Extended iTunes Store Song Samples Held Up Over Licensing Issues

8 Sep 2010 - 13:02 by soullezz

Just two days before Apple's media event last week, CNET reported that Apple was set to extend the length of song samples in the iTunes Store from 30 seconds to as much as 90 seconds, offering consumers greater opportunity to determine whether they were interested in purchasing the content. Despite the fact that the information seemed fairly solid, the change did not come to pass at the event.

CNET follows up today, explaining that deployment of the extended-length samples has been held up due to licensing issues.

"We are in active negotiations with Apple," about the length of song samples, said Hanna Pantle, a spokeswoman for Broadcast Music Inc., (BMI) one of the performing-rights organizations that collects royalties on behalf of songwriters and music publishers. She declined to provide any details.
The report claims that Apple has obtained the blessing of the four major record companies to extend samples to 90 seconds, while its existing contract with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) apparently does not impose any time limits on song samples, but even with all of that leverage behind it, Apple was still unable to roll out the enhancement at last week's event.

Leaders at the National Music Publishers Association, the largest trade trade group representing music publishers, informed Apple that it couldn't offer extended samples until reaching an agreement with them. But that's not the whole story. Some from the music sector say Apple simply tried to rush a deal through and misjudged its ability to get a deal done without agreements from all the necessary parties. Apple has made it clear that it doesn't want to pay to license song samples, insiders say, and even they acknowledge that Apple also wants to avoid the nightmare that other music services have gone through when trying to obtain licenses from untold numbers of rights holders.
According to the report, the National Music Publishers Association was tipped off to Apple's plan by CNET's original article and, on the advice of legal counsel, approached Apple on the day before the media event to express its view that extended song samples could not issued without discussions and licensing with the group.

The report notes that the discussions over extending the length of song samples may have broader implications as well, testing the waters for Apple's much-rumored ultimate goal of providing cloud-based streaming of users' iTunes libraries. In addition, Google is said to be closely watching the developments as it prepares to roll out its own music service later this year.

as seen on macrumors

5 just-plain-weird video games

8 Sep 2010 - 13:01 by soullezz

Industry News |

From turning random household objects into giant balls to stuffing princesses full of cake until they're morbidly obese, the video game industry has no shortage of strange ideas.

It's a feat of absurdity compounded almost daily, thanks to the efforts of iPhone, Android and downloadable-software creators who crank out bizarre titles celebrating everything from angry birds to garishly colored cartoon blobs.

Unlike app makers, designers of titles sold through GameStop and Wal-Mart often have to constrain their creativity because their amusements have to appeal to wider audiences.

But this logic doesn't apply to the following retail games, each of which are bound to leave you wondering just who'd dream up -- let alone buy -- such oddball concepts.

Apologies in advance to all three of you waiting with bated breath for "Oops! Prank Party" or "Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island."

Here are five of the stranger games out there:

"Prison Tycoon 5: Alcatraz" (ValuSoft, PC) -- What's weirder than this game's concept, which lets you oversee guards, maintain inmates' schedules and construct security measures as a prison warden? It's actually the fifth game in a running series.

Think "RollerCoaster Tycoon," only in black and white fatigues and with fewer Hallmark moments, and you'll get the gist.

We shudder to think how many times the word "shank" entered early concept planning discussions.

"Babysitting Mama" (Majesco, Wii) -- Burping, changing, feeding, repeat. Don't tell parents (they'll laugh), but who knew that taking care of tots could be such fun?

Odder still, this spin-off of the popular "Cooking Mama" franchise -- also making its first foray into quilting this fall with "Crafting Mama" -- ships with a plush baby doll accessory.

Stuff your Wii remote into it, and you can play mini-games by rocking the creepy little kiddo to sleep.

"Naughty Bear" (505 Games, PlayStation 3/Xbox 360) -- In this not-for-the-kiddies offering, you play a scruffy teddy bear who develops an urge to massacre his kinder, gentler brethren after not being invited to a birthday party.

Surprising in its level of animated violence, the darkly comic game lets you wield an assortment of weapons to torture or literally tear the stuffing out of your victims. There's apparently a running joke in here somewhere, but we're still struggling to get it.

"Chicken Blaster" (Zoo Games, Wii) -- Maybe it's the plastic rifle controller that comes with this gonzo shooting gallery. Perhaps it's the game's promise of poultry on rockets, water skis and roller skates.

Then again, it could be the chance "to put those crazy chickens in their place" with shotguns, dynamite and rocket launchers.

But something tells us that, unless you're an insane farmer or possess some sort of odd, lifelong grudge against hens, this one's likely to be a bad egg.

"Invizimals" (Sony Europe, PSP) -- Hidden monsters inhabit the world around us in this game, which has somehow become a top seller in Europe.

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DIRECTV & DISH: Broadcasters Want to "Fossilize" Reception

8 Sep 2010 - 13:00 by soullezz

Industry News |

DIRECTV and DISH called the broadcasters to task in their latest FCC filing on local broadcast signals. "The Broadcasters are very blunt as to what they want from this proceeding: 'to protect the role of local broadcasters in providing over-the-air television by limiting satellite delivery of network broadcast programming . . . '," the duo noted. "It is, therefore, perhaps no surprise that the Broadcasters are advocating methods that would significantly and systematically overpredict the number of households served over-the-air.

"The Broadcasters thus ask the Commission to fossilize the method of predicting whether a household can receive an over-the-air signal while ignoring any available improvements to a model that, as they themselves emphasize (as if it were a mark of distinction), had its origins in 1968."

The DBS pair argues that satellite legislation passed in 2010 should trump methods more than four decades old (and flawed even then). An"antenna" is just an antenna, they note; it does not mean an "outdoor antenna"; and when Congress directed the FCC "to minimize consumer burdens" they really meant consumers, not broadcasters.

as seen on skyreport