Los Angeles - ArtistDirect, a provider of music and movie information and owner of anti-piracy firm MediaDefender, announced that it has made significant changes to its capital structure, which included paying off senior debt, converting subordinated debt to common stock, and securing a new credit facility with Pacific Business Capital Corporation.

Los Angeles - MediaDefender, an anti-piracy firm often hired by record labels to seed file-sharing networks with "spoof" media files, is also earning money from the labels by distributing authorized copies of legitimate songs from their artists on file-sharing networks, to the tune of $560,000 in 2007, TorrentFreak reported. The advertising-supported free downloads reportedly include tracks by Kanye West and Timbaland, with the latter sponsored by McDonald's as part of a contest to win free concert tickets and backstage passes.

Seattle - The investigations being conducted by copyright holders on file-sharing networks to discover instances of infringement are flawed, and can mistakenly identify innocent parties, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Washington. The researchers monitored file-sharing activity on the BitTorrent network last year, and in the course of their study received 206 complaints of infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) -- even though their machines transferred no illegal files.

Los Angeles - The FBI is reportedly investigating MediaDefender, an anti-piracy firm often hired by record labels and movie studios, after the company allegedly initiated a denial of service attack last weekend against Revision3, a legitimate online TV network. In a blog post, Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback recounted the events, noting that the attack focused on the server the company uses to seed content on the BitTorrent file-sharing network -- which also happens to be used for illegal file-sharing.

New York - Hackers have posted on file-sharing networks and websites what appear to be thousands of corporate e-mails and recorded phone calls from MediaDefender, an anti-piracy firm hired by record labels and movie studios.

Santa Monica, Calif. - ArtistDirect, an independent music destination and provider of anti-piracy technologies, said on Wednesday that Universal's Suretone Records has signed on to use its MediaDefender platform that encourages users on illicit peer-to-peer networks to download legitimate files. The technology directs users seeking files from Suretone artists like Weezer and The Cure to Suretone-branded exclusive files. The deal will also establish a Suretone video channel on ArtistDirect.com, which claims 15 million monthly U.S. visitors and 40 million worldwide.