So, you want to be a programmer? Here are 27 ways to learn it online

 

credit: http://thenextweb.com/dd/2012/10/21/so-you-want-to-be-a-programmer-huh-heres-25-ways-to-learn-online/ 

Whether you are looking to switch careers and become a full-time programmer, want to try to build a website or app on the side, or are just looking to round out your skill set, learning to code has certainly been something a lot of people have started to do lately. And while being a programmer might not be for everyone, there is a lot to be said about gaining a better, more educated view of how all those pixels get moved around all those screens.

Before we delve into our list of learning resources sites, we wanted to share some advice from Marissa Louie, a self-taught product designer for Ness Computing. A former startup founder, Louie told TNW that the hardest part of being self-taught – whether it’s design, programming, or any other discipline is, “gathering the courage. The most important barrier is just to overcome your fears” (she also said having the ability to follow instructions helps as well).

Louie said that once you attain the basic skills, the best thing to do is just jump in and try to give yourself custom tasks, and build experience on your own through lots of trial and error.

So with that sound advice in mind, let’s move to our in-no-particular-order list of learning resources (if you have more suggestions, PLEASE list them in the comments!).

1. MIT Open Courseware

MIT’s Open Courseware offers 2100 courses in a variety of topics, including Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The free resources include online textbooks, exams, multimedia content, assignments and projects and examples – all from actual MIT courses from the last decade or so.

2. Coursera

Coursera launched in April and already has hit the 1 million student mark, and has expanded to include 0ver 200 courses from 33 universities. If you haven’t heard of Coursera, it is the Stanford-learning-idea-turned-mega-startup that basically lets you take a full university course online taught by a real professor at one of the world’s best schools – for free

3. Udacity

Udacity is a free service currently with 14 classes where, “You learn by solving challenging problems… with world-renowned university instructors.” The classes cover topics that seemed geared to not only teaching you to code, but also giving you a solid grounding in math, physics and even, “How to Build a Startup”.

4. Google Code University

It’s Google and it’s code, so yeah, it’s a pretty solid free resource, and obviously a good one if you are interested in Android development. Has some more advanced topics as well including distributed systems and web security.

5. Mozilla Developer Network

Mozilla knows a thing or two about what makes a good website run, and it’s put together a free learning center that includes work written by the the network and also by other sites, like…

6. HTML5 Rocks

Just in case you were wondering, it kind of does. The site has a lot of free info on HTML5, including blog posts, and tutorials.

7. The Code Player

The Code Player is a great way to get a real sense of the ebbs and flows of coding (while learning stuff too). It’s kind of like being able to look over the shoulder of a programmer while she works.

8. Codecademy

Codecademy was made extra famous at the beginning of this year when NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg tweeted out that he was going to use the site to learn to code in 2012 (wonder how he’s doing?). Regardless, Codecademy is a popular and free site that adds gamification to the learning process if you want to learn with friends. Codecademy also runs CodeYear.

9. Khan Academy

Another “academy”, Khan Academy offers lots of courses beyond programming if you are looking to be a Renaissance man/woman – but if you’re just looking to code, it has that too.

10. General Assembly

General Assembly takes a different approach by offering livestream (paid) sessions on topics like “Rapid Prototyping: From Wireframes to HMTL” – you buy an e-ticket on Eventbrite, get a password, and tune into the livestream when it happens.

11. PeepCode

PeepCode covers a lot of programming languages, providing downloadable (paid) screencast lessons.

12. Eloquent JavaScript

Eloquent JavaScript is actually a book that is completely online for free (or you can buy the ebook on Amazon). From the author’s intro: “JavaScript is the language that is, at the moment, mostly being used to do all kinds of clever and horrible things with pages on the World Wide Web.”

13. Ruby Koans

If learning Ruby (and this is Ruby, not Ruby-on-Rails) is what you’re looking for, Ruby Koans has a free tutorial, promising to “walk you along the path to enlightenment in order to learn Ruby.”

