A group of researchers has claimed success at cracking four digital audio watermarking technologies presented in a challenge by the Secure Digital Music Initiative in September. The claim has been denied by David Leibowitz, chairman of Verance Corporation, creator of one of the challenged watermarks. SDMI has made no public statement on the claim, and has resolved to remain silent until all 447 submitted hacks are evaluated.
With the music industry in retreat from classical music, dozens of the nation’s symphony orchestras, opera and ballet companies have decided to bring their work directly to the people. On June 12, an association of 66 orchestras and opera groups signed an agreement with the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) that will let them put their music on the Internet, without interference or fee extraction by the recording business.
The radio industry's frenzy of mergers and acquisitions has slowed down but hasn't stopped. San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications Inc., one of the largest radio broadcasters in the US, has agreed to acquire AMFM Inc., another major player. The merger will give Clear Channel more than 850 stations nationwide. The deal hinges on Clear Channel unloading 72 of its stations in 27 markets to comply with Federal Communications Commission rules limiting the number of stations that can be owned by a single operator.
If a recent announcement by the nation's largest radio broadcaster is any indication of a trend, independent music promoters may be on their way to extinction.
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. has settled the first of what could be a long string of lawsuits over its purportedly monopolistic marketing tactics.
Artists' groups are celebrating what they hope will be more than a symbolic victory over the recording industry in the wake of legislation signed by President Clinton the last week of October. Known as "The Works Made for Hire and Copyright Corrections Act," the repeal negates a provision that was inserted into last year's "Satellite Home Viewer Act" at the insistence of the Recording Industry Association of America, designating musical recordings as "works for hire." Such a designation catergorizes a musical recording as a commodity that can be purchased at a fixed price, such as a table built by a furniture craftsman, rather than as a performance subject to syndication and royalty fees.
The copy cat will soon be out of the bag down under. Australia's musical copyright society has reluctantly agreed to the deployment of CD-copying kiosks throughout the nation in exchange for what an Australian news site calls "a modest royalty payment" of about 6% of the $5AUS copying fee—or 30¢ per disc.
Consumer electronics stores have long carried computer gear, everything from laptops and desktop systems to software and accessories. Computer stores, led by Gateway Country stores, have slowly been moving in the other direction. Now it looks as if convergence in the retail realm is about to take another great leap forward.