Mediagazer: Sources: YouTube is building an AI tool that lets creators record audio using famous musicians' voices and seeking major record labels' rights to train the tool (Lucas Shaw/Bloomberg)

6:35 AM ET, October 19, 2023

Top News:

Sarah Whitten / CNBC:

Netflix reports Q3 revenue up 7.8% YoY to $8.54B, vs. $8.54B est., and global paid memberships up 10.8% YoY to 247.15M, vs. 243.88M est.; NFLX jumps 12%+ — LOS ANGELES — Netflix reported earnings after the bell. Here are the results. — Earnings: $3.73 vs $3.49 per share, according to LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:

Netflix raises its US prices for its basic plan from $9.99 to $11.99, its premium plan from $19.99 to $22.99, and some of its prices in the UK and France — Hollywood strikes will lead to lower content spending, more free cash flow this year, company says — said its efforts …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Broadband TV News, KNSD-TV, @jalefkowit@octodon.social, Digital Music News, @tvgrimreaper, IndieWire, 9to5Mac and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Jennifer Elias / CNBC:

Google cut “a small number” of Google News employees this week; an Alphabet Workers Union spokesperson estimates 40 to 45 workers lost their jobs — - Google cut at least 40 jobs in its news division this week, CNBC has learned. — The company has been downsizing in recent months …

Discussion: The Information, Jennifer Elias on LinkedIn, MediaPost and Rob Ruenes on LinkedIn

Jem Aswad / Variety:

Universal Music Group and BandLab form an alliance to advance their shared commitment “to ethical use of AI and the protection of artist and songwriter rights” — Universal Music Group and BandLab Technologies have announced plans for a strategic relationship concentrated on protecting artists' rights in the age of AI.

Discussion: Billboard, CNBC, US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Financial Times, Variety, Reuters, Reuters and Digital Music News, more at Techmeme »

Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:

Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord Music Group, and ABKCO sue Anthropic for allegedly violating their copyrights by using song lyrics to train AI models — Partnership will be 'centered on empowering the next generation of artists, including within BandLab's global community'.

Discussion: Cointelegraph, The Hollywood Reporter, Decrypt and Digital Music News

Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:

Filing: Disney releases separate ESPN earnings results for the first time, showing profit at ESPN networks fell 20% through the first nine months of its FY 2023 — Profit at the ESPN sports networks fell 20% through the first nine months of fiscal 2023 as Walt Disney Co. provided the first peek at that business on a standalone basis.

Discussion: The Desk, Reuters, Axios, @sportstvratings, Barrett Media, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter

Joseph Cox / 404 Media:

Experts say misinformation from “verified” pseudo-OSINT accounts on X, driven by profit and engagement, is destroying the Israel-Hamas war information ecosystem — Join the newsletter to get the latest updates. — Success — Great! Check your inbox and click the link. — Error

Discussion: The Guardian, @josephfcox, @jimmy_wales, @fancrtcprofling, @gabrielesvelto@fosstodon.org, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @carnage4life@mas.to, @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org, @pogue.bsky.social, @404mediaco@mastodon.social and @jasonkoebler@mastodon.social, more at Techmeme »

John Burn-Murdoch / @jburnmurdoch:
[Thread] Media outlets keep slipping up on the Israel-Hamas war because they lack in-house OSINT teams or are wary to rely on such teams for help to break news

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

Russian authorities detained RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service editor Alsu Kurmasheva on October 18, charging her with failure to register as a foreign agent — WASHINGTON, D.C. - On October 18, authorities in Kazan, Russia, detained Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL) Tatar-Bashkir Service.

Discussion: CNN, Committee to Protect …, The Daily Beast, Politico, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, @afp, @rferlpress, @cpj_eurasia and @cpj_eurasia

Blake Brittain / Reuters:

Mike Huckabee, Lysa TerKeurst, and other authors sue Meta, Microsoft, and Bloomberg over using the “Books3” dataset, which includes pirated books, to train LLMs — A group of writers including former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and best-selling Christian author Lysa TerKeurst …

Discussion: Washington Post and Vanity Fair

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: YouTube is building an AI tool that lets creators record audio using famous musicians' voices and seeking major record labels' rights to train the tool — - YouTube is seeking rights from major music companies — Video site had hoped to unveil the music tool last month

Discussion: Music Ally, Billboard, @lucas_shaw, The Verge and Search Engine Land, more at Techmeme »

Christi Carras / Los Angeles Times:

An October 6 to 9 poll of 1,003 US adults: 34% side with the actors in SAG-AFTRA's strike, 7% back the studios, 29% sympathize equally, and 30% took no position — As the Hollywood writers' strike has come to a close and the actors' walkout rages on, the American public continues to favor unions …

Discussion: Forbes and The Wrap

Elahe Izadi / Washington Post:

How Only in Dade, started as an Instagram meme page a decade ago, inadvertently became a Miami local news source, including by using its 1.3M followers' videos — If it's happening in Miami, locals find out about it through Only in Dade, previously a hub for alligator sightings and nightclub antics.