14. Learn Code The Hard Way

Learn Code The Hard Way started with the book (free online) Learn Python The Hard Way and has branched to add other languages including Ruby and C.

15. Stack Overflow

While it technically doesn’t have “tutorials” there is a ton of (easily searchable) info on Stack Overflow that can be of great help once you get going. Also, if you ever get stuck on something (and the answer isn’t already there) the community is very good at answering questions.

16. Coder Dojo

Coder Dojos are places were young people can get together to learn to code, so if you’re a parent that’s thinking of setting your kid on the Path to Instagramum, you might want to see if there is one in your area. The site also has a knowledge baseput together by  its instructors/volunteers, but it is relatively limited.

17. O’Reilly

Beyond the many many books that O’Reilly publishes, the company also offers (paid) online courses on many different programming languages.

18. Scratch

Again, if you are a parent, Scratch is a free downloadable program developed by the MIT Media Lab that helps young kids build interactive stories.

19. Apple Developer

If you’re interested in developing for Apple products, it’s a great idea to head over to to Apple’s developer site to see what all the fuss is about and learn from the resources Apple has made available online.

20. Android Developer

Google’s Android developer site continues to improve, and includes videos from Google i/o as well as section that goes over best practices for designing apps.

21. Mobiletuts+

Mobiletuts+ has free tutorials/blog posts on Android and iOS as well as other mobile-centric needs such as design and also has a premium (paid) service as well.

22. Udemy

Udemy offers courses (some free, some paid) on a wide range of subjects, and boasts instructors including Mark Zuckerberg and Marissa Mayer.

23. Code School

Code School offers courses and screencasts for a monthly no-contract subscription, and also has a few free courses as well.

24. Bloc

Bloc promises to teach you to “become a web developer in 12 weeks.” For a hefty fee, Bloc will team you with a programmer mentor that acts like a personal fitness trainer throughout your learning. For the price tag, it probably makes sense to make this your full-time job for three months if you go this route.

25. Treehouse

Treehouse has over 600 videos that you can watch for a monthly fee, as well as a premium subscription that offers more features.

26. Programr

Programr takes a different line to learning code: you build stuff until it works. Check out our in-depth interview with Programr creator Rajesh Moorjani.

27. Processing

While it has taken on an open source life of its own for visuals, Processing started out as a way for people to learn programming (in fact, Programr above has integrated it as well).

Well, hopefully this list will get you started in the right direction towards achieving your coding goals, but we’ll leave you with one more word of advice from Marissa Louie to give you a kickstart: “Don’t settle for anything less than exceptional.”

Image Credit: Martin Oeser/Getty Images

Note: This post was updated to include MIT OCW, Coursera and Udacity – if you have others you think should make the list, please let us know in the comments!

Harker: Will Smartphones Kill Radio?

 

• October 24, 2012 at 3:52 AM (PT)

  

Smartphones, Not Video?

In their latest post on Radio Insights, HARKER RESEARCH's RICHARD HARKER and GLENDA SHRADER BOS crunch the TSL data on the growing use of smartphones and how it impacts the TSL of terrestrial radio .

"Over half of cell phones sold in the U.S. are now smart-phones like iPHONES, ANDROIDS and BLACKBERRY," they wrote. "If the trend continues, one day virtually everyone will be able to listen to radio wherever they go. While some have heralded this development as a huge opportunity for radio, the growing use of smart mobile devices may be at best a mixed blessing."

Find out why that is here.

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/111752/harker-will-smartphones-kill-radio

From RadioInsights.com

OCTOBER 22, 2012

Smart-Phone: Radio Salvation or Another Nail in Coffin?

Over half of cell phones sold in the US are now smart-phones like iPhones, Androids, and Blackberry.

If the trend continues, one day virtually everyone will be able to listen to radio where ever they go.

While some have heralded this development as a huge opportunity for radio, the growing use of smart mobile devices may be at best a mixed blessing.

The reason is that compared to listening on a radio or computer, mobile listening-spans are dramatically shorter. And shorter listening-spans makes radio time harder to sell.

