Top News:
Songtradr:
Music licensing marketplace Songtradr acquires Bandcamp and plans to keep operating Bandcamp as a marketplace and community with an artist-first revenue share — (September 28 - Los Angeles) - Songtradr, a music licensing platform and marketplace company supporting artists, labels and publishers …
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Ash Parrish / The Verge:
Epic Games lays off 16% of its workforce, or ~830 employees, divests from music storefront Bandcamp, and intends to spin off “kid-tech” company SuperAwesome — Bloomberg reports that Fortnite developer Epic Games is expected to lay off 16 percent of its workforce.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Fast Company, CNN, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, Variety, Gizmodo, New York Post, @fraying@xoxo.zone, Bloomberg, CNBC, Axios, Reuters, IGN, @gregan, @senoj.bsky.social, @CrowsLabyrinth@mastodon …, @Thorin@mastodon.social, @lrhodes@merveilles.town, @rudeism, @mustardplays, @jasonschreier, Decrypt, @liquor_american …, @viewpv, @fnapprovedlore, @stephentotilo, Polygon and WSPA-TV, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Gannett says it received ~1,000 applications for two jobs, covering Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, including from award-winning journalists and TikTok influencers — USA Today parent Gannett is sifting through responses from Emmy-award-winning journalists, TikTok influencers and a reporter working …
Discussion:
Forbes and The Messenger
Jason Bailey / New York Times:
Using “content” to describe art and entertainment, as Variety did in a tweet, flattens many professions into one and purposefully minimizes creators' work — The term may be popular in an age of blurring lines between platforms, but the Hollywood strikes have shown how the phrase can devalue creative work.
Tony Stubblebine / The Medium Blog:
Medium plans to block AI companies from training on posts published on Medium until the company can get concessions regarding credit, compensation, and consent — Fair use in the age of AI: Credit, compensation and consent are required. — · — · — Just now
Discussion:
TechCrunch, bookforum.com, @coachtony@me.dm, @medium@me.dm, @medium and @cryptomatonblog
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google lets publishers use a robots.txt flag to opt out of the company using their data to train its AI models, while remaining accessible through Google Search — Google just announced it's giving website publishers a way to opt out of having their data used to train the company's AI models …
Discussion:
The Keyword and Insider, more at Techmeme »
Deadline:
SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP say they plan to “resume negotiations for a new TV/theatrical contract” on October 2, after the WGA ended its strike on September 27 — UPDATE: As Deadline first told you yesterday, SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP are meeting next week.
Discussion:
Variety, @sagaftra, Decider, Pitchfork, @tvmojoe, @jbflint, IGN, TVLine, Screen Rant, CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, IndieWire, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, Decrypt, Semafor, New York Daily News and Vibe
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The FT reports 2022 UK operating profit up 179% YoY to £13.4M, revenue up 14% YoY to £422.5M, and 1.26M web and newspaper subscribers, up 9% YoY — Globally the FT Group grew revenues by 5% in 2022 according to unaudited accounts. — The Financial Times had its strongest year …
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
X CEO Linda Yaccarino claims 90% of the top 100 advertisers “returned to the platform in the past 12 weeks alone” and that X will be profitable by early 2024 — According to X CEO Linda Yaccarino, the company formerly known as Twitter will be profitable by early 2024.
Discussion:
Insider, Mediaite, Vox, @karaswisher, The Messenger, The Information, The Wrap, The Register, @thebenbergman, @thebenbergman, @brooke, @thebenbergman, @karaswisher, @danprimack, @karaswisher, @kyliebytes, @brooke, Fortune, @danprimack, @jason, Variety, Boing Boing, The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, @carnage4life@mas.to, Deadline, The Verge, The Verge, @darnell@one.darnell.one, Insider, Axios, The Wrap and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Fox TV Stations signs a deal with Waymark, which uses AI to help local advertisers make high-quality commercials; Waymark works with Gray, Spectrum, and others — Fox TV Stations wants to help even the smallest local advertiser make an appearance on TV.
Discussion:
Radio & Television … and MediaPost
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Reddit removes the ability to opt out of ad personalization based on Reddit activity but says that users will still have opt-out controls in “select countries” — Reddit said Wednesday that the platform is revamping its privacy settings with an aim to make ad personalization and account visibility toggles consistent.
Discussion:
Engadget, Mashable, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, Gizmodo, The Verge and r/reddit, more at Techmeme »
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
NYC-based IYK, which lets brands, musicians, and creators build “digi-physical experiences”, including through NFTs, raised a $16.8M seed led by A16z Crypto — - IYK has raised $16.8 million in seed funding led by A16z Crypto. — The startup helps brands …
Discussion:
Fortune and Decrypt, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Meta debuts AI chatbots based on over a dozen influencers, including Snoop Dogg, MrBeast, and Charli D'Amelio, on Instagram and Facebook, and plans to add more — Meta has turned more than a dozen celebrities and influencers into robots. — The tech company, at the Meta Connect 2023 confab Wednesday …
Discussion:
Meta, The Verge, NME, The Verge, The Information, Mashable, @ct_bergstrom@fediscience.org, Rolling Stone, TechCrunch, BGR, Engadget and The Messenger, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Meta's celebrity AIs are generated AI animations built from filming the 28 people they represent; Meta would not comment on how the celebrities were compensated
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Stereogum, The Information, Tubefilter, @brideoflinux, Gizmodo, The Guardian and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
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