Kids’ ‘Frozen’ Show Canceled After Disney Refuses Music License

The hit show ‘Frozen’ has delighted children around the world since 2013 but there will be no ice-based fun in the UK this holiday week. Following a licensing mix up and threats from Disney, a tribute show planned to begin tomorrow has been canceled, leaving around 1,000 kids with melting dreams.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

After hearing songs from the hit show Frozen on a continuous loop since its release in 2013, millions of parents must long for the day when their kids find something else to take its place.

But while adults wish that their offspring would just let it go, it’s still preferable to hearing kids crying and/or complaining during this week’s half term break in the UK. But that’s exactly what a couple of thousand adults have to look forward to thanks to a licensing screw up and the inflexible folks at Disney.

Tomorrow night at the Heywood Civic Centre in Manchester, the Frozen tribute show ‘Freezing – An Icy Adventure’ was set to entertain kids from all over the region but a dispute over copyright means that the show has been completely canceled.

freezing-big

Disney’s lawyers contacted the venue to inform the production that they hadn’t obtained the correct licensing, something which came as a shock.

Promoter Carl Tebbutt told the MEN that the production believed it was covered under the licensing agreement they have with the PRS (Performing Rights Society) under whose control creators get paid for public performances.

It’s a reasonable assumption as PRS cover the vast majority of licensing in the UK. However, Disney bosses told the production that their content is not handled by PRS.

It took TF a while to find the relevant paperwork (pdf) but sure enough, Disney is one of a handful of notable exclusions.

prs-exclusions

So considering the combination of a genuine mix up, the huge resources that have gone into the production and thousands of disappointed kids, Disney were prepared to grant the production a temporary license, right? Not a chance.


“It’s all one big misunderstanding,” Tebbutt told MEN.

“We thought that we were covered for use of the songs by the usual PRS payment but after being approached by the Disney legal representatives this appears to be not the case.

“Rather than risk legal action we regrettably have had to cancel the shows.”

Although directed more at the United States, Disney has a website dedicated to providing information on how to obtain a performance license for its content and the company has the entire thing on lockdown. Anyone intending to perform even a small element of a show needs to have a license for the whole thing, even if they don’t intend to charge admission.

And those thinking of adding a little artistic re-interpretation can think again. Any deviance from Disney’s provided script, music and lyrics is banned and those that ignore the rules can have their licenses withdrawn.

“In the event that changes are made, your license may be revoked and you will lose the rights to perform the show at all. Please remember that when you acquire a license, you are agreeing to use your artistic vision to bring the show to life as the authors originally conceived it,” the site reads.

Parents wanting to record their kids’ performances must pay up front too.

“A school or organization must obtain a video license from [Disney licensing] before any individual records the production. Otherwise, video recording under all circumstances is prohibited,” Disney explains.

In fact, Disney is so precious over every piece of its content that even ‘right-click’ and ‘copy’ is disabled on its website. That’s easily circumvented by choosing ‘copy’ from the browser menu instead but there will be no such short-cuts for the children of Manchester tomorrow night. And they Were So Close too.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

IP-Spoofing: Forscher erkennen Standortverschleierung zu 97 Prozent

Netflix geht neuerdings gegen IP-Spoofing vor und gibt damit dem Druck der Hollywoodstudios nach. Forscher aus Kanada haben jetzt eine Technologie vorgestellt, die bei der Enttarnung von VPN-Nutzern zum Einsatz kommen könnte. (VPN, Server)

Netflix geht neuerdings gegen IP-Spoofing vor und gibt damit dem Druck der Hollywoodstudios nach. Forscher aus Kanada haben jetzt eine Technologie vorgestellt, die bei der Enttarnung von VPN-Nutzern zum Einsatz kommen könnte. (VPN, Server)

Deals of the Day (2-16-2016)

Deals of the Day (2-16-2016)

Sony is one of the only companies currently offering “Compact” or mini versions of their most powerful smartphones that have most of the same features as their big siblings. For example, the Sony Xperia Z5 is a phone with a 5.2 inch display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, and a 23MP camera. The Xperia Z5 […]

Deals of the Day (2-16-2016) is a post from: Liliputing

Deals of the Day (2-16-2016)

Sony is one of the only companies currently offering “Compact” or mini versions of their most powerful smartphones that have most of the same features as their big siblings. For example, the Sony Xperia Z5 is a phone with a 5.2 inch display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, and a 23MP camera. The Xperia Z5 […]

Deals of the Day (2-16-2016) is a post from: Liliputing

Festplatte: Seagate quetscht 2 TByte in eine flache Ultrabook-HDD

Die dünnste 2-TByte-Platte kommt von Seagate: Die neue Mobile-HDD ist 7 mm flach. Hintergrund ist die SMR-Technik, durch die diese Kapazität bei niedrigem Gewicht, aber geringer Schreibrate möglich wird. (Festplatte, Speichermedien)

Die dünnste 2-TByte-Platte kommt von Seagate: Die neue Mobile-HDD ist 7 mm flach. Hintergrund ist die SMR-Technik, durch die diese Kapazität bei niedrigem Gewicht, aber geringer Schreibrate möglich wird. (Festplatte, Speichermedien)

