Mediagazer: Cheap Beatles Songs = $1 Million Legal Bill (Peter Kafka/MediaMemo)

6:45 PM ET, March 29, 2011

Top News:

Jonathan Cooper / Journal Register Company:

Online Veteran To Lead Digital Transformation of JRC Newsrooms — Yardley, PA - Journal Register Company, a leading multi-media company in local news and information, announced today Jim Brady is joining the Company to lead the Digital Transformation of all of its newsroom on all platforms.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, paidContent, NetNewsCheck Latest, eMedia Vitals, Beet.TV, On Media's Blog and Editors Weblog

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:

Pushing on an open door: Bill Keller's unnecessary argument for the Times' pay model — In his second column for The New York Times Magazine, appearing this week, Bill Keller, the top editor of the Times, ends with an analogy: … The column appeared the day before the Times' new metering system went into effect.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Poynter and Philip Greenspun's Weblog, more at Techmeme »

Danny Sullivan / Daggle:

A Better Letter To New York Times Readers About Digital Subscriptions — Today, the New York Times is taking a major step forward as we introduce digital subscriptions in the United States and the rest of the world. Since we first announced the plan 11 days ago, we've heard from so many of you, our readers.

Discussion: Editors Weblog, New York Times, Media Buyer Planner, Ubergizmo, Cision and New York Times

Lauren Indvik / Mashable!:

How To Hack the New York Times Paywall ... With Your Delete Key — Frustrated by the idea of paying for what was once free, some New York Times readers have devised widely publicized methods for subverting its newly erected paywall. Their efforts, it turns out, may have been for naught.

Discussion: Search Engine Land, digiday:DAILY, Digital Trends, Newspaper Death Watch, paidContent and Reflections of a Newsosaur, more at Techmeme »

John Cook / GeekWire:
Kindle readers of The New York Times to get free access of the newspaper's Web site

Discussion: VentureBeat, TeleRead and Nieman Journalism Lab

Robert Andrews / paidContent:UK:

UK Times Claims 79,000 Digital Subscribers — Frequently besmirched since it started charging online eight month ago, News International has, as it promised it would, issued a second set of numbers for Times Newspapers' progress since then. — It claims 79,000 monthly digital-only subscribers …

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Guardian, The Next Web and Media Week

JENNIFER STEINHAUER / The Caucus:

On a Senate Call, a Glimpse of Marching Orders — Um, Senators, ever heard of the mute button? — Moments before a conference call with reporters was scheduled to get underway on Tuesday morning, apparently unaware that many of the reporters were already on the line, Charles Schumer of New York …

Discussion: Salon, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Runnin' Scared, Indecision Forever, Washington Post, New York Magazine and The Hill

Geoffrey A. Fowler / Wall Street Journal:

Facebook Taps Executive From Time Warner — Facebook Inc. said it hired Mark D'Arcy, the president of Time Warner Inc.'s Global Media Group, as director of global creative solutions to help boost the appeal of the social networking service's ad offerings. — In the newly created role …

Discussion: mediabistro.com and All Facebook, more at Techmeme »

Reuters:

Journalist for Reuters killed in Iraq attack — (Reuters) - A freelance journalist who worked for Reuters was among at least 20 people killed on Tuesday when gunmen attacked a local government building in Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Discussion: Poynter, Yahoo! News and FishbowlNY

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Dispute Over Time Warner Cable's Streaming to iPad Bursts Into the Open — Companies like Time Warner Cable and Cablevision buy the rights to beam channels to customers' television sets. But do those rights extend to iPads? — That question has divided the television industry in recent weeks …

Discussion: MediaPost, Media Buyer Planner, Light Reading and Lost Remote

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Video Advertising Company Adap.tv Raises $20 Million — Video advertising company Adap.tv has raised $20 million in funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners with Gemini Israel Funds, Redpoint Ventures and Spark Capital also participating in the round. This brings Adap.tv's total funding to $43 million.

Discussion: MediaPost, paidContent and AdExchanger.com

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

Before Libya, White House Must Negotiate With ABC — President Obama had a message for the American people Monday night, an explanation of the government's intentions in Libya, one that he believed was important enough to request air time from the broadcast networks as well as the cable news networks.

Discussion: TVNewser, The Wrap, Mediaite, The Wire, The Huffington Post, Free Press, The Daily Beast, Salon, Media Matters for America, Gawker and Broadcasting & Cable

Joe Mullin / paidContent:

Ex-Googlers Launch ‘NYT For A Nickel’ As Publicity Stunt; NYT Not Amused — Calvin Young and his partner Noah Ready-Campbell (pictured at left) left Google (NSDQ: GOOG) two months ago to start Minno, a company dedicated to reviving the idea of micropayments as a way to monetize content on the web.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Poynter and The Next Web

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Cheap Beatles Songs = $1 Million Legal Bill — A couple years ago, we learned that you can't take music from the major labels and sell copies of it on your own Web site without a license. Today we learned what happens if you try: a $950,000 penalty. — That's what BlueBeat.com …

Discussion: Fast Company and Associated Press, more at Techmeme »

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

Explainer maps locate, contextualize and localize news from Libya, Japan — In recent weeks, the media have reported on how events in Libya and Japan are affecting Misurata, Az Zintan, Tripoli and Rikuzentakata. — Is your geography good enough to know that Misurata and Az Zintan are in northwest Libya …

Fortune:

The movie mogul of the Internet: YouTube — Google has long been a media company in denial. Now it's beefing up YouTube to become a studio system for a new era of content production. Keyboard cat, meet the evening news. — By Dan Mitchell, contributor

Simon Owens / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Geico Gecko meets The AOL Way: Are display advertisers too obsessed with click-through rates? — Late last year, AOL announced it would be revamping its ad platform, shrinking the number of ads it serves and expanding the sizes of those ads. In some cases the ad units would be four times larger than they were before.