Consumer Cyclicals

Cruise Ship Terminal Finances Terrified Port Director

The news that the city's nascent cruise ship terminal could well lose the city boatloads of money is disturbing -- but hardly unanticipated. Last year, SF Weekly obtained a January 2012 e-mail from Port of San Francisco Director Monique Moyer to members of her staff lamenting the proposed cruise shi ... More >>

Record Peddler: Speculators Make a Mockery of Record Store Day

[Record Peddler is an occasional column by Sam Lefebvre on life and music as viewed from behind the counter of an independent record store.] Record Store Day is an internationally recognized, annual event in which record labels release special titles, often in limited quantities, that are only avai ... More >>

Clogging the Courts With Technological Nonsense

Let's take a quick romp through a few recent examples of tech jackassery in the legal system: First, the Supreme Court has declined to review the case of Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Brainerd, Minn., woman who is one of the more notable victims of the Recording Industry Association of America's insane ... More >>

Napster-Hating Metallica Comes to Jesus, Er, Spotify

Nearly 13 years after suing Napster, the filesharing site that started it all, the grouchy old men of Metallica have had a come-to-Jesus of sorts with the power of the Interwebz: Today, drummer Lars Ulrich announced that Metallica's music will be coming to Spotify. He even gave Napster co-founder a ... More >>

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Money Shot: What L.A.'s Condom Requirement Could Mean for S.F.

Art of Gold

Viacom's Insane Move to Yank Shows From The Web

Viacom's decision to yank its programming from the Web last week as a tactic in its dispute with DirecTV was absolutely insane. The last people to realize this fact were Viacom's executives. As of Tuesday, the company had restored The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Since it's the middle of summe ... More >>

The Copyright Standoff: Technology Pits Bad Rules vs. No Rules

Local Author Accuses Sony of Stealing His Book to Make Movie

It appears that Sony has gotten so comfortable making movies from stories derived from comic books that it now has allegedly moved onto bigger things: Adapting novels. And while Sony had the rights to put Spider-Man on the big screen, the media company had no right ripping off this Berkeley man's no ... More >>

"Brave": Courageous Family Film Feels Bold as Its Name

"Brave": 3D Family Film Feels Bold as Its Name

The Tower Records Project Wants Your Help Remembering the Former Record Retail Giant

If you're one of those music fans who actually buys recordings -- instead of, you know, downloading your entire library out of ignorance, stupidity, and/or laziness -- chances are you remember Tower Records, the iconic, Sacramento-based chain whose abandoned locations still haunt certain San Francis ... More >>

The Summer Movie Rises: Twenty Films to Watch Out For

"Battleship": Soak up the Beautiful Bombast

Five Promising Record Store Day Releases From Bay Area Artists

The list of limited edition releases being ushered out for Record Store Day 2012 considerably dwarfs those of previous years. This coming Saturday, April 21, independent music retailers will be the sole purveyors of a variety of goods arranged with (hopefully) meticulous preparation, and curatorial ... More >>

No More Cheap Gas at Safeway?

The price at the pump could get even pricier -- but only at your local Safeway store. An Alameda County judge has "hinted" that he will block Safeway stores from offering cheaper gasoline to their Club Card members and loyal shoppers across the Bay Area. And you can thank the surrounding fuel statio ... More >>

Politically Driven

Copyright Owners Continue to Tilt at Windmills

​Given the intensity of the debates over digital piracy, you'd almost think that if one side or the other were to "win," the question would be decided: If critics of copyright holders were victorious, piracy would run rampant and the media industry would be brought to its knees; if the copyright o ... More >>

The Cup Runneth Over: S.F.'s America's Cup Decision Looms

Image Is Everything

Meet Linda Chorney, the Unknown Singer-Songwriter Who Got a Grammy Nomination

By J. POET The Grammy Awards usually generate an tidal wave of press releases aimed at congratulating the usual superstars for their achievements. This year, there was a refreshing bit of controversy when singer-songwriter Linda Chorney was nominated for Best Americana Album for her Emotional Jukeb ... More >>

Sorry, Twitter, if You're in the Media Business, You're a Media Company

​Given how Silicon Valley moguls flee from the term "media company," you'd almost think it was as bad as "child-porn merchant." But whether they like it or not, companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter are media companies. They don't have precisely the same business models as News Corp., Disne ... More >>

49ers Season Tickets Will Require $30K Fee

​The NFL is a hell of a business. Niners fans, paying an exorbitant amount for season tickets, will now be required to plink down tens of thousands of dollars in order to have the privilege of paying even more for tickets in the 49ers yet-to-be-constructed stadium.Fans sitting in the "club level" ... More >>

