US District Judge Sidney Stein, in New York’s Southern District ruled that a host of New York-based copyright infringement lawsuits against OpenAI, Microsoft and others can proceed. Judge Stein rejected efforts by the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, which represents multiple creator groups in California-based lawsuits, to block or consolidate the New York suits. Those suits include author actions led by the Authors Guild, and followed by other groups of authors, as well as the suit filed by the New York Times. The newspaper’s suit was initially thought to be one of the stronger sets of allegations. As Judge Stein noted, […]
Spotify Will Raise Prices to Help Pay for Those Free Audiobook Hours
Spotify plans to raise prices later this year in the US to help cover the cost of the 15 hours of audiobooks per month that they added last year, Bloomberg reports. They also report that Spotify will add a new basic tier with no audiobook hours for $10.99 a month. (That’s the current price for the premium plan that does include audiobooks.) Bloomberg says Spotify will raise prices $1 a month for individual plans and $2 a month for family/multi-user plans in five markets by the end of April, including the UK, Australia, and Pakistan.
As Expected, Silver Lake to Take Endeavor Private Again
Endeavor’s controlling owner Silver Lake confirmed on Tuesday that it will take Endeavor private again, but all outstanding stock for $27.50 a share. It took the company multiple attempts to go public in the first place, finally doing so in 2021 at $24 a share. Though Silver Lake’s press release trumpets the value that has been created for shareholders, most outside investors have not reaped any bonanza from Endeavor. The stock was languishing at below $18 a share last fall when the company said it would explore a sale and Silver Lake indicated it was putting together a proposal to […]
Deals Rebounded In the First Quarter, Led By Strong Six-Figure Reports
Deal reports rebounded in the first quarter of 2024, likely helped by an early convening of the London Book Fair and driven by strong investment in adult books. The gains come in comparison to a lower bar from a year ago, when Harper Collins was dealing with a strike and cutbacks. This quarter’s deal volumes were nearly back to the record total from 2022, and six-figure sales hit a new high. Adult fiction sales set a new record, up 20 percent over last year. Adult nonfiction recovered meaningfully from last year’s lull, gaining 10 percent, though still well off its […]
Barnes & Noble Employees Claim Daunt Has Campaigned Against Union Votes
As workers at a number of individual Barnes & Noble stores vote to unionize — and as the chain itself embarks on a significant expansion of locations this year — employees tell the Guardian that ceo James Daunt has “embarked upon a months-long campaign to dissuade employees from voting in favor” of unionizing. They also “accuse the chain’s management of dragging their heels during contract negotiations.” Jessica Sepple, a bookseller at the flagship New York City store in Union Square, says: “He would come in and essentially try to talk us out of unionizing. The big argument against us unionizing […]
Tattered Cover Tells Bankruptcy Court It’s In Sale Discussions
The board of the owner of the Tattered Cover Book Store, currently in bankruptcy reorganization, announced a decision that “positioning Tattered Cover for sale to a qualified, committed new owner is in the best long-term interests of the company, current investors, employees, suppliers and Colorado’s literary community.” The word “positioning” is quite intentional. They say “the company is in discussions with individuals and businesses across the US” but the press release and a motion with the court to delay their next bankruptcy hearing is designed to elicit “additional interest from other potential buyers as word spreads that Colorado’s iconic independent […]