Category: media

“Until the music industry figures out a way to compel listeners, especially the younger ones, to stop freeloading and pay for their tunes (a dilemma the newspaper industry can relate to), the free-music era seems here to stay.”

“With its ContentID program YouTube has created a mechanism that makes it just as easy for copyright owners to make money from unauthorized uploads as to order them deleted, the system’s design purpose. And they are starting to get with the program. In an area known for bitter lawsuits and hastily issued take-down notices, this is that rarest of birds: a feel-good digital music story.”

“Only two types of movies — big-budget blockbusters or poverty-row strivers — seem to be making profits these days. The middle range of high-end, relatively sophisticated movies made with glossy production values and well-paid stars might do well with critics and some filmgoers but, between star salaries and the high costs of marketing, fail to earn their keep.”

“Does the fate of network radio have anything to teach today’s old-media executives? Three lessons come to mind…”

“Panasonic is planning to start selling 3-D TVs next year. Rivals – including Sony Corp., which has its own movie division, and Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea – have shown prototypes and may offer similar products. The problem is the scarcity of content to view in 3-D. Skeptics say a number of Blu-ray discs of appealing 3-D movies must come out for 3-D TVs to catch on.”

“There’s no way of getting around that the studios that are trying to put the muscle on Redbox are making the same mistakes the music business made nearly a decade ago when it attempted — and failed, quite spectacularly — to squash unauthorized downloading of music by destroying the dreaded Napster Web file-sharing service.”

“A-list movie stars have long been measured by their ability to fill theaters on opening weekend. But never have so many failed to deliver, resulting in some rare soul-searching by motion picture studios about why the old formula isn’t working — and a great deal of anxiety among stars (and agents) about the potential vaporization of their $20 million paychecks.”

“Quentin Tarantino’s blood-drenched fantasy of Jewish GIs who slaughter the top Nazis, Inglourious Basterds, [has] dazzled German critics.” Said the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “Brazen, a declaration of war, a pleasure.” Raves Tagesspiegel: “Catharsis! Oxygen! Wonderful retro-futuristic insanity of the imagination!”

Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, The Polar Express) is to direct the high-tech remake of the Beatles’ psychedelic cartoon feature – “with merchandising in tow and prospects for spinning off both a Broadway musical and a Cirque du Soleil stage production.”

“The union claims that TV talent programmes are ‘exploiting and humiliating’ contestants desperate to break into the entertainment industry by making them work without pay. The shows, meanwhile, turn large profits. Equity wants contestants who make it to the final rounds of talent shows, including The X Factor, … paid and given legal status as workers and the accompanying employment rights.”