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Protected: Confidential

Posted by Mike McCready | March 6th, 2015 | No responses

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US rights-holders welcome Songwriter Equity Act

Posted by Mike McCready | March 5th, 2015 | No responses

musicweek.com

Washington, DC — Songwriters and publishers have applauded the March 4 initiative by a bi-partisan group of members of US Congress to introduce the Songwriter Equity Act that would “allow songwriters to receive compensation based on the fair market value of their songs.”

The bill – which was first proposed in May 2014 – aims at modernising sections 114 and 115 of the US Copyright Act. and, according to their sponsors, “would amend federal law to allow songwriters to receive market-based compensation and would remove government price controls.”

 

Which website are songwriters, bands, & musicians raving about? Will it surprise you?

Posted by Mike McCready | March 5th, 2015 | No responses

Here are some Music Xray stats:

  • Nearly 2000 industry deal opportunity listings.
  • Between 500 & 700 songs/acts selected by the industry for deals each month.
  • Four stage filter helps the industry find the needles in the haystack.
  • Level playing field for musicians.
  • Transparent platform shows you what’s happening every step of the way.
  • The professionals listen & respond – guaranteed.
  • Google has figured out how to stop people from telling lies on the internet

    Posted by Mike McCready | March 4th, 2015 | No responses

    businessinsider.com

    Google doesn’t like liars.

    Google has worked out a way to quash lying on the internet. The New Scientist reports that Google is interested in the idea of ranking websites based on facts, not merely the prevalence of incoming links.

    Basically, researchers at the company believe they can clean up the internet and make veracity a rankable priority in search terms. After all, the web is full of falsehoods. Here is a list of some of them.

    And BuzzFeed has a list of 35 “news” stories from 2014 that got serious clicks, but weren’t true at all.

    And BuzzFeed has a list of 35 “news” stories from 2014 that got serious clicks, but weren’t true at all. You’ll no doubt remember a few of them.

    Sometimes fake facts on the internet are harmless fun — entertainment that is liked and shared simply because it’s entertaining. However, there are instances where websites climb the rankings that shouldn’t. This anti-vaccination website is one of the top search results for “vaccination,” for instance, even though it is full of information that is either wrong or harmful to children. (And the fact that Business Insider just linked to it has only compounded its superior ranking within Google’s results.)

    At its core, Google ranks web pages based on the number of incoming links they receive. The assumption is that the more links a page has, the more important it must be on the web. The algorithm has been adjusted and modified hundreds or thousands of times over the years, of course, but incoming links are still a huge part of what determines any site’s ranking in a search. Google’s engineers adjust the algorithm periodically in hopes of making sure it returns the highest quality searches, not simply the most popular sites.

    To weed out popular lies, Google has devised a method/model that measures the “truthfulness” of a web page instead of its online reach. A post on a blog might have a big reputation, but that doesn’t always mean it’s factual. As NS explains, instead of counting incoming links (a measure of its reach) Google’s new system could count the number of “facts” in the page. Each source is then analysed for how many lies it has and scored on that using something called a “Knowledge-Based Trust” score.

    Google used its “Knowledge Vault” to qualify the information. That’s the company’s giant database of information, vetted facts and research.

    Google’s lie detector isn’t live. At this point is simply “research,” the company tells us. “We don’t have any specific plans to implement it in our products. We publish hundreds of research papers every year,” Google said in an email to BI.

    It was, however, published by Cornell University and is called “Knowledge-Based Trust: Estimating the Trustworthiness of Web Sources.”

    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-has-figured-out-how-to-stop-people-lying-on-the-internet-2015-3#ixzz3TQxeVKEm

     

     

    The Apple Watch is going to cost way more than you think

    Posted by Mike McCready | March 3rd, 2015 | 1 Response

    businessinsider.com

    Apple Watch Edition in rose gold.

    The average sales price of the Apple Watch could be much more than people believe, according to analysts at Piper Jaffray. Right now it’s widely believed that the entry-level timepiece, the “Apple Watch Sport,” will cost about £225 ($349).

