Is Web radio dead yet? "Black Sunday" (July 15) has come and gone, royalty fees have been marked up by more than 300% for some Web radio stations, and some smaller broadcasters have already shut down, but (gasp!) there is light at the end of the tunnel: SoundExchange, the government-appointed organization that collects royalty fees on behalf of the recording industry, has agreed to continue negotiations on new rates in the hope that an agreement can be reached. The move should come as little surprise, because as the Recording Industry Association of America knows, everybody loses if you charge …

Lloyd Braun, the Hollywood mogul-turned Yahoo outcast, is taking his second stab at a Web venture, teaming up with former Paramount executive Gail Berman to produce original content that gives a "first-look," the right of first refusal, to client Pepsi Entertainment for any ideas the pair produces. Even if Pepsi passes on a project, it might still have a financial interest in whatever Braun and Berman produce. The report is light on details, including financing, compensation and the type of content to be produced. But both sides touted the arrangement as a new kind of marketing-entertainment relationship aimed …

In the video game console wars, worldwide leader Nintendo continues to kick butt. Japan, apparently, is the bellwether, as Nintendo's Wii is trouncing the Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360, with sales of 2.9 million, compared to 1.01 million for Sony and a paltry 420,705 units for Microsoft. The Japanese don't seem to have any interest in the Xbox 360, so Microsoft is pretty much fighting the war on two fronts: the U.S. and Europe. Perhaps that grim reality forced Peter Moore, Microsoft's vice president of Interactive Entertainment, to take a new job with game publisher Electronics Arts, …

Mediabistro was once the place for media professionals to find new jobs and the next industry party offering free booze. Ten years later, it still is, although the site has expanded to include services like news coverage, reports and industry-specific classes. Today, Mediabistro is being sold for $23 million to the New York-based holding company Jupitermedia Corp., whose Web properties are devoted to industry research and stock art and photography. As founder Laurel Touby says: "This company is a true Internet success story." In 1993, Touby came up with the idea of arranging after-work cocktail parties for editors, …

Web Worker Daily columnist Ryan Healy, a self-described member of Generation Y (sometimes referred to as the "Millenial" generation) generation will revolutionize the workplace. He says younger workers want the freedom to do work wherever they are--Starbucks, Barnes & Noble or home, rather than an office. Which brings him to worker compensation: "The days of keeping top employees around with a 5% raise or a promotion to the corner office are dead." Healy says companies should encourage entrepreneurship in the workplace, allowing those who come with ideas the right to own, implement, develop and oversee their projects. He …

It was only a matter of time, but a bevy of new ad-supported services are allowing mobile phone users to stream or download video from the Web for free. And the services are carrier-agnostic. For years, Verizon Wireless and AT&T have sold premium video subscription packages with limited access to programming, like the now-defunct sports highlights package, Mobile ESPN. MyWaves offers hundreds of thousands of videos from content providers, mostly independent submissions or culled podcasts. People gain access to the service by downloading software to their mobile phones. Cellfish is another mobile startup that allows users to upload …

For today's teenagers, email has been replaced by social networking. Teens and analysts agree that kids think email is more suited to keeping up professional relationships or communicating with adults. Kids today are more likely to check MySpace or Facebook than email. For many adults, email is what we're used to--it keeps things simple and professional. But for kids, who grew up with instant messaging, voice-over-IP, text messaging and email, they want to see these services integrated. To a certain extent, each of these can be wrapped up in a social network, along with the ability to add …

Time Warner may be preparing to shed AOL and other properties in an effort to push its stock price to $25, according to a recent report from Pali Capital. Analyst Richard Greenfield raised his rating on TW's stock from "neutral" to "buy," on speculation that the media giant would sell its cable unit and either spin off or sell its AOL Internet division. Greenfield added that Time Warner should get rid of Time, Inc., too. "The synergy between Time Warner's divisions is limited at best; sometimes even creating the risk to destroying value at one division to …

Google on Monday unveiled a new search service for small businesses that lets visitors search for information deep within their sites. At $100 per year, it's pretty cheap. The service will be hosted on Google's computers, but does not require participation in AdSense, the Web giant's advertising network. The idea is to replace companies' existing search engines. The new service, called Google Custom Search Business Edition, is a middle ground between Google's Custom Search Engine, a free ad-supported service that lets visitors search for information within a particular Web site but cannot be customized, and Google Search Appliance, …

Google and Viacom's YouTube-face off heated up last week at the Allen & Company media summit when Google CEO Eric Schmidt vehemently defended his company's policy of taking down copyrighted materials flagged by the owner. Viacom and others believe the Web giant has the resources to filter out copyrighted content altogether, but chooses not to because it benefits from their illegal use. They also complain that the laborious process of copyright identification is both costly and inefficient. At the summit, Schmidt contended that Viacom was "built on lawsuits ... look at their history," he said, referring to a series …