Discussion: @elaheizadi, @davidovalle305, @jesusrodriguezb, @elaheizadi and @fraying@xoxo.zone, more at Techmeme »

Matt Mullenweg:

While X charging users $1/year to stop bots and spam is appealing, the value of manipulating X is so high that millions are likely already being spent to do so — Twitter/X is testing charging users $1/year with the idea that will keep out bots and spam. It's an appealing idea …

Discussion: abc7NY, TechCrunch, @baldur@toot.cafe, Michael Jackson on LinkedIn, @tchambers@indieweb.social, @photomatt@mastodon.social, TIME and Bloomberg

Kylie Robison / Fortune:
X tests Not A Bot, requiring new, unverified users to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to be able to post and interact, in New Zealand and the Philippines

Discussion: @support, Cointelegraph, X, CoinDesk, Scott C. Lemon on LinkedIn, @dieworkwear, The Overspill, CBS News, Fox Business, Observer, Ars Technica, PC Gamer, Techdirt, New York Post, Boing Boing, The Ankler, Shacknews, Global News, The Hill, UPI, @rahaeli.bsky.social, NPR, Rolling Stone, KNSD-TV, Mediaite, @kyliebytes, @lexnfx, The Messenger, IGN, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, The Guardian, 9to5Mac, The Information, The Hollywood Reporter, @pixel@desu.social, Ben Shute on LinkedIn, Insider, KRQE-TV, @andypiper@macaw.social, @tchambers@indieweb.social, CNN, Variety, Forbes, @chancerydaily@threads.net, @chrispirillo@threads.net, @joshwolf@threads.net, @reporterzoe@threads.net, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, The Verge, @scalzi.com, @dell.bsky.social, The Wrap, @billbennett@mastodon.nz, @venya@musicians.today, @evacide@hachyderm.io, @mike_isaac@threads.net, @thekenyeung@mastodon.social, @megmac@social.treehouse …, The Sun and Engadget

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Mike Fleming Jr / Deadline:
David Ellison's Skydance Animation signs a multiyear deal with Netflix to develop and produce exclusive animated movies, and ends its Apple distribution pact

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, IGN, IndieWire, Sabrina Kloss on LinkedIn, Reuters, Eric Calderon on LinkedIn, 9to5Mac, ComingSoon.net, Variety and Collider

Katie Notopoulos / MIT Technology Review:
Federated networks like Mastodon and a growing acceptance of paying for content may help move people away from big social platforms and improve online discourse

Discussion: Media Voices, @peepeepoopoop@mastodon.social, Niall Firth on LinkedIn, Garbage Day, @stefan@gardenstate.social, @Cassandra@artisan.chat, @tchambers@indieweb.social, @hrheingold@mastodon.social, @mammoth@moth.social, @timbray@cosocial.ca, @waxy@xoxo.zone, @ben@werd.social and The Information

Justin Smith / Semafor:
On its first anniversary, Semafor has nearly 500K “engaged” free newsletter subscribers, 3M monthly readers “on and off platform”, and 40 marketing partners

Discussion: @prashantrao, Digiday, @katie_robertson, Justin B. Smith on LinkedIn and Ben Smith on LinkedIn

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: with ESPN and TNT unwilling to pay $2.6B+/year on NBA rights, the league looks to Amazon, Apple, and others to make more, offering local market rights

Discussion: @kinnick519, @tvgrimreaper, @damanr, @mdotbrown, Awful Announcing, The Streamable, Barrett Media, Sports Media Watch, Vibe and Insider

Theo Wayt / The Information:
Sources: Amazon is offering to make commercials for brands that spend $15K+ to run ads on Freevee and Twitch, part of attempts to build a streaming ad business

Discussion: @theo_wayt

Earlier Picks:

Jon Porter / The Verge:
YouTube adds a news page to its mobile apps that suggests content from “authoritative sources”, and plans to spend $1.6M to promote creating Shorts news content

Discussion: Nieman Lab, YouTube Official Blog, @tomaxwell, @jeff@honeytree.social, TechCrunch, @darthbluesky.bsky.social, @blackamazon.bsky.social and @simli.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Andrew Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa's book alleges NYT reporter Jesse McKinley, who broke Cuomo news, behaved inappropriately with her; the NYT reassigned McKinley

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mediaite, @tomwatson, @jeremymbarr, New York Post and Vanity Fair

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
LADbible Group owner LBG Media acquires US-based women's media brand Betches for $24M in cash, and up to $30M more if Betches hits certain targets through 2026

Discussion: @kerrymflynn

Chloe Melas / NBC News:
Sources: New Mexico prosecutors intend to re-charge Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter over the 2021 “Rust” shooting before a grand jury in mid-November

Discussion: Hollywood Life, NPR, CBS News, New York Times, Consequence, Variety, Metro.co.uk, Extra, The Hill, UPROXX, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Fox News, New York Daily News, WGN-TV, New York Post and Reuters

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
The Trump administration exempts smartphones, laptops, hard drives, processors, memory chips, and machines used to make semiconductors from reciprocal tariffs

Sankalp Phartiyal / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple produced $22B worth of iPhones in India in the 12 months ended March 2025, up nearly 60% YoY, and now makes 20% of its iPhones in the country

Martine Paris / Forbes:
Sam Altman says ChatGPT users had doubled in the past few weeks and that “10% of the world uses our systems”, which would peg the number closer to 800M users

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