These “Rick-Rolling” shenanigans have to stop.   Countless people have been duped into watching Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”  And at first, it started as a fad amongst those finding humor in tricking people into watching the (admittedly comical) aforementioned music video. But now, as with this past April Fool’s Day, overwhelming entities like YouTube have jumped on the band …

I do not understand art. Perhaps that should be rephrased as “I do not understand (modern) ‘art.’” There are certain standards of beauty which have been examined from a scientific sense, dealing with symmetry and ratios, and I can understand that. There are standards of beauty that come along with cultural preference, and again, that’s understandable. Then there is always …

It’s interesting to see how one political scandal and one MySpace page can turn an unknown “singer” into a sensation over night. Ashley Alexandra “Kristen” Dupre capitalized on her noteriaty by putting her music on MySpace and Amie Street.  What Governor Spitzer’s call girl shrewdly understood was that social media sites were a breeding ground for an interest in music. …

It would seem as the minutes turn myspace is turning into a mega version of facebook. While this may not be such a bad thing, the inevtiable is happening, people are switching to  far stabler platforms for their friendstering. Its time myspace and News Corp put some effort into the abyssmal Myspace interface. If only they could shut down those stupid …

Ad-supported video continues to gain momentum online. Google has teamed up with Viacom to provide video clips to websites that are part of Google’s AdSense Network. Viacom is the parent company to MTV, VH1, CBS and a number of other premium networks. The deal will be positioned as a revenue generator for Google, Viacom, and AdSense partners. All three will …

No doubt as a reaction to all the bad press he’s been giving record labels, Universal/Interscope has relieved Trent Reznor of his contractual duties. As of today, Nine Inch Nails is working without a useless money-grubbing middleman and going straight to the fans. The revolution continues… read more | digg story

After less than four hours of deliberations, a federal jury in Duluth, Minnesota handed the RIAA a victory in the first file-sharing case to go to trial, finding that Jammie Thomas willfully infringed on the record labels’ copyrights, awarding them $222,000 in damages. read more | digg story