Even Pandora is not immune to the impact.

While Pandora regularly crows about all sorts of new records like number of subscribers, or session starts, the service never mentions TSL, the amount of time users spend with the service.

 

Maybe that’s because while Triton Digital ratings show average sessions and session starts growing, TSL, the average length of time a person listens to Pandora, is headed in the opposite direction.

The graph above traces Pandora’s TSL for the past three years.

In 2009 Pandora TSL was about an hour. At the time only computer listening was included in the ratings.

Then in December 2009 mobile listening was added to the service’s ratings for the first time.

Pandora TSL immediately started dropping. In just four months TSL plummeted to just 46 minutes.

Aside from a few positive months in late 2010, the service’s TSL has continued its steady erosion throughout 2011, even accelerating towards the end of the year.

Today Pandora TSL is down to 38 minutes, a loss of 34%.

The precipitous decline in TSL coincides with a dramatic increase in the number of users listening on smart-phones and iPads.

As Business Insider points out:

While 88 percent of Pandora's listening hours came from desktop use in Q1 of 2010, by 2012, users spend (sic) 70 percent of their time on Pandora listening on their mobile devices.

On a computer one can listen to their favorite station as they continue to do other work on the computer.

Multitasking on a mobile device is much more problematic than on a computer. And if one is using the phone to make and answer phone calls, listening to radio for any length of time isn’t going to be practical.

So it stands to reason that TSL will decline as more people listen on mobile devices.

Is TSL for broadcast streams following the same pattern? Sure is.

Harker Research tracks broadcast streams measured by Triton Digital, and broadcast streams are suffering a similar decline.

The second graph above reflects the combined TSL of 12 broadcast groups for which we have multi-year trends.¹ In the beginning of 2010 the combined TSL was over 35 hours, nearly three hours per radio group.

By 2011, the combined TSL was down to 24 hours, and today it is down to 16 hours, a decline of over 50%, a decline even greater than Pandora’s.

And what about Bob Pittman’s Clear Channel Communications, leading the digital charge with its iHeartRadio app?

As measured by Triton Digital, Clear Channel is the worst performing streaming service in terms of TSL, and one of the worse performing in terms of its decline.

The third graph tells the story.

Two years ago Clear Channel average sessions consistently lasted over an hour, some months exceeding 82 minutes.

As of August, TSL had fallen to 32 minutes, a decline of 61%.

If the time spent with mobile devices continues to grow at the expense of traditional computer use, we can expect TSL to continue to decline.

And that could cost radio a lot.

For Pandora who started with zero listeners and zero dollars in sales, the growth in audience more than makes up for the loss of TSL per user.

A loss of TSL for broadcast radio can’t help but hurt revenue.

Radio already reaches more than 90% of Americans. There is no more room to grow cume audience.

To grow AQH and revenue, broadcast radio has to increase TSL. And TSL is headed in the wrong direction.

Radio took a financial hit when AQH ratings dropped in the markets that switched to PPM.

Streaming is likely to be another financial hit as AQH ratings decline even further as people replace their radios with mobile devices.

Think about that next time you hear a promo for iHeartRadio.

¹The 12 groups are Cox, Cumulus, EMF, Emmis, Entercom, ESPN, Greater Media, Hubbard, Radio One, Salem, Townsquare, Univision. Neither CBS nor Clear Channel are included because of their non-broadcast streams.

Arbitron Revenues Rise In Third Quarter 2012

 

October 24, 2012 at 4:25 AM (PT)

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/111761/arbitron-revenues-rise-in-third-quarter-2012

ARBITRON third quarter revenue rose 8.3% to $114.3 million, credited to the nearly completed phase-in of price increases for PPM service and other contractual price increases.  Net income increased from $15.4 million (55 cents/diluted share) to $15.8 million (59 cents/diluted share), a 7.3% increase per share; the 2012 numbers included a 2 cents/diluted share pre-tax, non-cash charge related to an impairment taken on certain internal-use software.  EBITDA fell 0.2% to  $33.5 million, attributed to the impairment charge

President/CEO WILLIAM T. KERR said, "In the third quarter, we announced that ARBITRON and comSCORE will work together on a groundbreaking cross-platform initiative for ESPN.

