Two interesting articles from yesterday's New York Times: Music Companies Share a Profit of YouTube Sale http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/technology/19net.html
"YouTube's young founders may have been the biggest beneficiaries of last week's $1.65 billion deal with Google, but they have some unexpected bedfellows - old-line media companies that had been considered YouTube's biggest legal threat. Three of the four major music companies - Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony and Bertelsmann's jointly owned Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and the Warner Music Group - each quietly negotiated to take small stakes in YouTube as part of video- and music-licensing deals they struck shortly before the sale, people involved in the talks said yesterday. The music companies collectively stand to receive as much as $50 million from these arrangements, these people said." Instead of charging copyright infringement and closing YouTube down (like they did with Napster), the music industry has decided to let it ride in return for a share of YouTube's profits. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em? A Virtual World but Real Money http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/technology/19virtual.html "... This parallel universe, an online service called Second Life that allows computer users to create a new and improved digital version of themselves, began in 1999 as a kind of online video game. But now, the budding fake world is not only attracting a lot more people, it is taking on a real world twist: big business interests are intruding on digital utopia. The Second Life online service is fast becoming a three-dimensional test bed for corporate marketers, including Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Sun Microsystems, Nissan, Adidas/Reebok, Toyota and Starwood Hotels." This article chronicles the sudden influx of commercial interests into Second Life, with sometimes humorous responses from Second Lifers. Also notes the plethora of infringements that go on "in world", but so far only one "cease and desist" request, and that from the Salvador Dali Museum! The irony of this was not lost on the individual who received the request: "we did have a request from the Salvador Dali Museum - which was great," Mr. Verbeck said. "Second Life is so surreal that it was perfect."" -- Diane M. Zorich 113 Gallup Road Princeton, NJ 08542 USA Voice: 609-252-1606 Fax: 609-252-1607 Email: dzorich at mindspring.com
