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http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0928/1224324532192.html BUSINESS INTERVIEW: As executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands, Dubliner Dermot McCormack is confronting head-on the challenges all media companies face in an ever-changing digital landscape IT'S HARD TO know what to envy Dermot McCormack for most - his 17th-floor, corner office (the sign, in America, at least, that you have truly arrived) overlooking Times Square, or the fact that Bono has a nickname for him: Digital Dermot from Dublin. To be fair, he has earned it. McCormack is now executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands - including MTV itself, VH1, Country Music Television (CMT) and Logo TV. "My job is to move these cable TV brands into new platforms, expand the brands, expand the audience and make money while I'm doing it," says McCormack - who is originally from Ballyfermot - as though this were easy peasy. Few know quite as well as him, however, just how tricky the internet can be. An early pioneer of new media in the 1990s, McCormack was around for the dot com bubble (the first one, as some would argue). In fact, he was right at the heart of it. Having moved to New York in the early 1990s (the day after he graduated from DIT Kevin Street with a degree in electronic engineering - "My poor Mom," he says. "I never came back!"), McCormack was among those who built some of the earliest websites. Eventually, he went to work in advertising for the hottest new things around at the time - a website called iVillage.com. (So early on in the web age was this that McCormack talks about having approached Toyota about web advertising before the company had any sort of presence on the internet.) The iVillage group of websites still exists today, but you would be hard pushed to find any sign of the fact that, when the company went public in 1999, it was the biggest IPO in history. Shares in the comp

http://myblackhawkminesmusic.posterous.com/black-hawk-mines-music-mtv-boss-bono-calls-di BUSINESS INTERVIEW: As executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands, Dubliner Dermot McCormack is confronting head-on the challenges all media companies face in an ever-changing digital landscape IT'S HARD TO know what to envy Dermot McCormack for most - his 17th-floor, corner office (the sign, in America, at least, that you have truly arrived) overlooking Times Square, or the fact that Bono has a nickname for him: Digital Dermot from Dublin. To be fair, he has earned it. McCormack is now executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands - including MTV itself, VH1, Country Music Television (CMT) and Logo TV. "My job is to move these cable TV brands into new platforms, expand the brands, expand the audience and make money while I'm doing it," says McCormack - who is originally from Ballyfermot - as though this were easy peasy. Few know quite as well as him, however, just how tricky the internet can be. An early pioneer of new media in the 1990s, McCormack was around for the dot com bubble (the first one, as some would argue). In fact, he was right at the heart of it. Having moved to New York in the early 1990s (the day after he graduated from DIT Kevin Street with a degree in electronic engineering - "My poor Mom," he says. "I never came back!"), McCormack was among those who built some of the earliest websites. Eventually, he went to work in advertising for the hottest new things around at the time - a website callediVillage.com. (So early on in the web age was this that McCormack talks about having approached Toyota about web advertising before the company had any sort of presence on the internet.) The iVillage group of websites still exists today, but you would be hard pushed to find any sign of the fact that, when the company went public in 1999, it was the biggest IPO in history. Shares in the compan

MY BLACK HAWK MUSIC: As executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands, Dubliner Dermot McCormack is confronting head-on the challenges all media companies face in an ever-changing digital landscape. IT'S HARD TO know what to envy Dermot McCormack for most - his 17th-floor, corner office (the sign, in America, at least, that you have truly arrived) overlooking Times Square, or the fact that Bono has a nickname for him: Digital Dermot from Dublin. To be fair, he has earned it. McCormack is now executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands - including MTV itself, VH1, Country Music Television (CMT) and Logo TV. "My job is to move these cable TV brands into new platforms, expand the brands, expand the audience and make money while I'm doing it," says McCormack - who is originally from Ballyfermot - as though this were easy peasy. Few know quite as well as him, however, just how tricky the internet can be. An early pioneer of new media in the 1990s, McCormack was around for the dot com bubble (the first one, as some would argue). In fact, he was right at the heart of it. Having moved to New York in the early 1990s (the day after he graduated from DIT Kevin Street with a degree in electronic engineering - "My poor Mom," he says. "I never came back!"), McCormack was among those who built some of the earliest websites. Eventually, he went to work in advertising for the hottest new things around at the time - a website callediVillage.com. (So early on in the web age was this that McCormack talks about having approached Toyota about web advertising before the company had any sort of presence on the internet.) The iVillage group of websites still exists today, but you would be hard pushed to find any sign of the fact that, when the company went public in 1999, it was the biggest IPO in history. Shares in the company peaked at just over $100 shortly after the initial public offering, before plummeting to al

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0928/1224324532192.html BUSINESS INTERVIEW: As executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands, Dubliner Dermot McCormack is confronting head-on the challenges all media companies face in an ever-changing digital landscape IT'S HARD TO know what to envy Dermot McCormack for most - his 17th-floor, corner office (the sign, in America, at least, that you have truly arrived) overlooking Times Square, or the fact that Bono has a nickname for him: Digital Dermot from Dublin.To be fair, he has earned it.

