10.14.2015
Good to Know: Working remotely is generally a good deal unless you’re about to be canned. Yesterday, Twitter employees working remotely found out they got laid off only when they could no longer access their company e-mail. Ouch!
THE SKINNY
It’s Hard Out There …
Breaking into the music biz is tough. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) just said “see you in court” to Aurous, a newly released music streaming service, and one of its creators Andrew Sampson.
RING THE ALARM …
Aurous came out just this week. Unlike what we’re used to with Spotify-type services, Aurous is completely free (look Ma, no ads!). Spotify-types usually negotiate and license music from record labels so you can listen to your sweet jams. Aurous doesn’t bother. Instead, the service fancies itself an aggregator of sorts and pulls music from third-party services like Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, etc. The RIAA is giving Aurous major blank stares. The music industry rep says that the service is blatantly violating copyrights left and right. Plus, it says Aurous’ main sources are Russian sites notorious for offering pirated music. They want the court to shut it down and for Sampson to cough up $3 million in damages. Shots fired!
joke’s on them …
Aurous and Sampson took to Twitter to respond to the RIAA. Let’s just say, they’re not taking it that seriously. The company seems confident that the suit is rubbish, and it will be able to continue operating. But, it should be a little worried. Turns out using those Russian sites may not bode well in court. In the meantime, Sampson is telling the music industry to be cool because he plans to create a system for them to flag infringing songs. He even wants users to be able to tip their fave artists with virtual currency bitcoin. We shall see…
What Else Is Going On?
Pop Up Video …
What can we say? Facebook is literally into everything. The company announced that it’s trying its hand at video. FB wants people to be able to save videos right from their homepage, and it’ll also offer up suggested videos based on viewing habits and give access to vids posted courtesy of your friends, celebs, companies, etc. What’s the big deal? It’s all about the $200 billion companies are shelling out for TV ads. Naturally, FB wants some of those ad dollars and will begin sharing its ad revenue with video creators soon. For now, FB is testing the video feature only with a small group of people. But, it’s probably still safe to say, watch out YouTube, FB’s coming for you.
Read Between the Lines …
Fresh off the biggest tech merger ever between EMC and Dell, some people on Wall Street are getting worried about the amount of deals going on this year. Companies joining forces have already captured $3.5 trillion in merger transactions. Bankers are concerned that this could be signs of a weak economy. Taking a look at recent mergers, particularly the EMC/Dell collabo, many have been in efforts to cut costs and to turn around struggling companies. These mergers are coming from a place of weakness and not strength – another cause for concern. We should expect to see more of this trend over the course of the next year, but it could be longer due to low interest rates. Financial analysts are saying this type of deal-making isn’t sustainable and are watching the markets. Hold onto your hats, people!
The Streets Are Talkin’
Chinese Internet giant Alibaba is going European. As growth slows in China, the company continues its international expansion by opening offices in Italy, France, and Germany.
Nothing like having good conversations while breaking bread with strangers. Under the radar app, EatWith is still working to bring strangers together over a shared meal.
Staying on the food trend, UberRush, Uber’s new courier service, is launching in Chicago and San Francisco. Services aren’t limited to just food deliveries either. Flowers anyone? Also, Uber is lending its driver network for a good cause. It’s partnering with the U.S. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to send Amber alerts to drivers.
Snapchat is trying to figure out what it wants to do in the content space and creating its own original content isn’t on the list. The company just let its ‘SnapChat Channel’ team go.
FB heard your complaints and no longer wants you to re-live those hard moments in your life. It’s now letting you filter out stuff you don’t want to be reminded of via its ‘On This Day’ feature. Once is enough, please and thank you!
Laser Razor sounded too good to be true, and Kickstarter thought the same thing. The crowdfunding platform pulled the project after it raised $4 million. No working prototype? No funding!
Apparently, reality shows about startups are a bad idea. Cross that off your list of #LifeGoals.