Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 85
September 7, 2017
Apple agrees to a new licensing deal with Warner Music Group
Apple has agreed to a new music licensing deal with Warner Music Group, according to a report from Bloomberg. The new multi-year agreement will allow Apple to pay Warner a smaller percentage of its streaming revenue than it agreed to when it launched Apple Music two years ago.
Apple’s original licensing deals for Apple Music had it paying labels roughly 58 percent of its streaming sales, a rate that was higher than Spotify at the time. The higher initial rate, sources say, was due to the labels’ fear of Apple Music cannibalizing the sales of iTunes — the music industry’s biggest money maker for years — but that hasn’t been the case thus far.
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Spotify landed its own rate reduction in its label deals earlier this year, dropping from 55 percent of sales to 52 percent.
The negotiations between Apple and the music labels have been far from the contentious bargaining that took place between Spotify and the music labels during its renewal period, sources said. Apple’s licensing deals with the three major labels expired back in June, but a deal with Sony Music is expected to be completed soon, according to Bloomberg, and Universal Music Group isn’t that far behind. In comparison, it took Spotify around a year to renew its deals with the music industry.
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Star Wars’ Rian Johnson has revealed who The Last Jedi is
One of the great questions surrounding Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been the exact interpretation of its title.
Does that refer to Luke? Or to Rey? Or to both of them? However, director Rian Johnson revealed to The New York Times that we’ve all been wasting our time a little on this mystery, since the answer’s been in the most obvious of places: the opening crawl of The Force Awakens.
Indeed, they very blankly state that: “Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister First Order has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.”
“There’s always wiggle room in these movies — everything is from a certain point of view — but coming into our story, he is the actual last of the Jedi,” Johnson explained. “And he’s removed himself and is alone on this island, for reasons unknown.”
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Well, that’s it then. His comments about “a certain point of view” are interesting, however, and do seem to boost all these theories that Rey may represent some next evolution of the Jedi, whether that be a “Grey Jedi” or something entirely different.
Add to that, Johnson revealed the film will dig deep into the matter of the Jedi, after Luke’s ominous words in the trailer: “It’s time for the Jedi to end”.
“The heart of the movie is Luke and Rey. It follows all the other characters, but its real essence is the development of the two of them. And it’s absolutely tied up in that question of, what is Luke’s attitude toward the Jedi?” he said.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits UK cinemas 14 December.
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Amazon targets abuse of Kindle e-book platform to increase reviews, royalties
Amazon.com is cracking down on people who manipulate its e-book self-publishing platform, a move that follows the e-commerce giant’s effort to better police its product reviews.
The Seattle company this week filed five complaints with a private arbitration service, seeking orders barring specific users of its Kindle e-book platform from trying to manipulate the system for financial gains.
Among Amazon’s contentions: Users posted fake reviews and offered for sale duplicate copies of books to boost a publisher’s rating, and some people sold “click farming” services to authors in a bid to artificially inflate readership totals and royalty payouts.
Amazon has created vast marketplaces for goods, primarily through its eponymous online store that hosts its own sales as well as listings from other companies. The company counts on its related reviews and product rankings to boost the legitimacy of its site in the eyes of consumers.
Worried about the corrosive impact of fake product reviews, Amazon since 2015 has been cracking down on reviews it believes are illegitimate.
Critics have for years have also complained that Kindle’s self-publishing apparatus was being abused.
In a statement, an Amazon spokesman said a “small minority” of Kindle self-publishers “engage in fraud to gain an unfair competitive advantage.”
Amazon allows anyone to self publish e-books through its Kindle Direct Publishing platform.
Authors can select a specific price to set their book for sale, or opt into programs that let users who pay a monthly fee read an unlimited selection of books, or, in the case of the Amazon Prime membership program, read books from a selection in a digital lending library.
Self-published authors who participate in the free reading programs are paid from a royalty fund that Amazon gathers monthly, with payouts varying based on the number of readers each book earns.
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IBM and MIT pen 10-year, $240M AI research partnership
IBM and MIT came together today to sign a 10-year, $240 million partnership agreement that establishes the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab at the prestigious Cambridge, MA academic institution.
