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| APPLE LAUNCHES ITUNES IN RUSSIA, TURKEY, INDIA, SOUTH AFRICA, 52 ADDITIONAL COUNTRIES: Apple today announced it has launched its iTunes Store fifty-six countries, including Russia, Turkey, India, South Africa. iTunes Stores are now available in a total 119 countries. The service is also offering movie rentals and sales in some territories. Billboard.biz |
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| THREE SONGWRITER ORGANIZATIONS OPPOSE INTERNET RADIO FAIRNESS ACT: In the last three weeks, three coalitions of songwriter organizations wrote letters to congress opposing the Internet Radio Fairness Act (IRFA) while asserting that songwriters royalty rates paid by services like Pandora are too low and need to be raised. Billboard.biz |
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| GREG HARRIS NAMED PRESIDENT/CEO OF ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland announced that Gregory S. Harris, its vice president of development since 2008, will become president and chief executive officer. Billboard.biz |
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| PRINCE ROYCE, ROMEO LEAD ‘PREMIO LO NUESTRO’ MUSIC AWARDS NOMINEES: Romeo, Prince Royce, Don Omar and Maná are among the acts nominated for the 25th annual Premio LoNuestro music awards, taking take place at Miami’s American Airlines Arena on Feb. 21. Billboard.biz |
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| EDDIE VEDDER TO HOST NEW SHOW ON SIRIUSXM’S PEARL JAM RADIO: On the heels of last week’s announcement of Dave Grohl’s “Sound City” show on SiriusXM Radio, the network announced that Eddie Vedder will host a new, limited-run show on its Pearl Jam Radio channel. “The Eddie Vedder Radio Show” will premiere this Wednesday. Billboard.biz |
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| 12-12-12 SANDY BENEFIT CONCERT TO BE AIRED ON 34 OUTLETS: The 12-12-12 Hurricane Sandy benefit concert will be broadcast across 34 U.S. and international tv, radio and Internet outlets across six continents. News also broke today that Eric Clapton and Coldplay’s Chris Martin were added to the bill. Billboard.biz |
SIMON FULLER EYES BID FOR CONCORD: UK Music impresario Simon Fuller, the Spice Girls former manager and creator of the “Idol” TV franchise, is planning to bid on American record label Concord Music Group that includes Sir Paul McCartney and Joni Mitchell among its roster, according to Sky News. Fuller’s interest in acquiring Concord comes as he also pursues an offer for Parlophone, one of UMG’s divested assets following the EMI acquisition. Concord, which is expected to command a price-tag of approximately $125 million, formed eight years ago following the merger between Concord Records and Fantasy Records
Sky News
FACEBOOK AGREES TO PAY AS MANY AS 2 MILLION USERS $10 EACH IN SETTLEMENT: Facebook Inc. persuaded a judge to grant preliminary approval of a $20 million settlement of a lawsuit claiming it used subscribers’ names without their permission to advertise products in its “Sponsored Stories.” Under the revised settlement, users can claim a $10 payment, and funds left over will go to advocacy groups. An earlier settlement proposed by the company would have given users no payment, while lawyers for plaintiffs would receive as much as $10 million, according to filings in federal court in San Francisco.
Bloomberg
MOBILE, SOCIAL, TIME ON INTERNET WAY UP: NIELSEN SOCIAL REPORT: Both in the U.S and globally, people are accessing the web more frequently and for longer using smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and smart TVs, according to Nielsen’s State of the Social Union report. PC usage of social media is just about the only category that’s down: 4% fewer Americans connected to the Internet via a PC in 2012, while 82% more connected via the mobile web and 85% more connected via a mobile app. Overall, total time on the Internet in 2012 is up 21% to 520 minutes a month. A whopping 17% of that is spent on Facebook.
VentureBeat
GAME LAUNCHING ROLEX RECORDS: ‘WE’RE GONNA DO IT BIG’: While Game is gearing up to release his fifth studio album, “Jesus Piece,” on Dec. 11, the chart-topping rapper tells Billboard that he’s also been busy kicking off a brand new business venture: his own label.
Billboard.biz
SOUNDCLOUD REVAMPS SITE, ANNOUNCES NEW NUMBERS: 180M USERS A MONTH AND COUNTING: It’s been a while since we heard new user numbers from the “YouTube of audio” startup Soundcloud (though not much of a startup these days), so Le Web in Paris was as good a time as any to announce new user numbers. They’ve hit 180 million users a month and re-vamped the site with the ‘Next’ version after testing out their open Beta for several months. Coming with the revamp is improved search, recommendation and sharing. Co-founder Alex Ljung announced on stage that the future of Soundcloud would be mobile
TechCrunch
MOBILE INTERNET TRAFFIC GAINING FAST ON DESKTOP INTERNET TRAFFIC: Global mobile traffic is growing so fast that in some places it has already surpassed desktop traffic. That was one of the key conclusions of a year-end Internet trends report delivered at Stanford University by Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist Mary Meeker. Monetization of the mobile sector is also growing rapidly, turning in a compounded annual growth rate of 129 percent in the past four years.
CNET
Headline of the Day: Bonnie “Prince” Billy: The Perfume
