AllThingsD » Michael Jackson

Why NBC Can't Make Money From Its Latest "Saturday Night Live" Viral Video

Peter Kafka — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:43:12 +0000

“Saturday Night Live” used to worry that people would watch the sketch show on the Web. Now it embraces the idea.

The show even hired a social media agency to push links and embed codes out early Sunday morning after a new episode airs, so it will get maximum exposure.

But you can be as Web-savvy as you want and still bump into stubborn copyright laws. Which is what appeared to happen this weekend with a sketch that starred Brunos Mars as a Pandora intern.

As far as NBC.com is concerned, the sketch never happened, which means you can’t see it on the network’s site, or on Hulu, either as a clip or as part of the entire episode’s playback.

The very, very obvious culprit here are music licenses, which are almost always the culprit behind missing SNL sketches: In the course of seven minutes, Mars belts out pieces of songs from Katy Perry, Green Day, Aerosmith and Michael Jackson. And if the show doesn’t have the digital rights to a single piece of a single song, the whole thing goes black on the Web, legally speaking.

Still, it’s a sketch about a big, well-known tech brand, and those things always do well on the Internet. So you can still see it all over the Web — including our site — but none of the benefit accrues to NBC or its affiliated sites.

Instead, the winner here is something called GossipCop, which turns out to be part of the Dan “Mediaite” Abrams stable, all of which are very happy to take stuff that runs on TV and replay it over the Web.

But even that is a step forward for NBC, which must surely be aware that Abrams is making money off its clip, but isn’t grousing loudly enough to make him take it down. So, until/unless he does:

Live From Pandora's Headquarters, It's Saturday Night!

Tricia Duryee — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 19:10:59 +0000

What happens when Pandora goes down? Apparently, it improvises. At least that’s how the crew at “Saturday Night Live” imagined it last night in a skit about the Internet radio company. The show’s host and musical guest, Bruno Mars, played the role of a Pandora intern, who steps up to impersonate a string of artists when the power goes down at the company’s headquarters. Bruno started off with easy artists, such as Green Day and Katy Perry, but impressed the most after belting out back-to-back Michael Jackson songs as some imaginary listener keeps hitting the “skip” button.

Watch the clip below, but don’t miss the real Pandora CEO Joe Kennedy, who will be live at the upcoming D: Dive Into Mobile conference on Oct. 29 and 30. There’s still time to get tickets — but not that much time, so register here.

Whitney Houston's Funeral to Be Livestreamed

Lauren Goode — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:52:35 +0000

Whitney Houston’s funeral — scheduled for Saturday in New Jersey with 1,500 invited guests, including a smattering of celebrities, expected to attend — will be available for real-time viewing on the Web through the Associated Press’s AP Live Web site, CNN reports. The last livestreamed megacelebrity funeral in recent memory was that of Michael Jackson, who died in July 2009. That Web broadcast spiked Web traffic by 19 percent.

Zynga's CastleVille Has Stormed CityVille -- But Can It Last?

Tricia Duryee — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:20:57 +0000

CastleVille, Zynga’s newest social game, appears to have topped CityVille for attracting the most players on its first full day.

The game, which launched last Monday, shifts the scene of its company’s hit Facebook franchise to medieval times, following ’Ville themes based on city life, the Wild West (FrontierVille) and farming (FarmVille).

Zynga has declined to provide specific figures for the new launch, citing its quiet period before its upcoming initial public offering. Facebook also declined to comment.

But, according to publicly available information on AppData, players are now flooding CastleVille’s undiscovered lands for the chance to build their very own kingdom.

On its first full day, CastleVille attracted 460,000 players. That easily beats CityVille, the next most recent game in the franchise. On CityVille’s first full day, about a year ago, Zynga said the game attracted 290,000 residents. Prior to that, FrontierVille attracted roughly 116,000 players on its first day of play.

Leading up to to launch, CastleVille had a few shorter play availabilities, but those typically don’t count, since companies often use them for testing, AppData said.

The official numbers, if Zynga reports them, may end up being different, but generally, the figures that are publicly available show that the game is headed in an upward direction.

By the end of the week, the base of players visiting the game on a daily basis had topped 680,000 players.

Still, CastleVille has a long way to go.

CastleVille currently ranks as Zynga’s 18th most popular title; it took CityVille less than a month to hit 69 million monthly active players, about 14 million players a day.

Last week, CastleVille undoubtedly got a lift from “Good Morning America,” which gave the online game a four-minute plug. The show’s tech contributor, Becky Worley, visited Zynga’s San Francisco headquarters, where graphic artists created avatars for the show’s co-hosts, Lara Spencer and Josh Elliot.

“Good Morning America” is also giving away a special CastleVille item to those who “Like” the show on Facebook.

Those promotions are typical –and important — for the game’s launch. Earlier last week, Zynga kicked off a partnership in CityVille to promote Cirque du Soleil’s “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour.”

The big question, of course, is how well the game will continue to do going forward, without such noisy promotions.

In fact, many of Zynga’s older games are propped up by promotions, including one featuring Lady Gaga in FarmVille, and one with Enrique Iglesias in CityVille.

But, as Zynga goes public, investors will look to see if it is capable of building a brand that can attract those millions of players and stand on its own without the costly support of others.

Michael Jackson Facebook Concert Unplugged

Peter Kafka — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:37:09 +0000

Planning on spending Saturday in front of your computer, watching the Michael Jackson tribute concert stream on Facebook? Make a new plan.

Milyoni, the Bay Area company that was going to handle the payment and streaming of the show via the social network, says that’s not going to happen anymore because of “legal challenges brought by the music labels that own the rights to Michael Jackson’s lyrics.”

I’m not exactly sure what that means, but the most logical translation would be that Mijac, the company that owns the publishing rights to Jackson’s songs, has complained. Then again, since Mijac is owned by Jackson’s estate, and the concert is theoretically being produced with the estate’s blessing, that wouldn’t make any sense.

Then again, since we’re talking about the Michael Jackson estate, subject to much legal wrangling, anything might go. The “Michael Forever” concert itself has been … troubled from the start.

