New York Times: Big Banks Seeking a Piece of SpaceX’s I.P.O. Must Subscribe to Elon Musk’s Grok. This link goes to a gift article. “Mr. Musk is requiring banks, law firms, auditors and other advisers working on the I.P.O. to buy subscriptions to Grok, his artificial intelligence chatbot, which is part of SpaceX, according to four people with knowledge of the matter, who were not authorized […]

Wall Street Journal: Trump administration set to receive $10 billion fee for brokering TikTok deal This is an MSN-syndicated version of the article and has no paywall. “The Trump administration is set to receive a roughly $10 billion fee from investors in the recently completed deal to take control of TikTok’s U.S. business, delivering it a windfall for keeping the popular social-media app […]

​@EEVblog tries Youtube's payola scam; stay away from this

https://peertube.gravitywell.xyz/w/gFW4TjEidrbcmLWUwLJhqd

Spotify Fires Back at ‘Payola’ Lawsuit Over Discovery Mode, Says Listeners Waived the Right to Sue

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.billboard.com/pro/spotify-responds-payola-lawsuit-discovery-mode/

Maybe James Cameron might take some time out from his latest smugfest and finally give credit where its due for the source of the Avatar universe rather than shopping round for judges-for-sale

#StolenIP
#GrandTheft
#Payola

Here's a bit of Nashville history I knew nothing about until two days ago. https://tnocs.com/the-dark-side-of-music-row-untangling-the-cash-box-murder-mystery/

#musichistory #nashville #murder #payola

Spotify Sued Over Discovery Mode: ‘A Modern Form of Payola’

Spotify’s recommendation tools are a “deceptive pay-for-play” program, but that the streamer misleads consumers into trusting that they are neutral and based on personal musical tastes.

#spotify #legal #payola #music #streaming #fraud

https://www.billboard.com/pro/spotify-lawsuit-discovery-mode-modern-payola/