The NY Post reports that investigators are focusing on money as the probable motive behind Jam Master Jay’s murder: COPS want to question an acquaintance of slain disc jockey Jam Master Jay because they think he may have been the lookout for the hit man who executed the pioneer rap …

A personal website doesn’t get much less pretentious or more charming than this one: why Northwest Notes? Because I love almost everything about the Pacific Northwest. I’m a longtime writer and a novice photographer, and I’ve been keeping a journal since 1975. I started the online journal as an incentive …

I am almost always suspicious of appeals to the “good old days” as the appeal typically has an agenda behind it, or reveals some reflexive need on the part of the appealer. For example: “Remember the good old days before the impersonal, featureless interstates cut across the land, killing mom …

As products like this keep coming out, distinctions between broadcast radio, webcasting, P2P, wireless, and your face keep breaking down. This will take years to sort out, but a brand new economic/regulatory paradigm is another day closer to inevitable. You simply cannot stop technical innovation. It isn’t a question of …

New Scientist reports on P2P network studies: A US bill proposed in July 2002 would give copyright holders the legal power to attack the computers of file sharers suspected of piracy. Experts say it would be relatively easy to log on to a network and deliberately overload suspected users with …

Dudes aren’t digging AOL’s Johnny Appleseed approach to CD distribution. If you plant them will communities grow? BBC has the story: A campaign to collect one million AOL CDs has got off to a good start. The two Californian men who kicked off the campaign have now gathered more than …

Fascinating WSJ article about al Qaeda on the web: prosaic, pervasive, dangerous, ultimately a failure – just like al Qaeda itself. Here’s how it ends: Much of the software on the Kabul computer was pirated. This included a program that muttered Bism Allah (“in the name of God”) each time …

Covington, KY bar ordered to pay $9000 for copyright violation involving the performance of 12 songs. The Kentucky Post reports: U.S. District Court Judge William Bertelsman in Covington ordered Peacox Inc., which operates Peacox Bar and Grill on Donaldson Road, and two of its officers to pay a total of …

On his new thefutureof.net site, Gerd Leonhard predicts these things for the future of the music business: CD prices will drop to $ 5 (and less) Mechanical Royalties and Performance Royalties will be integrated, and revenue sharing schemes will replace today’s fee schedules Record stores will no longer focus on …

More “synergy.” Idol’s 19 company certainly isn’t the only one to stack the deck in its favor. Check out this story on Disney radio from the LA Times: Among radio broadcasters across the country, Hilary Duff’s sugary pop tune “I Can’t Wait” has fallen completely flat. A single station — …