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A recent Pew Internet survey found that three out of every four teenagers who download music agree with the statement, "file-sharing is so easy to do, it's unrealistic to expect people not to do it." We spent some time this week talking with high school students in Manhattan to find out what albums teenagers are listening to, and, more importantly, how they got them.
The music charts have traditionally relied on album sales and radio plays to rank songs and albums. So what do the charts mean today when there are so many other ways to listen to music? OTM producer Mark Phillips reports that charts as well as the very notion of popularity are changing.
A frequent refrain in the music industry is that the future is not about selling CDs, but about creating relationship between musicians and fans. If it's true, musician Amanda Palmer is a good case study. One half of the band The Dresden Dolls, she explains that she raised $19,000 from her fans on Twitter in just 10 hours.
By some estimates for every 1 legally downloaded song in the U.S. another 40 are pirated. But in China some 99 percent of digital music is stolen. So last week Google announced a collaboration with the music industry to give the Chinese people what has long been anathema - more then a million songs for free. Music journalist Greg Kot explains the business sense in giving away the store.
This week, the Supreme Court declined to review a case about whether it was legal to play Enya under a video montage of a murder victim’s life. Such "victim impact statements" serve as testimony submitted during the sentencing phase of a criminal trial. Public defender Evan Young discusses what she says is the regrettable art of swaying a jury.
In February of 1968 the Beatles traveled to India to study transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the spiritual leader who died early this month. New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn says that – despite its abrupt ending – the trip was a creative inspiration for the Fab Four.
When CBS fired Dan Rather over Memogate two years ago, the longtime newsman wasn’t the only one who lost a paycheck. So too did Neal Fox, the composer who co-wrote the theme music for Evening News. Fox’s one-man revue, Thank You, Dan Rather, opened last week in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Alicia Zuckerman tells the story.
When Radiohead releases its new album on October 10th, it’ll likely feature the dyspeptic lyrics, man vs. machine music and alien encounters for which the band is beloved. It’ll also cost whatever you want it to. Economist Tyler Cowen uses the dismal science to gauge the impact of Radiohead’s new model.
