| 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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| 30-03-01 |
Motown re-launches website
Motown Records has re-launched its official website. The new site is divided into two sections, Motown Now and Classic Motown, which was recently named best music industry website at the annual South By Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas. While the site's Motown Now section offers up-to-date news and features on contemporary Motown artists, the Classic Motown section documents the label’s classic years.
Gnutella next to be targeted by the recording industry
The recording industry has been meeting with internet security firms to learn about their anti-piracy technologies. Soon, they are expected to seek proposals for detecting and responding to piracy on Gnutella, another file-sharing network whose popularity has grown since a Napster was hit with a preliminary injunction. Gnutella is one of several decentralized file-sharing networks that aren't businesses and have no central control. That really means there's nobody at these networks for the labels to sue. |
| 27-03-01 |
MTV to integrate TV channels with website
MTV will integrate its channels with its internet website to create a so-called multimedia version of the MTV brand. The new plan for the channel aims to take advantage the problems that Napster is experiencing, by offering users first access to new music for a fee. The project will be in full operation by July. With the new project, MTV will shift back its core business, being music.
Universal to take over GetMusic.com
Universal Music Group has announced plans to buy BMG's 50% stake in GetMusic .com, previously a joint venture between the two companies. GetMusic was created in 1999 as an online source for information, video clips and downloads designed to promote sales of titles by Universal and BMG artists. The decision not to continue GetMusic as a joint venture reflects the different approaches the two companies are taking regarding music on the internet. BMG's parent company, Bertlesmann, is investing in Napster and in online music shops like CDNow. |
| 26-03-01 |
Napster after Gigabeat assets
Napster might be buying music indexing technology company Gigabeat. Discussions between Napster and Gigabeat are ongoing. Napster has entered into an agreement whereby it may in the future acquire certain assets of Gigabeat. |
| 23-03-01 |
MusicCity said to be the best Napster alternative
MusicCity.com has seen its traffic increase tremendously and could become a financially viable survivor of the online music shake-out. Last Wednesday, users had access to 8.2 million recordings. While Napster alternatives such as Aimster and Gnutella may have received more media attention, MusicCity is emerging as the strongest peer-to-peer music contender. The choice available on MusicCity is actually larger than on Napster prior to Napster putting the filter in place. However, MusicCity's internet service provider, Interactive Telecom Network is believed to be among the list of 100 ISPs which last month received requests from the Recording Industry Association of America to shut down any OpenNap servers on their systems. Representatives of ITN.
Music Industry accusing Napster of failing to comply with injunction
A music industry trade group has said it will file a complaint in court next week saying that Napster has failed to comply with an injunction requiring it to strip copyrighted songs from its directory. Under an injunction issued by a US District Court, Napster must block copyrighted songs that have been identified by the record companies, which first filed the landmark copyright infringement suit against the wildly popular service in December 1999. Napster in turn has filed two compliance reports with the court, which said the labels themselves have not been in compliance with the injunction. Napster has said that many of the songs submitted were missing file names, as required by the court order. |
| 20-03-01 |
Napster file-exchange rate down
The number of music files traded on Napster is beginning to drop. Users of the music file-swapping service are sharing nearly 60 percent fewer files since Napster began blocking the trade of approximately 135,000 copyrighted songs. These titles were compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and were presented to Napster last week. Napster is blocking the trade of the songs in order to comply with a March 5 injunction placed upon it by US District Court Judge Marilyn Patel. Napster has a reported user base of 60 million, though this number may drop as fans of free music migrate to alternate services which have not yet been regulated.