The lab will be co-chaired by Dario Gil, IBM Research VP of AI and Anantha P. Chandrakasan, dean of MIT’s School of Engineering.
Big Blue intends to invest $240 million into the lab where IBM researchers and MIT students and faculty will work side by side to conduct advanced AI research. As to what happens to the IP that the partnership produces, the sides were a bit murky about that.
This much we know: MIT plans to publish papers related to the research, while the two parties plan to open source a good part of the code. Some of the IP will end up inside IBM products and services. MIT hopes to generate some AI-based startups as part of the deal too.
“The core mission of joint lab is to bring together MIT scientists and IBM [researchers] to shape the future of AI and push the frontiers of science,” IBM’s Gil told TechCrunch.
To that end, the two parties plan to put out requests to IBM scientists and the MIT student community to submit ideas for joint research. To narrow the focus of what could be a broad endeavor, they have established a number of principles to guide the research.
This includes developing AI algorithms with goal of getting beyond specific applications for neural-based deep learning networks and finding more generalized ways to solve complex problems in the enterprise.
Secondly, they hope to harness the power of machine learning with quantum computing, an area that IBM is working hard to develop right now. There is tremendous potential for AI to drive the development of quantum computing and conversely for quantum computing and the computing power it brings to drive the development of AI.
With IBM’s Watson Security and Healthcare divisions located right down the street from MIT in Kendall Square, the two parties have agreed to concentrate on these two industry verticals in their work. Finally, the two teams plan to work together to help understand the social and economic impact of AI in society, which as we have seen has already proven to be considerable.
While this is a big deal for both MIT and IBM, Chandrakasan made clear that the lab is but one piece of a broader campus-wide AI initiative. Still, the two sides hope the new partnership will eventually yield a number of research and commercial breakthroughs that will lead to new businesses both inside IBM and in the Massachusetts startup community, particularly in the healthcare and cybersecurity areas.
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IBM and MIT pen 10-year, $240M AI research partnership
September 6, 2017
Fear and uncertainty for Dreamers as Daca ends: ‘Where am I going to go?’
Reyna Montoya was on a plane, Sheridan Aguirre was standing outside the White House, and Concepcion Solis had arrived at work early to be in front of her computer when US attorney general Jeff Sessions upended their lives.
“I was debating whether or not I should come to work because I knew it was going to be hard,” Solis said. “But what can I do? Now more than ever I need to continue working.”
The Trump administration’s termination of the policy that protected “Dreamers” – undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children – from deportation will affect nearly 800,000 young people. Five years after Barack Obama’s implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) allowed recipients to get driver’s licenses, attend college, begin careers, purchase homes, and do all the other things that US citizens take for granted, Dreamers now face the reality that it could all be taken away.
For Solis, that means preparing for a future without her well-paid job at an insurance company and her rent-controlled apartment in her hometown of Oakland.
“My work permit expires in September, so I have until September,” the 30-year-old Daca recipient said. “I need to work as much as I can right now and save as much money as I can.”
Among Solis’s most pressing concerns is the fact that she provided the federal government with extensive information about herself in order to receive Daca in the first place. “Immigration has my address,” she said. “So come September, what’s going to happen?
“I can’t stay there, but where am I going to go?”
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Montoya, a Daca recipient and the founder of a grassroots immigrant rights organization in Phoenix, Arizona, was concerned not just for herself but for the people who work for her.
“I have as an employee a US citizen,” she said Tuesday. “What does it mean if I get taken away?”
For Angelica Hernandez, a mechanical engineer at an energy efficiency company in Chandler, Arizona, the stakes are incredibly high. Hernandez was born in Mexico, but came to the US at the age of nine. She received Daca when she was studying for a master’s degree at Stanford. She bought a house, married another Daca recipient, and has two children who are US citizens.
Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/05/dreamers-daca-trump-ends-program-fears-for-future
Apple and Amazon reportedly pursuing James Bond film rights
A new report from The Hollywood Reporter claims that Apple and Amazon are vying for the distribution rights for the next Bond films, right alongside current leading bidder Warner Bros. This represents a potentially huge change in the way Hollywood distributes movies, of course, and puts Amazon and Apple in the same competitive bucket as Sony, Universal and Fox, all of which have been talking to MGM following the expiration of its distribution deal with Sony after Spectre‘s 2015 release.
