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PayPlay.FM starts selling 1,300,000 tracks of DRM-free music

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payplay.jpgPayPlay.FM today started selling its 1,300,000-track catalog in unprotected MP3 format at the price of 88 cents per song. The move continues PayPlay’s strategy for uniform support of Mac and UNIX platforms, iPod, Zune and other portable players incompatible with Windows Media DRM, offering customers the ultimate in flexibility.

“On the Day Against DRM last year we committed to provide our customers with the music download freedom of choice. Today we live up to that promise, delivering more than twice the number of tracks pledged in October in DRM-free format,” said Elliot Goykhman, PayPlay CEO. “The new version of PayPlay.FM makes it extremely easy and exciting to buy music. We are proud to be the world’s largest MP3 download store.”

Originally posted on May 29, 2007 @ 5:07 pm

Warner Music putting video archives online for free

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warner.jpgWarner is planning to make its vast archive of videos available for free online after signing a deal with Premium TV, the group behind premier league football websites. The online TV company will create a series of online video sites organized by artist, genre, and label.

Users will be able to log their favourite music and artists and stream video for free from Warner’s catalogue, which includes footage of the Doors, Led Zeppelin and REM as well as newer artists like Hard-Fi. The sites, which are still in development, will also offer previously unseen footage. from Warner artists which include Led Zeppelin, REM, Madonna, among others.

The US giant says the deal will make it the first of the world’s four major music companies to supply its whole video archive online under a new business model that raises money through online advertising.

Originally posted on May 31, 2007 @ 5:06 am

Illegal downloading among youth drops

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The results of a recent nationwide survey released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) show that illegal downloading of digital copyrighted works by youth (ages 8 to 18) has dropped by 24 percent in the last three years. The survey, first conducted in 2004, indicated that 60 percent of survey participants reported downloading software, music, movies, or games without paying for it; in 2006 the percentage of those who downloaded without paying dropped to 43 percent; and in 2007 the percentage decreased to 36 percent. Youth report that parental oversight is a significant motivator and key influencing factor in their online behavior.

When the young survey participants were asked what worries them about downloading digital copyrighted works, such as software, music, movies or games, from the Internet without paying, the top responses were fear of accidentally downloading a computer virus (62 percent), getting into legal trouble (52 percent) and accidentally downloading spyware (51 percent). Fear of getting in trouble with parents ranked fourth at (48 percent), increasing from 40 percent in 2006. [Read more…]

Originally posted on May 23, 2007 @ 10:46 am

Paul McCartney’s Dance Tonight premieres in YouTube

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Sir Paul McCartney has finally arrived… in YouTube. The ex-Beatle’s new song “Dance Tonight,” the opening track from his new album entitled “Memory Almost Full.” The video stars himself, Natalie Portman, and Mackenzie Crook.

“The connection with Natalie came from my daughter Stella, who makes non-leather shoes that Natalie buys, so I just thought, ‘Well I’ll ring her up and just see if she’ll do it'”.

Originally posted on May 23, 2007 @ 7:11 am

Warner Music sues Imeem

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wmg2.jpgWarner Music Group is not happy with Imeem that it has announced that theu have filed a lawsuit against Imeem, a social networking site based on music.

This lawsuit is related to accusations of copyright violations of their artists including Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day. Warner claimed that Imeem used their copyright media in building a user of 16 million. Imeem allows the users to create profiles on the web and they can upload their mp3 files which are shared with their friends.

Warner said in a statement: “Imeem is no innocent infringer. It invites Imeem’s millions of users to flock to its website to copy, adapt, distribute and perform unlicensed sound recordings and music videos.”

Imeem claims that they alert the members not to upload any copyrighted media on the service.

Originally posted on May 16, 2007 @ 7:14 am