Not sure how much more time to devote to this, though I’m a bit interested in general about what kind of rights a Web site needs to secure to broadcast a live concert. Off the top of my head, I’m assuming that those rights vary considerably from country to country, which could be a problem for a show like this.

In any case, here’s the statement from Milyoni CEO John Corpus. If I hear from him or anyone else who can shed light, I’ll update:

Due to legal challenges brought by the music labels that own the rights to Michael Jackson’s lyrics, we have been notified by concert promoters Global Live Events and Ridgeline Entertainment that the live Facebook broadcast of the Michael Forever tribute concert has been cancelled. As the technology provider behind the live Facebook broadcast, Milyoni will fully refund all customers who prepurchased access to the concert using Facebook Credits or PayPal.

While social media presents a new opportunity for artists and concert promoters to reach global audiences, it is still a new and disruptive frontier ripe with challenges. Milyoni will continue to work closely with our music and entertainment partners to pursue this new channel of distribution, beneficial to both artists and fans worldwide.

UPDATE: I talked to Milyoni’s Corpus, who couldn’t shed much more light about the issues that killed the livestream — that’s between the concert promoters and one or more rightsholders. But he did note that Milyoni and others have in the past been able to stream concerts globally over the Web, so this stuff is doable. Milyoni says it had pre-sold “hundreds” of tickets in the two days its preconcert Web page was up and running.

Michael Jackson Tribute Concert Streaming Live on Facebook Pay-Per-View

Peter Kafka — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:34:06 +0000

To see the Oct. 8 Michael Jackson tribute concert in person, you’ll need to spend up to $196 to get into the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Or you can hop onto Facebook: “F-commerce” company Milyoni says it will stream the concert live on the social network. Virtual tickets are $3.99 in advance or $4.99 the day of, via this page.

Shocking Bieber Upset: Oil Spill Tops Twitter's 2010 Trends

Liz Gannes — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:00:33 +0000

Although World Cup tweeting caused record high volume and infrastructure demands on Twitter, the most-discussed topic on Twitter in 2010 was actually the Gulf oil spill, said the San Francisco-based company tonight. The South Africa-hosted World Cup came in at No. 2.

(Of course, Twitter hasn’t revealed the secret formulas that helped it aggregate, tabulate and rank these topics.)

In the Twitterverse, after the BP oil spill and soccer, the next most popular topic of conversation in 2010 was the movie “Inception,” followed by the Haiti earthquake and the vuvuzela. The iPad, Android, Justin Bieber, Harry Potter and Pulpo Paul round out the top 10. It’s an odd list, indeed.

The person most discussed on Twitter in 2010 was obviously he of the dedicated servers, Mr. Bieber. (It’s somewhat shocking that world events and tech gadgets were able to keep the teen phenom out of the overall top spot.) Beating out her royal highness Lady Gaga, the No. 2 person on Twitter was Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rousseff (pictured).

Here’s the full 2010 list, courtesy of Twitter, followed by 2009′s list for comparison.

2010 Twitter Trends

Overall Top Trends:
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul

News Events:
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. Haiti Earthquake
3. Pakistan Floods
4. Koreas Conflict
5. Chilean Miners Rescue

People:
1. Justin Bieber
2. Dilma Rousseff
3. Lady Gaga
4. Julian Assange
5. Mel Gibson

Movies:
1. Inception
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
4. Despicable Me
5. Karate Kid

Television:
1. MTV Video Music Awards
2. Pretty Little Liars
3. True Blood
4. Walking Dead
5. Grammy Awards

Technology:
1. Apple iPad
2. Google Android
3. Apple iOS
4. Apple iPhone
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops

World Cup:
1. FIFA World Cup
2. Vuvuzela
3. Pulpo Paul
4. Dunga
5. Diego Maradona

Sports:
1. LeBron James
2. Wimbledon
3. Manchester United
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Celtics

Hash Tags:
1. #rememberwhen
2. #slapyourself
3. #confessiontime (hash tag started by Usher)
4. #thingsimiss
5. #ohjustlikeme

2009 Twitter Trends

News Events:
1. #iranelection
2. Swine Flu
3. Gaza
4. Iran
5. Tehran
6. #swineflu
7. AIG
8. #uksnow
9. Earth Hour
10. #inaug09

People:
1. Michael Jackson
2. Susan Boyle
3. Adam Lambert
4. Kobe (Bryant)
5. Chris Brown
6. Chuck Norris
7. Joe Wilson
8. Tiger Woods
9. Christian Bale
10. A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez)

Movies:
1. Harry Potter
2. New Moon
3. District 9
4. Paranormal Activity
5. Star Trek
6. True Blood
7. Transformers 2
8. Watchmen
9. Slumdog Millionaire
10. G.I. Joe

TV Shows:
1. American Idol
2. Glee
3. Teen Choice Awards
4. SNL (Saturday Night Live)
5. Dollhouse
6. Grey’s Anatomy
7. VMAS (Video Music Awards)
8. #bsg (Battlestar Galatica)
9. BET Awards
10. Lost

Sports (Teams, Events, Leagues):
1. Super Bowl
2. Lakers
3. Wimbledon
4. Cavs (Cleveland Cavaliers)
5. Superbowl
6. Chelsea
7. NFL
8. UFC 100
9. Yankees
10. Liverpool

Technology:
1. Google Wave
2. Snow Leopard
3. Tweetdeck
4. Windows 7
5. CES
6. Palm Pre
7. Google Latitude
8. #E3
9. #amazonfail
10. Macworld

Hash Tags:
1. #musicmonday
2. #iranelection
3. #sxsw
4. #swineflu
5. #nevertrust
6. #mm
7. #rememberwhen
8. #3drunkwords
9. #unacceptable
10. #iwish

Michael Jackson Can't Help Sony Music Any More

Peter Kafka — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:37:02 +0000

Michael Jackson was such a huge star that he was able to stop the music industry’s perpetual slide: In the aftermath of his death last year, sales perked up at Sony’s music arm, which puts out the singer’s catalog.

