Choruss

"Tens of Thousands" of Students Apply to Test Choruss Legal P2P

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 11, 2009 - 12:26pm.
Washington - Digital music industry veteran Jim Griffin says that "tens of thousands" of students have signed up to pay for a proposed legal peer-to-peer file-sharing network, called Choruss, that would be offered at U.S. universities, The Register reported. Griffin told attendees of the World Copyright Summit in DC that Choruss intends to test pricing schemes at schools this year, before approaching ISPs with data on how users respond to the music service. "The plan is to use next school year to run tests and experiments," Griffin said. "We've had students tell us it's worth $20 a month -- to share what they want to share."

Guest Column: The Making of a Music Industry in China

Authored by Hal Bringman on June 4, 2009 - 7:36am.

Unlike the U.S., where copyright conundrums abound, China has a chance to create a music industry with a completely fresh approach to copyright consumption. I was recently invited to join the American delegation attending the International Creative Industries Summit in Shanghai, China.  The intensive two-day summit, which occurred April 21-22, 2009, was   poised to be a historic event to witness.  For me, it was rife with irony and provided a fascinating contrast to the "established" western music industry.  

Buzz Watch: Transcript of Jim Griffin's Keynote at Digital Music Forum East

Authored by Jay Baage on February 27, 2009 - 8:49am.

New York - For the past year, Jim Griffin has advised Warner Music Group on digital distribution and licensing models with the goal of bringing an end to the litigation that has put a wedge between the major labels and their customers and replacing it with a regular flow of income for right holders. The project known as Choruss, which is being incubated at Warner and is planned to be rolled out as a non-profit with Griffin at the helm, proposes to build a small music-royalty fee into university tuition payments received from students, and, if successful, could be expanded to make ISPs the collector of the fees. For those of you who were not able to attend DMW's Digital Music Forum East this past week, here is a complete transcript of his interesting keynote presentation:

DMFE: 'The First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All The Lawyers'

Authored by Paul Sweeting on February 26, 2009 - 9:26am.

New York - Fascinating keynote at the Digital Music Forum East this morning from Jim Griffin, an advisor to Warner Music Group and head of the Choruss initiative. I'm getting a text of his speech and will post. But suffice to say he delivered a smackdown to Rick Carnes and Chris Castle over their criticisms of Choruss which ran in op-ed that appeared in Content Agenda and other publications.

Report: Several Major Labels Back College "Music Tax" Proposal

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 9, 2008 - 11:56am.

San Francisco - Three of the four major record labels have signed on to back Choruss, an independent nonprofit organization that would collect and distribute monies paid by universities and Internet service providers for blanket digital music licenses, Wired.com reported, citing an industry source.