The restn … Why YouTube may be hazardous to our culture

In his recent book “The Cult of the Amateur: How Tod ay’s Internet Is Killing Our Culture”, Andrew Keen rails against YouTube, the blogosphere and Wikipedia, among other current Internet darlings that, in his view, devalue professionalism to the point of endangerment.

(06/13/2007 – Source: Chicago Tribune )

iTunes is entering the live music business…

iTunes Presses Button On London Music Fest
June 12, 2007 – Global | Digital and Mobile | TouringBy Lars Brandle, London

iTunes is entering the live music business.

Apple Computer’s market-leading digital music store said today it is throwing its considerable clout behind the free iTunes Festival concept, which will take place in London throughout July.

Amy Winehouse, Crowded House, Travis, Editors, Stereophonics and Beverly Knight are among the 60-plus artists who are booked to perform during the month-long event at London’s 350-capacity Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) on The Mall. Pop artist Mika will kick off the music festival July 1 with a headline performance.

“I would say it’s absolutely the biggest live initiative we’ve ever undertaken,” Alex Luke, iTunes director of programming and label relations, tells Billboard.biz.

“And with over 60 bands playing, we’ll be capturing audio and video products that we’ll be putting into iTunes worldwide. Across our retail stores worldwide, we would normally capture that many products in a year. For us to do a full month of these performances and recording sessions in one city is very special for us.”

Each concert will be taped and made available for purchase via iTunes from the end of July, Luke adds.

Plans are to revisit the iTunes Festival next year, with other markets getting a piece of the action. “I think the festivals season in the U.K. in summer is known worldwide,” Luke notes. “Artists pass through the U.K. en masse and we saw an enormous opportunity to connect artists with their fans in this intimate setting, while they’re in the country either touring or playing some of the larger festivals.”

Tickets will be distributed through competitions on the official iTunes Festival Web site. Throughout the 31-day program, organizers will update the site through a mixture of photographs, festival blogs, videos, podcasts and artist interviews.

(Source: Billboard.Biz )

YouTube puts finger on copyright video …

12.06.2007 – A copyright-protection tool that fingerprints user-uploaded videos will soon be tested by YouTube in collaboration with media companies Time Warner and Disney.
Following in the footsteps of social networking site MySpace, the Google-owned company will use this software to recognise when users illegally upload copyright material by giving each video a unique fingerprint or identity.

YouTube has been using technology developed by Audible Magic, the same company that designed MySpace’s ‘Take Down Stay Down’ feature for protecting the intellectual property of audio clips.

The fingerprinting tool, which YouTube has been testing for several months now, differs in that it goes beyond audio content to include video.

Philips has already developed a similar digital fingerprinting tool that only needs five seconds of a video clip to tell if the material infringes on copyright.

Every time a YouTube user uploads a video clip to the site it will be compared against a vast database of material provided by the copyright holder.

If copyright material is identified, the media company has a choice: it must request to have it removed from YouTube’s vast database or alternatively leave it up, and include embedded advertising.

YouTube business development director Chris Maxcy said this system will be in operation by next month and that other media organisations will come on board later this year.

By Marie Boran

(06/12/2007 – Source: siliconrepublic.com)

Piracy threatens moviedom in India …

TANUJ GARG

As sales slump, the music and home-video industries overseas have turned into a worried lot. While this is not entirely confined to Bollywood – and the American studios are as concerned, the downside for the Indian motion picture industry, I believe, is a lot higher, given our dependence on extremely select revenue streams in the international market. Some will argue that a number of avenues and rights have indeed opened up internationally for potential exploitation but I continue to maintain that revenue from these streams is still incremental and not principal in nature.

Rampant physical and online piracy and streaming of Indian films has sharply reduced the number of walk-ins in DVD selling outlets. This is also the case with Indian music.

In fact, the decline in the number of videos and DVDs being rented is threatening the very existence of several standalone rental stores, who are being forced to branch out into other businesses. Many are turning to quiet piracy, while the others are trying to either set up Internet services or get into theatrical distribution, which still constitutes the largest chunk on the overseas revenue pie for an Indian film release.

Like the VHS business that became obsolete with the advent of the DVD technology, what remains to be seen is how soon the latter will fall prey to the power of the Net!

Consumer behaviour

Mentioned earlier, ‘multiplex takings’ is still the principal revenue driver of a commercial film overseas – but a recent survey by the UK Film Council (UKFC) has some interesting results that point towards a gradual shift in consumer behaviour.

It appears that customers are beginning to spend less time watching films at the cinema and on DVD and spending more time on various online activities. The shift was most marked in the 15-24 age group.

This only endorses my point in the piece above – is the Net assuming proportions more enormous than what we can imagine? Is it time to formulate a new strategy for renewed growth?

Oceanic response

The $37.1 million US opening for the well-reviewed Ocean’s Thirteen did not quite match the performance of the previous entries in the franchise. Ocean’s Twelve, despite poor critical notices, hauled in $39.1 million in its first frame; Ocean’s Eleven did $38.1 million in its debut. Spider-Man 3 already has become Sony’s biggest worldwide grosser and appears headed to about $900 million worldwide. But after five weekends in release, it is running behind the domestic totals posted by the first two Spider-Man movies – which brings me to the question – are audiences fed up with sequels? Apparently not, because they still command mammoth weekend openings. The concern is why they lose steam a fortnight down the line.

( 06/12/2007 – Source: financialexpress.com )