But there’s no star big enough to permanently stop gravity. Now that Jackson sales have come back to earth, Sony reports that last quarter’s sales dropped another 10.8 percent, or a mere 6 percent if you strip out the effect of currency fluctuations. Operating income dropped 6.1 percent.

Reminder: Digital music sales, which were eventually supposed to overtake physical sales and push revenue back up once again, aren’t doing the trick. In the U.S., sales via Apple’s iTunes and other outlets are either flat or shrinking, depending on the sales data you’re looking at. (Which should make the labels either less likely or more likely to get deals done with the likes of Spotify. Take your pick!)

Meanwhile: Did you buy, or hear of, any of the following? Sony says they were bestsellers, at least comparatively: Yui’s “Holidays in the Sun,” Miliyah Kato’s “Heaven,” Kana Nishino’s “To Love,” Yannick Noah’s “Frontières,” Santana’s “Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time” and Kenny Chesney’s “Hemingway’s Whiskey.”

UPDATE: Billboard editor Bill Werde notes that Sony plans to release more Jackson this year, so perhaps it can wring out another bump. He also notes that he’s heard of Kenny Chesney. Me too! But I was surprised to learn that Yannick Noah has a post-tennis career as a musician.

Viral Video: Kanye West's 34-Minute Music Video (No, Really!)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 07:15:51 +0000

You have to hand it to the ego-soaked imagination of singer Kanye West, who has debuted what appears to be the longest music video of all time for his song “Runaway.”

It’s not just his Twitter rants that are wild, as you will find after digesting this gem–an art film, really–which includes a phoenix-lady from a meteor, a giant Michael Jackson head and a lot of ballerinas.

Also, of course, a Lamborghini, driven by West.

Enjoy:

Record Labels Sue Over Use of Music on Adult Sites

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:00:47 +0000

Singer Justin Timberlake might say he’s bringing sexy back, but a new lawsuit alleges online pornography companies are using his song to bring sexy a little too far.

Eleven record labels including Warner Bros. Records and Atlantic Records have filed a copyright-infringement suit over the use of songs like Mr. Timberlake’s “SexyBack,” Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” and Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop (Til You Get Enough)” by adult Internet sites.

The suit, which was reported Friday by adult-industry newswire Xbiz, alleges defendants including RK Netmedia and Realitykings.com used copyrighted songs more than 500 times in their videos “without license or consent.” (Digits did not visit the sites to check the accuracy of these allegations.)

An attorney for RK Netmedia, Lawrence Walters, said the use of the music was a First Amendment issue and that the videos represented a “reality show in a dance club.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

The Web Survives the Stock Market Crash

Peter Kafka — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:31:03 +0000

Well, that was an exciting few minutes, right? In case you missed it: The markets just tanked–the Dow dropped a thousand points–and then came back. Blame Greece and/or a trader who is very bad at his or her job. (Really?)

But while a stock market plunge is a big deal, it didn’t seem to be a wipe-out-the-Web-sized deal. Not even a Michael Jackson-sized deal.

I’ve seen reports of wobbles at some financial sites, but the Internet in general seems to have held up okay. Which makes sense–the swoon was fast and scary, but only if you were the kind of person who pays attention to breaking news.

Akamai (AKAM), which moves bits around the Web and claims to handle 20 percent of the world’s traffic, says today’s surges have been relatively minor. You can see for yourself, at this real-time traffic monitor.

If you click in, you’ll notice that Web traffic is up significantly in the U.K. But no reason to panic over that one–there’s a pretty big election going on.

A Deal on a Haircut? That's What Friends Are For

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:19:29 +0000

Last week, I went to my hair salon and paid half of what I usually spend because of a deal that I—and more than 2,000 other people—bought online two months earlier. When I bought the deal, I suggested it (via email) to two friends, who each bought it and I was rewarded with two $10 credits. I used those to buy a deal at a local restaurant that gave me $40 toward food and drink for just $20. And the cycle continues.

Welcome to the world of group buying, Internet style, where the power of the Web can be utilized to offer surprisingly large discounts to a sizable number of people for things they actually want to buy.

Many of the group-buying sites work by negotiating deals with local merchants and promising to deliver crowds in exchange for discounts. The sites differ from other buying sites in how they work and what they do to reward users who share deals.

Several of these group-buying sites are available nationwide, mostly in big cities. I focused on Groupon.com, which is available in 42 cities, and LivingSocial.com, which works in 13 cities. Both are popular in Washington, D.C., where I live, though others may be more well-known in your area. If group-buying sites aren’t popular near you yet, they may soon start working there thanks to business models that allow them to work in all sorts of locations.

Other sites offer similar or slightly different selling techniques. Woot.com, a pioneer of group buying on the Web, started in 2004 by specializing in flash sales, selling a different item each day for just 24 hours or until it sells out. The site evolved from a wholesale distribution company and is known for its focus on selling technology gadgets. Another site called Tippr.com works in Seattle (not D.C., where I live, so I can’t yet use it) and uses a patented technology that makes discounts bigger as more people join a deal. New York-based Gilt.com and Ideeli.com focus on selling high fashion items at less expensive prices and can offer deals that last longer than a day.

Here’s how sites like Groupon and LivingSocial work: They ask retailers in a city to offer steep discounts ranging from around 50% to 90% off on things that would appeal to locals. Examples include 79% off spa services, 54% off at paintball, 57% off at a restaurant with Malaysian cuisine and half off for doggie day care. The site lists one retailer a day and takes a portion of the revenue generated by a deal. (Groupon usually takes half while LivingSocial takes between 30% to 50% depending on the arrangement with the merchant.)

Some sites, like Groupon, will only make the deal official if a certain number of people purchase it, while LivingSocial and others offer the deal regardless of how many people buy it.

People can be notified of these deals by signing up for daily emails from the site or by checking social networks like Twitter and Facebook. They may then purchase deals by logging onto the group-buying site and printing vouchers from the site. With most sites, you’re buying a deal for at least half off the real cost (i.e. paying $20 for $40 at a restaurant).

Both Groupon and LivingSocial will work with iPhone apps. Once downloaded, users can enter their login credentials into these apps so they can access that account’s purchased deals, allowing them to show the coupon on the iPhone at the establishment to get the deal.

