computer and delete your stolen MP3s. It’s no joke. Lobbyists for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) tried to glue this hacking-authorization amendment onto a mammoth anti-terrorism bill that Congress approved last week. An RIAA-drafted amendment would immunize all copyright holders – including the movie and e-book industry – for any data losses caused by their hacking efforts or other computer intrusions “that are reasonably intended to impede or prevent” electronic piracy.         In an interview Friday, RIAA lobbyist Mitch Glazier said… Read more »

CenterSpan Communications Corp., the leading provider of next generation peer-to-peer secure content distribution solutions, recently filed for two patents to protect what it calls Multi-Source Peer Streaming technology. The technology was developed by CenterSpan for implementation as part of the C-star Content Delivery Platform. The two recent patent applications are in addition to 12 previously filed provisional and utility patent applications that CenterSpan is pursuing with respect to technologies developed by the companies, Supertracks.com, Inc. and Scour, Inc. “Our patent portfolio is a key asset as we launch C-star, our global content distribution solution,” said Frank G. Hausmann, chairman and… Read more »

Federal Judge Marilyn Hall Patel Wednesday deferred a decision on a request by recording giants for a summary judgement in their long-running copyright infringement suit against song-swap service Napster. “She took it under consideration and Napster threw a lot of issues on the wall. Patel was interested in a few of them, but at the end of the day, there is no question that liability is going to be found and damages will be assessed,” said Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of legal affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents music companies. Issues which came under… Read more »

James Mitarotonda, President and CEO, and Seymour Holtzman, Chairman of the Board, of musicmaker.com, Inc. (formerly Nasdaq: HITS), announced today that musicmaker.com, Inc., entities affiliated with Mitarotonda and Holtzman and certain other parties have acquired a 6.3% stock ownership stake in Liquid Audio, Inc.. Liquid Audio provides software applications and services that enable the secure delivery and sale of digital music over the Internet. Musicmaker.com, Inc. and such other persons further announced the intention, depending on market conditions, to seek to acquire up to approximately an additional 8.6% of the company’s common stock, or approximately an additional 1,950,000 shares. On… Read more »

Privately-held online music company Listen.com said on Monday it secured licensing agreements from several independent record labels for a subscription service it plans to launch this fall. Through the deal, Listen.com joins a growing list of smaller independent subscription service providers, including FullAudio and Streamwaves, that have quietly been clinching licensing deals for content to compete with services like MusicNet and Pressplay, which are being backed by the giant recording companies and also plan to launch this fall. MusicNet’s backers are RealNetworks Inc., AOL Time Warner Inc’s Warner Music, EMI Group Plcand Bertelsmann AG’s BMG. Zomba, a giant independent label,… Read more »

Major recording giants head to federal court in San Francisco on Wednesday to request a summary judgement against Napster in their long-running copyright infringement lawsuit against the song-swap company, lawyers for the companies said on Sunday. “We will argue in front of Judge (Marilyn Hall) Patel on Wednesday, seeking a summary judgement against Napster on the issue of liability, which would in essence leave for trial only the amount of damages and the nature of the injunction,” said Russell Frackman, an attorney for the record industry. Napster lawyers will oppose the request and argue for a full trial to determine… Read more »

On its first day back from summer recess, the U.S. Supreme Court came out swinging Monday for the entertainment and media business, declining to review two libel cases and a suit brought by a Maryland quiltmaker alleging that producer Steven Spielberg bilked her for designs used in the 1995 picture “How to Make an American Quilt.” Furthermore, in a case tracked by the music business, the robes said rocker Nicholas Kassbaum had the right to mention that he used to be with the hit band Steppenwolf. Other members of the band alleged that Kassbaum – aka Nick St. Nicholas –… Read more »

Pressplay and EMI today announced that the EMI has agreed to license music from its extensive catalog to the online music company comprised of Sony and Universal. Pressplay currently expects to launch its consumer music subscription service later this fall. EMI is one of the backers of MusicNet, which also expects to launch a subscription service this fall. MusicNet is the digital music distribution company formed by RealNetworks, AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann, and EMI Group. Pressplay will offer access to a vast catalog of digital music through an array of affiliates, including Yahoo!, MSN, and MP3.com. The Pressplay service will… Read more »

Music publishers on Wednesday won an important legal ruling against the world’s largest record label in a case that could set rules for streaming copyrighted songs over the Internet. New York federal Judge John S. Martin Jr. found that Universal Music Group’s Farmclub.com online music service streamed songs without obtaining licenses from music publishers. Universal had asked that the case be dismissed on the grounds that Farmclub’s service was covered by licenses its parent previously secured in the context of recording songs for sale on albums. “This decision means record companies aren’t in total control of how music will be… Read more »