The gist of the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Apple and five major book publishers: The publishers, assisted by Apple, conspired to fight back against Amazon’s pricing power in the growing e-book market.

The Wall Street Journal, which has been on the story for some time, has plenty of background here. And there’s some great, baroque detail in the DOJ’s complaint, which you can read over here. (New York venues of choice for alleged antitrust meetings: The “Chef’s Wine Cellar” at Picholene, and Alto, a now-defunct Italian restaurant.)

But there’s also this odd, scintillating, throwaway line in the middle of the complaint, where the DOJ casually mentions that before Apple thought about fighting with Amazon, it thought about a different strategy: Ruling the world in concert.

From the complaint:

In addition to considering competitive entry at that time, though, Apple also contemplated illegally dividing the digital content world with Amazon, allowing each to “own the category” of its choice — audio/video to Apple and e-books to Amazon.

Really? So how would that work? And why didn’t Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos end up conspiring to work together? The DOJ doesn’t explain any of this — it simply moves on to the rest of its argument.

And here’s where we need to point out that it’s not uncommon for lawsuit complaints to contain big helpings of theatrics, with accusations and context that won’t end up having any bearing in court, if it gets that far.

Indeed, several of the publishers that the DOJ is suing this morning are expected to settle with the government this afternoon — can’t get more theatrical than that. (Actually, they’ve already settled, says Bloomberg.)

Still, that’s an especially juicy bit of red meat to dangle in front of the public, so if the DOJ has more to say about the alleged would-be conspiracy, we’d love to hear about it. Apple declined to comment, but I’ll update if that changes.

(Image courtesy of Shutterstock/Everett Collection)

But not everyone is on Facebook (really!), and Spotify would like many more users. This should help: Spotify is rolling out a feature that will let the rest of the Web integrate the service, via a “play button” widget, onto their pages.

So everyone from the Huffington Post to Rolling Stone to your average Tumblr user — Tumblr is incorporating the feature right into its main dashboard, and you can see a sample of a Tumblr page at the bottom of this post — can incorporate free tunes onto their sites. And Spotify gets a whole new set of promotional partners.

In theory, that’s an unlimited set of partners, since Spotify will let anyone who knows how to embed HTML add the widgets, by heading to this page. So if this works correctly, you should see something very special right here:

The integrations echo the Spotify/Facebook partnership, where the widget works as a remote control for the Spotify software. But, just like the Spotify/Facebook link, it won’t do you any good if you don’t have the Spotify software on your machine.

So if you’ve already got Spotify up and running on your PC before you hit the “play” button on the song above (and you really should! It’s excellent.), then the music will start playing immediately. If not, you’ll have to go click a couple of buttons to open up the software, or even more to download the software.

Things would be a whole lot easier if you could just click a button and get Spotify streamed directly from the Web, and Spotify might end up there one day. For now, it can’t, because of both technical and biz-dev reasons.

But a few million people have already downloaded Spotify in the last nine months, and this move will help the company round up some more. It’s probably not nearly enough to make it a full-blown mainstream service, but they can take it one step at a time.

The backstory is here, but here’s the short-as-possible version: Grooveshark, a music service fighting lawsuits filed by the big music labels, is going after Digital Music News. The trade site had published anonymous comments accusing Grooveshark of deliberately violating copyright law.

Grooveshark says it needs information about the commenter — like the person’s IP address, etc. — so it can defend itself in its own lawsuit against the music labels.

But as Digital Music News publisher Paul Resnikoff points out in a post, this contradicts what Grooveshark has been telling the court in its battle against Universal Music Group, which is that the comments in question shouldn’t constitute evidence.

Confusing, yes? Even shorter version: Resnikoff says he can’t and won’t comply with Grooveshark’s subpoenas. But he is worried about how he’ll mount a legal defense. “We are a very small company and need the help,” he writes. “We are actively soliciting amici curiae and even pro bono litigation assistance in this matter.”

Meanwhile, an honest question: Does Google know that its ads are running on Grooveshark? If it does, does that mean it thinks the site is legal?

