Grand Theft Auto 3 Now Available for iPhone and Android

As announced, a special Anniversary Edition of Grand Theft Auto III game is now available on iOS (Apple iPhone) and Android devices.

The anniversary edition is nearly identical to the 10-year-old original game, which is widely considered to be one of the most influential games of all time. The gameplay is optimized for touch-screen devices, with resizable custom controls.

There are two major improvements from the original, too: mission retry and autosave mode, which should greatly lessen the chances of players smashing their mobile devices in frustration.

As far as compatibility goes, the game works on the iPhone 4 and 4S, 4th generation iPod touch as well as iPad 1 and 2.

The list of supported Android devices are as follows:

HTC Rezound 

LG Optimus 2x

Motorola Atrix 4G

Motorola Droid X2

Motorola Photon 4G

Samsung Galaxy R

T-Mobile G2x.

On the Android tablet front, Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Dell Streak 7, LG Optimus Pad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1, Sony Tablet S and Toshiba Thrive are supported.

The game is available for $4.99 in the iTunes App Store and Android Market.

source: http://mashable.com/2011/12/15/grand-theft-auto-3-iphone-android/

Hip Hop Sales: Week Ending 12/11/2011

The Roots album undun was the only addition to the Hip Hop charts this week, and has received the highest rating from HipHopDX.com. The 11th studio album by The Roots was actually driven by concept. The group enlisted Big K.R.I.T. and Sufjan Stevens, along with Dice Raw and Phonte to put together the 14 track collection, which totals a little under 40 minutes. The album undun, debuted at the #16 spot. So far, they've sold just under 50,000 units.

Robin Thicke's album Love After War, which feature Lil Wayne, fell amongst the Top 25. T-Pain's rEVOLVEr, released from RCA/Sony Records, hit the #25 spot, and also feature Lil Wayne, Pitbull, and Wiz Khalifa.

Drake's Take Care is on its way to platinum status, concluding the week with just under 970,000 units sold. This puts Drake on his way to now 2 platinum studio release, and a gold mixtape (So Far Gone, 2009). The album features Birdman, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, and Rick Ross amongst others.







The Numbers are as follows:

#7. Drake - Take Care - 73,000 (968,000)

#12. Rihanna - Talk That Talk - 52,000 (318,000)

#16. The Roots - undun - 48,000 (48,000)

#20. Mary J. Blige - My Life II: The Journey Continues 42,000 (270,000)

#21. Robin Thicke - Love After War - 41,000 (42,000)

#25. T-Pain - rEVOLVEr - 34,000 (34,000)

#45. Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch The Throne - 20,000 (1,144,000)

#74. Wale - Ambition - 11,000 (281,000)

#97. Yelawolf -  Radioactive - 8,400 (62,000)

* data comes from Nielsen Soundscan, rounded to nearest thousandth for units above 10,000, nearest hundredth for units below 10,000.

source: http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.17960/title.hip-hop-album-sales-the-week-ending-12-11-2011

Podcast Summaries

I recently listened to a few podcasts on legal issues in the entertainment industry. The following are my summaries:


Episode 17: Can Kanye write songs 140 characters at a time?

A portion of this episode was dedicated to investigating if Josh Groban had been infringing on Kanye Wests' "tweets" by combining them, and then performing a skit on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. Kanye has  not made any attempt of legal action against Groban; this is merely an analysis as to what right he holds based on his "tweets". Twitter's Terms of Service states that users retain all the rights to the content they post. In the Defense of Josh Groban. it was noted that he could argue that the use of the tweets were only for parody. In cases such as Campbell vs. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., parodies were regarded as presumptively fair.

Special Edition: Jonathan Handel: Hollywood On Strike


This episode featured an interview with Jonathan Handel, an attorney, and author of the book Hollywood On Strike. Handel mentioned what went on in 2007-2009. He described it as a "very contentious period", especially for negotiations between the writer's guild, and the screen actor's guild. He also mentioned the business model for different types of media differ greatly, even more so with new media, which often results in a halt in successfully selling new media. The writer's guild was concerned about how this new "medium" was going to benefit, or more importantly, hurt them.

