| Singles no. 1's |
| US |
Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera
Moves Like Jagger |
| UK |
Sac Noel
Loca People |
| AU |
Gotye & Kimbra
Somebody That I Used To Know |
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| 25-01-03 |
Recording industry wins copyright ruling
Internet service provider Verizon must turn over the identity of one of its customers suspected of illegally trading music files, a federal judge has ruled. The District Judge ordered the online division of Verizon to give the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) the name of a Verizon customer who had downloaded about 600 songs a day using the popular Kazaa music-file-sharing service. If the decision survives a promised appeal, it means that people who use file-swapping programs could be targeted for legal action by entertainment companies. |
| 17-01-03 |
Kazaa legal US target
A federal judge has allowed record companies and film studios to sue the parent company of file-exchange service Kazaa. The US district judge refused to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit against Sharman Networks Ltd., which had argued that it could not be sued in the United States because it is based in Australia and incorporated in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. The judge said Sharman is subject to US copyright laws because it has substantial business dealings in California and its actions are alleged to contribute to commercial piracy within the United States. |
| 10-01-03 |
Def Jam makes new singles available as paid downloads
Def Jam has announced that it is selling singles as digital downloads simultaneously with their add date for radio. The initiative started with the premiere of the American Hi-Fi track "The Art of Losing." The single has been made exclusively available for purchase online in the US for 99 cents. The digital tracks will be sold at a host of e-commerce sites such as Trans World Entertainment's FYE, Tower Records, Best Buy and Circuit City, as well as through subscription services Listen.com, MusicNet, and Pressplay. The downloads can be burned to CD and transferred to secure portable devices. |
| 26-12-02 |
Phish make concerts available online
Phish are making their four New Year's week reunion shows available online for easy downloading at a friendly price. Fans can go to a new official Web site www.livephish.com to purchase complete soundboard recordings.
The concerts are being offered in unsecured MP3 files and can be burned to CD at $9.95 for a two-set gig and $14.95 for a three-set night. Premium files in CD-quality sound go for $12.95 (two sets) and $18.95 (three sets). Phish is working with Brad Serling, the man behind www.nugs.net, to create user-friendly downloads.
Radiohead debut new tracks online
Radiohead have debuted a selection of new songs online as part of an exclusive internet webcast on the band's official site. The group is currently completing their 6th album but meanwhile set up a special page at www.radiohead.com where new songs were played. The webcast saw the band play four songs, two of which were played for the first time. The new tracks "Good Morning Mr Magpie" and "I Froze Up."
Falling music sales caused by decreasing production by recording industry
Research by George Zieman has given the true reason for falling CD sales: the major labels have slashed production by 25 per cent in the past two years. After keeping the figure quiet for two years, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says the industry released around 27,000 titles in 2001, down from 38,900 in 1999. Since year-on-year unit sales have dropped a mere 10.3 per cent, it seems clear that demand has held up extremely well: despite higher prices. Comments from RIAA suggest that many billions of potential sales have been lost due not to illegal file-sharing, but to decreasing production on the part of the recording industry. |
| 12-12-02 |
CDNow online operations handled by Amazon
Online CD retailer CDNow will open a new store through Amazon.com. CDNow is owned by German media giant Bertelsmann, which has been struggling with its Internet operations. Bertelsmann has said it plans to focus more on books and its music club business. Amazon's own music, video and DVD stores will also continue to operate separately. The agreement between CDNow and Amazon calls for Amazon to handle fulfillment, inventory, content and customer service for CDNow's site. |
| 24-11-02 |
Universal Music to make its catalogue available for download burnable to CD
Universal Music Group has announced that it will make more than 43,000 song tracks available for download at retail outlets and online at music Web sites. The new initiative is aimed at people who may want to buy songs or albums on a one-off basis online rather than through monthly Internet subscriptions. The downloads will be burnable to CD and transferable to secure portable devices. The digital tracks will be available in the US for 99 cents for individual tracks and $9.99 for albums.
Madster refuses to filter copyrighted songs
The RIAA has demanded action against Madster over it's refusal to comply with a court order to filter copyrighted songs. Madster says it is not possible to block large numbers of copyright songs from being traded through the Madster service. Under the court order Madster must filter within 5 days of the RIAA paying the court a $500,000 bond, which has now been paid, or it must shut down. The RIAA are demanding a large fine or for Madster to be shut down. |
| 16-11-02 |
AOL's First Listen premieres new Mariah Carey tracks
AOL Music's First Listen broadband program will debut "Yours," one of two new tracks from Mariah Carey's new album "Charmbracelet," beginning November 18. The second track, "My Saving Grace," will be available from November 25 on. AOL has also lined up exclusive "first listens" with 'N Sync's JC Chasez and Dru Hill. |
| 06-11-02 |
Grokster promotes Insane Clown Posse
P2P network Grokster has announced that they have entered into an agreement with Insane Clown Posse to launch an international merchandise giveaway to go with the release of their new album "The Wraith: Shangri-La." The promotion is a first between a major recording artist and a major P2P network. The promotion will continue until November 26. |
| 28-10-02 |
The rising star of eMule
Over the last few weeks file-exchange program eMule has been on the rise. eMule is a new open source file-exchange program similar to eDonkey. It was released this September. The "hit" list of file-swapping programs searched on Lycos is as follows: 1) KaZaA (4), 2) Morpheus (1) and 3) WinMX (5). eMule is new on number 7. |
| 16-10-02 |
MusicNet and Pressplay set to obtain licensing deals with major record labels
MusicNet and Pressplay, the online services of major international record labels, are close to reaching licensing agreements with all five big music companies for licensing their catalogue songs. The new deals are expected to include permanent downloads, which can also be burned onto CD’s. |
| 12-10-02 |
Worldwide music sales down.9.2% in first half of 2002
Worldwide music sales have once again fallen. Sales declined with 9.2% in value and with 11.2% in units in the first half of 2002. Sales of CD albums fell by 7%, singles sales dropped by 17% and cassettes sales dropped 31%. The reported interim sales account for only 40% of the annual figures, with 60% of sales remaining for the busier second half of the year. The decrease are caused by a number of factors including weak economic conditions, the widespread availability of free music and competition from other products such as DVD video, mobile technologies and computer games.
