Technology

If you’ve never heard of Forgotten Runes, that’s probably because you don’t spend your nights surfing NFT marketplace OpenSea. It’s an NFT collection that launched last July and consists of just under 10,000 fantasy characters. The question is simple: Is it possible for a show based on NFTs to cross over to a mainstream audience that may not even know what those three letters stand for?

Source: Hollywood’s Next Hit Could Be Based on an NFT — And You’d Never Know It

In the music industry, as artificial intelligence (AI) creative technologies become more common, the question of AI authorship is particularly important. AI systems have the potential to cause disruption in the music industry, and the music industry must adapt and incorporate this new technology. The idea that a picture tells a thousand words is especially apt when one attempts to outline copyright and authorship issues for works created by AI.

Source: ‘As AI creative technologies become more common, the question of AI authorship is particularly important.’

Congress is set to depart for its August recess soon without acting on a bipartisan antitrust bill targeting the largest U.S. technology companies. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) plans to hold a vote on the legislation when Congress returns this fall. But the shrinking number of legislative days available plays to the advantage of the tech companies, which can declare victory if Congress doesn’t act.

Source: Antitrust Bill Targeting Big Tech in Limbo as Congress Prepares to Recess

A migration of Oxford University Press‘ books as well as journals to the online platform Oxford Academic announced Wednesday (August 3) is expected to “further streamline access to high-quality scholarly content,” according to media messaging. At this point, the company writes, more than 42,000 books and more than 500,000 chapters have been uploaded to the site, which already hosts some 500 journals and roughly 3 million articles.

Source: Oxford University Press Is Migrating Its Catalogue to Its Online Platform

Textbook publisher Pearson plans to profit from secondhand sales by turning its titles into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), its chief executive has said. Educational books are often sold more than once, since students sell study resources they no longer require. Publishers have not previously been able to make any money from secondhand sales, but the rise of digital textbooks has created an opportunity for companies to benefit.

Source: Pearson plans to sell its textbooks as NFTs

In the early hours of July 24, Audius, a decentralized music platform, confirmed that there was an “unauthorized transfer” of its utility token, AUDIO, from the community treasury. While they believe no funds were at risk, the project restricted all Audius smart contracts on the Ethereum network, including the token balances and transfers, to forestall further damage.

Source: NFT Music Platform Audius Treasury Hacked, Loses 18.5M Tokens

Facing a potential stalemate, lawmakers backing an antitrust bill targeting big tech companies ramped up their push for a vote Tuesday by releasing new internal tech company documents that they say show anticompetitive behavior. Tech companies oppose the legislation, saying it would unnecessarily raise the costs of operating platforms that are popular because they benefit consumers and small businesses.

Source: Big Tech Antitrust Bill Backers Push for Vote

If you listen to the powers that be in the music industry, streaming may well be nothing at all – at least nothing that concerns you, the musician.  Just be glad these platforms are not pirates! We know all the things it is not – many things which, it so happens, are subject to existing laws and regulations for payments to musicians for use of their work.

Source: What Is a Stream, Anyway?