Top News:
Bloomberg:
Filings: three Alex Jones companies, including Infowars, filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas on Sunday, after they were found liable in Sandy Hook lawsuits — Companies owned by far-right radio host Alex Jones filed for bankruptcy after being hit by a flurry of lawsuits.
Discussion:
Reuters, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CBS News, @cwarzel, USA Today, @gideonrachman, NPR, @fred_guttenberg, @naveedajamali, @newtownaction, @harrylitman, @michaelcohen212, Financial Times, New York Post, @piersmorgan, @jeffjarvis, @anthony, Rolling Stone, @jeremynewberger, @cfarivar, @brianstelter, Mediaite, @emptywheel, @jamesrbuk, @briannawu, @paulbernaluk, Protocol, @neontaster, @kylegriffin1, @owillis, CNET, @katiephang and Fortune
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Report: Microsoft is working on a program to let select brands advertise within free-to-play Xbox games, such as on a billboard, and won't take a revenue cut — The ads supposedly wouldn't disrupt gameplay — Microsoft is reportedly working on a program that will let brands showcase …
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
A US appeals court reaffirms that scraping publicly accessible content on the internet is legal, ending a landmark case LinkedIn brought against rival Hiq Labs — Good news for archivists, academics, researchers and journalists: Scraping publicly accessible data is legal, according to a U.S. appeals court ruling.
Discussion:
@seldo, @chrismessina, @adamsinger, @nicoaferr, @jhong, @themarkup, Protocol, @jbenton, MediaPost, @zackwhittaker, @alexmleo, Transistori and @johnmaeda, more at Techmeme »
Alistair Gray / Financial Times:
Kantar: UK users canceled ~1.5M subscriptions to Disney+, Apple TV+, Now, and others in Q1 2022, due to inflation; 58% of households kept at least one service — About 1.5mn accounts terminated within three months as inflation squeezes finances — British households have cancelled video subscriptions …
Discussion:
@unloveablesteve, @simonjharris, @john_stepek, @avasantina and @carlquintanilla
Nick Kostov / Wall Street Journal:
French music streaming service Deezer plans to go public via a SPAC merger at a €1.05B valuation and says it has 9.6M subscribers and had €400M in 2021 revenue — French music streaming service is merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, aiming to go public
Discussion:
Music Ally, Financial Times, SiliconANGLE, PYMNTS.com, Channel News, Variety, TechCrunch and Digital Music News, more at Techmeme »
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Stem, which offers music rights management software for independent artists, raises $20M from QED Investors and Block, bringing its total funding to nearly $40M — Jordan Higa was waiting for her flight when she stopped to ask her travel companion how much they would spend on tickets to see BTS perform live.
Discussion:
Axios, @lucas_shaw, @qedinvestors, Variety, Music Business Worldwide and @stem
Richard J. Tofel / Second Rough Draft:
Legacy local newspapers should eliminate national news and use the freed-up money and space to produce more local content, making themselves more distinctive — Thinking about the problem of local news from the supply side — Welcome to Second Rough Draft, a newsletter about journalism in our time …
Discussion:
@mike_canan, @jamcnn, @jere_hester and Nieman Lab
Mia Sato / The Verge:
The Parcast union details its new three-year Spotify contract, including 10% to 25% pay raises for the lowest-paid employees, diversity promises, and more — Parcast is one of three unions at Spotify — Unionized workers at Parcast, a podcast production company owned by Spotify …
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter and @wgaeast
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
Spotify says it may restrict and limit the reach of content that comes close to the line under its Platform Rules but doesn't meet the threshold of removal — After Spotify's Joe Rogan Experience released a widely derided episode that made covid vaccines sound as safe as Russian roulette …
Discussion:
@janinezacharia, @jbenton, @jbenton, @blackamazon, @tiagodf, @niemanlab and @joefav
Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
A look at the woman behind Libs of TikTok, a Twitter account that reposts video with incendiary framing that is shaping LGBTQ+ coverage in right-wing media — A popular Twitter account has morphed into a social media phenomenon, spreading anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and shaping public discourse
Michael Grothaus / Fast Company:
Netflix debuts the Exploding Kittens animated comedy series and a game for Android and iOS, launching a series and a game across a single IP for the first time — The streaming industry has grown exponentially in the past several years. Where there was once only Netflix, now there's Disney Plus …
Discussion:
MediaPost, TechCrunch, The Wrap, The Verge, SlashFilm, Variety, 9to5Mac, Engadget and The Streamable
Daniel Wiessner / Reuters:
Paramount agrees to pay $14.75M to CBS shareholders in a lawsuit claiming CBS misled investors by not disclosing sexual misconduct allegations against Moonves — Paramount Global (PARA.O) has agreed to pay $14.75 million to shareholders of the former CBS Corp in a proposed class action claiming …
Discussion:
FTVLive, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Variety and New York Post