Tech

In a significant and much-needed collaboration, the two leading performing rights organizations (PRO) in the U.S. — ASCAP and BMI — have teamed to launch a new data platform called Songview which provides a more transparent view of copyright ownership and administration shares for most of the music (both songs and other music compositions) licensed

Laverne Cox will be in the interviewer’s chair for her first podcast, a weekly series from Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland Audio and iHeartMedia. “The Laverne Cox Show” (working title), hosted by the “Orange Is the New Black” star, is slated to debut in February 2021. Each week, the show will feature Cox’s conversations with guests who

Dionne Warwick has become the viral Twitter phenom nobody knew they needed to close out 2020. The iconic 80-year-old hitmaker joined Twitter in 2012, but only recently has become a bona fide Twitter star. From asking Chance the Rapper why he put “rapper” in his stage name and calling out The Weeknd to sending good

Despite the odd police bust at a mansion party, YouTubers have struggled like many other content creators amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Though Hollywood has gingerly proceeded with production — only to see subsequent shutdowns — prolific YouTubers face their own restrictions when it comes to filming beyond their front-facing cameras. Play.Works, a 10-year old company

Twitter has added a new label on President Donald Trump’s tweets containing inaccurate information on the presidential election results. Trump’s tweets disputing Joe Biden’s election victory now include a label clarifying that “election officials have certified Joe Biden as winner of the U.S. Presidential election.” The bold text is linked to Twitter’s official election page,

The news this week that HBO Max — finally — was coming to Roku was welcomed by millions of the device maker’s customers, eager to stream the WarnerMedia service on their TVs and catch “Wonder Woman 1984” when it premieres on Christmas Day. But there’s a wrinkle for some Roku users who want to get

¡Ay, caramba! Now you can learn the secrets of the voice-acting trade from Nancy Cartwright, who’s provided the iconic voice of Bart on “The Simpsons” for more than 30 years. Cartwright, an Emmy-winner actor who has worked more than 100 animated shows, this week launched a virtual online class on voice acting through e-learning platform

Andy Taylor, one of the pioneers of the U.K. digital space, has died from cancer. He was 50. Taylor began his career as a lawyer, but went on to hold several senior positions in media. The executive was managing director of Victoria Real — one of the first companies to help integrate the web and interactive

Hulu is now streaming a collection of warm fuzzies from The Dodo, the internet-first animal content powerhouse. Hulu on Friday launched 40 20-minute episodes of fan-favorite series from Group Nine Media’s The Dodo. The selections include “Comeback Kids,” “Reunited,” “Best Animal Friends,” “Adoption Day,” “Rescued!” and “First Taste of Freedom.” Collectively, the six series have

After “Cyberpunk 2077” users have complained about numerous bugs in game in the week since its release, Sony pulled the title from its online store “until further notice.” Sony also said it will provide full refunds to customers who purchased the game. The highly anticipated action role-playing game, starring Keanu Reeves, was created by developer

For “Queer Eye” star Karamo Brown, quarantine gave him a chance to make like Marie Kondo and remove anything that doesn’t spark joy in his life. To give back this year, Brown will host “Karamo’s Christmas Spectacular,” an Instagram Live sponsored by Zelle, Thursday at 4 p.m. PT. During the stream, he will give out

The Game Awards garnered a whopping 83 million livestreams for its 2020 ceremony, marking record viewership for the annual show and a whopping 84% increase from last year’s 45.2 million livestreams. The show, which saw “The Last of Us Part II” take home game of the year, peaked at 8.3 million concurrent viewers globally. The

Wonder Woman and HBO Max are giving Roku a power-up on Wall Street. On Thursday, shares of Roku were up over 5% in early trading coming the day after the company announced a pact with AT&T’s WarnerMedia to add HBO Max to its streaming devices following months of haggling. Roku’s stock was above $340 per

In a management shakeup at top Middle East broadcaster MBC Group, CEO Marc Antoine d’Halluin has stepped down. The executive has been replaced by his predecessor, Sam Barnett, who is returning as CEO following his resignation in December 2019 after 17 years with the company. Marc Antoine d’Halluin is not leaving MBC, however, having now been appointed