Each deal comes with restrictions. For example, most of them expire within about six months or so (the date is printed on the coupon voucher and saved in your online account so you don’t forget). Some deals restrict the number of coupons per person, like the way my salon’s deal restricted people from buying more than three coupons; if three were purchased, they all had to be used in the same visit.

Since these sites work best when many people use them, they use a rewards system to motivate people to tell their friends about the deals they’ve bought. If someone shares Groupon with a friend using a special referral Web link, that friend must sign up for the site within 72 hours of clicking on the link. Then, when that person makes a purchase, the original sharer gets a kickback of $10 in Groupon credit to use toward future deals. This won’t work if the invitee isn’t a first-time Groupon customer.

LivingSocial’s rewards system works a little differently. If you buy a deal and share it with friends using a special Web link, you can get the deal free of charge if three friends use that link to sign up for the site and buy the deal. Separate from that, LivingSocial encourages users to invite friends to simply sign up for the site. If the invitee signs up, he or she gets $5 toward deals. If he or she purchases a deal, the original inviter also gets $5 toward deals.

Both Groupon and LivingSocial put a lot of emphasis on choosing deals that will serve as city guides to the hip and fun activities going on around town. Groupon divides some of its 42 cities into areas: For example, Washington, D.C., is divided into The District, Northern Virginia and Montgomery County—three unique zones that locals will appreciate seeing listed separately.

Not every deal is successful on group-buying sites. Groupon’s idea of selling tours of Gary, Ind., shortly after Michael Jackson’s death didn’t convince enough buyers to want to visit the King of Pop’s hometown. LivingSocial admits that some of its deals were too specific to be popular, like a dog-training class that didn’t fetch enough buyers. The site’s CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy says there might not have been enough people with new dogs at the time of the deal.

If you haven’t tried one of the many group-buying Web sites and you live in an area where they’re available, you’ll want to check them out—or find someone who already uses them to invite you so you can both get rewarded.

Edited by Walter S. Mossberg.

Write to Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com

Buying in Numbers

With most group-buying Web sites, getting more people to buy into the deal gets you a better discount.

Site Name	Number of Cities	Rewards for Sharing With Friends	Type of Deals	iPhone App
Groupon.com	42	$10 for you if new invitee joins and buys a deal	Hip city locales and activities	Yes
LivingSocial.com	13	Free deal if 3 friends buy it; $5 to invitees who sign up; $5 to you if they buy a deal	Hip city locales and activities	Yes
Tippr.com	1	Deal gets better as more people buy it	Hip city locales and activities	No
Woot.com	online	None	Technology gadgets	Yes
Gilt.com	online	$25 for each invitee who buys	High fashion	Yes
Ideeli.com	online	$25 for each invitee who buys	High fashion	No

Groupon's Andrew Mason Speaks!

Kara Swisher — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:00:03 +0000

The last time I really was truly bullish on a start-up and its founder–BoomTown’s motto is wait-and-see rather than hype-it-up–was AdMob’s Omar Hamoui.

That turned out pretty well, with the sale of the mobile advertising site to Google (GOOG) for $750 million last fall.

My 2010 start-up that passes the slightly-less-raised-eyebrow test is Groupon, a group-based social buying service that nabbed another $30 million in funding in December.

So earlier this week, I sat down with Groupon’s Midwesternly-nice Andrew Mason, 29, to talk about where the start-up is headed with its pile of dough and growing base of consumers who want to make a deal.

The Chicago-based Groupon has actually raised a total of just under $36 million from angels, New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners so far.

Not that it needs it. The company–like AdMob–is profitable, despite having 200 employees and and a lightning growth path to expand its base of local sites.

The innovative service, which launched only a year ago, features a “daily deal” with a huge discount on a wide range of things–from spas to skydiving and, recently, pole-dancing lessons–in more than two dozen U.S. cities, including Chicago, Boston, New York and San Francisco.

Not everything works–a recent offer of a lobster dinner shipped to buyers was a bomb, as was a tour of Michael Jackson’s childhood home in Gary, Indiana.

The deals are offered to large groups of potential buyers on the Web, through email or via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Using social tools, Groupon–a mashup term for “group” and “coupon”–tries to use collective buying power to get low prices and push customers to local businesses.

If it reaches the number of buyers it needs, which can be in the thousands, Groupon sells coupons to the consumers and collects a hefty fee for the sale from the businesses it sends customers to.

At the cost of discounting and of paying off Groupon, small businesses get a crack at a lot of new customers–think of it as social networking lead-generation or, perhaps, the “Social Shopping Network.”

Groupon grew out of a project of The Point, an online community launched in 2007 for organizing group action.

This kind of thing has been tried before, of course, centering on consumers who group together to get discounts on items by purchasing them in bulk.

In Web 1.0, there were many group-buying sites, most of which failed badly. One of the more high-profile ones–Mercata–got $90 million in funding from investors, including Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures.

But now the group-buying space has been reinvigorated, with a spate of competitors, some of which are clear copycats–which, touchingly, really bugs Mason.

There is even a site, called Yipit, that aggregates all the group-buying sites.

Here’s the video of my interview with Mason at the Accel offices in downtown Palo Alto, Calif., on his second visit to Silicon Valley–as well as a video below it from Groupon about how the service works:

[ See post to watch video ]

Learn How Groupon Works! from The Point on Vimeo.

Surprise of the Day: People Still Buying (Some) Music

Peter Kafka — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:48:54 +0000

The music industry’s decline has been so prolonged that this now qualifies as a man-bites-dog story: Sony says its music sales actually went up, just a bit, in the last quarter.

The conglomerate’s music division doesn’t represent much more than a footnote in its overall financial picture, but in the last quarter, it was at least a positive footnote. Sales were up two percent–seven percent if you cancel out currency fluctuations–and operating profit was up 8.2 percent.

Hard to argue that this uptick will be sustainable, though. Sony (SNE) says the boost came from a couple individual success stories that will be hard to repeat, for obvious reasons: People bought lots of copies of the soundtrack to “This Is It,” the Michael Jackson concert movie, as well as the debut album from cultural oddity/viral video favorite Susan Boyle.

