Topic: Entertainment
Harnessing legal music on the web is primarily hampered by a lack of data. Traditional record labels are unsure of the true nature of this emerging industry and have little idea how to turn a profit. John Heilemann leads Jeffrey Mallett and Mickey Hart in a discussion of the evolving landscape of online music distribution and how current solutions, like Apple's iTunes, need to change and improve. Mallet, as chairman of SNOCAP, explains how his company's business model will alter the concept of music distribution from an artist's perspective.
Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Mark Cotta Vaz, the author of "Living Dangerously -- The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong." He relates the daring exploits of Cooper, the World War I flying ace, who went on to create "King Kong," the 1933 movie which was so far ahead of its time.
A diverse panel of players in the current and cutting edge of entertainment discuss the future of entertainment at this panel discussion from Web 2.0. Mark Cuban, Michael Powell, Evan Williams, and Reed Hastings share insights about the effect of the increased availability of broadband on entertainment delivery and discuss the conflict between the forces of control and the forces of freedom. They also discuss the future of content delivery, the inherent differences between audio and video, and the trade-off between convenience and quality.
Felix Miller, co-founder of Last.fm, wants you to join the social music revolution he and his partners envision by sharing your musical tastes and listening history with others. Your generosity will be rewarded by the creation of a community knowledgebase that enables its members to harness the collective wisdom of the crowd and discover new music. Utilizing a process of collaborative filtering on an index of over 25 million tracks, Felix invites you to discover a new path to musical pleasure and enjoy a richer listening experience.
Audio is exploding on the internet, and now even video is becoming easier to create, download and view. However, finding the content you want to consume is still a challenge. Join IT Conversations' own Doug Kaye as he talks with Evan Williams of ODEO, David Marks of Loomia, Eric Rice of Audioblog and Jeff Karnes of Yahoo! at SDForum about the current state of search for audio and video. [SDForum audio from IT Conversations]
From Gnomedex 4.0: The Geeks-Gone-Wild crowd was glued to this rare and brilliant presentation by Steve Wozniak, a geek's geek. It started with games and pranks, crystal-set radios, reading Popular Electronics. Then he met Captain Crunch and got into telco-busting Blue Boxes. Woz wanted to be an HP engineer forever and never thought he'd start a company, but his friend, Steve Jobs, said, "Let's sell it!" at every opportunity. Good thing he did, and good thing HP turned down Woz's offer for the rights to build what would become Apple's first computer. You'll enjoy this -- one of the best from Gnomedex 4.0. (Part 1 of 2)
From Gnomedex 4.0: The Geeks-Gone-Wild crowd was glued to this rare and brilliant presentation by Steve Wozniak, a geek's geek. It started with games and pranks, crystal-set radios, reading Popular Electronics. Then he met Captain Crunch and got into telco-busting Blue Boxes. Woz wanted to be an HP engineer forever and never thought he'd start a company, but his friend, Steve Jobs, said, "Let's sell it!" at every opportunity. Good thing he did, and good thing HP turned down Woz's offer for the rights to build what would become Apple's first computer. You'll enjoy this -- one of the best from Gnomedex 4.0. (Part 2 of 2)
The music-industry incumbents are threatened by the new technologies of music distribution. How are they reacting, and how are musicians using the Internet on their own to make more money for themselves? In this interview with two music-industry insiders, Dave Slusher discovers the current state of digital music and possible courses for the future. David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard are the authors of the new book "The Future of Music" from Berklee Press. Kusek is a musician, co-inventor of electronic drums and the MIDI standard, and is currently vice-president of Berklee Music. Leonhard is a music futurist and entrepeneur, former CEO of LicenseMusic.com, and is currently CEO of the ThinkAndLink advisory agency.
"Simulation, Agents, and Accelerating Change: Personality Capture and the Linguistic User Interface," presented by John Smart at Accelerating Change 2004: One of the most important accelerating transitions occuring today is the emergence of the Linguistic User Interface or LUI. What will Windows (and the Google Browser) of 2015 look like? It seems clear that it will include sophisticated software simulations of human beings as part of the interface. First-world culture today spends more on video games than movies. These "interactive motion picture" technologies are more compelling and educating, particularly to our youth, the fastest-learning segment of society, than any linear scripts, no matter how professionally produced. [Audio from IT Conversations]
Dave Slusher interviews John Buckman, the founder of Magnatune Records, on Voices in Your Head on IT Conversations. Magnatune Records is an online record label with the slogan "We Are Not Evil." As a company, Magnatune has embraced Creative Commons licensing, internet streaming and distribution of music, and introduced innovations such as customer-chosen pricing for albums. As of this writing, their catalog consists of 185 artists with 356 albums available and climbing. In this interview we discuss his motivations in forming Magnatune, his experiences and surprises in the first years of operation, the potentials for online distribution of music, and much more.
