Top News:
Clay Risen / New York Times:
Joann Meyer, who worked for nearly 60 years at the The Marion County Record in Kansas, died on August 12, a day after police searched the newspaper's offices — She collapsed a day after the police raided her home and the offices of The Marion County Record, a weekly paper in Kansas.
Washington Post:
X added five-second delays, some now removed, on t.co links to Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, Substack, the NYT, Reuters, and other sites Musk attacks — The site formerly known as Twitter has added a five-second delay when a user clicks on a shortened link to the New York Times …
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Jay Peters / The Verge:
Users of XPro, previously TweetDeck, report encountering paywalls to use the service; X said on July 3 that “in 30 days” XPro would be a subscriber-only feature — X, the social network formally known as Twitter, appears to be finally following through on its promise to make TweetDeck a paid service.
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Amazon hikes the price of Music Unlimited for Prime subscribers, up $1/month to $9.99 for individual plans and family plans up $1/month to $16.99 — Amazon previously raised the prime of Amazon Music Unlimited for non-Prime members earlier this year. — Amazon Music Unlimited …
Discussion:
Deadline, Billboard, Variety, The Verge, Digital Music News and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:
X files for dismissal of a copyright lawsuit filed in June by the US National Music Publishers' Association over alleged infringements of ~1,700 works — Unlike rivals like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, X - the Elon Musk-owned social media service formerly known as Twitter …
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, Billboard, TorrentFreak and Digital Music News
Patrick Frater / Variety:
Tencent Music reports Q2 revenue up 6% YoY to ~$1.01B, revenue from music subscriptions up 37% YoY to ~$399M, and subscribers up 20% YoY to 99.4M — Subscriber numbers increased by 20% year on year and by 5 million quarter on quarter, to hit 99.4 million, the company said.
Discussion:
Reuters, Digital Music News and Music Business Worldwide
Wall Street Journal:
Analysis: the average price of major ad-free streaming services is up nearly 25% in about a year, as companies try to push users toward ad-supported tiers — Price push by Disney, others is part of effort to trim losses, steer users toward more-lucrative ad-supported plans — Call it streamflation.
Discussion:
The Verge, The Streamable, Washington Post, Digital Content Next and Forbes, more at Techmeme »
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
WGA and AMPTP representatives met on August 15 in an effort to end the 106-day strike; sources: the sides remain at odds on streaming residuals and other issues — The Writers Guild of America responded Tuesday to the latest proposal from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers …
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
TSG sues Twentieth Century Fox and parent Disney, claiming the studio withheld profits and cut deals to boost Hulu, Disney+, and its stock, at partners' expense — TSG's lawsuit, which also names Disney unit Twentieth Century Fox, is similar to Scarlett Johansson's 2021 suit against company
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, CNBC, The Information, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and The Desk
Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
A lawsuit that threatens to bankrupt a Wisconsin local news website highlights a trend of wealthy and powerful people using defamation law for retribution — When a north-central Wisconsin news site reported that a businessman had uttered a homophobic slur, he sued, claiming defamation.
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Telegraph Media Group says the outlet has reached its target of 1M subscriptions, 70%+ of them digital, and that 300K of its subscribers use its app every day — More than 70% of the subscriptions are digital. — Telegraph Media Group says it has hit its target of reaching one million subscriptions before the end of 2023.
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which acquired Redbox in 2022, is cutting costs and plans to form a strategic review committee; CSSE closed down 47.3% — A year after Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (CSSE) purchased Redbox for $375 million, the company continues to be hit …
Discussion:
Business Wire, The Streamable, Deadline and Media Play News
Andrew Paul / Popular Science:
To comply with a state law requiring that school library books be “age appropriate”, an Iowa school district used ChatGPT to find books depicting “a sex act” — Faced with new legislation, Iowa's Mason City Community School District asked ChatGPT if certain books 'contain …
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