2007

The RIAA is facing more and more problems after too many law cases against innocent users. Now Tanya Andersen from Oregon has started to demand compensation for false accusations and illegal prosecution on behalf of the RIAA.

Speculations about a forthcoming Music site by Google had been heating up and the domain GoogleMusic.com could enter the music download battle.

In the U.K. some P2P users were sentenced to pay compensations as high as $22,000.

P2PNet estimates that the RIAA has sued up to 18.000 users including a nurse, who never had a PC in her life.

With a new "elabel" Warner Music wants to adjust as the first major company to the new laws of the digital music market. Revolutionary is, that artists will keep their publishing rights.

Over a period of 2 months the ips of eDonkey users have been compiled by investigators. Some first 3.500 have already become subject to prosecution.

In Germany 130 private homes of P2P users have been raided by the police. Also 3.500 eDonkey users have become subject to legal prosecution and fines of up to 15.000 Euro are now expected. Meanwhile Emule has become the currently most popular Software.

The Russian MP3 site allofmp3.com does no longer seem to function.

Nielsen reports, that visits @ Itunes grew from December 2004 until 2005 from 6.1 million to 20.7 million.

110.000 citizens have forced the French Parliament to legalize P2P file sharing for a monthly fee of $8 payable to isps.

Motorola has high hopes with the it`s iRadio for mobil phones where 70 hours of music will become available for a monthly rate of $7.

In the U.S. the mother of 5 children was sentenced to pay $25.000 to record labels for 30 MP3 files from KaZaa.

Record Industry & ITunes are looking at flexible pricing for MP3 downloads like $1+ for prime new tunes and less than $1 for old songs and emerging artists.

MTV, Viacom and Microsoft have teamed up to challenge Itunes with their new download service "urge" featuring 2 million songs and some radios for media player. Package deals will be available as well as portable players by Toshiba.

Illegal MP3 downloads are still on the rise according to online researcher BigChampagne. Some 9.2 million users users were reported to be using P2P portals in October compared to 6.3 million 12 months ago.

The unpopular Overpeer company has given up it`s combat against P2P users after they had tried to discourage from downloads with manipulated MP3 files that had installed nagging ad screens.

Napster has launched a new monthly flatrate of $15 for unlimited downloads from their 1,5 million MP3 files.

RealNetworks has announced software improvements at it`s Rhapsody music service which claims now 1 million titles.

The RIAA took another 64 students from 17 Universities to court for their MP3 filesharing activities. Most likely they are expected to settle with payments between $4,000 to 10,000 like in most previous cases.

ITunes was expected to raise the price for MP3 downloads up to $1,49 since the major labels have demanded more than only 70 out of the current 99 cent per song. But then Steven Jobs has declined any such plans calling record industry simply too greedy.

An MP3 download service with 1 million songs for $4.99 per month has helped Yahoo to become more popular again among music and video fans.

Grokster has closed it`s P2P file sharing portal and will pay a $50m fine.

The U.S. Supreme Court had decided, that producers of P2P software are liable for copyright violations done by their clients.

Napster has gotten far in the legal download battle with revenues worth $15 million for the last quarter and 410.000 subscribers.

A new court decision could mean the end of KaZaA.

A new and informative site on latest industry trends is billboard.blogs.com.

ITunes has sold over one million songs within the first 4 days after the launch of the Japanese edition at rates of up to $1,50. With a marketshare of 85% ITunes remains fully on top in the race for legal mp3 downloads followed by Napster, RealNetworks and ODP sites.

The British Phonographic Industry has launched the first five cases against Filesharers, who had offered some 8.000 mp3 songs on their computers.

Apple & Microsoft have announced to raise payments per downloaded song to Indie labels from $0,60 to $0,70.

Legal music download sites are expanding faster than ever with 154 million songs purchased over the last 6 months. In particular Apple sounds pleased with meanwhile 500 million and a 70% market share in downloads since it`s launch and the rapid rise of podcasts at Itunes. Also new plans for videos @Itunes have been noticed.

With a very unconvincing website musicnet.com has stepped into the race for download clients.

mp3tunes.com is the latest music download offer with 88 cents per tune from hundreds of upcoming artists. The site was launched by MP3 founder Michael Robertson.

British music giant EMI was dissatisfied with a 2004 profit worth $250 million.

In Norway a student was sentenced to a fine of $15.000 for having provided links to free MP3 download sites.

With daily sales of 1,25 million songs Itunes stays on No.1 in the music download battle.

Up to 230 legal MP3 music download sites have earned the industry $330 million during 2004 and it will be doubled In 2005.

With unlimited Free MP3 hosting garageband is on it`s way to grow into a prime destination for music fans, who love to find new artists.

Funded with $10 million the free MP3 music download pioneer and Napster founder Shawn Fanning offers now Snocap, where even Universal Music has invested in a new music sales and distribution platform.

somusical.com has emerged as a leading Music directory.

Cybersheriffs from Baytsp and overpeer have converted the hunt for the fans of MP3 and film downloads into revenues.

AOL & Burger King have teamed up to benefit marketingwise from the growing demand for MP3 music download services.

Peter Gabriel reports a monthly growth rate of 20% at his MP3 download service OD2, which cooperates with Virgin, mtv and other marketleaders in music.

P2P Filesharing is still expanding with over 1 billion songs available as MP3 files. KaZaa is now less popular for security reasons whilst Morpheus, eDonkey, iMesh and Winmx are favored.

Sony failed to convince with the new Connect MP3 download page. Users complain about incomplete selections, nagging SonicStage software, pricing and other inconveniences. A simple look at Itunes tells, what users like. Surely not an additional Sony ATRAC-Format. - 500.000 MP3 Songs for $0,99 a piece at connect.com

A new free music site is ampcast, where musicians find a variety of distribution and marketing services. MP3 downloads and music videos are offered at highest quality level.

soundclick.com presents videos from interesting unsigned bands and is now the hottest follow up to MP3.com.

A promising offer in the MP3 download battle comes from musicrebellion.com, where MP3 files cost as little as 10cent. Also Musicians can sign up to sell their own tunes.

One of the fastest growing Music sites is sonicgarden and also zeropaid.com is a serious portal, that offers information for the file sharing community.

The Free Download software streamripper enables to record MP3 Radio streams to your disc and shoutcast.com has emerged as fast growing free music site.

All these news about publishing rights, downloads and MP3 file swapping have found a forum at pressplayster and a large music community is dmusic.

At pro-music.org all arguments against free MP3 file-sharing have been compiled.

Gilles Peterson from BBC 1 tells how insidaz feel about MP3 and P2P.
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