AllThingsD » International Federation of the Phonographic Industry http://allthingsd.com Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:31:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 The Year in Wisecracks http://allthingsd.com/20091231/the-year-in-wisecracks/ http://allthingsd.com/20091231/the-year-in-wisecracks/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:45:01 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=31302

[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091231/the-year-in-wisecracks/feed/ 0 It Was Hard Enough to Take You Seriously With the Word "Phonograph" in Your Name… http://allthingsd.com/20090217/it-was-hard-enough-to-take-you-seriously-with-the-word-phonograph-in-your-name/ http://allthingsd.com/20090217/it-was-hard-enough-to-take-you-seriously-with-the-word-phonograph-in-your-name/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:19:51 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=13071 epicwinningYou’ve got to love the the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry–if not for its hopelessly antediluvian moniker, then for its we’re-on-a-mission-from-God attitude toward its criminal case against torrent index The Pirate Bay. Just two days into the trial–apparently the hottest ticket in Stockholm right now–and already, half the charges against the Swedish site have been dropped because of the prosecution’s fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the torrent-distributed protocol. Prosecutors had accused the defendants of “complicity in the production of copyrighted material,” i.e., assisting in the distribution of copyrighted material. Today they scrapped that charge, amending it to read, “complicity to make (copyrighted material) available,” after they were unable to prove that The Pirate Bay’s servers actually host copyrighted material.

In a hastily released statement, the IFPI downplayed the abrupt change of tack, claiming the amended charges will simplify its case. Said IFPI counsel Peter Danowsky, “It’s a largely technical issue that changes nothing in terms of our compensation claims and has no bearing whatsoever on the main case against The Pirate Bay. In fact it simplifies the prosecutor’s case by allowing him to focus on the main issue, which is the making available of copyrighted works.”

The Pirate Bay had a different take on the matter though. Said co-founder Peter Sunde in a Twitter message: EPIC WINNING LOL.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090217/it-was-hard-enough-to-take-you-seriously-with-the-word-phonograph-in-your-name/feed/ 0 It Was Hard Enough to Take You Seriously With the Word "Phonograph" in Your Name… http://allthingsd.com/20090217/it-was-hard-enough-to-take-you-seriously-with-the-word-phonograph-in-your-name-2/ http://allthingsd.com/20090217/it-was-hard-enough-to-take-you-seriously-with-the-word-phonograph-in-your-name-2/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:19:51 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=13071 epicwinningYou’ve got to love the the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry–if not for its hopelessly antediluvian moniker, then for its we’re-on-a-mission-from-God attitude toward its criminal case against torrent index The Pirate Bay. Just two days into the trial–apparently the hottest ticket in Stockholm right now–and already, half the charges against the Swedish site have been dropped because of the prosecution’s fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the torrent-distributed protocol. Prosecutors had accused the defendants of “complicity in the production of copyrighted material,” i.e., assisting in the distribution of copyrighted material. Today they scrapped that charge, amending it to read, “complicity to make (copyrighted material) available,” after they were unable to prove that The Pirate Bay’s servers actually host copyrighted material.

In a hastily released statement, the IFPI downplayed the abrupt change of tack, claiming the amended charges will simplify its case. Said IFPI counsel Peter Danowsky, “It’s a largely technical issue that changes nothing in terms of our compensation claims and has no bearing whatsoever on the main case against The Pirate Bay. In fact it simplifies the prosecutor’s case by allowing him to focus on the main issue, which is the making available of copyrighted works.”