Looking for more traditional music business news? I can oblige: Music industry types tell me they’re freaked out that physical sales could take another steep tumble this year if retailers like Wal-Mart (WMT) and Best Buy (BBY) shrink the tiny amount of floorspace they devote to CDs yet again. And they’re also worried that digital sales are finally flattening out.

Viral Video: Get Out Your 3-D Glasses for the Michael Jackson Grammy Tribute (Plus Colbert and the iPad)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:59:48 +0000

While an iPad out in the wild–held up by Stephen Colbert–got a lot of ink, here’s a video from last night’s Grammy Awards, which went all “Avatar” during a tribute to the late Michael Jackson–when a panoply of belt-it-out singers performed one of his posthumous songs with a 3-D twist.

In fact, much of the audience was wearing 3-D glasses–including Beyoncé pictured here–to properly experience the performance of “Earth Song” and its accompanying film, which was supposed to be part of Jackson’s “This Is It” tour.

Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson, Smokey Robinson, Carrie Underwood and Usher sang the piece, along with a recording of Jackson.

Special 3-D glasses were also available at Target for home viewers of the music awards show, so if you still have them, use them for this video from the television show–and below it, Colbert with the new Apple (AAPL) device:

Thanks, Tiger! Love, Yahoo.

Andrew LaVallee — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:59:06 +0000

Tiger Woods may be losing fans in some quarters, but he has one in Carol Bartz, Yahoo’s (YHOO) chief executive.

“God bless Tiger,” she said during an investors conference Tuesday, for the “huge” uptick in Web traffic he has generated over the past week.

News, photos and other content about the pro golfer, whose personal life has become tabloid fodder since his car accident and cryptic apologies, are contributing to Yahoo’s sports section, as well as news, gossip and the front page, Ms. Bartz said. When asked if Mr. Woods would help the Internet company make the quarter, she said, “Oh, absolutely,” and added that he’s fueling more visits than Michael Jackson’s death.

The former Autodesk (ADSK) CEO teased the lunchtime audience at UBS’s (UBS AG) media summit after a joke or two (one about low-quality “Russian bride” online ads). When she didn’t get the intended reaction, she told them she’s used to CAD conferences and talking to engineers. She said, “You guys are supposed to be interesting!”

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BoomTown Decodes Google CEO Schmidt's Shut-Up-You-Whiny-News-Folk Op-Ed (So You Don't Have To)!

Kara Swisher — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:30:47 +0000

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt did one of his patented throat-clearers in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal today and it pretty much begs for translation.

Well, BoomTown shall not tarry from the task of decoding the extra-long rumination from the head of Google (GOOG), who was responding to the recent spate of aggressive attacks by traditional media publishers.

They have blamed the search giant for everything from their current business woes to the destruction of journalism to Tiger Woods’s dicey marital troubles.

Okay, not that! But the rest for sure.

First and foremost among the attackers has been Rupert Murdoch, CEO and ruler-of-all-he-surveys at News Corp. (NWS), which owns The Wall Street Journal and this Web site.

How ironic, yet still typically cozy from a corporate bigwig point of view! I call you a cur in public, but please use my newspaper so that I can get some decent traffic from this wrestling match.

But all is not what it seems in the Schmidt piece, of course, so here’s the translation:

What Schmidt wrote: How Google Can Help Newspapers

Video didn’t kill the radio star, and the Internet won’t destroy news organizations. It will foster a new, digital business model.

By ERIC SCHMIDT

Translation: We come in peace, always. You know, like the freakily calm lady from “V,” who is really a lizard under all that pretty and is actually secretly trying to decide between grilling and broiling all you whiny news people.

Also, you can address me in the future as Emperor Palpatine.

What Schmidt wrote: It’s the year 2015. The compact device in my hand delivers me the world, one news story at a time. I flip through my favorite papers and magazines, the images as crisp as in print, without a maddening wait for each page to load.

Even better, the device knows who I am, what I like, and what I have already read. So while I get all the news and comment, I also see stories tailored for my interests. I zip through a health story in The Wall Street Journal and a piece about Iraq from Egypt’s Al Gomhuria, translated automatically from Arabic to English. I tap my finger on the screen, telling the computer brains underneath it got this suggestion right.

Some of these stories are part of a monthly subscription package. Some, where the free preview sucks me in, cost a few pennies billed to my account. Others are available at no charge, paid for by advertising. But these ads are not static pitches for products I’d never use. Like the news I am reading, the ads are tailored just for me. Advertisers are willing to shell out a lot of money for this targeting.

Translation: It’s the year 2015 in the United States of Google, where the new country colors are a festive green, blue, red and yellow.

As per the new Declaration of Googlependence, besides the tracking chip in your thighs, every citizen will be outfitted with a tablet running Chrome and looking suspiciously like a large iPhone, except that Apple (AAPL) was outlawed in the Fanboy Purge of 2010.

Every day, citizens will receive news specially aimed at them, such as “The Health Benefits of Sergey Worship.” Ads will also be tailored to citizens’ likes and dislikes, such as a pitch for Googley deodorant with the motto: “Search me, because I smell nice!”

Costs will be billed to your accounts at the National Bank of Google.

What Schmidt wrote: This is a long way from where we are today. The current technology–in this case the distinguished newspaper you are now reading–may be relatively old, but it is a model of simplicity and speed compared with the online news experience today. I can flip through pages much faster in the physical edition of the Journal than I can on the Web. And every time I return to a site, I am treated as a stranger.

So when I think about the current crisis in the print industry, this is where I begin–a traditional technology struggling to adapt to a new, disruptive world. It is a familiar story: It was the arrival of radio and television that started the decline of newspaper circulation. Afternoon newspapers were the first casualties. Then the advent of 24-hour news transformed what was in the morning papers literally into old news.

Translation: [Rachel: Please insert usual pap boilerplate here damning the newspaper business with faint praise. History of how change hurts, but is inevitable...blah, blah, blah. Please make sure to deliver a few digs too, like how--unlike Google--newspapers have no idea what their readers did last summer. Like we do. Cue evil Mwahahahaha laugh here.]

