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Top 5 Free Apps

Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: May 22, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: August 29, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: March 27, 2009
Release Date: August 07, 2009

iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: September 20, 2009
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: August 25, 2009

Top 5 Paid Apps

Release Date: April 22, 2009
StickWars $0.99
Release Date: March 31, 2009
Genre: Games
Bloons $0.99
Release Date: April 05, 2009
Genre: Games

Discover New Music

  • Trouble

    • 8 out of 10
    • Ray LaMontagne
    • At first, Ray LaMontagne might strike you as just another breathy-voiced knockoff of folk/rock guitarists like John Mayer and Jack Johnson. But he's actually got a better voice than either, he tell

  • 8:30

    • 10 out of 10
    • Weather Report
    • This is Weather Reports quintessential line-up captured live. Jaco Pastorious and Peter Erskine join Wayne Shorter and, of course, Joe Zawinul to create this masterpiece.
  • Music Has The Right To Children

    • 10 out of 10
    • Boards of Canada
    • This one will haunt you. From the first notes to the last, their sound surrounds you. BOC has put out a fantastic catalogue, and this album is a great starting point for a new listener. Jump straight
  • Plans

    • 8 out of 10
    • Death Cab for Cutie
    • With the introduction of Plans, Death Cab for Cutie became a new addition to many user's Artist list after the single "Soul Meets Body" became a hit on iTunes. Offering a fresh alternativ

  • Gimme Fiction

    • 10 out of 10
    • Spoon
    • Gimme Fiction by Spoon is a terrific album by an Austin band that I was lucky enough to catch on an Austin radio station during a Christmas visit.

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News

Legal Issues Hamper the Online Availability of Old TV Shows

While the popularity of such outlets as the iTunes Music Store has given TV networks new revenue streams, legal issues have made it difficult to for them to unleash a torrent of content from old shows. According to a Financial Times article by Joshua Chaffin, standard contracts between the companies and actors, directors, writers, and other talent don't take into account new media outlets.

For example, many TV shows only obtain music rights for one or two airings of an episode, which forces renegotiations with record companies to get the rights for online sales. In fact, as Mr. Chaffin wrote, "sorting through back catalogues of films and TV programmes -- many of them decades old -- has consumed most of the legal community's attention."

Aydin Caginalp, a partner at law firm Alston & Bird, told the reporter: "There are so many of these to clear, and it's not just the US. You're dealing with rights territory by territory. It's a real headache."

The headache could be so large that a dispute over it could lead to strikes by the Screen Actors and Directors Guilds when their current agreements expire next year. The studios would like to see sales through the iTMS and other outlets considered home video revenue, under which they can deduct 80% for shipping and manufacturing costs before disbursing royalties. Of course, the guilds want them to be considered pay-per-view revenue since they're digital sales, which would mean they get royalties on the total dollars.

Mr. Chaffin noted that digital media revenues are still small, and thus the dollar amounts in dispute are also negligible, but "in such a rapidly evolving industry, no one is sure what the business model will look like in five years, and no one wants to lose out."

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