Aimster removes Napster crack
At the request of Napster, file-sharing firm Aimster removed from a program from its site, based on pig Latin that let Napster users circumvent a court order barring song downloads. With Aimster's Pig Encoder, Britney Spears, for example, would become ritneyB pearsS. Aimster says it pulled the Pig Encoder Software Tuesday after offering it for about a week. Files of any type can be swapped on Aimster, although its design allows sharing only among groups of friends and not across the entire internet. |
| 08-03-01 |
New lawsuits threaten Napster
Online music distributor EMusic has added a lawsuit against Napster, just hours after producers for the Grammy Awards put forward their own. Although the lawsuits contribute little that is new to the company's legal troubles, they do threaten the file-swapping service. However, because Napster plans to be actively blocking music, any damages could be minimal, some attorneys say. The object of plaintiffs will be to prove that Napster meant to violate copyrights, accusing Napster of willful infringement. If the copyright holders can prove that Napster had such an intention, they could win damages of up to $150,000 per song traded. If not, that could drop to just $500 per song. |
| 07-03-01 |
MP3.com loses another copyright infringement lawsuit
MP.com has lost the copyright infringement lawsuit put forward by TVT Records. The judge on the case awarded TVT the right to damages for both the label and the artist who composed the infringed tracks. Damages will be awarded at a March 26 hearing.
Napster gets 72-hour for blocking songs after notice
A federal judge has said that the recording industry will have to notify Napster of songs they want banned from the controversial music file-swapping service. A label must supply the title of the song, the name of the artist, and the name of the file containing the infringing material. From that point, Napster has 72 hours to block any copyrighted songs from the service. |
| 06-03-01 |
Aimster fights recording industry using Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Aimster has unveiled a new terms of service agreement that attempts to shift the burden for trading copyrighted material from itself to individuals. With its move Aimster tries to force the music industry to break the law if it wants to monitor file trading. Under the new terms, people must agree not to open or use any file that isn't theirs or they risk being kicked off the system. In addition, Aimster is attempting to shield itself behind the very law the entertainment industry has used to go after file-swapping company Napster. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibits anyone from cracking code designed to protect copyrights. |
| 05-03-01 |
Prince speaks out on Napster issue again
Prince in an interview has said that file sharing was inevitable “because people are tired of getting pimped at the wrecka stow." Prince, long a critic of the music industry, takes a pragmatic approach, condemning Napster while encouraging artists to take control of the distribution of their work, as he has with his NPG Music Club subscription service. According to Prince, the internet should be set up where every artist has a site. If people want a particular work from this artist, they should go to the site and should be able to download directly. No one should be allowed to bootleg music because the creator does not benefit. Although he recognizes the rights of musicians, Prince also said that he understands why music fans are using Napster. File sharing was inevitable, as “one or 2 good songs 4 eighteen dollars is CRAZY!"
File-exchange program FLIPR first to compensate rights holders
The developers of fil-exchange program FLIPR (Future License of Intellectual Properties Registry) have released a beta version of their peer-to- peer software to participating record labels and artists. Version 1.0 beta previews the system that will deliver free music to listeners while compensating rights holders. FLIPR is the first peer-to-peer digital distribution system that integrates a royalty payment mechanism. The program derives revenues from a wide range of services and ancillary products, including a value-added subscription version, advertising, the upsale of CDs and other merchandise and providing licensed content for wireless networks.
Napster users keep downloading
Napster has said it would begin blocking users from copyrighted songs this weekend, although users were able to download music up to Sunday. Napser traffic was extremely busy, as on just one of Napster’s dozens of servers, about 9,000 users were swapping about 2.5 million songs at any given time on Sunday morning. In a last effort to keep the service from being shut down completely, Napster announced that it will begin blocking access to copyrighted music files. |
| 03-03-01 |
Napster adds filter to its file sharing-service
Napster will begin blocking access to copyrighted music files this weekend as it seeks to conform with a new legal injunction expected at any time. Lawyers for the online service made their last bid for corporate survival in a hearing Friday before U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, who is drafting the injunction which many fans fear could unplug Napster for good. While Napster still hopes to reach a deal with the RIAA, it has also requested that is appeal of the injunction order be reheard before the entire appeals court. The company has offered the recording industry a five-year $1 billion deal to enable it to keep their music on its by then secured music service. |
| 02-03-01 |
Amazon.com adds music downloading to its online services
Amazon.com has announced its move into music downloads, offering free songs from hundreds of artists such as Paul Simon and Pearl Jam as part of an effort to help sales in the online CD business. Amazon will also let independent artists offer music for download and set up virtual tip jars so appreciative fans can donate money, with Amazon taking a 30 percent cut. While the new Amazon service will not work like a file-swapping service, it is one of the broadest efforts yet by a major retailer Songs will be available in the MP3 format or a format from Liquid Audio. |
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