Friday’s Endnotes – 05/27/16

T Bone Burnett’s Remarks on Music and the American Story (with intro by Rosanne Cash) — “We are not looking backward. We are looking forward to a better place. As artists and creators we constantly use the technology that has brought us this anywhere / anytime / anything digital world. But we insist on being recognized and respected for what we bring to the table as well.”

Music Piracy Triggers Significant Losses, EU Study Shows — Torrentfreak reports, “New research published by the European Union Intellectual Property Office shows that piracy hurts both digital and physical music sales. In EU countries the total losses are roughly 5% of yearly revenues, which equals €170 million. In addition, piracy also triggers secondary losses for governments and the public sector.”

Will CBS Continue Axanar Lawsuit On Its Own? — Previously in the Axanar lawsuit, the court denied a motion to dismiss by the production company that had been sued by the copyright owners of Star Trek for planning to make an unauthorized Star Trek film. Then, last week, it was reported that the two sides were in settlement talks, and the suit would be dropped. However, to date, the litigation continues, with Axanar filing an answer to the initial complaint and a counterclaim against the Star Trek owners, arguing that its planned film is fair use.

How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds — from a Magician and Google’s Design Ethicist — An interesting read about the different techniques developers use to “play your psychological vulnerabilities (consciously and unconsciously) against you in the race to grab your attention.”

Most Music Tech Startups Don’t Know Shit About How Labels Work – A Response To David Pakman — A point-by-point takedown of Pakman’s article about how “The Music Business Buried More Than 150 Startups.” Very informative.

Going Viral ≠ Increased Business — Finally, this week, Leslie Burns writes about the illusory benefits of a photo “going viral.” “People don’t impulse-buy photography. No one is likely to see the viral photo and say ‘I need to hire that photographer!’ unless, maybe, s/he was already looking for a wedding photographer. Assignment/commissioned photography is still not a commodity, not a product on the shelf, so exposure like that may never pay off.”