Tag: UNIVERSAL

Vid.ly, a one-stop shop for uploading, transcoding and sharing video content for all screen-sizes and devices, has just come online. You'll need a beta key to sign up, which you can freely obtain from Mashable, TechCrunch or hacks.mozilla.org. In essence, Vid.ly simply lets you upload a raw movie, and await an email notification to tell you that the upload and transcode has been completed. You ...

As Spotify -- the popular online music service -- nears profitability in Europe, the situation isn't quite as rosy across the pond. With Spotify's hopes of a 2010 U.S. launch officially dashed, the company is still facing an uphill climb in the States. The sticking point, according to sources cited by The Telegraph, may be financial demands from the U.S. record labels. Concerned that users will ...

If you subscribe to Netflix and watch a lot of new releases, you won't be too thrilled about this news: Netflix just announced agreements with Fox and Universal to delay those companies' new movies for 28 days. Netflix already had this kind of deal with Warner Bros., and it's basically an attempt by the movie industry to shore up slipping DVD sales. Netflix didn't make this deal for nothing, ...

Facebook is already the most-visited site in the US, and now it's looking to expand its reach across the entire web. TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook plans to release a new set of features that allow other websites to integrate with Facebook. They're starting with a universal "like" button, so you can give a thumbs up to anything on the web, and have it tied back to your Facebook account. ...

Between address books and buddy lists, our contacts have become some of the most important data that we deal with every day. Mozilla understands this, so they've introduced an experimental Contacts add-on that gathers up your contacts from multiple sites -- so far it's Twitter, Gmail and Apple's Address Book -- and collects them in a browser-based contacts database. That way, your contacts stay ...

Grooveshark is a fantastic music service; it lets you immediately listen to almost any song or album you can think of. They've got an enormous library, and the quality is usually decent. We've covered it before, but what makes it special for me is that it is actually one of the few services that work in my geotarded neck of the woods (no Hulu or Spotify for me). And now, Universal Music ...

Good news everyone! You can now win some (admittedly pretty bad) movies on Blu-ray disc courtesy of Universal. All you have to is become their fan on Facebook and install an app. Yes, like all sweepstake give-aways it costs nothing but a small slice of your soul to enter. But that's a small price to pay: this could finally be your chance to blow the dust of your Blu-ray player and see what all ...

There's been a lot of buzz over the last few days about how all of Warner Music Group's music videos have gone missing from YouTube. Now Alley Insider reports that Warner, BMG, EMI, and Universal are talking about building their own site for music videos. The idea would be to create a single destination where be able to find music videos from popular artists. There's some reason to think the ...

It's no secret there's bad blood between Apple and Universal Music. While Apple's iTunes is the premiere online music store at the moment, some of the biggest artists are signed to Universal. You could argue that the two companies need each other. But Universal has decided to let is contract with Apple expire. And Universal began offering DRM-free tracks for download this year, the label went ...

Apple's number one seller has apparently just cancelled its contract to sell digital downloads of their shows via iTunes. NBC Universal was unable to come to an agreement with Apple on pricing, bundling content and more restrictive DRM. This move is yet another grinding moment between Apple and the media companies who are unhappy with Apple for not giving them greater control over the pricing of ...

Aiming to keep its lead in the music retail market, Wal-Mart is launching DRM free MP3 music downloads at Walmart.com for 94 cents per track and $9.22 per album. The uber retailer's music catalog offers digital tracks from major record labels EMI and Universal. The new MP3 format allows customers to play music on most devices, including the ubiquitous iPod, iPhone and Zune players. Universal ...

Video sharing sites like Youtube and Veoh have become easy targets for lawsuits from content owners. But when Universal Music threatened to file a suit against Veoh, CEO Steve Mitgang he didn't want to wait for Universal to follow through on that threat. Instead, Veoh filed a preemptive suit against Universal. Basically, Mitgang's position is that Veoh is protected by the DMCA's safe harbor ...

Following the lead of major label rival EMI, Universal Music is set to start offering DRM-free downloads through a variety of online retailers - but apparently not through iTunes. The New York Times has reported that Universal will be the second major label to try out DRM-free music, through a trial that will see its unencumbered tracks available through retailers such as Google Music, Wal-Mart, ...

The Google team is out and knocking at the doors of traditional media outlets trying to get them to supply their content to YouTube in an effort to knock off lawsuits that could begin to sprout up surrounding copyright issues. Google CEO Eric Schmidt and other executives have met with CBS, Viacom, Time Warner, NBC Universal, and News Corp. amongst others talking about offering payments upwards of ...

Universal Music is the first, but undoubtedly not the last, record company to go after video-sharing sites whose users share their music videos without permission. Yesterday Universal sued Grouper and Bolt.com and is seeking up to $150,000 for each instance of infringement plus court costs. Grouper was acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment back in August and Bolt.com, whose market share has been ...