"We are working to integrate census-level data from PCs, mobile devices, and television set-top boxes with the personal, passive and single-source measurement capabilities of our PPM technology. We plan to track and report the consumption of video, audio and display content across radio, television, PCs, smartphones, and tablets.  Our goal is a new methodology that the media and marketing industry can embrace as the template for the future of cross-platform measurement.

"This initiative is a strong validation of our strategy for cross-platform, and is a direct outcome of the pioneering work ARBITRON delivered in our cross-platform pilot for the COALITION FOR INNOVATIVE MEDIA MEASUREMENT (CIMM).

"Also in the third quarter, we continued to grow our revenue and earnings as we maintained our investments in the value and utility of our core services and continued to invest in the opportunities presented by the emerging markets of mobile and cross-platform."

The company  is reiterating its revenue and earnings per share guidance for 2012, with revenue projected to increase 5-7% and earnings per diluted share to increase 8-15% to between $2.15 and $2.30.

Radio Remains The Third Most Used Media In New eMarketer Survey

 

• October 24, 2012 at 3:52 AM (PT)

   

• 

  TV, Online, Radio Are Top 3

  While slipping slightly, radio still remains as the third most used media per day, based on time spent with the medium, according to new data from eMARKETER. The survey found time spent on mobile devices is up even as the growth in time spent on the desktop Web slows. The research found the amount of time on mobile devices (excluding talk time) will grow 51.9% to an average 82 minutes per day, up from 54 minutes in 2011, and 34 minutes in 2010.

  TV remains the top dog, up from 274 minutes a day in 2011, to 278 in 2012. Online was second, growing from 167 minutes in 2011 to 173 minutes in 2012. Radio was down just 2 minutes -- from 94 in 2011 to 92 in 2012.

  THE FINANCIAL TIMES notes, "The surge in mobile activity comes as growth rates slow for both the time people spend online with their desktop and laptop computers and internet-connected televisions and the dollars marketers spend on online ads. People now spend an average of nearly three hours a day online, and double-digit growth rates are not likely in the future. Consequently, growth in online ad spending has slowed. The U.S. online ad business is expected to increase 13.6% this year to $34.7 billion, after growing 19.6% last year. By 2016, online ad spending should increase just 1.5% to $43.4 billion."

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/111754/radio-remains-the-third-most-used-media-in-new-ema

Copyright: It's Corroding Musical Creativity In America

Copyright: It's Corroding Musical Creativity In America...

Sunday, October 21, 2012
by  niko

Throughout American history, the duration of copyright has gotten longer and longer. The Copyright Act of 1790, which was a copy of the UK's Statute of Anne, granted fourteen years of protection. Fast-forward to 1998, and the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act extended the length of copyright to the life of the composer/artist plus 70 years (or, if the work is of corporate authorship, 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever comes first).  In determining that decision, it was noted that the extension would "provide significant trade benefits by substantially harmonizing US copyright law to that of the European Union while ensuring fair compensation for American creators."   

 

In this article, I propose that today's copyright law is overbearing yet ineffectual, and in dire need of revision.

 

Graph of U.S. Copyright Term History (credit: Thomas W. Bell, licensed under Creative Commons)

 

The US Constitution states that the core purpose of copyright law is "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts" (Article I, Section 8).  Yet paradoxically, empirical analysis has discredited the notion that increased copyright protection correlates with increased creativity.  Research published in the Vanderbilt Law Review, titled Does Copyright Law Promote Creativity: An Empirical Analysis, determined,  

 

"There is little empirical or theoretical support that increasing copyright protection will increase the number of new works created… Lawmakers are more likely to find a relationship between anincrease in the number of new works and those laws that reduce or otherwise limit copyright protection, and even then the relationship is far from guaranteed."  