When it comes to music, TikTok is not your usual platform, so it’s not surprising that its first year-end report has a different approach. And considering the company’s famous secrecy, it’s also not surprising that the data supporting many of the lists in its year-end report is a little vague. Thus, we were pleasantly surprised

Netflix named Strive Masiyiwa, founder and chairman of telecom and tech company Econet Group, to its board of directors. Masiyiwa’s appointment to the streamer’s board comes a week after Susan Rice, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said she was relinquishing her Netflix board seat to join president-elect Joe Biden’s administration as of Jan. 20,

Roku and WarnerMedia have reached an agreement for the distribution of the HBO Max on the Roku platform — nearly seven months after the streaming service launched. HBO Max will be live on Roku effective tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 17, the companies announced. The deal gives the streaming service coverage on all major over-the-top platforms. Its

Would you listen to all six and half hours of Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit” on your headphones? Netflix is toying with giving customers a podcast-like experience for its streaming content: It has launched a test of an audio-only option for mobile devices, initially for Android, that lets users disable video and listen to the audio

Twitter hired Beverly Jackson, a digital marketing veteran with over two decades of experience, as VP of global brand and consumer marketing. Most recently, Jackson was with Activision Blizzard as VP of franchise communication and social. She previously held similar roles at MGM Resorts International, Yahoo and the Recording Academy, where she shepherded social and

HBO Max is now available on PlayStation 5, Sony’s next-generation videogame console — which has been in scarce supply since it went on sale last month. News of the deal between WarnerMedia and Sony Interactive Entertainment to bring HBO Max to the PS5 comes a day after Comcast announced the rollout of the streaming app

For Shinji Mikami, 2020 marks more than one milestone. For one, it sees him celebrate 30 years in the gaming industry, as he joined Capcom in 1990. And Mikami’s footprint across those 30 years is a big one; he earned his title as “the godfather of horror games” when he directed the first “Resident Evil,”

The media and entertainment industry’s rapid shift to streaming video will certainly lead to winners and losers. And Thomas Dey, president and CEO of ACF Investment Bank, predicts that networks and services that are stuck between those with massive scale and those with niche audiences will get “washed away.” On the latest episode of Variety‘s

Another front in the war between Facebook and Apple has erupted. The two tech giants fighting over Apple’s move to implement a new opt-in requirement for users with iOS 14 devices to grant permission to be tracked for advertising purposes. Facebook is framing the dispute as one that will harm millions of small businesses that

Google and Apple reached an agreement that will bring the Apple TV app — including the Apple TV Plus subscription service — to the newest Chromecast device. Google didn’t provide specific timing on when Apple TV will go live on Chromecast, saying only that the app will be available “early next year.” The company said

To say that 2020 has been a ground-shifting year, would be to minimize all of the profound sorrow, loss and upheaval that these past 12 months have sowed. One of the most confounding aspects of this cataclysmic year has been how ubiquitous the pain has been spread, whether it was from the public health crisis

Spotify is now shipping NPR’s podcasts worldwide. The streaming-audio company inked a deal with NPR to distribute 26 podcasts — including “NPR News Hour,” “Planet Money,” “Car Talk” and “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” — outside the U.S. A few NPR shows that are available on Spotify U.S. aren’t part of the international-distribution pact, including

Twitter announced that it will phase out Periscope, the live-streaming video app it bought more than five years ago, by March 2021. Twitter bought the startup behind Periscope in January 2015 in a deal reportedly worth up to $100 million, betting that personal video live-streaming would be a complement to its main social service. According

Lana Condor, Michael J. Fox, Jack Black and more make appearances on the Merry and Bright Holiday Celebration benefit for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and The Ronald McDonald Houses of New York and Los Angeles. The fundraiser, which premieres Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET and will stream for free until Dec. 21 on Brightcove,

The 2021 Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier program will showcase 14 VR and new media projects from across the globe — and, fittingly, they’ll be housed in a custom-built immersive, interactive experience. “In a certain sense, New Frontier was built for this moment,” said Shari Frilot, senior programmer at Sundance and chief curator of New

NBCUniversal has given executive Jimmy Horowitz a big boost across its content portfolio. Horowitz has been named vice chairman of NBCUniversal business affairs and operations, effective immediately. He previously served as a vice chair in the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, but will now expand his dealmaking to NBCU’s streaming and TV arms. In addition to