What Schmidt wrote: Now the Internet has broken down the entire news package with articles read individually, reached from a blog or search engine, and abandoned if there is no good reason to hang around once the story is finished. It’s what we have come to call internally the atomic unit of consumption.

Translation: “Atomic unit of consumption” is one of those terms we don’t expect you small-brained people to even begin to understand. Although you use only eight percent of your mental capacity, we here at Google use an average of 71 percent, tracking on our search share.

What Schmidt wrote: Painful as this is to newspapers and magazines, the pressures on their ad revenue from the Internet is causing even greater damage. The choice facing advertisers targeting consumers in San Francisco was once between an ad in the Chronicle or Examiner. Then came Craigslist, making it possible to get local classifieds for free, followed by Ebay and specialist Web sites. Now search engines like Google connect advertisers directly with consumers looking for what they sell.

Translation: I also don’t expect you Luddites will get this, but all your base are belong to us.

For those who need an older cultural reference, it is like the end of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Um, as much as you Hollywood types like a happy ending, Butch and the Kid did not make it.

What Schmidt wrote: With dwindling revenue and diminished resources, frustrated newspaper executives are looking for someone to blame. Much of their anger is currently directed at Google, whom many executives view as getting all the benefit from the business relationship without giving much in return. The facts, I believe, suggest otherwise.

Google is a great source of promotion. We send online news publishers a billion clicks a month from Google News and more than three billion extra visits from our other services, such as Web Search and iGoogle. That is 100,000 opportunities a minute to win loyal readers and generate revenue–for free. In terms of copyright, another bone of contention, we only show a headline and a couple of lines from each story. If readers want to read on they have to click through to the newspaper’s Web site. (The exception are stories we host through a licensing agreement with news services.) And if they wish, publishers can remove their content from our search index, or from Google News.

Translation: Shut your overstuffed pie holes, you grumbling antiques. You were dying by the cell long before our superior technology arrived to save the day and help you out of your sorry mess.

Plus, we toss you all that traffic and you still manage to fumble our perfect pass like the pikers you are. (In truth, you are Charlie Brown and we are Lucy.)

Also, have you ever heard of “fair use”? It’s the law now and we can hire more lobbyists in Washington, D.C., than you with the bazillions and gamillions of dollars we make from all those tiny little blue links.

You do realize I have a key to the the White House and visit more times than Joe Biden?

What Eric wrote: The claim that we’re making big profits on the back of newspapers also misrepresents the reality. In search, we make our money primarily from advertisements for products. Someone types in digital camera and gets ads for digital cameras. A typical news search–for Afghanistan, say–may generate few if any ads. The revenue generated from the ads shown alongside news search queries is a tiny fraction of our search revenue.

Translation: Here’s an easy formula for you to grok: Michael Jackson+the pretty boy from “Twilight”+digital cameras=Big bucks for Google! Some thumbsucker you did on Afghanistan, however worthy and important for our nation’s future=14 cent CPM, but only if a drunken Lindsay Lohan story is in close proximity.

What Schmidt wrote: It’s understandable to look to find someone else to blame. But as Rupert Murdoch has said, it is complacency caused by past monopolies, not technology, that has been the real threat to the news industry.

Translation: [Rachel: Please insert Rupe quote that actually hangs him here.]

What Schmidt wrote: We recognize, however, that a crisis for news-gathering is not just a crisis for the newspaper industry. The flow of accurate information, diverse views and proper analysis is critical for a functioning democracy. We also acknowledge that it has been difficult for newspapers to make money from their online content. But just as there is no single cause of the industry’s current problems, there is no single solution. We want to work with publishers to help them build bigger audiences, better engage readers, and make more money.

Meeting that challenge will mean using technology to develop new ways to reach readers and keep them engaged for longer, as well as new ways to raise revenue combining free and paid access. I believe it also requires a change of tone in the debate, a recognition that we all have to work together to fulfill the promise of journalism in the digital age.

Translation: Really–we’re from Google and we’re here to help! Mwahahahahaha.

Seriously, you guys, please go back to demonizing Microsoft (MSFT) or those banker salaries or the health care bill.

While my gabillions of dollars are more than protecting me from the blows you are trying to land, I am not liking the hairy eyeballs I got at the Allen & Co. conference at Sun Valley last summer. I think Washington Post head Don Graham even short-sheeted my 600-thread count Frette bedding there.

What Schmidt wrote: Google is serious about playing its part. We are already testing, with more than three dozen major partners from the news industry, a service called Google Fast Flip. The theory–which seems to work in practice–is that if we make it easier to read articles, people will read more of them. Our news partners will receive the majority of the revenue generated by the display ads shown beside stories.

Translation: [Rachel: Please insert some kooky-named Google 20 percent project we have no intention of really going large on here, so they think we really are working on something to save them. Those media folks like Hail Mary tech solutions, even if they don't even know how to turn them on.]

What Schmidt wrote: Nor is there a choice, as some newspapers seem to think, between charging for access to their online content or keeping links to their articles in Google News and Google Search. They can do both.

Translation: You de-indexin’ me? You de-indexin’ me? You de-indexin’ me? Then who the hell else are you de-indexin’? You de-indexin’ me? Well I’m the only one here. Who the %*#! do you think you’re de-indexin’?”

What Schmidt wrote: This is a start. But together we can go much further toward that fantasy news gadget I outlined at the start. The acceleration in mobile phone sophistication and ownership offers tremendous potential. As more of these phones become connected to the Internet, they are becoming reading devices, delivering stories, business reviews and ads. These phones know where you are and can provide geographically relevant information. There will be more news, more comment, more opportunities for debate in the future, not less.

The best newspapers have always held up a mirror to their communities. Now they can offer a digital place for their readers to congregate and talk. And just as we have seen different models of payment for TV as choice has increased and new providers have become involved, I believe we will see the same with news. We could easily see free access for mass-market content funded from advertising alongside the equivalent of subscription and pay-for-view for material with a niche readership.