http://www.topix.com/forum/music/TAM6MOFBICKA3HHI9 The music industry has given a judicious endorsement to European Union moves intended at limiting Internet piracy. The copyright directive was "a workable proposal", said the industry's umbrella group, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries. IFPI, representing around 1400 major and independent record companies worldwide, said the newly-adopted UK legislation, requiring measures from ISPs to curb piracy on their networks, sets a powerful example to other countries. IFPI chairman John Kennedy said: "The passing of the Digital Economy Act in the UK recognizes that if a country is to have world-class creative industries, then it also needs laws that will effectively protect their rights from the crippling problem of digital piracy. "The new UK legislation is a decisive step towards dealing with P2P and other forms of illegal distribution in a way that can substantially reduce the problem. Most importantly, it recognizes that effectively addressing piracy needs active cooperation from internet service providers, in helping curb infringements on their networks. "The move by the UK creates momentum for the graduated response approach to tackling piracy internationally. Governments increasingly understand that, in the digital economy, creative industries like music, film, books and games can drive growth and jobs for many years to come if they are provided with the right legal environment and with a modern system of enforcement in which ISPs actively cooperate. "The UK has today joined the ranks of those countries who have taken decisive and well-considered steps to address the issue. We hope this will prompt more focus and urgency for similar measures in other countries where debate is underway." "There are enough elements here for the music industry to speed up the offering of music to consumers in a wider range of ways," IFPI Chairman Jay Berman said soon after the result was announced. "The dire

Last Monday, U.S. magistrate judge sentenced Grammy-winning hip hop artist Lauryn Hill to three months in prison, three months in home confinement and a $60,000 fine for federal tax evasion. Last year Lauryn Hill pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to file tax returns on more than $1.8 million of income between 2005 and 2007 and faced up to three years in prison. Hill has credited her failure to pay taxes to years of pressure she practiced as a recording star all at the same time with raising six children, causing her to go underground and shut away from the public eye. On the eve of her scheduled sentencing, Hill paid $504,000 in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service and another $420,000 to the state of New Jersey, her attorney told the court. She still owes another $285,000 in interest and penalties. "When the government is asking for 36 months and the judge gives three months, I think the judge gave a fair and reasonable sentence," Hill's attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters. Thirty months to the maximum of 36 months was asked by the prosecutors for a sentence. Hill's lack of a criminal record, her six children and her repayment of the back taxes as mitigating factors in the sentence, cited U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo. Hill, native of South Orange, New Jersey, must report on or before July 8. Her attorney asked the court to assign her a facility close to home. Part of one year of supervised probation is the three months of home confinement following the prison stay. Hill told the court she pulled away from society because her life was in crisis, received veiled threats and was blacklisted because she did not conform to the norms of the music industry. "I was being perceived as a cash cow, not a person," Hill said. Just this Friday, a new single by Hill, her first in several years, called "Neurotic Society," was posted on iTunes. "Here is a link to a piece that I was 'required' to release imm

Taylor Swift walks around with a constant expression of shock at her swell luck and good fortune. As well she should, as the pitch-challenged, confessional sweetheart is doing phenomenally well in the singing business. She doesn't do as well in the relationship business, but her prolific taste in celebrity men has served her and supermarket magazines fine. "Love is a ruthless game, unless you play it good and right," she sings on State of Grace. I would argue that Swift plays the game ruthlessly - "good and right" being adverbs open to interpretation, or even meaningless to a doe-eyed pop careerist whose open-book romantic life is grist for the mill, an attention-getting supply of gotcha-good inspiration. Red, her fourth album, is full of big, errorless music - arena-pop that is just country enough to keep the CMT crowd happy. But even if there are very few missteps, excitement and soul are decidedly lacking. Swift's lyrical style lacks for ambition; someone like Canada's Liam Titcomb, a complete unknown in comparison, has much more of a clue how to write a poppy relationship song with wordy charisma. The pigtailed set will enjoy the 22-year-old woman-child who giggles at the end of the plucky-cute Stay, Stay, Stay. "Before you I only dated self-indulgent takers, who took all of their problems out on me," she sings, resisting the urge to rhyme "Jake Gyllenhaal" with "darn it all" or "John Mayer" with "hey, that's not fair." The album's catchy first single We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is Avril-bratty, complete with a resolute girlie army on the chorus. But beyond the adolescent stuff, the platinum-selling Kennedy-clan befriender branches out - sometimes moving in less-than-mysterious U2 ways. While State of Grace uses chiming guitars and bold dynamics, All Too Well doesn't at all try to hide its With or Without You tension-building methods. Lyrically it represents Swift's best work, involving broken p

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