Copyhype

Pixar Story Rules (One Version) — A collection of tweets from Pixar story artist Emma Coats that provide a great set of tips for writers of all stripes. Example: “#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.”

Not Free, Not Easy, Not Trivial — The Warehousing and Delivery of Digital Goods — Kent Anderson at the Scholarly Kitchen points out, contrary to some assertions, that digital goods have costs. “Even beyond just their power requirements, digital goods have particular traits that make them difficult to store effectively, challenging to distribute well, and much more effective when handled by paid professionals.”

The Music Industry in the Digital Age — RIAA CEO Cary Sherman addressed the 2012 Personal Democracy Forum on Monday. A must-watch video.

All the World’s a Stage (For Suits Against YouTube) — Future of Music Coalition reviews recent lawsuits involving YouTube’s potential copyright liability in the US, France, Germany, and Italy. The Coalition also notes, “While sovereign nations undoubtedly have the right to create and interpret the laws of their land as they please, the various international lawsuits against YouTube serves a case study in why international harmonization of copyright and trademark laws has become increasingly important in recent years.”

Whatever happened to the YouTube killers? — GigaOm reports on the “growing number of web video ventures that once set out to compete with YouTube but never came close. Some of them had to shut down, others changed hands. Some are trying their luck at a new direction while others seem stuck: forgotten but never taken offline.”

Warez Download Site OneDDL Calls It Quits Citing Legal Concerns — Also shutting down, another cyberlocker. “‘The legality of websites, such as ours, has always been a rather grey area. I had believed that this ambiguity would work to our advantage and originally, that is what lawyers told us (yes, we went to see lawyers),’ says the site owner. ‘Lately however, the landscape has changed, and it appears the grey is gradually becoming black and white, unfortunately not in our favour.'”

Amazon’s markup of digital delivery to indie authors is ~129,000% — Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Author Andrew Hyde discovers that Amazon takes a 30% cut when it sells e-books through its site AND a healthy delivery fee (totalling nearly 50% of the list price). In a follow-up piece, Hyde reports that after compressing and resubmitting his manuscript, he was able to bring Amazon’s total cut down to 36%, but also notes that his buyers easily switched to other outlets. “The argument against … is that Amazon drives sales, which indie authors are finding out, isn’t the case. Your readers drive your future sales.”

Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová’s Once Takes Home Eight Tony Awards — Congrats to the songwriting duo for a big win last Sunday. The musical had previously been a film (highly recommended), with the song “Falling Slowly” winning an Academy Award for Best Song and the soundtrack gaining a Grammy nomination. All well-deserved.