There are several full-frontal attacks by the traditional media organizations going on right now very publicly. I’m surprised that the blogosphere isn’t more up-in-arms — maybe the SxSW love fest over twittervision is causing everyone to be too hung over. I listening to Alex Lindsay, Robert Scoble, Doc Searls, Wil Harris and Leo Laporte discuss some of this on TWiT Live on TalkShoe.
First, Internet Radio is under attack. Not sure where this is going to go. Most likely the consensus seems that this is a very bad thing for Internet Radio. Interestingly enough, it was discovered that NPR had a special carve-out in a previous ruling made by the Copyright Royalty Board that’s not out in the open. I guess this is only going to make Podcasting even bigger than ever.
Second, Viacom sues Google/YouTube for $1 Billion dollars. This suit looks pretty lame as far as their claims and seems to be a warning volley against Google. It’s amazing what a company that makes most of their decisions based on their legal department will do when desperate.
Ultimately, it seems like this is probably good for independent artists – if not simply because of the force of nature. Youtube isn’t going away and neither is Internet Radio. Most likely, I think this will open up the field more widely for people who have the real talent and haven’t gotten the big break. When are we going to just wake up – and just refuse to deal with this crap any longer?
On an interesting positive note, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch fame is hiring a CEO — and she’s a stud — Heather Harde, senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions at Fox Interactive Media. The rumor is that Arrington is gearing up to start making some acquisitions around new media and possibly will announce a round of financing to support it. It’s amazing how much influence and authority Michael has gained and how big of a virtual empire has been created.
So what will be the shake out? Wow the heck knows…. In the mean time, why not support an independent artist on March 22nd, 2007 with “Bum Rush the Charts”.
technorati tags: youtube, google, techcrunch, scoble, twitter, sxsw, talkshoe, twit, leolaporte
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