The Pirate Bay had a different take on the matter though. Said co-founder Peter Sunde in a Twitter message: EPIC WINNING LOL.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090217/it-was-hard-enough-to-take-you-seriously-with-the-word-phonograph-in-your-name-2/feed/ 0 1982 Called. It Wants Its Digital Music Distribution Model Back http://allthingsd.com/20080922/slotmusic/ http://allthingsd.com/20080922/slotmusic/#comments Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:29:37 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=5401 Overall CD sales are plummeting after eight years of unflagging erosion. Digital music sales now account for 15 percent of recording industry’s revenues worldwide and 30 percent in the United States, according to recent data from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. And those numbers are climbing faster than ever. Consider: This past June, Apple (AAPL) said it has sold some five billion songs on its iTunes Store. Clearly, physical media are giving way to the Internet as a means of music distribution. What better time, then, to reinvent the music industry’s business model for physical media as SanDisk (SNDK) hopes to do with its new microSD memory card album format?

This morning the company announced slotMusic, a compact memory card-based music format that can be played on cellphones, PCs and some MP3 players. It relies on MP3s without digital rights management schemes and is backed by Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Group, all of which apparently believe that more physical media is the best way to reinvent their business model in the era of digital distribution. Though as SanDisk VP Daniel Schreiber notes, they do have their reasons. “There’s a billion phones out there and a lot of them can play music and a lot of them have a microSD slot,” he explained. “We think there’s still a need for a tangible, physical product. People will appreciate walking out of the store playing music on their phones.”

Perhaps. But will they appreciate carrying that music around on a 0.6? x 0.4? medium that’s about the size of a fingernail? Seems easy to lose, doesn’t it (maybe Case Logic is planning a slotMusic binder)? And wouldn’t they rather carry around hundreds of songs, instead of the dozen or so stored on each slotMusic card? And what if the memory card in their phone is already in use, filled up with contacts, applications and other data? What then? And beyond this, haven’t iTunes and Amazon MP3 made consumers more accustomed to purchasing music à la carte? Why purchase a full album at $15, when all you really want are the only two good songs on it?

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20080922/slotmusic/feed/ 4 'All of Your MP3 Are Belong to Rusks' http://allthingsd.com/20070703/mp3sparks-allofmp3/ http://allthingsd.com/20070703/mp3sparks-allofmp3/#comments Wed, 04 Jul 2007 00:37:38 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20070703/mp3sparks-allofmp3/ Faced with the prospect of losing its long-sought entry into the World Trade Organization, the Russian government has finally dropped the hammer on AllofMP3.com, a digital music storefront that peddles songs for pennies thanks to a loophole in Russian law. “Allofmp3.com violated copyright law in Russia and internationally by ripping off artists and creators, taking music that it had no right to reproduce and selling it worldwide,” said John Kennedy, head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. “If this is the end of AllofMP3.com, this is good news.”

Bad news then–this isn’t really the end of AllofMP3.com. Because while MediaServices, the company that ran the site, does seem to have scuppered it, it’s begun offering services identical to those of AllofMP3.com at mp3sparks.com.

And so the whack-a-mole game begins, this time with hammer and sickle.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20070703/mp3sparks-allofmp3/feed/ 0 'All of Your MP3 Are Belong to Rusks' http://allthingsd.com/20070703/mp3sparks-allofmp3-2/ http://allthingsd.com/20070703/mp3sparks-allofmp3-2/#comments Wed, 04 Jul 2007 00:37:38 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20070703/mp3sparks-allofmp3/ Faced with the prospect of losing its long-sought entry into the World Trade Organization, the Russian government has finally dropped the hammer on AllofMP3.com, a digital music storefront that peddles songs for pennies thanks to a loophole in Russian law. “Allofmp3.com violated copyright law in Russia and internationally by ripping off artists and creators, taking music that it had no right to reproduce and selling it worldwide,” said John Kennedy, head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. “If this is the end of AllofMP3.com, this is good news.”

Bad news then–this isn’t really the end of AllofMP3.com. Because while MediaServices, the company that ran the site, does seem to have scuppered it, it’s begun offering services identical to those of AllofMP3.com at mp3sparks.com.

And so the whack-a-mole game begins, this time with hammer and sickle.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20070703/mp3sparks-allofmp3-2/feed/ 0