Parasound Shares its Strengths in San Jose
On July 17, industry veterans Richard Schram, founder of Parasound, and John Curl, the company's legendary circuit designer (above), made a rare joint appearance at Century Stereo in San Jose, CA. Surviving unexpectedly horrendous freeway traffic, which made for a late startperfect for this writer, who made the same commutethe two men's great spirits contributed to an evening as entertaining as it was informative.
Parasound Under New Ownership
Bay Area-based Parasound, known for reasonably priced audio components, especially those designed by John Curl, is under new ownership. The new owner, David Sheriff, an entrepreneur who specializes in product growth and supply chain management, has pledged to maintain Parasound's reputation for excellence while shepherding the company to "take the next step."
Pass Labs Starts Over Again in the US
It began with an email from reader Ed Hoffman. "I was looking for a Pass Labs dealer and found out that Pass Labs has dumped all of their dealers around the country. Do you have any information about what is going on?"
Paul McCartney's Publishing Company Sues MP3.com
The legal molasses in which MP3.comhttp://www.mp3.com/">MP3.com; is mired got thicker and deeper in mid-March, when MPL Communications launched a lawsuit against the Internet music company. MPL, ex-Beatle Paul McCartney's publishing house, joined the attack begun months ago by the Recording">http://www.riaa.com/">Recording Industries Association of America. McCartney's firm filed suit in a New York US District Court against the San Diego–based startup over copyrights on intellectual properties owned by MPL, whose catalog includes McCartney's solo work, as well as the works of Buddy Holly, Hoagy Carmichael, Sammy Cahn, and other songwriters and performers. MPL was joined in the suit by Peer International, which owns the work of the late Latina star Selena.
Paul Nelson Dead at 69
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.
Paul Simon Releases DVD-A
Two years after they were first announced, DVD-Audio discs may finally be on their way from major labels.
Paul W. Klipsch, 1904–2002
Paul Wilbur Klipsch, legendary inventor and engineer from America's "golden age of audio," died May 5. The founder of Klipsch">http://www.klipsch.com">Klipsch Audio Technologies was 98.
Pay the Digital Piper or Die!
Hilary Rosen, president and CEO of the Recording">http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), must feel like Sisyphus playing an endless game of "Whack-A-Mole."">http://www.xvt.com/users/kevink/mole/">Whack-A-Mole." Her job recently has been to patrol the digital world for music copyright violators, especially those pesky pirate MP3 websites on the Internet. It seems that each time they find and eradicate a horde of copyright violators, hundreds more pop up faster than you can say "information wants to be free."
Pay the Man to Play the Band
In an effort to smooth the way for websites that wish to legally reproduce copyrighted music, BMIhttp://www.bmi.com">BMI; announced last week that it has now become the world's largest online digital rights management company with the launch of its Digital Licensing Center (DLC) and "Klick-Thru" online copyright licensing system. The company says that the DLC is intended to help Internet companies digitally obtain a music-performance license through BMI.com, allowing them to publicly "perform" any of BMI's 4.5 million copyrighted works from its 250,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers.
Pay to Play
Music publishing organizations such as ASCAP and BMI have long worked out licensing deals with radio broadcasters, who pay royalties in exchange for playing music over the air. A US">http://www.loc.gov/copyright/">US Copyright Office panel is now suggesting that online broadcasters also pay royalties, this time directly to the record labels, in a recommendation that has so far left all parties unhappy, particularly broadcasters.