Blisstunes

New York Post: Jay-Z's the Real Racist, Not Us... What started as a blatant racial attack is now becoming a serious debate, and neither the New York Post nor its sports critic, Phil Mushnick, is backing down. The Post has refused to pull the original story, much less issue an apology. Instead, the paper is [...]

Good Morning! Orchard+IRIS, Samsung+mSpot, Soundcloud, Live Nation, RCA, Dotcom Diaries, HADOPI, Pandora... Looks like the rumors were completely true: The Orchard is acquiring IRIS Distribution. Insiders first leaked the deal to Digital Music News in April; now Billboard has its hands on emails sent to IRIS member labels. Meanwhile, IRIS founder Bryn Boughton has ditched [...]

A Discussion About Spotify-Enabled Smartphones... In 1908 An inexpensive instrument, not bigger than a watch, will enable its bearer to hear anywhere, on sea or land, music or song, the speech of a political leader, the address of an eminent man of science, or the sermon of an eloquent clergyman, delivered in some other place, [...]

What Else? Yauch, Mobile Backstage, Sirius, CD Baby, Alliance, Pandora, Apple... hilarious/sad: It now turns out that recently-passed Beastie Adam Yauch was actually served with a copyright infringement lawsuit - on the day of his death. The claims date back to License to Ill and Paul's Boutique, perhaps albums that harken to a much simpler [...]

Facebook Confirms: "We Have Removed the Grooveshark App..." Grooveshark first brushed it off as a simple 'error,' but this was no accident. In fact, Facebook has now confirmed to Digital Music News that the Grooveshark app has been deliberately banned based on infringement concerns. "We have removed the Grooveshark app due to a copyright infringement [...]

Publishing Just Changed: Judge Gives 'Y.M.C.A.' Back to Its Original Author... This is the case that everyone was watching - and exactly the result what publishers wanted to avoid. Now, the question is what this means for an already stressed-out publishing industry, especially as time-worn classics shift out of their hands. Just this morning, US [...]

Study: Fear Works, Especially Against Casual Infringement... What happens when massive legal action is taken against a massively-infringing app? The answer is that a massive number of users are immediately scared away, even if the application itself is still usable and intact. That was the case with Limewire, a shutdown that took years for the [...]

The Latest! Rolling Stone, Gumroad, MusicHype, Tumblr, Mad Men, Beatles, McCrary, Glancee, NMPA, Naxos... It's back (for one issue)! In a sadly reminiscent move, Rolling Stone is bringing its oversized magazine back - for one, advertiser-fueled revival.  TNT and TBS are the advertising backers; the issue hits May 11th. Sharing- and commerce-focused startup Gumroad has [...]

What Else? NAB, Price, Swizz, Sainsbury's, Palmer, Sirius, Mintz... Congressmen Darrell Issa and Mike Quigley are now investigating potentially improper radio ad placements, particularly as they relate to the FM chip and Performance Rights Act.  The issue is whether these stations met their disclosure requirements given the political nature of the campaigns; the National Association [...]

Sirius: The Future Belongs to Those Who Curate... Sirius XM Radio is lucky to be alive, and their growth hasn't been cheap. But with 22.3 million subscribers, this is easily the largest music subscription service in the world.  In fact, they have roughly seven times the global subscriber base of Spotify, and Sirius chairman Mel [...]