EMarketer predicts that the apparel and accessories category is expected to grow by 20 percent to $40.9 billion this year, up from $34.2 billion in 2011.

That beats the sale of books, music and videos, which have historically been considered the most dominant e-commerce categories — those are now expected to grow by only 18 percent to $20.4 billion this year.

The report published by the Internet market research firm today is the first time it has broken down its forecasts by category.

EMarketer attributed the gains in apparel to retailers’ improved methods for displaying products online that make purchasing clothes, in particular, less of a guessing game.

Some of the visual innovations are stunning.

For instance, Amazon.com’s MyHabit, a private sales clothing site, produces animated videos of models wearing the clothing for sale. The representations are so realistic, the fabric sways as the model struts and turns as if walking down a catwalk.

On the more whimsical side of innovations is eBay’s augmented reality app that allows users to “try on” a pair of sunglasses by layering them over a picture of their face.

But in addition to new display technology, there are also many more apparel sites for consumers to choose from. Over the last two years, the idea of private sales or flash sales — offering expensive, high-end fashion at steep discounts — has spread like wildfire.

Free shipping also plays a role since it removes some of the risk for consumers: If they don’t like a shirt or pair of pants, they don’t have to pay a fee for delivery back to the retailer.

Overall, the report is predicting another big year for e-commerce. It expects U.S. retail sales to grow 15.4 percent to $224.2 billion in 2012, which is higher than eMarketer’s previous forecast that called for e-commerce to grow 11.3 percent to $209.3 billion in 2012.

The biggest category in 2012 is expected to be computer and consumer electronics, which have a higher price point, and are expected to bring in a total of $48.6 billion.

Shakil Khan, the well-known head of special projects for the popular Spotify music service, is taking a job with the same title at Path, the fast-growing personal social networking start-up.

Khan will be focusing on growth and international issues, and based out of London but with global duties. Path’s HQ is in San Francisco.

That’s important, since Path has been growing strongly outside its initial U.S. market, especially in Asia. In February, Path CEO Dave Morin announced that it had two million users.

In an interview last night, Khan said he will remain an adviser to Spotify’s CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek, noting that he is also an investor.

Interestingly, said many sources and also a number of reports, both Path and Spotify are in the midst of large funding rounds with hefty valuations.

In fact, Spotify is being valued at $4 billion, which was not the case when Khan came to the then-fledgling company in 2008. Taking up a job essentially as a kind of fix-it guy for Ek, he worked on a number of important initiatives, from gaining early user traction to hiring its early management to wrangling celebrities to use the service.

Khan said that he decided to leave Spotify, which has recently had a huge spurt of growth due to its recent integration on Facebook, because he has “always been a start-up guy.”

“I loved the days when people used to say, ‘What is that, how do you spell it,’” he said about Spotify. “I need those kind of butterflies, and Path is just that kind of amazing product with huge global potential.”

In an email, Path’s Morin said:

“We are beyond delighted that Shak has chosen to join the Path family as we continue our mission to build the first global personal network by helping people journal and share life with family and close friends. Shak brings a unique global perspective and skill set to Path which will help us reach and serve our members and partners across the globe in a uniquely personal way.”

And Ek, calling in from Sweden (where it is 80 degrees!), said that he was sad to see Khan go, and was also in his debt for his service to Spotify.

“I am kind of an introvert guy, and Shak is definition of social, so he was the link to the rest of the world in many ways for me and for the company,” said Ek. “So where he is going and what he will be doing at Path is perfect.”

The free-music party was supposed to end three months ago, which would have meant that nonpaying users would face a 10-hour-a-month cap.

But the company extended the promotion, which it introduced during Spotify’s U.S. launch last summer, and it’s announcing today that it’s extending it again.

Meanwhile, in some European countries, Spotify has also removed another limit on free music — a restriction that meant free users could only hear a single song five times, period — though the 10-hours-a-month restriction still stands.

