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Matthew Stone: Columnist

Matthew Stone is a smart guy in Research and Analysis at The Rubiks Room (TRR). Matt supplies sick beats and writes a lot when he’s not exploring the intimate regions of the Internet and its citizens. You can hire him to be a CPR training model.

RECENT POSTS

• Online music licensing: The good, the bad and the ugly

  Rumour has it that Spotify is looking around for yet another huge round of investment, one that would take the company’s valuation from around US$1-billion to over US$3-billion. One might ask why a company that seems wildly successful to most always needs new investment. How, with over 2-million paying subscribers, does Spotify continuously end up far in the red? How much in the red you may ask? 2010 saw it post a reported loss of US$42 million... (up from US$26 ...

• The rise and rise of reddit

  Earlier this month, social news site reddit became operationally independent from its owner Condé Nast Publications, forming Reddit Inc. as a subsidiary of Advance Publications, Condé Nast's parent company. Condé Nast acquired Reddit in October 2006, when reddit was still considered the smaller, tighter knit, cousin of Digg.Back then reddit was receiving around 700 000 page views per day. Now reddit "routinely gets that much traffic in 15 minutes". Over the last four years reddit has been steadily ...

• What has the digital revolution actually done for musicians?

  There are few industries that have felt the move to digital and online more acutely and publicly than the music industry. The rise and fall of Napster, the move from CDs to mp3, viral sensations, piracy, the iPod, iTunes, Spotify. Many have fallen and floundered in the change, others have fed and flourished. As established 'music industry' revenues sit at record lows, Apple's rise to one of the most successful companies in the world counts the success of the iPod ...

• The black marks: Zuckerberg’s legal legacy

  As with most semi-biographical films, The Social Network convinces many who watch it that they develop a comprehensive knowledge of its subject matter, in this case the origins of Facebook and its founder’s misdeeds.As well researched a movie as it was, there is more to the litigation surrounding these two then what was included in David Fincher’s chronicle. So, in order to level the playing field, this is all the dirt we know about the man who created the ...

• A much needed (Song)kick to online concert bookings

  South Africans may have noticed the influx of international acts venturing tours to their fair shores. Until now, we have generally had a poor showing with regards to big artist concerts (with the exception of the ill-fated Coke festivals).Artists have to fly all the way to the south of Africa, where there are only three cities that can really support large scale concerts, and then have to span an entire continent or ocean to get to their next stop. ...

• A new age in cyber warfare — Anonymous, LulzSec and Stuxnet

  Growing up in the nineties, television and film made me believe that hackers could do anything. I pictured an emaciated Russian teenager typing on the keyboard of his multiple monitor display, green text scrolling down a black screen. Those scrawny fingers could assume identities or muddle up traffic lights. They were the dark practitioners of mysterious arts. Those were the early days of the web, though, when it was all still a bit wild west. It was before the ...

• The future of music charts

  Up till now, judging who is top of the music game has been relatively simple. Music Award shows like the Grammy’s and the MTV Music Awards reward the top and popular artists through judges or votes. The Billboard chart shows us who the best-selling artists are, judged on CD sales and radio plays. MTV and VH1 have decided what the top videos are.But things are changing.In the last few years, music culture has transformed. CD sales are being usurped ...

• Google Music: What it is and what it means

  The internet and music industry waited with baited breath for the highly anticipated Google Music to finally make its first appearance. With the massive amount of clout that Google has online, people have wondered how Google Music might change the digital landscape and perhaps offer some sort of competition to Apple’s dominion over online music.After much talk and speculation, Google finally launched Google Music beta by exclusive invite to certain users in the US. So what exactly is Google music?In ...

• The cutting edge: Look to the future, but don’t get lost in it

  One of the keys to success in the fast paced world of technology and internet culture is keeping your eyes on the horizon. It’s always about what’s on the up, what the next big thing is. It’s not enough to know what’s happening now; it’s all about what’s happening tomorrow.With the internet’s information machine distributing everything almost instantly around the world, no one wants to be the slightest bit late in hearing the buzz. It is obviously important to ...

• Who is making money in online music?

  There has been much talk about the turmoil facing the music industry, and its fragmented online state. If you keep your ear to the ground, you can get an idea of the online music services that are popular. It’s fairly easy to find rough estimates of user base and internet traffic for this shifting landscape. But popularity alone cannot keep a company afloat, only income can.What is less available online are indications of where money is actually being made. In ...

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