Search Party Music, firmly ensconced in New York, has added composer Chris Funk to its recently launched Portland, Ore. office. This marks Funk's first-ever commercial music representation. Best known as the multi-instrumentalist in the indie rock band The Decemberists, Funk is also a noted music producer and studio musician. He has lent his musical acumen to such bands as The Shins, Laura Veirs, and Blue Giant. Funk is also a founding member of the acclaimed neo-gothic string band Black Prairie on Sugar Hill Records. The Decemberists' new album, “The King Is Dead,” releases January 18. Search Party's new Portland operation is housed in the legendary music venue La Luna, shuttered in 1999. The venue was a fixture in the grunge era, hosting the likes of Nirvana, The Dandy Warhols, Elliott Smith, Everclear and Sweaty Nipples. The new office is headed up by EP Sara Matarazzo, who relocated to the Northwest from New York, and has hit the ground running with recent work for Target out of Wieden + Kennedy, Portland and an upcoming Super Bowl spot for Budweiser….The Visual Effects Society (VES)–a professional, honorary society, dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of visual effects and to upholding the highest uniform standards and procedures for the visual effects profession–has extended by two years the contract for Eric Roth as its executive director. With the extension, the contract expires in December 2013. Roth has been the exec director since '04 and under his leadership, VES has more than doubled in size from 900 members to over 2,200 members worldwide representing over 20 countries. Roth has worked to create VES Sections in San Francisco, Vancouver, London, and Sydney while also presiding over the VES during a time of tremendous change in the entertainment industry that now relies more than ever on the use of visual effects to make stories come alive….Deutsch New York has hired creative directors Donovan Goodly and John Heath to work on its Microsoft BtoB account. Deutsch won the business in August of last year. Goodly joins Deutsch from BBDO where he was a senior art director. Heath comes over from Euro RSCG where he was an associate creative director working on Heineken, Charles Schwab, and NYSE….
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More