Timbaland Escapes Sampling Lawsuit for "Put You On The Game"

Hip Hop producer Timbaland recently won in an attempt made by Saregama India Ltd., to sue him for sampling a 1967 Bollywood tune for his song "Put You On The Game", for The Game. However, the case rapidly switched from Timbaland having a legal right to sampling the song, to whether the plaintiff (Saregama) had a copyright in the first place.

Today, publishers and songwriters of these songs (e.g. music from Glee), hold all the rights to the use of their music, and profit from sales of these recordings on iTunes and elsewhere, however, old Bollywood movies could have three different owners for a single sound recording copyright. They would each have exclusive rights, but each would be permitted to use the work differently; one to "make any other sound recording embodying [the original sound recording]", another to "to sell or give on hire, or offer for sale or hire, any copy of the sound recording", and another which permitted the owner "to communicate the sound recording to the public".

After reviewing these Indian legal standards, the 11th Circuit concluded that the sound recording rightfully belonged to the producer of Aradhana, not the company which created the music in the first place (Saregama India Ltd.).

This isn't to say Timbaland has a fair use right to use the music, but rather Saregama doesn't have rights to bring the lawsuit.

Sources:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/timbaland-escapes-bollywood-sampling-lawsuit-172250

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.14569/title.timbaland-wins-bollywood-lawsuit-for-put-you-on-the-game-sample

http://www.copyhype.com/2011/06/timbaland-wins-2nd-sampling-lawsuit-in-3-months/

http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/TimbalandTN020.jpg

Hard Rock Memorabilia Showcase

My classmate Tristan and I pictured here in Hard Rock's Memorabilia tour bus. The event was held at Full Sail University.

Interview with the Gasman

I recently interviewed one of my personal friends Jovontae Speights, a producer who goes by the name of “Gasman”. We both attended Full Sail simultaneously doing the Recording Arts program. He then moved back to his hometown Milledgeville, Georgia, where he engineered for a bit, and is now producing local artists full time. Negotiations take place on a daily basis, in and out of the studio. Most of these involve prices for beats, studio time, and rights to the beats produced. With regards to separating the people from the problem, Atlanta has proven to be full of potential clients, yet they tend to be cheap. This may be due to the limited facilities available. By separating the people’s personal issues from the problem of the lack of expensive equipment, Jovontae is more willing to settle for charging less than a more established studio. He uses his technical expertise derived from his education at Full Sail to give him leverage and power. Seeing that he is actually qualified, and Pro Tools certified, he is more likely to have consistent and increasing clientele. His uncle, Alvin Speights, also has a significant reputation in the music industry. This affiliation has furthered Jovontae’s credibility in the eyes of his current and future clients. The mutual benefit is derived from the experienced gained from work, and negotiating. In this industry, experience is key (not only in your specific craft, but selling it as well). His independence demands experience, and a sense of knowledge and expertise on his part. His heavy involvement with music serves as his way of dealing with negative emotions. For many, myself included, music is an outlet for many different emotions, especially negative ones. Some of the greatest songs expressing pain, regret, tragedy, etc. have been created in times of sadness, grief, stress, and painful experiences. His status in the music business is constantly changing; through constant hard work and quality production, success is in the near future.

NBA Lockout 2011: Reasons why Kevin Durant playing overseas shouldn't be an issue.

I recently came upon an article giving a few reasons why Kevin Durant (one of my favorite players) should be able to play abroad, without speculations and criticisms from fans. ESPN, amongst other sports networks, have reported that "Durant is talking with the Turkish club Besiktas and other clubs in Spain and Russia and the NBA lockout looming, it is becoming more and more likely that Durant will not be in a Thunder uniform when the 2011-12 NBA season is supposed to start.

Obviously none of us would blame Besiktas (who have already signed Deron Williams and are said by ESPN to be pursuing Kobe Bryant), but many probably would blame Durant."

Reasons:

1) If you don't use it, you lose it: an athletes career is, obviously, based on the athletic abilities, and the longevity of their career's may also be defined by how active these players stay, and how much they improve over the years. Professional NBA players require more than just practice to remain on top of their game. Competition is key, especially in sports.