 

This last point really speaks to today's digital age, where sampling others' works forms such a crucial part of pop music creation. Yet today's system is based on strict prohibition of using copyrighted works, even for creative or interpretive purposes.  There should be a balance between letting artists create and giving credit where it is due.

Besides creating hurdles for today's artists, US copyright law also makes it exceedingly difficult for organizations to build archives to preserve America's musical heritage.  Tim Brooks conducted a study on the availability of historical recordings on behalf of the Library of Congress.  In his report, Copyright and Historical Sound Recordings: Recent Efforts to Change U.S. Law, he points out:

 

"Most historical recordings ever made in the United States are controlled today, primarily by the major recording conglomerates…Even more strikingly, only 14 percent of those historic recordings were made available by the copyright holders."  (Copyright & Historical Sound Recordings, pg 466).  Predictably, that 14 percent is heavily skewed towards the recent past.  Thus, a huge archive of historical works from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including seminal folk songs, spirituals, and other records are trapped and may never become available.    

"Accessing the audio heritage of the U.S., ironically, often requires breaking the law." 

 

Imagine if the same were true for books.  There would be public outcry.  In Britain and much of Europe, sound copyrights go into public domain after just 50 years, allowing countries to preserve their musical heritage.  While there have been talks about addressing this issue, they have so far been fruitless.  

Thus, the only remaining support for such protective copyright is financial, or as the court phrased it, to provide the US with "significant trade benefits."  Yet one must question even this most basic of motives.  More often than not, it isn't artists and their heirs who reap the benefits of the 'Life+70' standard.  Major labels retain ownership of most records, and will hold on to that ownership as long as possible.  

With piracy as rampant as ever, do the provisions of copyright justify the barriers it creates for both artists and the general public?  Moreso, the public still can't freely access seminal recordings that could inspire them to create their own original art. 

Lawmakers should reexamine music copyright law in light of these issues.  Instead of simply lengthening copyright's term, they should consider other methods for fostering creativity, such as providing funding for the arts or requiring songs that do use samples to be made public.  Maybe then American musical creativity can truly progress, and properly be conserved in history.

Como cultivar os fãs certos no Facebook

 

O número de fãs não é tão importante quanto encontrar aqueles que serão defensores da marca

19 de Outubro de 2012 •08:30

+

Consumidores, mesmo em tempos de e-commerce, apreciam ser reconhecidos como “pessoas” Crédito: SXC

O número de fãs que a sua marca pode conquistar é importante, certo? Cada um deles é mais valioso do que seu consumidor normal, gasta mais dinheiro e possui impacto mais significativo nas finanças de sua companhia, não é? Pense novamente.

A ideia de que todos os fãs do Facebook são criados iguais é um mito perpetuado por muitos diretores executivos de marketing que conheci. A confusão que isso cria é uma das razões pelas quais os canais de mídias sociais ainda têm que alcançar os mesmos níveis de sucesso de seus pares móveis.

Estes divulgadores estão confundindo correlação com casualidade. Eles acreditam que atrair uma pessoa a fim de torná-la uma fã no Facebook irá magicamente fazer deste um indivíduo propenso a gastar mais na marca deles. O que vem em seguida é uma campanha designada somente para adquirir novos fãs. Grande erro.

Pense desta maneira. Quando o sol está lá fora em um dia de verão, as pessoas gostam de tomar sorvete. Há uma correlação entre as duas coisas; quando você passa em uma loja de sorvetes em julho e agosto (verão do hemisfério norte), você sempre vê uma fila de fregueses em frente. Mas o sorvete não faz o sol aparecer, assim como um fã no Facebook não faz com que uma pessoa traga a carteira, compre seus produtos e serviços e se torne uma apaixonada defensora da marca.

