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Record Labels Sue Over Ripping Audio Tracks from YouTube Videos

YouTube
Jason Tate

Eriq Gardner, writing at The Hollywood Reporter, on record labels starting to sue some of the YouTube to MP3 ripping websites:

On Monday, the plaintiffs filed a copyright lawsuit in California federal court, stating, “Stream ripping has become a major threat to the music industry, functioning as an unlawful substitute for the purchase of recorded music and the purchase of subscriptions to authorized streaming services.”

With a few simple mouse clicks, the lawsuit reports, infringing copies of sound recordings are made available in MP3 format. The plaintiffs suggest that “tens, or even hundreds, of millions of tracks are illegally copied and distributed by stream ripping services each month.”

Disney Looking at Potential Twitter Bid

Twitter
Jason Tate

Bloomberg is reporting that the Walt Disney Co. is looking at making a bid for Twitter:

The Walt Disney Co. is working with a financial adviser to evaluate a possible bid for Twitter Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. After receiving interest in discussing a deal, Twitter has started a process to evaluate a potential sale. Salesforce.com Inc. is also considering a bid, working with Bank of America on the process, according to other people, who declined to be named because the matter is private.

So Disney could own the happiest place on earth, and one of the biggest collections of hatred the world has ever seen.

Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product

Snapchat
Jason Tate

Seth Stevenson, writing for The Wall Street Journal, on Snapchat’s new hardware product, “Spectacles.”

What initially appears to be a normal pair of sunglasses turns out to be Spectacles, the first hardware product from Snap Inc., as the firm has been newly christened (Spiegel is refreshing the company name because its offerings now go beyond the Snapchat app). When you slip Spectacles on and tap a button near the hinge, it records up to 10 seconds of video from your first-person vantage. Each new tap records another clip.

They’re hideous and I expect to see them at concerts in the not so distant future.

Riding Shotgun With the Boss

Bruce Springsteen
Jason Tate

Dwight Garner, writing at The New York Times, reviewed Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography:

The book is like one of Mr. Springsteen’s shows — long, ecstatic, exhausting, filled with peaks and valleys. It’s part séance and part keg party, and then the house lights come up and you realize that, A) you look ridiculous dancing to “Twist and Shout” and, B) you will be driving home in a minivan and not a Camaro.

His writing voice is much like his speaking voice; there’s a big, raspy laugh on at least every other page. There’s some raunch here. This book has not been utterly sanitized for anyone’s protection, and many of the best lines won’t be printed in this newspaper. Most important, “Born to Run” is, like his finest songs, closely observed from end to end. His story is intimate and personal, but he has an interest in other people and a gift for sizing them up.

The 40th Anniversary Edition of the Voyager Golden Record

Kickstarter
Jason Tate

A Kickstarter has launched to press a reproduction of the Golden Record that was included on the Voyager space probes:

The Voyager Golden Record contains the story of Earth expressed in sounds, images, and science: Earth’s greatest music from myriad cultures and eras, from Bach and Beethoven to Blind Willie Johnson and Chuck Berry, Senegalese percussion to Solomon Island panpipes. Dozens of natural sounds of our planet — birds, a train, a baby’s cry — are collaged into a lovely sound poem. There are spoken greetings in 55 human languages, and one whale language, and more than one hundred images encoded in analog that depict who, and what, we are.

Tim Lambesis Filed a $35 Million Lawsuit Against Medical Team

Legal
Jason Tate

Graham Hartmann, writing at Loudwire, on how ex-As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis has filed a $35 million lawsuit against a California medical team:

In a legal document filed by Lambesis’ representatives, Tim claimed “a nurse, doctor, and psychiatrist at the San Diego County Sheriff Department’s Vista Detention Facility and George F. Bailey Detention Facility acted with deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs in May and June 2014 by denying him medication which had been prescribed for him prior to his incarceration.” According to a separate document on CaseText, that medication is revealed to be anastrozole, which was prescribed to Lambesis to combat side effects of withdrawal from anabolic steroids.

Tim Lambesis remains incarcerated for attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged wife.

J.K. Rowling Reviews the Violent Femmes

JK Rowling
Jason Tate

J.K. Rowling has reviewed the debut album from the Violent Femmes for Ruth and Martin’s Album Club:

I’m not quite sure how the Violent Femmes passed me by. I turned 18 the year this album came out, but I was obsessed with The Beatles at the time. Of contemporary bands I really loved, the standouts were the Smiths and the Psychedelic Furs. I loved any band with a great guitarist. I played guitar myself, mostly alone in my bedroom.

It’s possible that I heard the Violent Femmes but I’ve forgotten. They could easily have been part of the informal seminars on alternative music I received from the muso I dated in my late teens.