The various restrictions are a result of negotiations with the big music labels, and are designed to give users an incentive to upgrade their free accounts to premium ones, and/or actually buy music from Spotify or other sources. Paying users get to listen to Spotify without ads, and can access the service from iPhones and Android handsets.

Why lift the limits? Feel free to speculate. Here are two guesses, which aren’t mutually exclusive:

• Both Spotify and the music labels are pleased with the service’s results, which have been producing free-to-paid conversions of around 15 percent, at least during the U.S. launch. If that’s still working, it may be worth it, from both sides’ perspectives, to lay off the limits.
• Spotify is in the midst of a giant funding round that could value the company at some $4 billion. That pitch is premised on the company’s “extraordinary” growth.  If it did clamp down on free listening, that growth would presumably slow, which makes that pitch harder to make.

The Redmond, Wash.-based company said today that for the first time, Xbox Live users are now watching more movies and TV and listening to music than gamers are using it to play online games.

The recent shift is worth noting given the mind-boggling number of hours gamers are willing to spend online destroying opponents on the battlefield or football field.

Microsoft declined to break down the number of hours spent, but as an example, 3.3 million players logged seven million hours on Xbox Live on the first day alone that Activision’s Call of Duty was available back in November.

What’s more, the growth of entertainment is not at the expense of gaming. Online gaming on the Xbox is up over the past year, too. In fact, Xbox Live usage — spanning gaming and entertainment — is up 30 percent year-over-year.

The shift toward entertainment is not completely unexpected, since Microsoft has been investing heavily in turning the console into a more general entertainment device for the living room. Sony’s PlayStation has a similar emphasis and Nintendo’s upcoming console, the Wii U, is expected to support entertainment applications.

In December, Microsoft rolled out a massive software update to the Xbox that allowed users to control the console using the Kinect. As part of the update, it also began to add more than 40 content providers to the console to increase the catalog of live and streamed TV, movies and music.

As previously announced, Xbox today launched voice-controlled TV apps from Comcast and HBO Go in the U.S., and MLB.TV throughout North America. To access these apps, you must be a subscriber, meaning it is not meant as a cable subscription substitute.

He’s an a–hole. That guy has $2 billion that he made from figuring out ways to steal royalties from artists, and that’s the bottom line. You can’t really trust anybody like that.

– Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney on why he’s not a fan of Sean Parker

And the winner is … Jason Harper for “In this Shop.”

The winner, that is, of Getty Images’ innovative Mishmash creative challenge, in which anyone can submit a film from one to three minutes long, as long as it was created using Getty Images’ video, music and imagery content.

Harper’s video, which depicts a classic city barbershop, won the Global Grand Prix title, out of 300 entries worldwide. Winners were also selected for three other global regions.

Here is Harper’s winning video, set to a poem by Mark Anthony Thomas, which he called “an ode to a place I grew up.”

Lovely:

And here’s the official press release listing the other winners:

Getty Images announces the winners of 2012 Mishmash challenge

London, UK — 21 March, 2012: Getty Images has today announced the winners of its annual Mishmash creative challenge. The competition, which launched in January, received 300 entries from around the world, with winners being divided between three regions: EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), the Americas and Asia Pacific, with one global overall winner also selected.

Jason Harper’s entry, In This Shop, which explores the place of a local business in modern day America, was awarded the Global Grand Prix title, which chairman of the jury and R/GA, Chief Creative Officer, Nick Law described as “beautifully modulated, intimate and simple.” Other winners include:

Global Grand Prix and Americas: Jason Harper from the US for In This Shop
APAC: Marcia Hawira from New Zealand for Natalia
EMEA: Blake Dixon from the United Kingdom for The Newton N. Minow Experience
Public vote prize: Bartolome Barrero from Spain for Mother Nature

Each of the winning entries cleverly blurred the lines between imagery and video to create works which both impressed and challenged the judges with their creativity, story-telling techniques, slick editing and innovative subject matter.

