The Economics of Music: Streaming vs. CD Sales—A Deeper Look

In recent years, a narrative has emerged pitting streaming services against traditional music sales, particularly CDs and vinyl. Social media posts often circulate claiming that a single CD sale is worth hundreds of hours of streaming for an artist. While these comparisons can be eye-catching, they often oversimplify a complex ecosystem and misdirect artists' frustrations. This article aims to unpack the intricacies of music royalties, challenging common misconceptions and highlighting the real issues at play.

Decoding the Landscape: Recent Developments in Video Codec Licensing

Navigating the ever-changing world of video codec licensing can be complex. This article breaks down major IP-related events from the past 18 months, including the new European SEP licensing rules, Avanci's new video patent pool, and the Sisvel-RPX deal. Explore who's making deals, what technologies are involved, and the implications for royalty-free models.

All the News That’s Fit for FAST

News broadcasting is one of the most exciting and quickly growing areas for FAST development, highlighted by the recent announcement of the BBC/AMC 24-hour live FAST news channel. Other legacy media news broadcasters, such as Scripps, Sinclair, Hearst, and USA Today, have also entered the FAST news space, many of them with a focus on local content. What are some of the current trends and challenges for FAST news delivery? In this article, several leading industry commentators provide insight.

Instant Replay: Streaming Media Connect November 2023

Streaming Media presented its 12th Connect virtual conference November 13 - 16, with media industry cartographer Evan Shapiro as host and MC. Shapiro kicked off the event with a dynamic keynote, digging deep into the Q3 earnings call data to hold the spin doctors accountable and giving an unvarnished view of the industry. Other highlights included The Future of Streaming with Shobana Radhakrishnan, Senior Director of Engineering at Google TV, and several panels covering topics such as Cloud Workflows for Streaming and CTV, Optimizing Live Streams at Scale, How Codec Patent Pools Will Impact Streaming in 2024, Making Live Streaming and VOD More Accessible, Live Streaming Technology Trends, and more.

Practical Approaches to Sustainable Streaming

In this article I'll expand on prior sustainability approaches, detail reasons to consider additional areas of power-consumption optimisation, and invite diverse stakeholders across streaming workflows to engage with Streaming Media magazine, GoS, and like-minded stakeholders in a mid- to late-2023 initiative around the LESS Accord, with an overall goal of readers recommending measurable best practices for consideration by September 2023.

Streamticker: The Biggest Streaming Media Mergers & Acquisitions of 2022

A look at the streaming industry's most notable mergers and acquisitions of 2022, from WarnerBros-Discovery to Microsoft/Activision to Limelight/Edgecast to Dolby/Millicast to Telestream/Encoding.com and more

As Brexit Looms, UK Creative and Media Tech Industries at Risk

The UK's position as the leading international hub for global media groups is under threat as the prospect of a no-deal Brexit grows

Take Back Control of Content Rights with Forensic Watermarking

Forensic watermarking allows rights holders to ID pirates within 15 seconds of the content appearing on an illicit site or platform

Making the Case for Government-Mandated Online Video Standards

Will there ever be one ring to rule them all? it's time for the online video industry to take a page from TV and create interoperable standards.

Mayweather-Pacquiao Fight Exposes Video Piracy Problems

Live streaming apps Meerkat and Periscope got bad press for allowing the fight to be pirated, but the real culprits have been around for far longer.

Europe's Digital Single Market: Goldmine or Minefield?

The European Commission wants to introduce rules that will result in all European citizens being able to buy online content and services from any country. But do the proposals add up?

Net Neutrality Is Misguided, Because the Internet Doesn't Exist

While it's fashionable to announce oneself as being for Net Neutrality, our columnist argues that the idea is built on a fallacy.

Voddler's Disruptive Approach to Rights

Swedish-based VOD platform's ViewShare lets users share content from other download services. But is it legal? Voddler says "everything is in development."

Commentary—Ad Revenue, Distance Learning, and Piracy: Three White Elephants Waiting to be Shot Down

For too long, the viability of ad revenue-supported content, distance learning, and piracy prevention has gone unquestioned. That's because, once you dig a little deeper, you find that none of them work the way they're supposed to.

BT Ordered to Block Access to Piracy Search Engine

Newzbin2 is being shuttered, like the first Newzbin before it, but for different reasons.

Italy's AGCOM Moves to Regulate YouTube, Other Video Sites

"YouTube is like a TV" statement may bode ill for user-generated content sites that operate in Italy

YouTube: A Peek Inside

YouTube's European engineering director Oliver Heckmann will keynote Streaming Media Europe in London in October, and he offered us a preview of his behind-the-scenes talk

Closed Captioning for Online Video

As online video grows, many publishers are finding the need to provide the same kind of captioning as broadcast TV. Here's a look at some of the issues and technological solutions in the closed captioning arena.

Hitchhiker's Guide to Streaming Media: Service Level Agreements

Before you sign a service level agreement (SLA), be sure to read the fine print and understand the implications of the availability and support levels promised.
Tues., Nov.18, by Dom Robinson

Apple Settles Burst Lawsuit

$10 million settlement gives Burst second major out-of-court patent defense win in as many years.
Tues., Nov. 27, by Tim Siglin