Hacker Group Anonymous Takes Up Arms in SOPA Battle

​The "hacktivist" network known as Anonymous has stepped into the fray in the battle among legacy media companies, Internet firms, and politicians over the federal Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).The controversial proposed legislation would make it more difficult for websites to display pirated cont ... More >>

MySpace Says It's Bringing TV to the Web -- But It Isn't

​Specific Media, now the owners of MySpace, took Justin Timberlake on stage with them Monday night at the Consumer Electronic Show, and with a lot of fanfare, they announced ... essentially nothing. The purported big news is that MySpace is revolutionizing television by bringing it to the Web an ... More >>

The RIAA Responds Lamely to Claims of Piracy Advocates

​TorrentFreak, a news site that basically supports illicit downloading, last week used a half-assed ISP-lookup service to conclude that employees of both the Recording Industry Association of America and the Department of Homeland Security had downloaded illicit copies of various copyrighted works ... More >>

The Recording Industry Makes Itself Look Stupid Yet Again While Battling Piracy

​Over at Dan Mitchell's Digital Tremors column on our news blog, the Snitch, there's an interesting debate brewing over the recording industry's response to some piracy advocates' claims that its employees downloaded music and other files illegally. Mitchell's take is that while disputing thes ... More >>

The Lighter Side of India's Deities

Google Thumbs Nose at Antitrust Regulators

​You can't say Google doesn't have balls. Despite increasingly heavy antitrust scrutiny by the federal government, the Internet behemoth is charging ahead with a deal that brings all kinds of potential for cornering a market. It will pay $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility, a leading maker of hand ... More >>

South Bay Store Manager Accused of Filming Female Shoppers in Dressing Room

passing time at work ​In May, SF Weekly told readers about Nicholas Springer, the 26-year-old "pervert" who was busted filming up women's skirts and dresses at a downtown farmer's market in Marin. Now, we are going to tell you about another alleged peeping tom in the South Bay. David Meyer, a 29-y ... More >>

The Cool Kids: Cool with Recording for Mountain Dew

San Francisco’s Blue Period

Amazon to Cut Out California Associates over Sales Tax Dispute

Nice little business you've got going there. It would be a shame if anything happened to it​Internet retail giant Amazon.com informed California-based Web sites, which make money via referring buyers, that they'll soon be cut out if the state forces the Amazon to pay sales tax, as proposed in the ... More >>

Pandora Goes Public for $3 Billion. Happy Face?

Ninety million users, zero profits.​First, a word of congratulations to Pandora, the Oakland-based Internet radio service whose initial public stock offering today resulted in a nearly $235 million windfall to its investors. The company is now valued at $3 billion. You can buy its stock on the New ... More >>

Unpacking Pandora's 'Risk Factors'

​Every time a company offers stock to the public, it must submit a form called an S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The form must provide a prospectus, which includes financial information as well as the risks potential investors would face in buying shares. Because lawyers and accoun ... More >>

June's Literary Events

Record Store Day Is Christmas for Music Retailers

Claim: Limewire's Shutdown Reduced Music Piracy by 7 Percent

​The nationally-recognized market research nerds NPD Group just released their latest poll, which suggests the shutdown of the file-sharing application Limewire this past October reduced peer-to-peer-based music piracy in the U.S. by a significant 7 percent. Wait, that many of you were still ... More >>

The Recording Academy Vows To Change the Grammys' Boring Ways

The Recording Academy​Remember when Steve Stoute took out that full-page ad in the New York Times after the Grammys a couple of weeks ago? Well the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was listening, as it's issued a public statement, co-signed by Stoute, promising to change its bo ... More >>

Pomplamoose Calls the Tune

No record deal? No CDs? No problem. How Pomplamoose is modifying the music industry.

A Postcard from the Future

Or, how 2011 was the year everything changed in music.

Michael Jackson, Zombie

The dark art of posthumous releases

Radical Shopping

KPFA Axes Its Morning Show, Drama Ensues

Time for more controversey at KPFA...​Any Berkeley journalist comes to dread two assignments: the school board and KPFA. It's difficult to cover any of the myriad twists and turns of KPFA and Pacifica Radio's salvos at one another without tumbling down the rabbit hole and tracing everything back t ... More >>

Stopping piracy: How ultracheap downloads could save the music industry

Fenton's Creamery is Hosting an UP Party

Pixar​One of the most endearing aspects of Pixar's incredibly charming digital 3D flick UP is how Oakland ice cream institution Fenton's Creamery (4226 Piedmont at Entrada, Oakland) is one of the chief draws back to land for the balloon-flying main characters, a place of great sentimental importan ... More >>

Whipped and Gagged

Is government spending obscene? Well, it paid to train S&M filmmakers.

Jackpot

How four tiny Indian tribes, with help from powerful gambling interests, are trying to transform the Bay Area into a slot machine Mecca