Prysmian: 50 Prozent der gesamten Glasfaserkabel gehen nach China

Während es in Deutschland noch kaum FTTH gibt, kauft China den Markt für Glasfaser leer. Ein großer Teil wird weltweit nicht nur für FTTx, sondern auch für den Mobilfunkausbau verwendet. (Glasfaser, Handy)

Während es in Deutschland noch kaum FTTH gibt, kauft China den Markt für Glasfaser leer. Ein großer Teil wird weltweit nicht nur für FTTx, sondern auch für den Mobilfunkausbau verwendet. (Glasfaser, Handy)

Glibc: Sicherheitslücke gefährdet fast alle Linux-Systeme

Eine schwerwiegende Sicherheitslücke klafft in der Glibc-Bibliothek, die in fast allen Linux-Systemen genutzt wird: Eine DNS-Funktion erlaubt die Ausführung von bösartigem Code. Nutzer sollten schnellstmöglich Updates installieren. (Sicherheitslücke, Google)

Eine schwerwiegende Sicherheitslücke klafft in der Glibc-Bibliothek, die in fast allen Linux-Systemen genutzt wird: Eine DNS-Funktion erlaubt die Ausführung von bösartigem Code. Nutzer sollten schnellstmöglich Updates installieren. (Sicherheitslücke, Google)

Is D-Wave’s quantum processor really 10⁸ times faster than a normal computer?

Short answer: Yes, but it’s more complicated than that.

One of D-Wave's chips, circa 2011. (credit: D-Wave)

We have been following D-Wave's claims about its quantum hardware at Ars for a number of years. Over that time, my impression has oscillated between skepticism, strong skepticism, and mild enthusiasm.

Back in November, D-Wave issued a press release that basically asked tech journalists to spray paint a finish line just behind their feet and break out a victory flag. It seemed a bit much. But now that D-Wave has declared victory, perhaps it's time to re-examine the skepticism. What exactly has D-Wave achieved, and does it constitute victory? Either way, where are the company's efforts focused now?

Of course the best way to judge D-Wave is not by its press releases nor by the specifications and benchmarks glued on the boxes of its processors—these should be treated with utmost paranoid suspicion. Instead, it's better to look at what researchers who have access to D-Wave hardware are claiming in publications. And despite my suspicions, the paper accompanying that last press release—plus a couple of other papers on the arXiV that were released earlier—is interesting. All together, they paint a picture that says we should finally be cautiously optimistic about D-Wave's progress.

Read 40 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Vulkan cross-platform graphics API is ready to go

Vulkan cross-platform graphics API is ready to go

Vulkan is a new graphics technology from the makers of OpenGL. It’s designed to be more efficient than its predecessors by offering developers direct access to graphics hardware… although that also makes it more complicated to use than OpenGL, which is why the Khronos Group will continue to develop that software as well. After about […]

Vulkan cross-platform graphics API is ready to go is a post from: Liliputing

Vulkan cross-platform graphics API is ready to go

Vulkan is a new graphics technology from the makers of OpenGL. It’s designed to be more efficient than its predecessors by offering developers direct access to graphics hardware… although that also makes it more complicated to use than OpenGL, which is why the Khronos Group will continue to develop that software as well. After about […]

Vulkan cross-platform graphics API is ready to go is a post from: Liliputing

Khronos Group: Spezifikationen des Low-Level-API Vulkan veröffentlicht

Die offene Low-Level-Grafikschnittstelle Vulkan 1.0 ist da – und mit ihr das erste Spiel The Talos Principle sowie ein Radeon-Treiber von AMD. Das neue API läuft unter Android, Linux und Windows. (Vulkan, Grafikhardware)

Die offene Low-Level-Grafikschnittstelle Vulkan 1.0 ist da - und mit ihr das erste Spiel The Talos Principle sowie ein Radeon-Treiber von AMD. Das neue API läuft unter Android, Linux und Windows. (Vulkan, Grafikhardware)

Astronomers have detected a Super-Earth atmosphere for the first time

Diamond-like world isn’t going to be on anyone’s bucket list, though.

This artist’s impression shows the super-Earth 55 Cancri e in front of its parent star. (credit: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser)

No, 55 Cancri e isn't an exoplanet anyone will want to visit anytime soon. Because it orbits so close to its star, the world has a surface temperature of around 2,000 degrees Celsius. But that hasn't prevented the planet, recently named "Janssen" by the International Astronomical Union, from having an atmosphere. And it's an interesting atmosphere indeed.

Discovered back in 2004, Janssen was one of the first "super Earths" found by astronomers. These planets, larger than Earth but considerably smaller than the gas giants of the Solar System, are thought to be the most common type of planets in the galaxy. Now, using a technique to tease atmospheric data out of Hubble Space Telescope observations, scientists have been able to deduce the atmosphere of this particular super Earth.

According to results published in the Astrophysical Journal, European astronomers have found hydrogen and helium in the atmosphere around Janssen, which may have a diamond-like core due to its very high density. This atmosphere is likely a remnant of the nebula from which the planet and its star formed about 8 billion years ago. The planet has kept this atmosphere somehow, despite the proximity of its star.

Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments