Vol. LIX, Issue 747 www.daily49er.com
49ER
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Day one of the USU 24-hour study center off to a slow start.
Review: Interpol is back to its roots with a new album.
The LBSU women’s volleyball team looks to rebound after a down season.
Daily
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH
BREAK-IN
Police investigate suspected burglary at the Union Weekly office By Pumi Phipathanananth & Shane Newell Staff Writers
University Police Lt. Richard Goodwin confirmed that an investigation is ongoing regarding the theft of two computers and damages to a glass door at the Union Weekly office at the University Student Union. Police responded to a break-in at the Union Weekly office at 8:43 a.m. on Monday, said Goodwin. He estimated the value of the computers
and damage to the door was roughly $3,770. Assistant Director of Programs at Cal State Long Beach Sylvana Cicero said that the glass door is currently being replaced by a red plywood board until a replacement is complete. “This is an unfortunate situation,” Cicero said via email. “However, the Long Beach Union [Weekly] stu-
dents have continued to move forward and work on their next issue in the office.” In the aftermath of this break-in, Cicero said that the USU is looking for any other security vulnerabilities. “The USU facility team is monitoring the area and security cameras may be added to ensure safety and theft protection,” Cicero said via email.
Courtesy
of the
Union Weekly
The glass door to the Union Weekly offices was broken and two computers were reported stolen on Monday.
P I L O T A P P L AND S A T T H E B E A C H Cal State Long Beach will be one of five campuses to launch Operation Carmen.
T
By Brooke Becher Staff Writer
here’s a new app coming to campus created with the musically indulgent in mind. Under the moniker title Operation Carmen, CSULB students will have access to an ondemand music app developed by M&M Media, Inc. that introduces the uncharted waters of free, legal downloads. Armed with sign-up sheets and free handouts, Corey Jones, Chief of Product, will be outside of the bookstore on September 29th marketing a new product that integrates social media and music discovery with virtual currency. Cal State Long Beach is one of five campuses chosen statewide to pilot Operation Carmen. The app will be launched September 30th and submitted to iTunes later in the month. Simply by interacting with the app, users will receive coins in real time that can be used to purchase songs for their own library. “If you come across a song you like, there are only so many things you can do to listen to it,” explained Jones, “We’re kind of entering the space where we think there’s a middle ground.” Current popular music apps like Pandora, Spotify and Beats Music allow users to stream songs by their favorite artists. Operation Carmen looks to
News 2
go beyond streaming by introducing the age of free, legal downloads. M&M Media, Inc. is an LA-based, digital music start-up created by CEO Gary Mekikian. In 2005, Mekikian worked on a digital music model that brought music to listeners while supporting artists and copyright holders, but it wasn’t until 2012 that the patent was approved, according to Freecarmen. com. Mekikian then teamed with the Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Barry Hankerson, record producer, talent manager and now M&M Media, Inc.’s Head of Content and Promotion, to develop a decently sized catalogue of eight to nine million tracks to back the app. “The music industry is kind of like the wild west right now,” said Jones, “[Major labels] lost all their supplier power [to iTunes] and couldn’t dictate the terms of some of their music. We’re sort of in this phase now where they’re looking for solutions.” Revenue of the Recording Industry Association of America was at its all time high in 1999, raking in $14.6 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times. The industry changed after streaming-services like Napster took over. This shift marked the beginning of pirating illegal files. ITunes offered a quick fix to pirating by offer-
Diversions 4
ing 99-cent single tracks in 2001. It wasn’t until recently that revenue flat-lined to a consistent $7 billion from last year since 2009 with streaming and subscription based models emerging in popularity, proving themselves to be important contributors to the industry, according to the Los Angeles Times. “The industry was looking for a new solution to pirating. ITunes was that solution but [it] became such a dominant supplier that the labels lost all of their leverage,” Jones claimed. Operation Carmen sets itself apart from the current collection of music apps through the concept of virtual currency. There are three routes for collecting coins: using the app, checking in at local businesses (similar to Foursquare) partnered with M&M Media, Inc. or purchasing a set amount of coins. Although Operation Carmen is still in its stages of infancy, the app will function as yet another social media outlet to message, share and discover new music with friends and connect to listeners with similar tastes. Some aesthetic add-ins include assorted color schemes inspired by album art and an interactive turntable. “What we’re going to be testing during the pilot [will be] different ad loads, how many coins people are willing to spend [per song] essentially,” explained Jones.
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