Isso não é para dizer que os CMOs não devem construir uma base de fãs. A questão é como fazê-lo de modo produtivo. Não existem atalhos. Ganhar a fidelidade do cliente começa com a combinação de um ótimo produto mais a experiência repetida e sem falhas do consumidor. Esta experiência inclui muitos componentes, mas há alguns deles pelos quais sou mais apaixonado:

Personalização. Consumidores não são mais receptivos às velhas táticas de marketing “jogue a isca e reze”. Com isto em mente, estaria você usando as informações que seus clientes lhe dão para que você os conheça como indivíduos? Quais dispositivos eles utilizam mais, em quais negociações estão mais interessados, e quando não efetuam a compra, você sabe o porquê, para que você possa consertar o erro? Como comerciante, eu sei que formar um perfil instantâneo de cada consumidor não é tão fácil como criar uma campanha no Facebook. Mas na posição de consumidor, sei que estou menos inclinado a comprar de um negócio que não me conheça como pessoa.

Dispositivos. Fazer compras já não se trata apenas de ir à loja ou de adquirir itens por meio do PC. Testemunhamos durante a temporada de férias do último ano, um número recorde de pessoas comprando através de dispositivos móveis, inclusive por smartphones e tablets. Consumidores que exigem uma experiência móvel que não seja somente convincente, mas consistente para todos os dispositivos.

Ir ao encontro das necessidades do consumidor coloca você em uma posição de pedir a eles que se tornem fãs no Facebook (se eles já não o fizeram por si mesmos). O que resta a você é algo mais valioso do que uma coleção de indivíduos estáticos que não possuem o menor interesse em sua marca. Bem o contrário: você possui novos canais de engajamento do consumidor habitados por pessoas que você pode seduzir diariamente com ofertas e informação personalizada.

Estes fãs também podem evoluir para o mais novo prêmio de marketing – defensores das marcas dispostos a colocar suas reputações em jogo. Você erguerá uma comitiva de fãs que irão não só desposar seus produtos e serviços, mas também seus valores. Isto é bastante valioso se você considerar que, segundo Nielsen, 90% dos consumidores confiam em recomendações alheias.

Este é o tipo do fã de Facebook no qual todos os CMOs deveriam mirar.

Por Yuchun Lee, vice-presidente de marketing da IBM, para o Advertising Age
Tradução: Isabella Lessa

Read more: http://www.meioemensagem.com.br/home/marketing/noticias/2012/10/19/Como-cultivar-os-fas-certos-no-Facebook--.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mmbymail-geral&utm_content=Como%20cultivar%20os%20fãs%20certos%20no%20Facebook#ixzz29qo54Mns

I'm a Music Industry CEO. And This Is Why I Tossed Your Resume Into the Trash...

 

I'm a Music Industry CEO. And This Is Why I Tossed Your Resume Into the Trash...

Wednesday, October 03, 2012
by  paul

The following comes from Lee Parsons, cofounder and CEO of digital distributor Ditto Music.  He recently posted this position online, and compiled a list of do's and don'ts for landing an interview (and ultimately, a job). 

"I am CEO of Ditto Music, a digital distribution company. Recently we advertised for a customer services / marketing rep at our Nashville office...

I had to work through hundreds of applications so the smallest mistake was enough to make me hit that delete button, and there were some shockers.

Here are my top 20 tips on keeping your Resume out of the recycle bin and landing that interview.

1. Do be Specific.

If you want to work in music because you think it will be “fun” then you should speak to my CTO who can spend 10 hours a day checking spreadsheets. There are many areas of the industry, decide which one you want to work in and save yourself some time.

2. Don't tell me 'I have wanted to work in music since first picking up a guitar.'

Or 'music is my passion.' This makes no sense. Do you want to be a musician or do you want to work in the music industry?

3. Do as much research as possible.

Mike in our support team found out what bands his interviewer was into and was able to find common ground instantly.

4. Don't swear.

The word 'A-hole' counts as swearing. If you use this term then you will sound like an A hole.

5. Do include a great title in your email application.

A lot of people forget or just put 'application.' Take this opportunity to spark our interest.

