Once Again, the Political Economy of Communication People Had It Right

Yesterday’s New York Times caught up with a story that’s been making the rounds of the internet music circles since Zoe Keating published her finances about a year ago: in many cases, Spotify pays so little they might as well not be paying artists at all.  Sure, artists get fractions of cents in royalties, but very …

Canadians: Tell the CRTC to regulate traffic shaping

Many Canadian Internet Service Providers practice traffic shaping during high-usage periods, which means that while they may sell you a connection at a particular speed (e.g., 10mbps), they may actively slow down your connection if you are using peer to peer software or doing something else they don’t like. To be clear: the regulation issue …

Off to Carbondale + Even Apple Thinks DRM is a Terrible Idea

Tomorrow I head off for Carbondale, Illinois to give a talk at their Center for Global Media. While there, I may have a chance to visit an anaechoic chamber. I hope I get to! In the meantime, I leave you with this new twist from Apple. For years, their iTunes Music Store has been solidly …

More “Crippling”(1) of Digital Content

So I just went to the iTunes Store to purchase the new Elders of Zion EP. Elders of Zion is the musical project of my friend and longtime collaborator Joel Schalit (who also has a new blog), and I was excited to get the album. Now, normally I don’t buy from iTunes in general, since …