In related news: a group of suits called the COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD shot down a plan by another group of suits known as the NATIONAL MUSIC PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION to raise the per-song royalty rates artists receive from digital downloads. The increase from nine to 15 cents would have cut into the slim iTunes profit margin to such a degree that Apple hinted it might terminate the service. In case you’re curious about the stats, Apple gets about 30 cents for each track sold, keeping 10 and feeding the rest to the record label, which kicks down a paltry sum to the artist and spends the remainder on cocaine and short-sighted Luddite panic.
Elsewhere in the dystopian Internet wasteland: Aerosmith singer STEVEN TYLER has sued an anonymous weirdo fan blogger for impersonating him and disclosing “intimate details” of his life. Alas, the blog has been destroyed and the cache flushed, but reports indicate that the contents were bafflingly mundane. Damn, there go my masturbation plans for tonight.
In spicier news: the obscenity trial of Darryn Walker, the unfathomably sad British blogger who wrote an extremely graphic pornographic fictional story detailing the grisly murders of UK pop group GIRLS ALOUD, is set to get under way soon, but I’m not seeing a conviction in his future. “Girls (Scream) Aloud” just has way too much artistic merit. My favorite bit:
“The man pretended to consider Sarah’s suggestion then said ‘I'm afraid I don't see a way to let you live and cut off your sexy bits.’ ”
Related:
Apple loses its cool, Steve Jobs talks toast, Bad behavior, More 
- Apple loses its cool
Sheez, they’re getting awfully touchy out in Cupertino.
- Steve Jobs talks toast
Exploring the iKitchen
- Bad behavior
The ghost of George W. Bush will haunt the this year's election season.
- In loving memory
Everyone deserves an iPad 2.
- Monologue peels the screen back for a look at the core of Apple
The narrator of Mike Daisey's one-man show has long had a worshipful relationship with Apple electronics.
- Laptop program change sets schools back 10 years
The webinar started with a five-minute effort to ensure the screen-and-audio sharing technology was actually working, punctuated by uncertainty about which representatives of which companies would be making remarks. Not an auspicious start.
- Interview: John Hodgman is pleased to serve
Brookline native, Apple pitchman, podcast host, and Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman has made a career out of hilarious pedantry.
- Stop SOPA
The dinosaurs of the entertainment world ( i.e. , Hollywood movie studios and national music companies) have joined with the Business Software Alliance (which represents tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft, and Intel) to sponsor an insidious piece of legislation called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
- The Big Hurt: Forward into the past!
COOLIO just got arrested for missing a court date . . . in 2010.
- Photos: Aerosmith at Fenway Park
Aerosmith play a sold-out show with J. Geils Band
- The year in tech
This year saw some tech wins (public information), some losses (privacy), and many more questions for the future of an increasingly wired world. (Example: Is anything secret anymore?) And there was the appearance of yet another grassroots David, and, as if a warning to future Davids, the epic collapse of a bloated Goliath.
- Less
Topics:
Big Hurt
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Apple, More
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Apple, Music Stars, Internet, Science and Technology, Technology, Music, Pop and Rock Music, Aerosmith, Less
