Friday, March 28th, 2008
Daily News: Friday
Azoff, Gould To Co-Manage GNR: “Guns N’ Roses and its frontman Axl Rose will now be represented by longtime managers Irving Azoff and Andy Gould, according to a statement from Rose on the band’s Web site. “We are very excited and look forward to working with them and hope our relationship proves beneficial for everyone, especially the fans,” Rose said in a statement on the site.” (via Billboard)
DMB & Ticketmaster Partner Up: “The Dave Matthews Band and Ticketmaster have teamed up to offer concertgoers an exclusive digital album comprising material from the rock troupe’s upcoming 40-city North American summer tour. Fans who purchase tickets through Ticketmaster during the trek’s March 29 general on-sale will receive a unique barcode in mid-September that can be redeemed for the digital album on iTunes. The album will go on sale to the general public a month later. The offer is only valid for venues ticketed by Ticketmaster.” (via Billboard)
Last.fm Spreading Wings Into Germany: “Last.fm is expanding its music networking and discovery platform into Germany and Northern Europe, according to details shared Thursday. The physical footprint is just being planted, and ex-Google executive F. Scott Woods is jumping on board as a Senior Vice President and Managing Director for the region. The office is being set up in Hamburg, according to the company, a base for operations.” (via DMN)
US students to get legal P2P: “US colleges and their alumni may be offered the right to P2P file-sharing under one of the most radical copyright reforms in a hundred years… The amnesty would be part of a “covenant not to sue”, covered by a collective licence that offers the right to exchange major label repertory over a participating college’s campus network. Rights holders would be compensated from a pot of money drawn from students’ tuition fees. The plan is the brainchild of copyright reform advocate and EFF Advisory Board member Jim Griffin, and has been the music business’ worst-kept secrets. Warner Music Group hired Griffin to head up the initiative before the Midem show in January.” (via The Register)
ISP to Ease P2P Throttling: “Comcast, currently the subject of an FCC probe and target of a lawsuit related to its practice of throttling peer-to-peer traffic, announced on Thursday a collaboration with peer-to-peer software firm BitTorrent, to address issues with network traffic management. One result of the talks is that Comcast has agreed to migrate to a “protocol agnostic” network management system — which would not single out BitTorrent, as its current system does — by the end of 2008. The two companies also said they will work with other ISPs and technology firms to “explore and develop a new distribution architecture for the efficient delivery of rich media content,” and added they believe these issues can be sorted out through private business discussions without the need for government intervention.” (via DMW)
Piracy Wrecking Indian Music Biz: “A new study claims the Indian entertainment business loses $4 billion a year to piracy.The Indian music industry alone lost $325 million to piracy last year, according to the report, titled “The Effects of Counterfeiting and Piracy on India’s Entertainment Industry,” which was released March 27 by the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) in association with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).” (via Billboard)