Bob Dylan Billy Joel and James Taylor sue MP3.com for copyright-infringement
Bob Dylan, Billy Joel and James Taylor have filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against MP3.com. The suit claims that the online music site distributed their music without authorization. According to the suit, MP3.com willfully infringed on the plaintiffs' copyrights by using their material in the MyMP3 streaming locker service without authorization. The plaintiffs seek damages of $150,000 per work infringed. MP3.com settled similar actions brought by five major labels, independent labels and music publishers in 2000. |
| 10-10-02 |
Music file-exchange on the Internet still on the rise
According to new figures from analyst firm Jupiter Media, the number of users taking part in illegal file-sharing on the Internet is rising. Industry analysts warn that unless the music industry offers real alternatives soon, the legitimate digital music industry will never be able to take off. Nearly 40% of Internet users use their broadband connection for sharing music on the Internet. Even more worrying for the music industry is that 44% of Internet users say that they do not want to pay for online music, not now nor in future. According to the survey, twice the people who had used illegal file-sharing sites would be prepared to pay for music compared to those that had never used such services. |
| 08-10-02 |
Entertainment industry desperately seeking to pursue Kazaa custodians
The entertainment industry is having trouble in legally pursuing Kazaa. Sharman Networks, the official distributor of the program, is incorporated in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu and managed from Australia. Its computer servers are in Denmark, but the source code for its software has been hard to locate. Kazaa's original developers, who still control the underlying technology, are thought to be living in the Netherlands, but entertainment lawyers seeking to have them charged with violating US copyright law have been unable to find them. The entertainment industry has asked a federal judge to find the custodians of Kazaa and plan to file for an immediate injunction. Sharma however asked the court last week to dismiss the case, asserting that because the company has no assets or significant business dealings in the US, the court has no jurisdiction over it. Arguments are scheduled for November 18. |
| 07-10-02 |
iMesh reaches one million simultaneous users benchmark
Only 3 P2P file-sharing applications up to now achieved a million plus simultaneous users, but now the a forth application reached that magic number: iMesh Napster was the first P2P program to have over one million users logged into the system at one time. FastTrack achieved this number earlier this year with KaZaA and WinMX recently announced to have over one million simultaneous users as well.
RIAA after Grokster and Kazaa users
The The Recording Industry Authorities (RIAA) are using a new tactic against file-sharing and are directly approaching users of the Grokster/Kazaa network. If users are found to have files the RIAA believe to have copyright on, they are now contacting Grokster directly in an attempt to stop the files being shared and remove the users from the network. Users are also notified by a personal message. |
| 05-10-02 |
Recording companies request rights to block or disable P2P networks suspected of distributing copyrighted material
Recording companies have requested legal support for techniques intended to block file-sharing networks that may infringe on their copyrights. During arguments over a congressional bill supporting these techniques, industry representatives said such measures are necessary in an online environment that resists existing legal tactics. The proposed bill is the first congressional attempt to provide copyright holders with methods other than litigation to protect their rights. The legislation is called the P2P Piracy Prevention Act and would allow copyright holders to block, disable or impair a P2P node suspected of distributing their copyrighted material without express permission. It states that a copyright holder may not delete files from a users hard drive, but it limits the rights of users to sue should files be inadvertently deleted.
Legal free online music day
The UK recording industry has launched an attempt to win back consumers who are abandoning the legitimate CD market and turning to illegal online download services to download music for free. Peter Gabriel's distribution company OD2 has invented Digital Download Day, from October 3 to October 9, and offers consumers $8 worth of free downloads from one of five official music sites for one day during this period. More than 100,000 tracks will be available, ranging from Elvis and Coldplay to Kylie and Gareth Gates as the project is supported by major record labels including BMG, EMI and Warner.. Users will be able to listen to 500 tracks online, download 50 tracks on to their hard disk or burn five tracks onto a CD. Top pirated artists last year in the UK were S Club 7, David Bowie and Britney Spears. |
| 03-10-02 |
Life of Napster founder to be highlighted in MTV documentary
Napster founder Shawn Fanning’s life will be the subject in a documentary on MTV. The network has hired filmmaker Alex Winter to write and direct a small-screen biopic for "MTV Original Movies" that will dramatize Shawn Fanning's life. Fanning created the Napster software program that led to an online music revolution. Napster was used to swap MP3’s on the Internet. |
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