    But Piper Jaffray believes average selling prices (ASPs) will be higher when factoring in extras such as bands and storage cases.

    These add-ons mean that instead of the £3.25 billion in sales for the first run previously estimated, Apple could stand to make in excess of £4 billion in revenues on early watch sales when considering Piper Jaffray’s predictions.

     

    New Music Xray Introduction Video

    Posted by Mike McCready | March 3rd, 2015 | 209 Responses

    This is a new video that outlines what Music Xray does, how it works, and includes some testimonials from artists and industry professionals.

    Check it out!

    Mark Zuckerberg’s Keynote Address At Mobile World Congress Is So Boring Attendees Fall Asleep

    Posted by Mike McCready | March 3rd, 2015 | No responses

    BusinessInsider.com

    Courtesy Photo

    Mark Zuckerberg gave a keynote speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday, but it was so boring that many people either fell asleep in their seats or walked out midway through.
    Zuckerberg was in Barcelona to talk about Internet.org, Facebook’s effort to co-ordinate mobile carriers to bring the internet to the developing world. That’s actually interesting, and people mostly paid attention when Zuckerberg was talking about that.

    But the problems came when three carrier partners came on stage to talk about how they’re working with Facebook. They spoke about technical things, like how working with Facebook is affecting their bottom lines. Most people in the audience weren’t interested.

    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerbergs-boring-speech-at-mwc-2015-3#ixzz3TK2Xv6xh

    Sony/ATV Appoints Rick Krim to Run West Coast A&R

    Posted by Mike McCready | March 3rd, 2015 | No responses

    billboard.com

    Courtesy Photo

    Sony/ATV Music Publishing has tapped entertainment industry veteran Rick Krim to lead the company’s A&R operations in Los Angeles. Krim’s official title is co-president, U.S., and he’ll work alongside NYC-based Danny Strick on all A&R activities. Both will report directly to chairman and CEO Martin Bandier.

    “Rick is a true music industry professional with deep relationships with the best artists, talent managers and industry executives,” said Bandier, who made the announcement. “He truly knows songwriters and will be a great asset to an already strong team.

    Given his time at MTV and VH1, he will also bring to us a number of additional skills to complement his immense A&R capabilities.”

    Krim arrives at Sony/ATV following a year-long stint at Republic Records, where he was executive vice president of artist development. Before that he spent much of the past 30-plus years working in television, dating back to 1982 as a business manager at MTV, where he eventually rose to vp of talent and artist relations. In the 1990s he made a career switch to EMI Music Publishing, led by Bandier at the time, spending six years overseeing the promotion and marketing department. He returned to TV land in 2001 when he was named evp of talent and music programming at MTV parent Viacom.

    “I cannot wait to get started in this role as I am not only returning to music publishing, but will be reunited with Marty Bandier who I learned so much from during my time at EMI,” said Krim. “It is so exciting and such an honor after all these years to get a chance to work with him again, especially at a company as dynamic as Sony/ATV that is blessed with so many great songwriters and artists. I am also looking forward to working with Danny and the rest of the Sony/ATV team.”

     

    Read more at billboard.com

    UN Report Recommends Youth Turn Down the Music

    Posted by Mike McCready | March 2nd, 2015 | No responses

    billboard.com

    The World Health Organization says millions of young people around the world are at risk of hearing loss from loud music.

    The UN agency said Friday that a review of data from middle- and high-income countries shows almost half of all 12 to 35-year-olds listen to unsafe levels of music on their personal audio devices or cellphones.

    And about 40 percent of teens and young adults are exposed to damaging levels of sound at nightclubs, bars and sporting events.

    WHO says volumes above 85 decibels for eight hours or 100 decibels for 15 minutes are unsafe.

    The Geneva-based agency recommends that young people take listening breaks, use apps to limit the volume on their smartphone and consider using personal audio players for no more than one hour a day.

     

    Read more on billboard.com

    Protected: Music Xray Private Intro

    Posted by Mike McCready | March 2nd, 2015 | No responses

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