2) He's young, and not prone to injury: Durant is 22, and missed only 4 games for the entire year. He's also hasn't missed more than 6 games for the entire season, and shows no signs of slowing down. The leagues overseas tend to be softer as well, and it would definitely be safer for him to be playing in a league than his recent street games.

3) It shows his love for the game: Durant scored 66 points at a game in Rucker park recently. His consistency, and yearning to keep playing only shows his passion for the game itself; not jus his paycheck.

4) He is still growing as a player: The experience overseas can only add to his gameplay and strengthen his maturity faster.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/800911-nba-lockout-2011-five-reasons-why-kevin-durant-playing-overseas-is-just-fine

Warner Music Group CEO Discusses F3Q2011 Results

I recently read an article in the form of a transcript. The participants were all part of WMG; these individuals were Jill Kutrick (Senior VP, Investor Relations), Edgar Bronfman, Jr. (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer), and Steve Macri (Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer). The analysts were various members of different financial institutions. Kutrick began the call, introducing the CEO's and their respective positions. She went on to state that projected expectations would also be included in the report, and warned investors not to rely solely on "forward-looking statements". 

Bronfman proceeded by first mentioning the recent developments at WMG which would help facilitate forward movement in the record industry's transition. He went on to note that "For the first six months of this year the industry saw U.S. album unit sales rise. The first time that’s happened since 2004, which is an encouraging development. And in just the past couple of months we have seen the announcement and introductions of a number of new and exciting digital music services. And the emergence of other products and business models including various cloud based offerings." 

He also mentioned the steps governments and technology partners worldwide are taking to protect copyright. Most importantly, as with any financial discussion, are the actual numbers. Bronfman noted WMG "delivered the greatest U.S. album share growth of 23% between 2004 and 2010 of any major music group", and "(WMG's) U.S. recorded music business grew its digital revenue to 48% of total U.S. recorded music revenue, up from 41% last year. And Warner Music Group’s total worldwide digital revenue grew by 9%".

Macri sufficiently backed Bronfman by further providing more evidence of recent success. "This quarter we delivered solid performance across our businesses. Revenue was largely stable...We reported revenue of $686 million down just 1% year-over-year with international growth of 5% largely offsetting domestic declines. Quarterly digital revenue was $203 million 30% of total revenue. We saw particularly strong growth in global digital downloads, while newer revenue from streaming businesses, such as Spotify also increased." He also went on to mention their targeted cost savings for the following 9 fiscal periods, critical, especially in the economy's current state. He also mentioned a loss on their free cash flow of $36 Million due to investments. 

Overall, they were satisfied with the how the business operated for the period, and stated they were confident of their future plans.

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/285352-warner-music-group-s-ceo-discusses-f3q2011-results-earnings-call-transcript

Seminar Review: Founder & CEO of College Hunks Hauling Junk

I recently attended a seminar at Full Sail University. The guest speaker was Omar Soliman, founder and CEO of the company College Hunks Hauling Junk. The young entrepreneur had given those that attended, concise but informative insight regarding how he and his colleague started the business. Omar grew up in Washington DC, with an indifferent attitude towards school. Despite his perspective, he finished high school, and continued unto the University of Miami. Omar needed income, and subsequently decided to dispose of people's junk with the use of his mother's truck. His first client, while in college, paid him $200 for the job, and gave him an additional $50 tip. He immediately decided this business was lucrative, and went as far as creating a business plan for a competition at the university. Based on one of the judge's last minute decisions 'College Hunks Hauling Junk' won the competition by 1 point. Funnily enough, the cash prize of $10,000 was squandered, but this didn't deter the young businessmen.

The Washington Post did an article on the small business in their metro section. The company quickly went from one or two jobs daily, to seven jobs. Omar and his partner then decided to concentrate on systemizing and marketing the business. As a result, the company managed to make over $1 million in sales during a 2 year period in DC. In 2007, though an expensive process, the owners decided to franchise the business. The first was opened in Orlando, and now there are 35 across the country. The goal of the company is to have at least 250 franchises nation wide, and to be the largest employer of college students in the country.

Omar also left attendees with advice, "although cliche, make sure to have a vision before starting the business." This business is the result of hard work, and perseverance; an excellent idea, spawned into a lucrative business.

Gangster...or Gangsta: Shottas

Heist: HEAT

Picture Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113277/