Brian Cunningham - Apple Music Refuses to Stop Industry-Killing Exclusives - Face Of Ireland

What happens when you throw $500,000 in a musician’s face?  Well, they usually take it.  But that doesn’t make it healthy for the music industry or music fans.

And so we had another giant bombshell over the weekend.  Chance the Rapper received $500,000 from Apple for making Coloring Book an iTunes and Apple Music exclusive.  We know that because the rapper told us that

Here’s what he revealed:

“I never felt the need to correct folks on my relationship with [Apple] but now that more people have tried to discredit my independence,” Chance the Rapper tweeted.  “I wanna clear things up.

“[Apple] gave me half a mil and a commercial to post Coloring Book exclusively on Apple Music for 2 weeks.”

“That was the extent of my deal, after 2 weeks it was on SoundCloud for free.  I needed the money and they’re all good people over there.

“I feel like if I didn’t clear it up people would keep trying to discredit all the work we did to make Coloring Book what it became.”

Apple hasn’t responded.  But you can believe what you want.  We’re gonna go with Chance the Rapper.

And $500,000?  Tidal couldn’t afford that.  Spotify is strapped to the hilt.  And Apple has billions in a savings account.  Guess who wins that one?

If you’re Chance the Rapper, you’re also a big winner, for obvious reasons. And nobody can fault an independent rapper for taking the cash (especially when he then gives one million dollars to help a failing Chicago public school system).

But there are two giant groups that aren’t winning here: music fans, and the music industry.  In fact, both are getting the serious shaft.

Music fans, because the music they want isn’t available where they want it.  So, after subscribing to a competitor like Spotify, they are effectively punished for supporting the music industry.

And the music industry, because pissed-off fans feel slighted by the system and start going back to piracy.  That could be the Pirate Bay, or maybe an increasingly-vilified YouTube downloader.  Either way, the money bleeds out of a growing streaming music infrastructure, and into a piracy channel that is absolutely, positively guaranteed not to pay royalties to anyone.

Apple, you’re being a douche.  Exclusives make you look short-sighted and selfish.  The music  industry hates them.  Music fans hate them.  In fact, everyone except Apple Music subscribers and the artist you’re paying hates them.

People aren’t going to quit Spotify to get a Chance the Rapper album.  They’d rather steal it.  Instead, use the $500,000 (or $5 million) to invest in a competitive feature, a budding artist career, or a sound fidelity enhancement.

Let users decide which services wins based on features, not industry-killing exclusives.  And watch the streaming music space grow even faster than it is right now. Read More ....

Brian Cunningham - The Irish Guinness World Records - Face of Ireland

In 2012 two cities of Ireland were registered in the Guinness World Records with less than a month apart. A sum of 1,436 people became the largest gathering of people dressed as nuns in Listowel, Co. Kerry on June 30, 2012. Meanwhile in July 13 of the same year 574 people dressed as the Hulk at the Muckno Mania Festival in Castleblayney.

·         The Dublin Irish Festival became the stage of the largest Irish dance involving  10,036 people, on August 4, 2007. Brian Cunningham says that the most 1-2-3 Irish dance steps in 30 seconds is 43 were achieved by Irishman Ben Carolan on the set of ‘Elev8’ (for RTÉ) in Dublin, Ireland, on August 3, 2012.

·         Brian Cunningham brings the Jockey AP McCoy to discussion when he talks about how the athlete holds the record for the most times a single jockey has been jump racing Champion Jockey, 19 times between 1996 and 2014.

Historical events and social affairs

Brian Cunningham points out that Ireland is not only made for dance and breaking records. Here are more facts about the beautiful country:

·         UNESCO designated Dublin as the City of Literature in July 2010. Brian Cunningham says it is one of only four in the world, with the others being Edinburgh, Iowa and Melbourne.

·         The waters in Ireland are considered a sanctuary to dolphins and whales. Brian Cunningham says that a small but growing whale-watching industry is starting to develop in the country, especially on the south-west coast.

·         According to Brian Cunningham, Ireland has many places to visit, but the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin is the top visitor attraction, welcoming around 1,269,371 visitors, with the Cliffs of Moher in second place with  a sum of around 1,080,501 people and the Dublin Zoo appears in third with 1,076,876 visitors.  

·         The Giant's Causeway in County Antrim, the Skellig Michael and the Bru na Boinne are the island’s three UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

·         The Irish flag is a historical political statement, with each color serving to identify one religion. The green colour represents Irish Catholics, the orange colour represents the Protestants, and the white colour represents the hope that the two congregations will be able to live together in peace says Brian Cunningham. The flag was designed in 1848.

