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When it debuts Tuesday on the Web, My Damn Channel will become the latest attempt by Hollywood professionals to cash in on the huge popularity of online video. Comedian Harry Shearer, filmmaker David Wain and music producer Don Was, among others, also hope to find creative freedom seldom offered by traditional media companies. The site is the brainchild of former MTV and CBS Radio executive Rob Barnett, who believes Internet audiences want to see professionally produced shows other than network TV fare. “The old media companies don’t know how to program for this medium,” Barnett said. “There is a focus… Read more »
During her Tuesday night performance in Orlando, Florida, Beyoncé took a rather epic header down a flight of stairs – a tumble, of course, captured on camera by several fans in attendance.To her credit, not only did B press on with the show, she later joked about the fall, telling the audience that it “hurt so bad” and imploring, “Don’t put [the footage] on YouTube.” Of course, those in the audience did the exact opposite, and by the following morning, several different clips of her spill were among the “Most Watched” and “Most Discussed” on the site. Given Beyoncé’s plea,… Read more »
Media industry executives and analysts have expressed surprise and alarm at last week’s decision by EMI, the record label, to start selling music videos without the protection of anti-piracy software. The decision was a little-noticed part of the company’s ground-breaking deal with Apple that made all of EMI’s catalogue available on iTunes in a format that can be copied and played on any digital device without restriction. That deal, announced with fanfare by EMI chief executive Eric Nicoli and Apple founder Steve Jobs, was hailed as ushering in a new digital music era. EMI is expected to begin announcing deals… Read more »
Even as Viacom sues YouTube for what it describes as “brazen” copyright infringement, some of Viacom’s own dirty copyright laundry is being aired. Ars searched one Viacom property–iFilm, which was acquired by Viacom in 2005–and found several instances of infringing video hosted by iFilm–content for which Viacom does not own the copyright. In its complaint against YouTube, Viacom bemoans the fact that it is required to file DMCA takedown notices for each copyrighted clip it spots on YouTube. With over 150,000 infringing clips of Viacom properties identified so far, the company believes that YouTube should be working harder to proactively… Read more »
