Category: media

“A music publisher has issued an unusual mea culpa in the digital copyright wars, apologizing over legal threats that led a software programmer to pull an application he’d written that automatically scours the web for song lyrics. Facing an upswell of protest, Warner Chappell Music on Friday formally apologized to Walter Ritter over a letter it sent to the software programmer earlier this month targeting a helper application for Apple’s iTunes called pearLyrics.”

For all the hoopla and hype surrounding satellite radio and the criticism concerning corporate consolidation of terrestrial radio, local stations across the U.S. are continuing to plug along just like they always have. “Traditional commercial-radio executives aren’t running scared just yet. And local talk show hosts aren’t particularly interested.” The fact is that, while satellite radio may yet capture the imagination (and dollars) of the broader public, it hasn’t yet. And even if it eventually becomes a widely used service, it’s simply unlikely that terrestrial radio would be seriously threatened.

With moviegoers fast becoming a valuable (and comparatively rare) commodity, the film industry is mounting a campaign to get Americans back in the theatres, in part by (finally) addressing longstanding consumer complaints. Cell phone rings interrupting the screening? We’ll ban ’em. Screeching children? We’ll restrict ’em to daylight hours. Pre-show ads? We’ll make ’em less intrusive. Ticket prices? Ummmm, well… how about a snazzy new PR blitz all about the glories of going out to the movies?

“Whether he was a force for further vulgarizing the culture or liberating it from its puritanical neuroses depends upon the ear of the listener. But whatever your viewpoint, one thing is clear: In addition to almost single-handedly creating a new species of talk show hosts — involving behavior that morning show newcomers now must either emulate or surpass — Stern also pushed, stamped and shook pop culture.”

The movie theatre business has had a bad year. “Domestic revenues at movie theaters may fall below $9 billion for the first time since 2001 after averaging $9.3 billion over the last three years. Factoring in higher admission prices, the number of tickets sold is expected to finish at about 1.4 billion, the lowest since 1997.”

New Zealand has become the center of the world’s fantasy film business. “New Zealand’s growing reputation as a go-to place for state-of-the-art visual effects is almost entirely because of Peter Jackson. He has come a long way since starting his career in the mid-eighties with a no-budget horror-science-fiction flick filmed during weekends with friends. The most sophisticated props were the foam masks he made in his mother’s oven.”

The TV channel Current is trying to be an interactive experience. “The Internet is a welcome breath of fresh air which re-establishes a highly interactive participatory medium that has even lower barriers to entry than the print medium. A growing number of talented young people in their 20s…have videocameras and laptop editing systems and are increasingly conversant with how to express themselves in the television medium.”

This has been “Tinseltown’s most disappointing box-office performance in 15 years as audiences, dazzled by their entertainment choices and disappointed by the mediocre films on offer, turned away from the cinema in droves.” So what’s in store for 2006?

The fifth annual list, which does not rank the films in order, is organized through the Toronto International Film Festival Group to promote Canadian film. Though Canada’s filmmaking veterans were highly visible this year, TIFF director Piers Handling referred to 2005 as a “powerhouse year” because the old guard were augmented by some strong first-time filmmakers.

“While the iPod has given Apple a foothold in cars and offices, it has yet to make the move into living rooms. The cable companies have a clear advantage here, as does Microsoft with its Media Center PCs and the enormously popular Xbox. Apple will become a force here on the day when the iPod is expressly designed to plug into your television—not to mention your car stereo and broadband network. If Steve Jobs can make the iPod an entertainment hub, Apple will be the company to beat, a feat it could never accomplish with personal computers.”