Epic Games is reviving its in-game Fortnite concert series with a virtual performance by electronic artist Kaskade over the course of the March 26th weekend. The concert will take place inside Fortnite’s Party Royale game mode, and it will also feature tie-ins with Rocket League’s upcoming season, as the popular competitive car soccer game is developed by Epic-owned studio Psyonix.
Source: Fortnite’s concert series returns with a Rocket League rave
Source: NFTs Are Spurring a Digital Land Grab—in Videogame Worlds
Like the stoic protagonists in an Oscar-winning film, the NFL and traditional TV networks just can’t quit each other. But the league took its first big step toward moving on to a new love this past week, pocketing $10 billion over 10 years from Amazon as the league formally renewed rights on nearly all its TV packages through the early 2030s.
Source: What the New NFL Rights Deals Say About the Future of Sports on ‘TV’
City of London police are warning students not to use Sci-Hub because it’s illegal and potentially dangerous. At the same time, universities are encouraged to block the site. The warning stands in sharp contrast to the academic reality, where even the publishers who rally against Sci-Hub, reference Sci-Hub ‘publications’ on their sites. Apparently, researchers are so used to the site that they happily cite it.
Source: UK Police Warn Students Not to Use Sci-Hub But Publishers ‘Promote’ It * TorrentFreak
Warner Music Group and Tencent Music Entertainment are launching a joint venture record label in China, the two companies have confirmed. The deal means that TME will have two joint venture labels running with major music companies in China – after a similar launch was announced with Universal Music Group last year.
Source: Warner and Tencent Music to launch a joint record label, as they ink multi-year licensing deal
Advocacy groups representing musicians are voicing support for a new California bill that seeks to limit the length of contracts for recording artists. The FAIR Act would remove a damages provision that commonly discourages artists from leaving record deals after seven years if they have undelivered albums, even though they are legally permitted.
Source: Irving Azoff, Musician Orgs Hail California Bill to Cap Recording Contracts at 7 Years
Copyright management company Pex asks the Copyright Office for a DMCA anti-circumvention exemption to scrape online sevices such as YouTube. “Crawlers that collect data and content present on UGC platforms and allow rights holders to know where and when their works are being used illegally, a practice colloquially referred to as ‘web scraping,’ are regularly blocked by platforms,” Pex informs the copyright office.
Source: Pex Asks Copyright Office for a DMCA Exemption to Find Pirated Content * TorrentFreak
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is working on a public awareness campaign to combat online piracy and counterfeiting. This plan is welcomed by copyright holders, who offer several suggestions for its implementation. According to the Copyright Alliance, online services should play a key role in educating and warning users about the costs and risks of piracy.
Source: US Government Works on Consumer Awareness Campaign to Combat Piracy * TorrentFreak
British thespian and comedy writing legend John Cleese is the latest celebrity to mint an NFT. The auction for his ‘Brooklyn Bridge’ NFT, a landscape sketch which he drew on his iPad, is now live on NFT marketplace OpenSea, where a bid of $50,000 dollars has already been made by an eager collector named Cerwyn.
Source: Monty Python’s John Cleese Sells the Brooklyn Bridge as an NFT – Decrypt
The meteoric rise of the market for NFTs has been great for artists who are already well-known, already successful, and already rich. But so far, it’s hard to find examples of it offering a windfall to those who could actually use the money: small and midsize independent musicians.
Source: NFTs Won’t Save Small, Independent Musicians—But the Blockchain Could