NASHVILLE — Back here in Music City for my second Americana Music Conference, and my initial observations all have one simple, and obvious, theme: artists seeking greater success. Success is being defined in various ways – larger audiences, better recording deals, ways to support themselves without having to play gigs every night – but there [...]

Could it be possible? Could consumers be learning that they can enjoy robust online video, simultaneously or soon after broadcast, in higher resolution, on legitimate licensed sites? It’s a better viewing experience than YouTube? We’re all creatures of habit, and YouTube’s viewership numbers reflect that. The most recent month measured had 5 million videos viewed [...]

How well do these two pair? Years ago Circuit City decided to go a different direction from the new DVD format that had been agreed upon by technologists and studios and retailers, and they marketed a special DVD player that also played a proprietary DIVX disc, basically a DVD that would expire after 48 hours. [...]

It is in my humble opinion a no-brainer that everybody wins when copyright laws are better enforced. Creators see their rights upheld. Both creators and their partners in distribution earn more due to a decrease in lost sales. Federal, state and local governments see tax revenue increases as goods that are taxed (legitimate creative works) [...]

A story to explain why it’s so important House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) has introduced legislation (HR-6845) last night to reaffirm the rights of copyright owners in the field of medical journals: Imagine you’re a scientist. Like most scientists, you look all over for funding for your research. University fellowships, commercial sponsorship, foundation [...]

For several years I’ve emphasized the rapid deployment of new, legal business models for copyrighted creative works. I’ve written research papers on this. I’ve written blogs on this. I’ve spoken at conferences such as CES and Digital Hollywood on this. And I’ve always noted the unifying theme among all of these models — licensing. The [...]

It’s been almost ten years since the original Napster garnered the world’s attention, and lovers of music but not of musicians continue to download and share unauthorized songs, an illegal activity that now includes movies, e-books and other digital media. We heard calls from people as prominent as members of Congress calling for new business [...]

Any parent of a teenage girl is aware of the mega-bestselling Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer (major motion picture of the first novel due out in November). My 13-year-old daughter is eating it up, so much so I think she would willingly become a vampire if she met one as sweet and dreamy as Edward. [...]

It never ceases to amaze me how there could be objections to the efforts of Congress to encourage colleges and universities to enforce the law on their campuses while educating — yes, educating at educational institutions — their students on the law, and hopefully what is right and what is wrong. We all know many [...]