Record labels and artists might think they're going to recoup some of the revenue lost to music piracy thanks to higher online royalty rates, but Web radio may die in the wake of a recent court decision. And piracy isn't going away, either. It's still the music industry bugaboo, but terrestrial radio giant Clear Channel Communications has a new outlook on music piracy. The company's Premiere Radio Networks unit has begun marketing data on music piracy to help radio stations shape their playlists. It's a great idea, because it gives stations' an idea about what's popular with 18-34s, …

Nielsen/NetRatings' decision to deal a deathblow to the page view is receiving a mixed response from online advertising experts. Most agree that in a post-Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) world, innovation with respect to measurement is key to progress, but as James Kiernan, vice president of digital media and innovation at MediaVest USA says, "Just to take away that metric, which media buyers have been relying on, is surprising" and perhaps a little premature. Kiernan's concerns were echoed by IAB General Manager Sheryl Draizen, who said, "I don't think we've done enough work yet to come up with what …

In the technology sections of major business publications, it's all about video games this week. Why? The Electronic Entertainment Expo--for many, still the industry standard--is underway. Which means the big boys of video games are ready to take the wraps off new games, features and hardware, while stats-masters like NPD Group are ready to tell investors, gamers and reporters what's hot and what's not. To the latter point, NPD reports that in the U.S., Microsoft, which had a one-year head-start over its competitors, has sold about 5.6 million Xbox 360s, compared with 2.8 million for Nintendo's Wii and 1.4 …

Apple's decision to sign a long-term iPhone partnership with AT&T was the best it could do, given the woeful state of the U.S. wireless industry, which is interesting. Consumer groups give AT&T giving low marks for customer service, and the Edge network, which the iPhone runs on, isn't even its fastest offering. Apple was thinking ahead in choosing AT&T over Verizon Wireless, purveyor of the strongest nationwide wireless network. For starters, Verizon wouldn't cede control to Apple on crucial elements like hardware and software design. For another, the electronics maker was faced with the choice of embracing either the …

Unnamed sources on Tuesday told Internet Outsider Henry Blodgett that Microsoft is eyeing a $6 billion takeover of Facebook--an unconfirmed rumor the former Internet industry analyst says makes sense. He writes: "Steve Ballmer, desperate and furious, sick of sucking wind in the Internet game, sick of losing every Internet in-play company and much of the future to You Know Who ... should ... scoop up "the hottest company on earth." But $6 billion? Surely Michael Zuckerberg and co. have bigger plans than to sell out for $6 billion, which Blodgett notes is about 1/25 of Google's valuation. …

Google is taking its second stab at online gaming, announcing on Thursday a partnership with Universal Pictures to heavily feature services like Search, Maps, Images and YouTube in an online game for the upcoming action flick, "The Bourne Ultimatum." The game is inspired by all three "Bourne" films and launches this Monday in seven countries as part of the film's massive marketing push, two weeks ahead of its Aug. 3 launch. The game features clips of the new film and offers a sweepstakes element for those who complete the initiative. Among the prizes are a 2008 Touareg 2 …

Microsoft's bold move to offer prizes to users of MSN Live Search is paying off: for the first time since its inception (almost), MSN Search is showing growth. According to Web metrics firm Complete, MSN's search volume increased a whopping 67%, from 8.4% of total search queries in May to 13.2% in June. Perplexingly, the Information Week report doesn't include Complete's numbers (perhaps there weren't any to publish) for Google and Yahoo, but it does mention data from Amazon's Alexa, showing that Google's search volume fell from 67% of total queries in May to 62.7% in June. Yahoo's share, …

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin on Tuesday confirmed that the organization would set aside nearly a third of the spectrum it will sell in a $15 billion auction for the creation of an "open" nationwide wireless network. The mandate, part of the FCC's draft rules for the auction, is seen as a big win for Web giants like Google and eBay, which have clamored for the creation of a network free from the constraints imposed by large telecom operators like AT&T and Verizon. An open network would allow a new entrant into the wireless market that could, as …

The news from the U.K. today shows that MySpace -- in about 12 months -- has easily catapulted to the top of the social networking pile, attracting more than 10 million visitors in the U.K. last month, more than double second-place Bebo, with 3.96 million uniques, and Facebook, 3.2 million. However, in a separate study, GroupM media forecasters said that the surging popularity of social networks in Britain is proving to be a drain on the growth of Web advertising. Why? Two reasons: one, consumers are spending more time social networking at the expense of professional news and entertainment …

With all the copyright attention focused firmly on YouTube, it seems Google has conveniently forgotten about copyright violations on Google Video, the Web giant's other online video property. The Hollywood Reporter says that among other titles it easily found Walt Disney Pictures' "Cars" and "Meet the Robinsons," Picturehouse's "Pan's Labyrinth," and HBO's "Da Ali G Show during a recent search at video.google.com on Monday -- along with Michael Moore's "Sicko," which had been taken down after much press coverage of its first appearance on the site. Meanwhile, the National Legal and Policy Center on Tuesday released a …