THR’s sources say that both Amazon and Apple are offering as much, if not more than the traditional studios for the Bond rights. It claims Apple’s new film and TV executives Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht are leading the charge on the company’s behalf, and that the tech giant might be looking to strike an ever broader deal, including potential TV rights.
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Apple was said to be investing $1 billion in original content initiatives next year, but the Bond franchise rights could be worth as much as $2 billion to $5 billion, per the report. It could set up the creation of a broader cinematic universe behind the character, similar to those being established by Disney for Marvel’s superheroes and the Star Wars saga.
This could still very easily result in no deal, or a different arrangement that sees film rights to go a traditional studio and TV or other content development licensing agreements struck with the tech companies int he running. Still, it’s an interesting window into what direction we might see streaming services take as they compete for creative real estate and audience eyeballs.
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Apple and Amazon reportedly pursuing James Bond franchise rights
Ed Sheeran Got Extremely Dark About His Future as a Game of Thrones Character
One of the most talked about moments on season seven of Game of Throneswas a cameo from Ed Sheeran. As it turns out, Sheeran — who’s better known for his musical chops than acting ability — had a little insider help in getting the role.
“It was Maisie [Williams], who plays Arya [Stark],” the “Shape of You” singer explained to MTV News about his connection to the show. “She’s come to gigs for years. They basically put me in a scene with her to be like ‘Hey, thanks for doing the show for so many years. Ed’s gonna be in it.’ I think, anyway. That’s what I was told.” (Sheeran popped up as a friendly singing Lannister soldier in a low-key scene with Williams.)
As for his shot at survival in the hard-knock world of Westeros? “We were all quite young, those soldiers,” Sheeran said. “I doubt I’m going to survive for that long, to be honest, when there are dragons in the world.” Indeed, Sheeran’s kind-hearted, music-loving character may not be a match for the fiery conditions at hand. And besides, he’s not interested in making a repeat appearance.
“My whole thing was like, I didn’t want to be in it for that long. because I’m not an actor. I wanted to be in it for like 30 seconds or whatever, which I kinda was, so happy days,” he added. “No one wants to see me come back.”
Sheeran’s cameo inspired a torrent of responses online, although the star has shrugged off the buzz. He’s currently on the U.S. leg of his world tour for his latest album, Divide.
Source:
http://time.com/4929173/ed-sheeran-on-game-of-thrones/
TIDAL partners with Mercedes to give drivers one year free music
Mercedes-Benz and global music and entertainment platform, TIDAL have partnered to provide Mercedes drivers who connect their car to the brand’s me Portal with access to complimentary TIDAL HiFi membership.
By next year, Mercedes drivers will be able to stream TIDAl’s more than 50 million songs, over 185,000 music videos and special Mercedes-Benz playlists at no cost for a year, the companies announced on Tuesday.
“Thanks to the cooperation with TIDAL, we are enhancing the Mercedes me lifestyle range with a unique entertainment experience,” Mercedes-Benz Cars marketing vice president Jens Thiemer said in a news release.“Our customers can stream music and videos at home or on the go virtually unlimited. We also offer exclusive opportunities to contact artists or experience them live.”
Mercedes-Benz and TIDAL are celebrating the launch of their collaboration with an exclusive concert on Friday, Sept. 15 during the upcoming me Convention at the Frankfurt International Motor Show hosted by Mercedes-Benz and South by Southwest.
Convention participants can sign up for tickets during the convention using the event’s app. Additionally, more tickets will also be raffled over the social media channels of both TIDAL and Mercedes-Benz.
“TIDAL is honored to partner with the world’s premier automobile manufacturer,” added TIDAL’s Lior Tibon. “The joint mission of superior quality and excellence is a natural synergy between both brands. Mercedes customers value ingenuity and we’re proud to share TIDAL’s elevated music and entertainment experience with them.”
Source:
http://www.autoremarketing.com/retail/tidal-partners-mercedes-give-drivers-one-year-free-music
