Radiohead Probably Won't Testify Against the RIAA

In a move that will disappoint fanboys everywhere, Pitchfork is reporting that Radiohead is NOT actually set to testify against the RIAA. They point to some earlier, unconfirmed announcements of news that the Brit boys would be defending a Boston University student in his million dollar fight for seven mp3s.

The band's statement? "No member of Radiohead has any plans to testify in this trial, [but] there was an informal meeting between the defense attorney and one of the band's managers."

Now, I'm not an expert on Radiohead's personal views on the illegal downloading of their music, but what I do know for a fact is that many artists have endorsed the practice. Why shouldn't these artists come to the aid of their fans in the courtroom? Sure, they may not own the music in all cases (that'd be the labels) but it would be in good faith for them to at least show some solidarity with the people that control their livelihood.

Sure there are artists on the other side of the debate and of course they have a right to be paid for their services, but it's difficult not to come across as greedy, especially if you're the size of a band like, say, Radiohead. I'm obviously reminded of Lars Ulrich's embarrassing turn on Charlie Rose back in the Napster days in which he outed himself as a money hungry, out of touch bully. He debated Public Enemy's Chuck D and the clip can be seen here.

The OTHER Pirates in the News

Forget Somali pirates for just a minute. A verdict will likely be read Friday in the case against torrent mega-site The Pirate Bay, according to The Wall Street Journal. I've been following the trial for some time (check the archives, hopefully all of the posts are there, if not they will be soon--click 'The Pirate Bay' tag below) and I will be anxious to hear how the court rules.

This will obviously set a monumental precedent for how copyright infringement will be handled on a large scale as The Pirate Bay provides access to thousands and thousands of moves and music, through torrent files, all for free. The site claims 22 million users, but for now, eyes are on the four men that Swedish prosecutors targeted last year. They claim that only the index is theirs and that they have no control over what people do with it, according to the Journal, but if you ask me that sounds like a shaky defense. They could face up to a year in jail, but that won't begin to touch the market for this sort of large-scale piracy.

I don't know if this even sends a message of fear to the users, considering they are untouched. The hydra-head problem that these entertainment companies are facing is a daunting one and should The Pirate Bay shut down -- much like with OiNK's Pink Palace, may it rest in peace, the exclusive music torrent site that was closed in 2007 after a raid -- we will see many more copycats before these companies and lawmakers can breath a sign of relief.

iTunes, Obviously

Something fishy is going on at the iTunes music store...

Apparently, songs whose rankings were once respectable have fallen off. Curious, very curious. The song remains the same, as they say, but for some reason people just stopped buying it. Not only does this sales slump suck for Mr. Jobs, but someone else is suffering, namely the artist. What ever could it be?

Oh, yeah. iTunes raised the prices of some songs to $1.29! By golly, I think we've got it. Or Billboard does at least.

Though the price move is in its infancy, there are some signs that do not bode well for the future. Glenn Peoples writes:

On Wednesday, one day after the price increase, the iTunes Top 100 chart had 40 songs priced at $1.29 and 60 with the original $0.99 price point. The $1.29 songs lost an average of 5.3 places on the chart while the $0.99 songs gained an average of 2.5 chart positions.

They also have this helpful bar graph that even children could understand:
As it appears, the $1.29 price tag may hurt sales enough to render the revenue increase irrelevant. In short, everyone could make less money. Now we all know that whatever iTunes says, goes in terms of buying music online but they may have done something right now that they have a built-in clientele. An extra 30 cents is probably negligible to customers who routinely purchase their favorite hits from the online store and as the Peoples piece explains, "A song that drops from #7 to #10, for example, could lose about 4,500 units over two days but gain an incremental $3,600."

But I see this as a short-term solution to a long-term problem. See, downloading only gets easier while prices keep rising. CDs saw this problem, too -- as less and less people bought them, we saw more and more $17.99 price tags and eventually, the scale tips and the ease of illegality outweighs the loyalty one held for purchasing music. Time will tell, I guess, but let's just say I have a hunch.

YouTube is Going Down! The New Kid on the Block? YouTube ...sort of

YouTube daddy Google has partnered with Universal Music, the recording industry's big poppa, on a new music video website. Like a celebrity baby, they gave it an ugly name: Vevo. How 'new media' is that?

Most importantly, at least to CNET, the company's will split ad revenue.

Least importantly, of course, is the product: a "standalone music-video service" only for Universal artists. It remains unclear whether the quality will be high-def or still Flash-based but what is clear is that the bottom line is in ads, or more specifically, dollars and cents. "Ever since MTV became a cultural force and huge financial success by offering music videos on TV, the record industry realized that it goofed in thinking of music videos as a promotional tool," writes Greg Sandoval in the piece linked above. But in times like these, promotion is dead and everything is a product.

Based on the scope of Universal's roster, this bodes well for fans who sure as hell aren't seeing their favorite videos on MTV. Though MTV's only music-video site, MTV Music, is actually amazing, featuring no spam videos or bedroom cover songs, I still find myself going to YouTube for all of my video needs. The "one-stop-shop" model works. This new glorified commercial for Universal? Not so much.

Dave Meyers (pictured) is the godfather of the golden age of music videos (the 1990s), but Bret Ratner did this one, which happens to be my favorite music video:

Mariah Carey |MTV Music

Marilyn Bergman Bails From ASCAP

Marilyn Bergman, a Oscar winning songwriter, has stepped down as president and CEO of ASCAP, according to Reuters.

ASCAP is notable as a royalties collection group for musicians and the people who own their music. In other words, an artist or songwriter registers with ASCAP to assure that every time their music is used -- be it in a commercial or film or on a compilation -- they are compensated. The group also serves as a lobbyist for copyright laws, a decidedly tricky area in the interet age.

As noted in the Reuters piece, for the 15 years Bergman was in charge, the group's most notable accomplishment as a 1998 law that added 20 years to copyright protection. Before, it was on the books as the life of the author plus 50 years, but now 70 years is the key number. Of course, he who holds the copyright, cashes the check and in today's era of a struggling recording industry, everyone is clamoring for a piece of the royalty pie.

Put simply, Bergman's successor has their work cut out for them.