News
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Apple Launches Massive iTunes Pricing Shake-Up As Amazon offers cheaper downloads...
By Jason Gregory on 8 April 2009
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Apple’s new three-tier pricing system has come into effect on its iTunes music store.
Digital downloads will now cost users 59p, 79p or 99p, compared to the previous standard price of 79p.
All songs will also be free of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, enabling them to be played on most MP3 players.
The shake-up, originally outlined in January, follows pressure from record labels for Apple to offer tracks at a price consumers are willing to pay.
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Apple Unveils New Software Update For iPhone At press conference in San Francisco...
By Jason Gregory on 18 March 2009
Apple has unveiled a new software update for its iPhone.
The 3.0 update will add over 100 new features to the device, including the ability to copy and paste text and send picture messages (MMS).
Users will also be able to search their mobile phone and record voice messages using both the internal and external microphones.
The software upgrade – and an accompanying SDK package for developers – was unveiled yesterday (March 17th) at the company's headquaters in San Francisco.
On the whole, analysts were happy with the announcement, which reinforced Apple's intentions to tighten its grip on the mobile phone market.
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Apple Braced To Announce iPhone Software Update At press conference today...
By Jason Gregory on 17 March 2009
Apple is widely expected to announce details of a software update for its iPhone at a press conference in California later.
Analysts are predicting the 3.0 update will add a range of new features to the device, including the much requested ability to copy & paste text.
Other new functions that have been requested by iPhone users include a better email browser, Flash and MMS messaging.
Apple announced details of today's press conference in an invitation sent to reporters last week.
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YouTube Imposes Ban On Music Videos In the UK...
By Jason Gregory on 10 March 2009
YouTube has restricted access to music videos in the UK after failing to reach a new licensing deal with the Performing Rights Society for Music.
The video-sharing website began making thousands of videos unavailable to users from last evening (March 9th).
The Google-owned company claim PRS's proposed plans to raise licensing fees are prohibitive and would cost the company more than it earns from the adverts that appear next to each video.
YouTube also said PRS had refused to specify which artists would be covered by which licence.
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Gig Promoters Launch Ticket Website For Touts To help combat problems...
By Jason Gregory on 23 February 2009
The Concert Promoters Association (CPA) has launched a new website to help prevent music fans from being exploited by touts.
OfficialBoxOffice.com permits touts to sell tickets on, but only if they adhere to strict guidelines.
For example, the seller will have to provide details such as the face value of the ticket, and where it is located in the venue.
They will also have to disclose ticket numbers so promoters can check they are not fakes.
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U2 Attempt To Sell Their Shares In Live Nation After the value in the stocks plummet...
By Daniel Melia on 20 February 2009
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U2 have reportedly attempted to sell their shares in Live Nation after the value plummeted to just over a fifth of the original amount.
U2 were given 1.6 million shares with Live Nation guaranteeing that they would be worth $25 million, when the market closed on Wednesday evening in New York they were worth just $6.1 million.
Live Nation last year signed similar deals with Madonna, Jay-Z, Nickelback and Shakira – promising to pay out millions to artists in return for revenue from the 360 deals which encompassed concerts, fanclubs and merchandise.
U2 are set to tour in 2009 with announcement expected to be made in market about the schedule.
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Charges Scaled Down In Pirate Bay Legal Case On day two in Stockholm...
By Daniel Melia on 17 February 2009
The Pirate Bay have won the opening salvo on the second day of their trial after many of the charges against the file sharing site were dropped.
However, the prosecution have now dropped over half the charges after they failed to prove that illegally distributed files had used The Pirate Bay site despite clear file markers being labelled with the Pirate Bay name.
Pirate Bay co-founder Frederik Neik said that the change in charges proved that the prosecutors have failed to understand the sites technology.
He added: "It's a largely technical issue that changes nothing in terms of our compensation claims and has no bearing whatsoever on the main case against The Pirate Bay.
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Live Nation Denies Talk Of Janet Jackson Deal They won't be promoting her tours and records...
By Daniel Melia on 13 February 2009
Live Nation have denied rumours they are about to sign a multi-rights deal with Janet Jackson.
However, Live Nation have now come out and denied they are even contemplating the deal despite the fact they promoted her tour last year.
Jackson has split with two labels in the past two years, she left her long term deal with Virgin in 2007.
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Ticketmaster And Live Nation Agree To Merger In the US...
By Daniel Melia on 10 February 2009
The boards of Ticketmaster and Live Nation have reportedly agreed to merge in the US during meetings on Sunday and Monday (February 9).
The new company, called Live Nation Entertainment, could be valued at $2.5billion and would own some of the countries biggest venues, Ticketmaster's monopoly of the live ticket sales market and deals with artists such as Jay-Z and Madonna.
According to the Wall Street Journal the news was leaked by an unidentified executive who was briefed on the merger.
The paper reports that the Ticketmaster board approved the deal on Sunday but because unresolved issues including accounting details the Live Nation board didn't put their stamp of approval on the merger until Sunday.
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Zavvi Hit By More Store Closures Fourth round of cutbacks...
By Jason Gregory on 6 February 2009
A further 17 stores at the music and DVD retailer Zavvi have been closed with immediate effect, at a cost of 242 jobs.
Administrators Ernst & Young said the chain’s 31 remaining stores would stay open as it continues attempts to find a buyer.
The latest cuts mean 72 Zavvi stores around the UK have closed since the company went into administration on Christmas Day, with 1,068 jobs being lost.
The company, formerly Virgin Megastore, has suffered since the collapse of Woolworths.
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