Translation: Smartphones are the answer! Sure! Your aging demo loves reading teeny-weeny writing on a device they want to throw against a wall.

Or maybe you can be like HBO! Except you’ll need more borderline porn and Mafia guys.

What Schmidt wrote: I certainly don’t believe that the Internet will mean the death of news. Through innovation and technology, it can endure with newfound profitability and vitality. Video didn’t kill the radio star. It created a whole new additional industry.

Translation: A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Pomplamoose: Inspired by Avant-Garde Film and Michael Jackson, a Hit on YouTube

Sara Lin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:47:54 +0000

Indie rockers Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte are pioneers in the new VideoSong movement, soon to hit a computer near you. The Stanford University graduates in the summer of 2008 formed the band Pomplamoose, recording high-energy video covers of popular tunes like Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” Filmed and recorded out of Conte’s childhood bedroom (his old blankets double as sound dampeners on the wall), the videos make use of clever editing and split screens to show off Dawn on vocals and Conte playing one of the two-dozen instruments lying around the room.

Inspired by the avant-garde Dogme 95 movement in cinema, Conte says he started recording songs on video about two years ago as a quick way to create music that felt “organic and raw,” he says. He made up the word “videosong” and attached some rules to it: No lip-synching for instruments or voice, and no hidden sounds–what you see is what you hear.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Search Users Evidently Just a Bunch of Megan Fox-Ogling, WWE-Patronizing Nascar Fans

John Paczkowski — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:31:11 +0000

If our search engine queries are, on some level, a reflection of who we are as a people, then we are a sorry, sorry lot indeed. Google, Microsoft and Yahoo all released their lists of the top search queries for 2009 today and they reveal us to be a nation of Twittering, celebrity-obsessed, swine flu-suffering, vampire-loving, Megan Fox-ogling, Lady Gaga-humming, World Wrestling Entertainment-patronizing, Windows-using Nascar fans.

These search engines are, in the words of Google, organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful, and the best use we can make of them is to read up on the latest in the Gosselin scandal or dig up some paparazzi shots of Megan Fox? That’s just…sad.

Below, the 2009 “Zeitgeist” as viewed through the lenses of Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft’s (MSFT) Bing.

GOOGLE

michael jackson
facebook
tuenti
twitter
sanalika
new moon
lady gaga
windows 7
dantri.com.vn
torpedo gratis

YAHOO

Michael Jackson
Twilight
WWE
Megan Fox
Britney Spears
Naruto
American Idol
Kim Kardashian
NASCAR
Runescape

BING

Michael Jackson
Twitter
Swine Flu
Stock Market
Farrah Fawcett
Patrick Swayze
Cash for Clunkers
Jon and Kate Gosselin
Billy Mays
Jaycee Dugard

A Bing Bug? If Not, How Did This Dude Beat Out Megan Fox and the Even Prettier Robert Pattinson for Most-Searched Celeb?

Kara Swisher — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:25:39 +0000

Since Bing only debuted at mid-year (and launched at the D: All Things Digital conference too), BoomTown is willing to cut it some slack.

Until the Microsoft (MSFT) search service revealed on its blog last night that Perez Hilton–the irksome entertainment gossip blogger–beat out “Transformers” hottie Megan Fox and “Twilight” hottie-er Robert Pattinson for the top celebrity searched using Bing in 2009.

Clearly, its algorithm needs some tweaking by real people.

Bing is the first of the top search lists to come up for 2009, to be followed soon by Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO).

“If you’re curious how we determined the top searches, we analyzed billions of search queries and developed the list based on searches made with Bing,” wrote Bing GM Danielle Tiedt.

“Not surprisingly, we saw a lot of folks using Bing for quick access to favorite sites like Facebook, MSN, YouTube and Craigslist. We also saw a lot of more complex searches such as product related queries in which people used Bing to help decide what MP3 player to buy and travel searches to help find the best deals on a tropical vacation.”

But this time of year, it is mostly about the lists, so Bing noted that Michael Jackson–no surprise–was the top trending topic, followed in order by: Twitter, swine flu, stock market, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Cash for Clunkers, Jon and Kate Gosselin, Billy Mays and Jaycee Dugard.

In other words, Bing users are celebrity death-obsessed, econalypse-worried, plague-wary people who cannot be without information about the worst married couple ever.

iTunes Michael Jackson Policy: Want the Song? Buy the Album.

Peter Kafka — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:45:26 +0000

Want to get Michael Jackson’s new single? You will be able to get it on iTunes this month, contrary to earlier reports. But there’s a catch: You’re going to have to buy some of the late singer’s other songs, too.

That’s the pact that Apple (AAPL) and Sony (SNE) have reached this week over the upcoming release of the Jackson’s newest stuff: Anyone who wants to buy a copy of “This Is It,” the song, via iTunes will also have to buy some extended-play version of “This Is It,” the album

Here’s the official word from Apple, following a couple days’ worth of erroneous and confusing reports (one of which I wrote):

We look forward to offering the new Michael Jackson album, as well as a digital-only EP with six previously unreleased tracks, providing fans a great way to get all of the new songs. The iTunes Store will offer the album-only single “This Is It” on both the album and EP starting October 26.

To spell that out: Apple will not be selling the single by itself.

That’s an unusual arrangement for Apple, which generally insists that labels sell their music on a track-by-track basis. If the labels had their way, they would consistently force customers to buy an entire album for $10 or more. No word on pricing yet, but it’s a fair bet to assume that even the six-song EP will sell for more than $1.29, Apple’s highest price for an individual song.

Apple does make an occasional exception here and there. For instance, many of the songs on iTunes soundtracks are only available as part of an album. But while “This Is It” does accompany a movie by the same name, it’s not technically a soundtrack, so that’s not what’s going on here.

Sony has sold a staggering amount of Jackson’s stuff since his death last summer, so it’s possible that Apple is simply trying to take advantage of what appears to be insatiable demand. But that doesn’t sound right to me: Even a huge hit on iTunes does very little for Apple’s books.

