links for 2010-08-04

"The UK music industry grew 4.7 per cent last year, according to the PRS annual survey. What's remarkable is that consumers spent pretty much the same in 2009 as they did in 2008 - while computer game sales fell 11 per cent, and DVD movie sales fell 10 per cent". Just imagine, if only the music industry could crack this piracy problem that has been killing their industry, they'd almost have a viable business there, with seemingly recession-proof £3.9bn value and all that...

"Google announced starting on September 14th, UK, Canadian and Ireland advertisers can use trademarked keywords in their ad text. In addition, advertisers on September 14th can now select trademarks as keywords to bid on and then use those keywords in their ad text."

"Video consumption across multiple platforms is a now a global phenomenon. Consumers in all regions are proving their insatiable appetite for video information and entertainment – thus far adding screens to their media mix, not replacing them. To get a better sense for how the world is watching video, today, Nielsen recently completed a survey of more than 27,000 online consumers in 55 countries, asking simple questions about how they watch video."

At the time of bookmarking, the AEJMCnews poll was going the way of the barbarians at the gates. Of all 32 people who voted, 88% of them either said "Yes" to the question 'Do you consider bloggers legit journalists?' or "Sure - Everyone's a journalist these days"

"One of the things I found so interesting about blogs, which actually got me blogging in the first place, was the way in which so much more information is available to us now. Whereas previously you'd suspect that a newspaper might be telling porkie pies about something, but couldn't be bothered to spend half your life in a dusty library finding out whether that was true or not, now the proof is readily at hand. You can go straight to the source material yourself, instantly, and see for yourself. It's pretty liberating. You can see which quotes have been taken out of context, which facts have been carefully ignored, and which quotes or facts have been hammered into shape to fit the desired narrative. Of course what that should mean is that journalism would improve".

"It’s implausible, the more I think about it the more it explains a great deal about the internet, and to be honest it frightens me a little. But the only conclusion I can come to is that Stephen Murray can write but not read."

"Today I call for the newspaper industry itself to completely ban all blatant sex ads". Hear hear! Even if the majority describe legal services, they simply do not suit what should be the style of regional and local papers.

"Journalism is a very difficult profession to get into, but I don’t have a negative outlook on the industry. It is competitive because the journalists and editors I met really love what they do. It became clear to me over the course of that day how exciting journalism is. The world around us is constantly changing, and it is our job to report on these changes; taking you to different places and talking to different people each day". Genuinely cheered me up when I read that.