Category Technologies
Of Hammers, Nails, and Blockchains
The phrase “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” originated with Abraham Kaplan in his seminal 1964 work on behavioral science. He applied it — as many parents have done ever since — to young kids. These days, blockchain technology is a hammer. An excellent illustration of how this applies […]
Core Rights and SOCAN Building Blockchain-Based System for Venue Music Licensing
Amid all the talk, hype, and activity around blockchain solutions for music, questions arise about whether large existing entities in the digital music value chain will adopt the technology, and if so, how. These fall roughly into four buckets: record labels, music publishers, royalty collecting societies, and DSPs (consumer music distributors such as Apple, Spotify, and Pandora). One […]
Guest Post: Blockchains Won’t Change the Music Industry. Only Artists Can.
It seems that every day there is a new article or new platform claiming the blockchain will revolutionize the music industry. There are at least 20 companies developing ways to write write music metadata into the blockchain. The Open Music Initiative has brought together over 120 companies trying to find new solutions to the current […]
Blockchain Solutions for Music Rights Processing
One aspect of the recent hype about blockchain applications for music is the spate of conferences and panels about it. I went to one of these last Wednesday: the Music 4.5 conference at the offices of the ReedSmith law firm in NYC. The event was cleverly organized: the first half was devoted to startups who touted the virtues […]
Watermarking and Blockchain Challenges
Last time I talked about blockchain technology and its potential to revolutionize certain types of copyright-related transactions. Now let’s talk about some challenges. Even though the potential for blockchain applications in the copyright arena is high, it’s inevitable that many of the schemes being proposed will not pan out; that’s the nature of technology hype. […]
Get Ready for the Blockchain Tsunami
Lately I’ve been hearing about blockchain-related solutions to copyright problems on practically a weekly basis. Perhaps this was inevitable, given the massive amounts of activity and hype surrounding blockchain technology, and the realization that it has applications well beyond cryptocurrency (and I’m sure others have been observing this same phenomenon in different industries at different times). But […]
New White Paper and NAB Workshop: Strategies for Secure OTT Video in a Multiscreen World
A white paper covering the emerging world of MPEG DASH adaptive streaming, HTML5 technologies for cross-platform app development, and a DRM market that will continue to be fragmented for some time to come. Plus a workshop at NAB on April 14 to discuss these issues with industry experts.
Forbes – High-Res Audio for the Masses: Innovations in Sound Encoding Technology
I’ve just published another piece in Forbes in my series on the emerging market for “high-res” audio, reflecting the recent surge in activity in this space as both the major record labels and consumer electronics companies see opportunity in expanding the market for high-quality digital audio beyond the audiophile niche. This piece is about new codec […]
Adobe’s Latest E-Book Misstep: This Time, It’s Not the DRM
Adobe’s e-book reading software tracks users’ reading habits and reports them over the Internet without encryption.
Digimarc Launches Social DRM for E-books
Digimarc finally realizes the synergies of its acquisition of Attributor two years ago.
Copyright and Technology 
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