Skip to content

Culture & Religion — March 20, 2010

(More) Free Music

The free music streaming service that has a library containing over ten millions songs already enjoyed by Europeans is still in negotiations with record companies but hopes to break into America in 2010.

The free music streaming service that has a library containing over ten millions songs already enjoyed by Europeans is still in negotiations with record companies but hopes to break into America in 2010. “A decade after Shawn Fanning unleashed Napster, 26-year-old Daniel Ek is generating tidal waves across Europe with Spotify, a company that offers upward of 10 million songs, streamed free over the Internet. The difference this time is that Spotify is a legal service, sanctioned by the music industry — to a degree. Ek, Spotify’s chief executive, had hoped to launch his service in the U.S. early this year. But he acknowledged that talks with record labels, along with thousands of music publishers and royalty collectors, had bogged down over details. Ek cited the complexity of dealing with numerous rights holders for the delay. Some music executives have questioned whether Spotify’s free, ad-supported service will help the beleaguered industry regain its economic footing. They worry that it could further erode the market for paid music.”

Related

a computer generated image of a human brain.

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

▸

7 min

—

with

jwst Abell 2744 450 million

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Surprising Science

Twenty years on, the Department of Agriculture will beef up its enforcement of laws requiring organic food to be spot checked for pesticides responding to the industry’s rapid growth in recent years.