That doesn't mean the industry watchdog has given up on litigation, Mennecke claims. It simply means that the RIAA fears that the general public has become…
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In an article published on June 28 on the website Slyck.com, a popular site dedicated to news and activism surrounding P2P networks, writer Thomas Mennecke contends that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has retooled its "strategy of launching a continuous barrage of monthly lawsuits aimed at approximately 750 individuals," a policy that has resulted in more than 18,000 suits since it was instituted three years ago.
We have lost a great artist. Mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, 52, who had previously triumphed over breast cancer, died at her home in Santa Fe on July 3. While The New York Times obituary did not specify the cause of death, other reports suggest she died from cancer, leading to speculation that the claims of back trouble and gall bladder inflammation that led to a string of cancellations in the past few years were related to a recurrence of the disease.
Raised in the Bay Area by musician parents, Lorraine Hunt originally studied and performed as a violist. When, at the age of 26,…
A highlight of recent Home Entertainment Shows has been the Sunday afternoon "Analog Clinic" presented by Stereophile senior editor Michael Fremer. Michael, who writes about vinyl playback every month in his "Analog Corner" column, spends an hour showing Show attendees how to set up a turntable and how to optimize the tonearm geometry. To judge by the attendance at Home Entertainment 2006, held last month in Los Angeles, this is a popular subject these days.
It seemed a no-brainer, then, for Michael to produce a DVD covering the subject in even greater depth. 21st Century Vinyl is the…
In a gesture that mirrors a petition the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) is presenting to Congress, Flowerburger Records is circulating a petition requesting that the British Parliament and the BPI, Britain's recording industry trade group, stop the lawsuits against music fans and develop constructive alternatives aimed at compensating artists.
"Fans generally want payment for musicians but cannot always afford to buy CDs or downloads and will therefore naturally use P2P file-sharing and other downloading methods to listen to music," the petition states. "The music industry is a…
We have just learned that Paul Nelson, an influential music writer and talent scout for Mercury Records, was found dead in his New York City apartment last week. The cause of death was not reported.
Nelson is perhaps best known for his 30-year stint at Rolling Stone, but he first raised eyebrows with his spirited defense of Bob Dylan's transformation into an electrified rocker, in a 1965 article in Sing Out!. Nelson also wrote for Circus, The Village Voice, and Musician. His writing was passionate and intelligent, and he made this writer realize that writing about—and thinking about—…
Even though the European Commission okayed the merger of Sony and the Bertlesmann Music Group (BMG) in 2004, Europe's second-highest court—the Court of First Instance—annulled the merger on July 13. The decision came about because of a challenge from independent record labels that claimed the EU regulators shouldn't have approved the merger in the first place. This is the first time a European Commission decision has been overturned and it requires the commission to examine the complex merger again.
Technically, the preceding sentence should have read that this is the first time that a…
Some days I feel like Stereophile's designated audio antichrist. After all, I wrote an automotive audio column for the magazine about 10 years back—a feature that prompted more than one reader to send the pages carrying my column back to Santa Fe as "not what I subscribed for"—and I reviewed the iPod. So, not really being a glutton for punishment, I wasn't wildly enthusiastic when Edelman account executive Stefani Gudis tendered an invitation to hear the Infiniti/Bose "Studio On Wheels" model G35 sedan. It wasn't that I didn't think that car audio could be a valid musical experience, I simply…
As it has for the last 10 years, The Cable Company, along with many of its vendors, is dedicating August to help some of "the poorest people in the most ravaged regions of the world."
Here's how it works: The Cable Company and its vendors contribute a share of each sale in August to CARE, which has arranged a 5:1 matching grant from a large donor. The Cable Company is contributing 5% of each sale in August to the program and the participating vendors are matching that with another 5% donation; the total August donation is then matched by the large donor at a rate of $5 for every $1 raised…
Audio professionals and "prosumers" with home studios have long sung the praises of NHT's compact powered monitor, the M-00 (affectionately called "the moo"); powered subwoofer, the S-00 (don't make us say it); and passive volume control, the PVC (a JA favorite). Until July 18, however, these products were only available at studio suppliers and professional audio sales centers. NHT, acceding to "growing demand and an evolving market," will now allow its specialty audio dealer network to offer the formerly Pro products to their clientele as part of NHT's PC Hi-Fi line.
The 14 lb. 9" (H) x…
In May, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued XM Satellite Radio over the Pioneer Inno portable player, which has a 1GB recording capacity, but no way of porting the recordings outside the player.
The RIAA alleged that the Inno enabled "massive wholesale infringement of . . . copyrighted recordings." On July 17, XM requested that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismiss the suit, claiming that the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 shields the Inno from liability for copyright infringement. XM says that the AHRA forbids parties from…