·         The best preserver passage grave in Europe is the Neolithic site of Newgrange in County Meath, which dates 3200 BCE. Brian Cunningham says that the monument is the oldest solar observatory in the world, since its central room was constructed to  aligned with the rising sun on the winter solstice.

·         The Hill of Uisneach, in County Westmeath, is considered as the traditional center of Ireland, the geographic one lies 20 km away from there. The location is considered the center since with its 182-metre tall hill from where you can see  22 counties and two-third of Ireland, says Brian Cunningham.

·         The best fact for Brian Cunningham is that Ireland has had its own Olympics since the Bronze Age. Named as Tailteann Games, the contests were held in honor of the deceased goddess Tailtiu, Lugh's wife. They were at first held from the 6th to the 12th century CE and its modern revival have been held since 1924. It is claimed that the origins of the Games go back to 1600 BCE.

Brian Cunningham - 59% increase cybersecurity spend in Face of Ireland

Almost three in five large businesses have increased cybersecurity spending because of the threat to their business, according to a major new global survey.

PwC’s 2017 Global State of Information Security Report, which surveyed 10,000 participants in 133 countries, found that 59% of respondents said they have increased cybersecurity spending as a result of digitization of their business ecosystem.

It found that more than two out of five large businesses were subject to so-called phishing scams, where criminals try to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, credit card details and even money.

The majority of organizations around the world -- 63% of survey respondents -- say they run IT services in the cloud. Additionally, approximately one-third of organizations were found to entrust finance and operations to cloud providers, reflecting the growing trust in cloud models.

The report found 56% of respondents currently require employees to complete privacy training, that 57% of businesses are turning to advanced authentication technologies to add an extra layer of security and improve trust among customers, and over half (57%) are using biometrics for authentication.

Organisations are beginning to update their cybersecurity safeguards, with 46% of respondents investing in a security strategy for the Internet of Things. Phishing is the most-cited vector of cybersecurity incidents this year, with 43% of large businesses reporting phishing incidents.

Pat Moran, PwC Ireland Cybersecurity Leader, said: “From my experience of working with clients in Ireland, the global survey findings are very relevant and are very well aligned. Clients are investing in security to provide them with a competitive advantage. I see more confidence from clients in leveraging from cloud based technologies to identify cyber threats.”

He said business leaders understood cybersecurity was a vital component to remain competitive.

“Organisations must make a budgetary commitment to the integration of cybersecurity with digitisation from the outset,” he added.c. Read More...

Brian Cunningham Face of Ireland | Dublin rings in New Year’s Eve with spectacular show

New Year’s Eve used to be a straightforward affair - a party somewhere, a countdown and then Auld Lang Syne.

It has not tended to mean watching a rowing boat being lifted out of the River Liffey and then being transported on a crane across to the roof of The Custom House.

Every year the New Year Festival Dublin puts on a more ambitious show. It started small with a torchlit procession through the streets of Dublin in years gone by, but nothing has surpassed the ambition of the performance staged by Fidget Feet outside the Custom House this New Year’s Eve.

Some 5,000 people queued patiently for entrance to the free event for which every ticket was snapped up well in advance. Others watched from across the River Liffey.

Spectators passed by a stall run by the Make a Wish Foundation, which offered them a chance to make a wish for the new year. 

The Custom House was turned into the biggest prop in Dublin for the event with drummers hanging precipitously from the roof.

A series of abseils and aerial dancers emerged from the River Liffey and passed over the heads of the awestruck crowd. 

The event culminated in two dancers spinning above the crowd like human Catherine Wheels.

It was an event for families especially those with young children that were too young to see in the New Year.

Jimmy Murray, his wife Antoinette and their three children along with other extended members of the family came from Cavan for the event and said it was well worth the journey.

“We’re going back to Cavan now to watch Mrs Brown’s Boys at 9.30pm,” Jimmy said. His daughter Ellen said her New Year’s ambition was simply “to make my own bed”.

Maria Corcoran and Peter Moran, as part of the Dublin Circus Project, were dressed as devils for the event with horns and a tail. What were their plans for New Year’s Eve? “Have a few drink and go back to hell,” said Peter.

Hanna Czebiolko and a friend arrived from Leeds via Poland. Dublin’s New Year’s Eve festival is attracting a large number of overseas visitors judging by the composition of the crowd.

“We feel there is so much to do and see here. There’s no time for everything,” she said.

She is going to the 3Countdown show at St Stephen’s Green South that was headlined by Walking on Cars, a band which has had a brilliant 2016 with their debut album Everything This Way becoming an international hit.

Dublin Gospel Choir and The Garda Band will host a free concert on New Year’s Day at 2pm at St Stephen’s Green. Read More...