6. Don't name your file 'My CV'

By the time I have 30 CVs on my desktop named this I have no chance of knowing who is who. Put your name in the file name. Lee Parsons.CV would be fine.

7. Do use PDF files over word files.

These are guaranteed to open on all systems.

8. Don't think that you can avoid sending a CV by sending a photo.

Yes you are very attractive, but that is not going to be enough to get you an interview. I could write another blog on how bad this application was.

9. Do research our competitors.

We want to know you understand the market.

10. Don't tell me that you need a 9-5 while you work on your music career.

11. Do mention that you love my company.

Even if you don't.

12. Don't, under any circumstances, tell me that you don’t understand what we do but are willing to learn.

It takes 30 seconds to read up on our company.

13. Do keep up-to-date with music industry related blogs, as well as writing your own.

14. Don't do Liam Neeson impressions via email.

This happened.

15. Do learn about SEO/social media, etc.

Whether you are going for a job as a label rep or a care salesman, a solid understand of marketing will show that you are here to build your clients business.

16. Don't write and send your cover letter via your iPhone.

I want to think you made the effort to sit down at your computer and write it out. This tells me you probably wrote this on the bus to work this morning.

17. Do keep your Twitter updated.

It's one of the first things I can check to get an insight into who you are.

18. Don't try and be too edgy (swearing / Liam Neeson impressions).

Some things don't translate well over email so be careful.

19. Do mention your experience.

If you don't have any then seek out internships.  An internship at a major label will mostly involve you making tea.  Pick an exciting startup or label and get as involved as much as possible.

20. Don't just look online for jobs.

Go to all networking events in your region. 80% of my friends who own companies ended up employing someone they were recommended through someone else.

My job application is still open. If you think you have what it takes and have read this thoroughly, we'd love to hear from you.

jobs@dittomusic.com

- Lee

Statistical Proof That Pirates Buy More Stuff...

 

Wednesday, October 17, 2012
by  paul

The guy who robs the 7-Eleven rarely returns the next day to buy a Slurpee. But in music, that's exactly what's happening.  In fact, stats now clearly show that pirates buy more Slurpees than law-abiding music fans.   

The following comes from two sources: The American Assembly, a Columbia University think tank, and Statista, which compiled the report's findings. The big takeaway is that P2P users purchased nearly 31 percent more downloads than non-P2P users.

Full research report here.

More Than 10,000 Radio Stations Are Now Taking Legal Action to Lower Their Royalties…

 

from: http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/121017terrestrial?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+digitalmusicnews+%28Digital+Music+News%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Netvibes

 

More Than 10,000 Radio Stations Are Now Taking Legal Action to Lower Their Royalties…

Thursday, October 18, 2012
by  paul

Pandora isn't the only one trying to reduce its payments to musicians and songwriters.  Right now, in a federal courtroom in Philadelphia, a consortium of more than 10,000 traditional radio broadcasters is taking legal action to reduce payouts to songwriters and publishers. And they're focusing their guns on the smallest performance rights collector, SESAC.

Of course, traditional radio stations already enjoy free licenses on recordings.  But this would lower the licensing bill even further.  The action is happening the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where the Radio Music License Committee,Inc. (RMLC) is arguing that SESAC is using loopholes to charge 'exorbitant' rates for performances of its songs.  This is an anti-competitive, anti-trust accusation, based on allegations that SESAC is unfairly leveraging its exclusive catalog rights to force higher payments on 'must have' songs.  "We feel that SESAC's pattern of increasingly exorbitant rates imposed on our industry without resort to a fair process has left us with no other alternative," said RMLC chairman Ed Christian.

But wait: songs cost money, and songwriters deserve to get paid.  So can't SESAC charge whatever it wants?  Not according to the RMLC: the 'fair process' is a reference to much larger collection societies ASCAP and BMI, both of whom are subject to agreements forged with the US Government, specifically 'consent decrees' with the Department of Justice.  SESAC, a privately-held, for-profit group, exists outside of those agreements, and typically forces higher payouts on stations as a result. 