My guess: Apple maintains a vise-grip on the digital sales, but every now and then likes to throw the labels a bone. For instance, it used to insist that all of the labels sell all of their songs for 99 cents, but earlier this year, Apple changed its policy and now offers three different price points.

We Are The World! Sony, Michael Jackson's Estate Working With iTunes, After All.

Peter Kafka — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:09:33 +0000

Correction: A Michael Jackson rep says that contrary to the report below, Jackson’s new album will be available on iTunes Oct. 27, though the “rest of the details are still be sorted.” My apologies for the error.

EARLIER: After Michael Jackson died, fans flooded iTunes to snap up his music. But when “This Is It,” the singer’s final work, comes out this month, they’ll have to look somewhere else: Apple’s digital store won’t be selling the album.

So says Digital Music News, citing “confidential information.” The problem, supposedly, is that Sony (SNE) and Jackson’s estate want to sell the entire double album as a set, while Apple insists that all of the music it sells needs to be available as singles.

I’m checking with Sony and Apple to confirm, but the story is a familiar one, because it’s a longstanding dispute between Apple (AAPL) and the music business. The industry, for both financial and artistic reasons, has tried to keep music bundled together, while Apple insists on selling it a la carte.

Apple usually wins these disputes: Even the stubborn iconoclasts in Radiohead eventually bowed to Steve Jobs’s will and turned their precious albums into individual songs.

If there is a clamor for the new Jackson music online, it will reportedly benefit Amazon (AMZN), whose MP3 store does offer album-only releases.

But I’m not sure how loud the clamor will be: As best I can tell, the “new” release contains only a smattering of Michael Jackson you haven’t heard before: Two versions of the title song, plus “a recently discovered spoken word poem.”

The rest? Greatest hits you can already buy, song-by-song, on iTunes.

Music's Sales Slump Slowed–But Not Stopped–By Michael Jackson and the Beatles

Peter Kafka — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:41:15 +0000

I don’t normally bother providing you with updates on the music industry’s revenue because the update has been the same for most of the last decade: Each quarter, the industry’s collective sales decline yet again.

But here’s a very slight twist: The sales decline slowed in the most recent quarter. U.S. sales dropped 11.1 percent in Q3, compared to a 14.5 percent drop in Q2, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that Michael Jackson isn’t going to pass away again–and that unless they finally do come to Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes, there probably isn’t another way to repackage the Beatles again. Billboard:

Renewed interest in the Beatles and Michael Jackson slowed the decline of U.S. album sales in the third quarter, although the industry is still on track to fall for the eighth time in nine years….

Music retailers are hoping that the continued performance of Jackson and Beatles albums and a strong fourth-quarter release schedule will continue to make up lost ground.

During the quarter, Jackson’s June 25 death fueled sales of about 5 million units, and the September 9 re-release of the Beatles catalog has sold 1.3 million units so far.

So far this year 11 albums have topped the 1 million-unit mark, the same number as in 2008. In 2008, the top seller was Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III,” at 2.5 million units; this year’s top seller is Jackson’s “Number Ones,” at 1.8 million units.

Web Video Viewers Forget About Michael Jackson

Peter Kafka — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:25:09 +0000

Remember when Michael Jackson was one of the biggest things on the Web? So 10 days ago.

So says video views tracker TubeMogul, which illustrates its argument via a nifty interactive chart at the bottom of this post.

If you don’t like charts, here are some words: Unauthorized clips of Jackson’s July 7 funeral/memorial generated 16.6 million views on Google’s (GOOG) YouTube within 48 hours. But copies of newly unearthed footage from 1984, which shows Jackson’s hair going up in flames as he filmed a Pepsi commercial, are barely making a ripple, comparatively. Tubemogul says the clip generated fewer than 800,000 views in a 24-hour stretch.

Important distinction here: Tubemogul is tracking video views only. Anecdotally, there’s plenty of evidence that people are still interested in reading about Jackson online, especially as more and more lurid stories get out. But the YouTube audience, it seems, has moved on.

I feel a little funny about linking to or embedding the hair-fire clip. It has a sort of snuff-film quality to it, especially with the ghoulish music and commentary layered on by US Weekly, which says it has “exclusive” access to the video. But it’s easy enough to find if you want to gawk.

Here’s a more pleasant one:

Who Says the Web Doesn't Pay? Gawker Boss Nick Denton Says He'll Shell Out for Salacious Stories.

Peter Kafka — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:31:34 +0000

Got a great story, but don’t want to write it yourself? Drop Nick Denton a line: The Gawker Media boss says he’s going to start opening up his checkbook occasionally for people with amazing tales and pictures he can publish.

Denton disclosed his new policy, which isn’t really a new policy but a revival of an old policy, in an interview yesterday with Nieman Journalism Lab. He’s tried this a couple of times before: Last year he experimented with paying readers $7.50 for every 1,000 page views they generated via submissions. And in 2007, he offered a bounty of $10,000 for anyone who could land an “unretouched” version of an image that ended up on the cover of a women’s magazine, and paid out for this shot of Faith Hill.

I followed up with Denton this morning and he told me that he hasn’t fleshed out his plans yet–they’re “half-baked” right now–but they’re likely to be of the Faith Hill variety: Payouts to winner of contests, sweepstakes, etc.

Paying for tips, interviews and exclusives is standard practice outside of the U.S. The U.K.’s Daily Telegraph, for instance, paid a source that helped it break the expense account scandal that’s been roiling that country’s Parliament.

But it’s supposed to be verboten for “respectable” American media, though that self-imposed standard has been eroding for some time. It’s increasingly common, for instance, for TV news operations to pay big “licensing fees” to sought-after interview subjects, purportedly for access to family photos and videos.

Paying for tips is also old hat for newspaper tabloids. And TMZ, Time Warner’s (TWX) gossip powerhouse, has made it well-known that it will pay for tips. It’s a very good bet that the Web site has been writing many checks during the past couple weeks of the Michael Jackson frenzy.

Ultimately, Denton says, he’d like emulate the TMZ model. “I’d love to have their reputation–as the place you go if you want to make a buck.” Dream big!

TMZ boss Harvey Levin talks about his pay-per-tip policy in this interview with Kara Swisher: