Top News:
Songtradr:
Music licensing marketplace Songtradr acquires Bandcamp and says it will keep running 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 …
Discussion:
Epic Games, @jamesmiller.bsky.social, @tle.bsky.social and @anothersubculture.co.uk, more at Techmeme »
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Ash Parrish / The Verge:
Epic Games confirms it is laying off about 830 staffers, 16% of its workforce, and intends to divest from Bandcamp and 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, Bloomberg, Reuters, IGN, Polygon, @jasonschreier, @liquor_american …, @senoj.bsky.social and @lrhodes@merveilles.town, 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:
@sagaftra, @tvmojoe, @jbflint, IGN, Variety, TVLine, Screen Rant, CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, IndieWire, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, Semafor, New York Daily News, The Nerds of Color, The Messenger and The A.V. Club
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Jennifer Maas / Variety:
WGA leaders lift the strike order as of 12:01am PT on September 27, release the tentative AMPTP deal, and let writers return to work before final ratification
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, MediaNama, WGA Contract 2023, @Merovius@chaos.social, @boelder@shakedown.social, @librarianshipwreck …, @jesserodriguez, Screen Rant, The Register, @adamconover, @whipsical, Gizmodo, The Messenger, Rolling Stone, Defector, Decider, SlashFilm, UPROXX, The Wrap, @lpcprof, @scobie, WORLD SCREEN, Mashable, @baldur@toot.cafe, ComingSoon.net, Advanced Television, Engadget, WGA Contract 2023, Forbes, Vanity Fair, @raymondpert@mstdn.social, New York Daily News, @ianrosewrites@scicomm.xyz, Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, The Hill, @millsjenjen@aus.social, The A.V. Club, CBS News, @antimnguyen@mastodon …, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, @deweyritten@infosec.exchange, Us Weekly, @danhon@dan.mastohon.com, The Verge, @tananarivedue.bsky.social, @mikedrucker.bsky.social, @the2scoops.bsky.social, Deadline, The Wrap, @emilystjams.bsky.social, @phillewis.bsky.social, IndieWire, KNSD-TV, TVLine, The Hollywood Reporter and ET Canada
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 »
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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:
Tubefilter, The Information, @brideoflinux, Gizmodo, The Guardian and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
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:
Vox, The Wrap, The Information, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, @karaswisher, Boing Boing, Fortune, The Hollywood Reporter, @thebenbergman, @thebenbergman, Variety, @brooke, @thebenbergman, @karaswisher, @danprimack, @karaswisher, @kyliebytes, @brooke, @danprimack, @jason, Insider, Bloomberg, @carnage4life@mas.to, Deadline, The Verge, The Verge, @darnell@one.darnell.one, Insider, Axios, The Wrap and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »
Tony Stubblebine / The Medium Blog:
Medium will aim to block AI companies from training on posts published on Medium until the company gets concessions about credit, compensation, and consent — Fair use in the age of AI: Credit, compensation and consent are required. — · — · — Just now
Discussion:
@cryptomatonblog and @medium
Shauneen Miranda / Axios:
Late-night TV talk shows return: Bill Maher on Sept. 29; John Oliver on Oct. 1, and Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Kimmel on Oct. 2 — Late-night shows are set to make their post-Hollywood writers strike return, but will they have any jokes about it?
Discussion:
Screen Rant, Variety, The Hill, CBS News, The A.V. Club, New York Post, Billboard, Vanity Fair, The Wrap, TVLine, Deadline and Los Angeles Times
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 …
Parker Herren / Ad Age:
Spotify launches video ads for its CTV apps, beginning with Roku as the first partner, as part of its upcoming Spotify CTV Partner Network — Music streamer partnered with Roku to launch video ads on its CTV apps — How to realize the full potential of converged TV advertising
Discussion:
Next TV, Cord Cutters News and Insider Intelligence
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, Gizmodo, The Verge, @dangillmor@mastodon.social and r/reddit, more at Techmeme »
BBC:
New BBC social media rules: flagship presenters can't endorse or attack a political party while their show is on air, criticize individual UK politicians, more — High-profile presenters should be allowed to express views on issues and policies but stop short of political campaigning, a new BBC report says.
Discussion:
Press Gazette, The Independent, The Guardian, @garylineker, Variety, Financial Times, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
In response to the GB News events, DMG Media terminates the contract of Dan Wootton, whose MailOnline column was already paused — Journalist's column and contract terminated after comments made by Laurence Fox on his GB News show — Dan Wootton has been sacked by MailOnline …
Discussion:
Press Gazette, Yahoo News, ITV News, Sky News, Deadline, @rscowler, @gemmagould, Broadband TV News, The Independent, The Mirror, Byline Times, NME, The London Economic, BBC and Press Gazette
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