All of which means ASCAP and BMI offer cheaper and more predictable rates (which radio loves), while SESAC pushes - and wins - far higher rates (which of course, radio hates).

So why not simply skip the SESAC songs entirely?  After all, in a free market, if you can't afford to play a song, then you wouldn't play it.   But the RMLC argues that SESAC is purposely opaque about which songs it actually controls, and its catalog is easily mixed into broader station playlists.  That includes songs judged to be critical to station setlists, a situation that gives SESAC lots of leverage to secure greater licensing prices. 

If successful, stations would further reduce their heavily-discounted licensing portfolio.  All of which raises questions about why radio stations need further breaks and government-brokered discounts.  According to the stations, it all makes sense in this economy...

"In recent years, the radio industry has faced a serious challenge in terms of restoring reasonable license fee levels during difficult economic times. The aforementioned ASCAP and BMI settlements achieved much in terms of placing the industry on a sound footing once again but SESAC remains an anticompetitive force in the industry. "

(RMLC statement)

Como as marcas aproveitaram Avenida Brasil

19 de outubro de 2012 · 10h24

As marcas de Avenida Brasil

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Nas ruas de todo o País não se fala em outra coisa. Hoje é o último capítulo da novela Avenida Brasil, da Rede Globo de Televisão. A trama de João Emanuel Carneiro deu vida a inúmeros personagens que povoam o imaginário popular e proporções midiáticas acima dos padrões para a novela. Não à toa, veículos de todo o mundo retratam Avenida Brasil como um fenômeno.

Na esteira deste sucesso de imagem, evidentemente entra o lado comercial. Avenida Brasil talvez seja uma das novelas com o maior número de inserções de merchandising da história da televisão brasileira. Além disso, os anunciantes também disputam segundo a segundo os intervalos comerciais para as suas propagandas.

Para se ter uma ideia da proporção de alcance e adesão da novela, hoje o último capítulo vai ao ar com mais de 500 anunciantes entre empresas nacionais, regionais e locais, que serão transmitidos nas 122 exibidoras da Rede Globo.

De acordo com a Central Globo de Comunicação, o espaço para os intervalos comerciais do último capítulo estão ocupados há aproximadamente dois meses. Entre as empresas que investiram neste horário, existem anunciantes de todos os portes e de diversos segmentos da economia.

Quando o assunto é merchandising, é interessante notar como algumas marcas se infiltraram na trama e fincaram raízes na novela. A Lupo, fabricante de meias e artigos esportivos, por exemplo, investiu 10 milhões de reais para estampar os uniformes do Divino Futebol Clube, time do bairro com diversos jogadores que participam da Trama, incluindo o Jorginho (Cauã Reymond).

No salão de Monalisa (Heloisa Perisse) só se usa chapinhas Taiff. Já a família Tufão tem praticamente uma série completa de carros da Kia. Tufão (Murilo Benício) usa uma SUV Sorento,  Carminha (Adriana Esteves) usou um Optima branco, Max (Marcello Novaes) tinha um Cadenza, Leleco (Marcos Caruso) usa um Carnival, e Jorginho (Cauã Reymond) dirige um Kia Sportage. 

Outra marca que deitou e rolou em Avenida Brasil foi o Itaú, que aproveitou a trama para destacar diversos serviços da empresa e até instalar uma agência no bairro do Divino. Mas se teve gente que se deu bem, por outro lado, propagandas envolvendo personagens da novela também geraram polêmica no universo publicitário.

Um vídeo da Vivo fazendo referência a Tufão causou uma saia justa entre a Globo e o Grupo Newcomm, do publicitário Roberto Justus.  Após tomar conhecimento sobre o material, a emissora solicitou a retirada do vídeo, além de repudiar o ato publicamente e entrar com uma ação no Conar. Justus, por sua vez, teve que pedir desculpas pessoalmente para a emissora e a própria Vivo.

Com informações da Exame e da Folha