Tag Archives: Universal Music Group
Apple Fighting Against Musicians To Have Steve Jobs Deposition Made Public
In February 2009, I wrote an article about Eminem’s publishing company taking Universal Music Group to court and the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was going to testify. Jobs did provide a deposition for that case and now a group of musicians is bringing a class action lawsuit against UMG. These musicians are interested in hearing Jobs’ deposition from back then, but Apple is fighting against making the deposition public claiming that it contains ”highly confidential and proprietary trade secrets.”
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YouTube Reinstates Megaupload Celebrity Video, Says Universal Did Not Have A Right To Take It Down
Above is a video that Megaupload created a music video that features Macy Gray, Kim Kardashian, Will.i.am, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, Kanye West, Floyd Mayweather, Estelle, Carmello Anthony, Ciara, Brett Rattner, Lil’ Jon, P. Diddy, Mary J. Blige, and several other celebrities. Universal Music Group had it taken down from YouTube. YouTube’s copyright filters removed the all star video, but Google reinstated the video on Wednesday.
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Categories Megaupload, Universal Music Group, YouTube
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Oh Snap! Tables Have Turned As Megaupload Sues Universal Records.
Megaupload is a popular file sharing service that is suing record label company Universal Music Group (UMG). Last week Megaupload put together a video that went on the offensive against the recording industry and it featured several big name artists, but Universal Music Group had it taken down. Artists such as Kanye West, P. Diddy, Chris Brown, Snoop Dogg, Macy Gray, Mary J. Blige, The Game, Will.i.am, and Alicia Keys was on the video singing their praises of Megaupload. Many of these artists have contracts with UMG.
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Categories Megaupload, Universal Music Group
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Google Reportedly Nearing Agreement With Universal Music Group
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is getting close to making an agreement with securing songs from Universal Music Group for their new music service according to sources with Bloomberg. The deal may be signed as early as tomorrow. Google is actually hosting a music event in Los Angeles tomorrow. EMI Group is already working with Google according to Bloomberg sources.
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Categories Google, Universal Music Group
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Apple Signs Sony, EMI, and Warner For Cloud Music Service
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has signed EMI, Warner Music, and Sony for their cloud music service. The only major music label left to sign is Universal Music Group. Universal is believed to be signing very soon. Both Amazon.com and Google launched cloud music services without support from any of the major music labels. The Apple iCloud service is believed to launch at the WWDC on June 6th. [TUAW]
Apple Negotiating Unlimited Music Downloads
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is in negotiations with major music companies to give customers easier access to the music that they have purchased across multiple devices. Apple is negotiating with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI Group.
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50 Cent Bashing TVs With A Baseball Bat As A Promo For Vevo [Video]
Vevo is geared to launch tomorrow. As many of you know Vevo is going to be the Hulu of music videos. This means that those of you that are sick of MTV playing more reality shows than music videos these days will finally be able to get your fill of music videos again in one central place. Sony, Universal Music Group, and EMI Music have all agreed to place music video clips on Vevo too. YouTube technology will be used to power the video streaming. In order to promote the new service, Vevo has given 50 Cent a baseball bat to bash up some TVs playing his music video. Just in case you don’t get the metaphor in the video, Vevo wants you to stop watching music videos on TV and come to their website instead.
Categories 50 Cent, EMI Publishing, Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, Vevo, YouTube
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Vevo Launching On December 8
Vevo is an upcoming music video website that will be similar to Hulu. Rio Caraeff is the head of Vevo and the company is rumored to have raised $300 million. The company expects to stream about 450 million videos per month. The company will be ran by about 45 people initially.
Vevo is co-owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Abu Dhabi Media. Vevo will be powered by YouTube’s technology and they will be sharing ad revenue with each other. Vevo will be launching officially on December 8.
Google Taking On iTunes By Striking Music Deal With Four Major Labels
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is challenging Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by selling music. Google spent the last several weeks preparing deals with the four major music labels: Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music, EMI, and Universal Music Group. The new Google service is expected to be called Google Audio.
When Google Audio launches, I wouldn’t be surprised if YouTube changes their default music purchase promotion to their own service. Currently when watching music videos on YouTube, there is a link to buy the song on iTunes or Amazon.com.
I don’t expect Google to do very well in this service because iTunes has already monopolized the music download market. iTunes is the number one music retailer in the world, even beating Wal-Mart. Google attempted to challenge iTunes by selling videos through Google Video, but it did not have much of a business impact.
Judge Rules Against Vivendi In Veoh Case; Ruled Veoh Satisfied DMCA Criteria
“Veoh has shown that when it did acquire knowledge of allegedly infringing material — whether from DMCA notices, informal notices, or other means — it expeditiously removed such material, and UMG has failed to rebut that showing,” stated a court order by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The Court made a ruling against Universal Music Group for its 2007 lawsuit against Veoh Networks Inc. Whenever Veoh received a DMCA takedown notie, they quickly reacted and removed the material.
UMG failed to show an appropriate rebuttal of Veoh’s proactive removal of copyrighted material. Universal said that the ruling was “wrong” and that they plan to appeal. “The balance between copyright holders and technology that Congress sought in enacting the DMCA has been upended by this decision,” stated Universal Music. The Veoh vs. Universal Music lawsuit was closely watched by media companies because Viacom has a pending lawsuit against Google over copyright material being uploaded on YouTube.
Dmitry Shapiro, the founder of Veoh said that the lawsuit was costly and dragged on for two years. Veoh has venture funding from Goldman Sachs, Time Warner, Spark Capital, Intel, etc.
Veoh raised about $70 million in total funding and is not profitable as of yet, but they expected to be by the second quarter of 2010. Veoh is exploring the possibilities of either selling themselves or raising additional investment.
Categories Dmitry Shapiro, Universal Music Group, Veoh, Veoh Networks, Vivendi, Vivendi SA
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