Mediagazer: YouTube signs with indie labels through rights agency Merlin, setting the stage for a subscription streaming service (Robert Cookson/Financial Times)

3:50 AM ET, November 12, 2014

Top News:

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Comcast agrees with Obama on net neutrality, except for the legal bit — You have to admire the chutzpah: a day after President Obama jolted the telecom industry with a bold announcement on net neutrality, Comcast declared that it agrees with him. — Comcast agrees with Obama on net neutrality …

Discussion: Techdirt, New York Times, Vox, New York Times, @jonlovett and @tcarmody

David L. Cohen / Comcast Voices:

Being for net neutrality and against Title II is completely consistent — Surprise! We Agree with the President's Principles on Net Neutrality: Reiterating Our Strong Support for the Open Internet — Yesterday, the President outlined his plan for a free and open Internet.

Discussion: @gizmodo, @shaliniwsj, @buzzfeedben, TIME, Gizmodo, @nxthompson, @chillmage, @rakeshlobster, The Hill, @isaach, @willmcavoyacn, @tomgara, @jmcduling and Ars Technica

Wall Street Journal:

Investors in Cable Deal Fret Over Talk of Broadband Regulation — Share Prices Fall Following Obama's Call for New Rules — President Barack Obama's call Monday for expanded broadband regulation added to mounting investor angst over the fate of Comcast Corp. 's $45 billion planned acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc.

Discussion: @chillmage, Talking Biz News, Gigaom and USA Today

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Chief Defends Spotify After Snub by Taylor Swift — Spotify is the future. Spotify is the enemy. Spotify doesn't pay enough. Spotify is music's best bet for revenue growth. — Since it arrived in the United States from Sweden in 2011, Spotify has been cast as both hero and villain …

Discussion: @hilaryr, @pkafka, VatorNews, TechCrunch, Quartz, @carr2n, Techdirt, Electronista, RAIN News and BBC

Daniel Ek / Spotify Blog:

Spotify has paid music industry $2B to date, $1B since last year; has 12.5M paying subscribers; top artists to exceed $6M/year in payments — $2 Billion and Counting — Taylor Swift is absolutely right: music is art, art has real value, and artists deserve to be paid for it.

Discussion: Re/code, USA Today, App Advice, Plagiarism Today, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, The Wrap, CNET, Businessweek, Fast Company, The Next Web, Gigaom, Business Insider, blogs.ft.com and Mashable

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

Bandcamp to help musicians launch their own subscription services — Artists will be able to set their own price, release exclusive songs and send messages to their keenest fans — Bandcamp launched in 2008 as a way for musicians to run their own online stores selling their music …

Discussion: Tone Deaf, Billboard, Music Ally, HITC, @dada_drummer, @davidegreenwald, @tehshrike, The Verge, hypebot and Medium

Bloomberg:

Will Ferrell's Funny Or Die Said to Consider Sale — Funny or Die, the comedy website founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy, hired a financial adviser to evaluate options including a possible sale, people with knowledge of the matter said. — The site is working …

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, Business Insider, Hollywood Reporter, @rafat and AdAge

Robert Cookson / Financial Times:

YouTube signs with indie labels through rights agency Merlin, setting the stage for a subscription streaming service — YouTube has struck a deal to license music from the thousands of independent record labels represented by the rights agency Merlin, setting the stage for the launch of its long-awaited subscription service.

Discussion: Engadget, Mashable, Gizmodo, The Verge, Tech Trader Daily and Gigaom

Hillel Italie / Associated Press:

Jonah Lehrer working on book about digital life … NEW YORK (AP) — Jonah Lehrer, the best-selling author whose career was derailed after he acknowledged fabricating Bob Dylan quotes, is collaborating on a book about virtual life. — Portfolio announced Tuesday that it had acquired …

Discussion: Gawker, Guardian, bookforum.com, New York Magazine, Politico and FishbowlNY

Ricardo Bilton / Digiday:

The many different ways publishers define ‘clickbait’ — Clickbait for publishers is a bit like some people's definitions of pornography: It's hard to define, but people know it when they see it. Put another way, if you ask 10 people what clickbait means, chances are you're going to get 10 different answers.

Discussion: @niemanlab, @jayrosen_nyu, @bydanielvictor, @jwherrman, @karalee and The Atlantic Online

Jeff Baumgartner / Multichannel News:

Showtime, Starz Join Chromecast Lineup — Streaming Adapter Also Optimized For ‘Family-Friendly’ Games — Google's Chromecast streaming adapter plunged more into the TV Everywhere pool with optimizations for authenticated apps from two top premium programmers - Showtime and Starz.

Discussion: Google Chrome Blog, TechCrunch, Re/code, Gigaom and New York Times

Robert Patrick / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

ACLU lawsuit says journalist was arrested for photographing police during Ferguson protest — • A Turkish journalist sued the St. Louis County police Monday, claiming he was thrown to the pavement and arrested for photographing a cop who was pointing a gun at protesters in Ferguson.

Discussion: Courthouse News Service, St. Louis Business Journal, ACLU-EM News and Boing Boing

Brian Womack / Bloomberg:

Yahoo to Buy Video-Ad Service BrightRoll for $640 Million — Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) is buying video-advertising service BrightRoll Inc. for about $640 million in cash, seeking to boost marketing tools amid a turnaround effort by Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer.

Discussion: Yahoo, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Mashable, Guardian, MediaPost, Adweek, Tech Trader Daily, Broadcasting & Cable, @rbilton, Business Insider, The Drum, The Next Web and Variety

Eric Blattberg / Digiday:

Reuters TV aims to personalize news broadcasts — With Reuters TV, a smart video app for news junkies, Reuters is once again trying to establish itself as a consumer brand. — The news giant unveiled Reuters TV at a Monday night soiree in its Times Square headquarters.