Musikvergnuegen, Sherman Oaks, Calif., scored the spot "Motorcycle," via Grey Advertising, New York, promoting Canon’s Rebel camera and featuring tennis great Andre Agassi. Walter Werzowa and John Luker composed the jazzy, orchestral music to accompany Agassi competing in a game called "fireball" on a motorcycle. George Jecel of bicoastal The End directed the spot….A contingent of composers from Hank Smith Music, San Francisco—Blaise Smith, Mark Harrison, Michael Lande, Terbo Ted, Piero Ornelas, John Tejada and Sean Heskett—has wrapped an 11-spot Polaroid package directed by Peter Care of bicoastal/international Satellite for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco. The spots showcase Polaroid’s new I-Zone and Joy Cam cameras and sticky film in a variety of fun scenarios, including foosball games and motor scooter rides…. Monster Tracks, a division of Baker Sound Studios, Philadelphia, has produced music out of CCP, Wayne, Pa., for short promotional films touting a new line of Mattel trucks and the Mattel Car Wash….Kim Carnes sang two theme songs for the Cleveland Browns this summer: "Dawg Fever" and "Somebody Let the Dawgs Out." Both were played during local NFL broadcasts on WKYC-TV, Cleveland, and at the stadium during its home games. The tunes were written by company president Randy Wachtler and songwriter Greg Barnhill via 615 Music Productions, Nashville. Micki Barnes of WKYC-TV was the creative services director on that project….The music for food.com’s 16 spots out of Blazing Paradigm, San Francisco, was recorded, edited and mixed at One Union Recording Studios, San Francisco. The simple vignette spots for the online food delivery service feature music sound designed by Andy Newell out of Earwax, San Francisco. Melissa Bolton of bicoastal Shelter Films directed the spots….Brad Music Detroit/ Chicago’s Brad Fairman and Tommy Coster composed the music for the spot "Use Your Head" for client Shower Shine via Foote, Cone & Belding, Chicago; director was Tom Kwilosz of There TV, Chicago….Brad Music’s John Nixon and Colton Park Weatherston scored a five-spot package—"Cadillac Eldorado," "Lesson Seville," "Learning Curve DeVille," "Accelerated Program Catera" and "Don’t Let Anything Stop Your Escalade"—for Cadillac Motor Car Division out of DMB&B, Detroit….Hollywood-based Megatrax Production Music has acquired the rights to "The Unlimited Classics Collection," comprised of 105 CDs of music by composers including Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. The collection was acquired from Mazur Media in Wedemark, Germany. The deal allows the company to exclusively license the collection for use in film, TV, advertising, audiovisual and multimedia projects throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Central and South America….
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More