It was a mixed week for online music. It was particularly tough for a couple of online services. Muxtape announced that it will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA. I suspect that Mashable Stan spoke for many with his Nooo! and his doubts that the period will be brief.
Meanwhile, Pandora may shut down in the face of the high royalty fees to which online radio is subject. Mike Arrington speculated that Pandora needs to be sacrificed before artists and labels to realize just how absurd their position is.
On the other hand, there are artists who want their music to be widely heard, and organizations eager to work with them to make that happen. Monday saw the release of Everything That Happens Will Happen Today by David Byrne and Brian Eno. They worked with Topspin, as CEO Ian explains.
Had I got a midweek roundup out on Wednesday, it would have looked rather like this post. The music industry continues to live in interesting times.
Well, this is all about where Copyright will be going, imho. You may be interested in my video on “The Future of Copyright” which I think is a good fit with the Muxtape debate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0AVbMJuzJY Cheers Gerd Leonhard Media Futurist, Author of Music 2.0