Andrew Saunders, Senior Vice President, Creative Content, Getty Images said: “Once again we have had an overwhelmingly positive response to Mishmash, which never fails to produce work that both inspires and surprises us. The high calibre of films really showcases our creative and engaging content and we feel that the shortlisted entries demonstrate the evolution of video and media as a growing and highly engaging communication platform. A huge congratulations to all of our winners.”

Getty Images received over 300 submissions from creatives in over 50 countries — an increase of 37 per cent compared with the 2010 competition.

New for 2012, Mishmash entrants could choose to enter one of three categories: short story, music video or video art. Each film, which needed to be between one and three minutes long, was created using Getty Images video, music and imagery content.

The competition, which ran for two months, was judged by 29 of the world’s leading music, technology and film production professionals and was chaired by R/GA’s, Global Chief Creative Officer, Nick Law. Other judges included:

· Ignacio Oreamuno, President, I have an idea
· Nate Lanxon, Online Editor, Wired
· Leading Bollywood film producer Aashish Singh from Yash Raj Films

For more information on the Mishmash competition, or to view the award-winning entries, visit www.gettyimages.com/mishmash

The company was slated to announce the pacts — with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, EMI Music Group and Sony — at the South by Southwest conference today. CNET reported on Turntable’s Warner deal last week, and I think that report helped accelerate today’s announcement.

The fact that Turntable was able to get deals done in less than a year — the company is the result of a well-documented pivot from something called Stickybits — says a lot about the newfound flexibility on the part of the music business. Especially since Turntable has carved out a new business model — basically a hybrid between “on-demand” services like Spotify and “radio” services like Pandora.

The flip side is that the buzz and momentum Turntable was generating last summer has gone away. That may be due mostly to Spotify’s U.S. launch, which by all accounts has been a huge success. But it may also be because not that many people want to listen to other people play music.

I do, though, so I hope the deals give Turntable the ability to turn things around. Right now, when I visit the service I don’t see any of my pals there. And while I’m sure I could find some cool people playing cool songs there if I dug around for a while, I don’t want to do a lot of digging.

One thing the deals won’t do is give Turntable the ability to open its doors to users outside the U.S. But it does give the company a better chance of getting international deals done.

That would give Turntable a leg up on rival Pandora. But there are a gazillion legal ways to get your hands on digital music, for very little money these days — from Spotify to Rhapsody to iTunes Match to Deezer. Getting heard above that din will be a challenge.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who is also a Facebook board member, is backing a bill that would change the law. Right now, it’s tied up in the Senate.

But if it passes, don’t expect Netflix subscribers to thank him. They have absolutely no desire to learn what their Facebook pals are watching.

That’s the no-doubt-about-it conclusion from a new survey commissioned by Citi analyst Mark Mahaney: He finds that seven out of 10 Netflix subs are “not at all interested” in “seeing what [their] FB friends have watched on Netflix.”

Here’s what that looks like in a bar chart:

As Mahaney notes, it’s possible that the folks he surveyed just don’t know how cool it will be to learn that their pals are watching “Mad Men” or “Dora the Explorer” or whatever. And that if it becomes possible, they’ll change their mind.

But it’s worth noting that Hulu has synced up with Facebook (I’ve never really understood why it’s not constrained by the same law, but whatever). And so far I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Facebook pal tell me what they’re watching there.

There are a bunch of ways to explain that nonscientific observation away. But my gut is that people are actually sort of private about a lot of their video viewing, and don’t want to automatically share it with the Web.

It’s not like Spotify, where even though you may not be proud that you were listening to .38 Special, you don’t really care if anyone knows.

Yes, lots of people will tell you — on Facebook or Twitter, or maybe even one of those TV check-in services — about a specific show they’re watching.* But that’s a lot different from a deluge, which is what Facebook seems to want.

And Netflix users, at least, want no part of it.

*I just finished season 4 of “Breaking Bad” this weekend. So great. I literally yelped in delight at the end of the last five or six episodes.

(Image courtesy of Shutterstock/Everett Collection)