Tech Stream
Archive for the ‘ Music’ Category
Tech Stream 033
2 October 2009
Listen and download: MP3
Triple J’s Unearthed.com, a community music site for Australian independent artists and their fans.
In the Tech Stream this week we look at some of the new tools available to music fans and artists to help them discover or share their music online. Soundcloud, RCRD LBL, We Are Hunted and Triple J Unearthed (pictured) are all featured. We also dig deeper into some of the issues around music file-sharing, free content, online promotion and streaming services. The MP3 link at the top of this post has the audio, or take the jump for more information.
Tech Stream 030
11 September 2009
Listen and download: MP3
The Beatles Rock Band Game (MTV/Harmonix)
Everything is Fab in the Tech Stream this week. We’re in Port Moresby for PacInet 2009, a Pacific internet conference; all the latest on the week’s iPod and iTunes updates from Apple; and Bajo straps on his little plastic guitar for a review of the highly anticipated Beatles Rock Band video game. Listen via the MP3 link above or keep jumping for more details…
Just for the RCRD
11 September 2009
Listen and download: MP3
One of the region’s biggest music industry events wraps up in Brisbane, Australia today. The Big Sound 2009 conference featured three days of panels, workshops and artist showcases for local, national and international music industry representatives. There were opportunities for networking, learning and debate, with much of the latter focusing on the future of the music industry.
One of the international guests at Big Sound was Elliot Aronow, the creative director and co-founder of RCRD LBL which descibes itself as “a network of online record labels and blogs serving up fresh new music downloads and exclusive content curated by our team of editors and partner labels every day”.
I had a chance to meet Elliot while he was in Melbourne this week and we got talking about the philosophies underpinning the way RCRD LBL operates and a range of other topics around music, mobile, streaming, free content, copyright, twitter, social media and the value of curators.
You can hear the discussion via the MP3 link above, or start discovering some new music at rcrdlbl.com
Tech Stream 027
21 August 2009
Listen and download: MP3
Photo and vinylville stencil by vieeART from Flickr.
We’re joined in the Tech Stream this week by the author of Music 2.0 Gerd Leonhard. He’s a futurist who focuses on trends in technology, media and content. Gerd has some very interesting ideas about the ways we’ll be accessing and sharing music online. We’ll also be tweeting aliens and the latest technology news from the week. More after the jump, or just jump right into the program with the MP3 above.
Jail verdict for Pirate Bay founders
20 April 2009
As reported on the weekend on ABC News Online:
Four men behind The Pirate Bay, one of the world’s biggest file-sharing sites, say they will appeal against their convictions and have refused to pay any damages for breaking copyright law. A Swedish court sentenced the four Pirate Bay founders to one year in jail for their involvement with the website. Said to have 25 million users, The Pirate Bay indexes and tracks BitTorrent files which allow users to download films, music and computer games from others. The men were ordered to pay $5 million in damages to a number of entertainment companies, including Warner Bros, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, and Columbia Pictures. Throughout the trial, the four men denied the charges saying because they did not actually host any files, they were not doing anything wrong.
Read the full article online and Elizabeth Jackson also reported on the result on ABC Radio’s Saturday AM program as well. For more analysis of the verdict and ramifications I would recommend Nate Anderson’s article on Ars Technica which gives some background; Greg Sandoval on CNET asks whether internet piracy has reached a tipping point; and Wired magazine reports on how file sharing may have saved Hollywood and the music industry. Fascinating and timely reading.
Cool cassette MP3 player
13 March 2009
In the Tech Stream program this week I spoke about this great little MP3 player concept from NVDRS (pictured above). You charge the kinetic battery by twisting the spool, just like you used to do with old cassettes to tighten the tape or rewind manually. I would often use a pencil too. You can also use the spools to skip songs, as shown above. How neat. Storage is limited to 45, 60 or 90 minutes as well, just the like the real thing too. So cool. There are more images on Yanko Design. Now, if only they made it for real…
Google and the battle over music rights
13 March 2009
Listen and download: MP3
Its been an interesting week for Google-watchers and anyone interested in music or video content online. We heard about a new service called Muziic, which uses an iTunes-like interface to tap into content on YouTube. It was started by a David Nelson, a 15 year old teenager, and enables users to stream YouTube’s music to their PCs without the videos. The site has yet to receive the blessing of Google, who own Youtube, but the company has raised concerns that it violates the video site’s API.
But Google have a lot more on their plate this week. They’re launching a new VOIP-like service to rival Skype. Google Voice will offer a single number for home, work and mobile phones and also turn your voicemail into an email. The service is built on top of Grand Central, a company they acquired in 2007. So far Google Voice is only available to current Grand Central users, and it isn’t clear if it will work for people outside the United States.
Also in the news this week is that Youtube is blocking certain copyrighted music videos in Britain, in a dispute with the UK’s Performing Rights Society for Music, the PRS. The block affects only premium music videos – those supplied by the record companies – but it raises some interesting questions about how content is licensed and funded in the digital world.
Elliott Bledsoe is a researcher at the Centre for Creative Industries and Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology. I asked him what he thought google were hoping to achieve by blocking this content. You can listen to our chat via the MP3 link at the top of this story.
