 |
|
|
|||||
Taylor Swift sold 2.7 million copies of her new album The Life of a Showgirl on its release day Friday, and luckily for Swifties buying up multiple copies to help their idol on the chart, they didn’t have to pay any tariffs on their purchases. U.S. consumers now face a 18.6% overall average effective tariff rate, according to Yales Budget Lab, and one music professor estimated that if tariffs were applied to physical music, they could have hiked the price of a vinyl record to as much as $40 to $50 a pop. They’re not, though, thanks some recently relevant Reagan-era legislation. Instead, Swift fans have to cough up $35 for the Target-exclusive “Summertime Spritz Pink Shimmer Vinyl” version of the album, which is imported from Mexico, limited-edition, and comes with a poster (the standard version is $30). [Photo: Target] President Donald Trump tariffs were imposed under emergency economic powers that the Brennan Center for Justice say constitute a misuse of power, and they’ve faced legal challenges. The Supreme Court is planning to take up the case, but already, media like books, movies, and physical music are except from the extra cost because of the Berman Amendment. Named for Howard Berman, a California Democrat who represented a district in the Los Angeles area in the U.S. House from 1983 to 2013, the law revised the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the same law that Trump used as justification for his tariffs. Berman’s amendment prohibits the president from directly or indirectly regulating or prohibiting the importation of an “informational materials,” including publications, films, posters, photographs, and records. The Berman Amendment protects cross-border speech from presidential overreach, and it attracted new interest when Trump said in May he would impose 100% tariffs on movies and TV shows produced outside the U.S. Passed in 1988, the Berman Amendment is welcome relief for companies that sell physical media across national borders, like book and magazine publishers, as well as the music industry, which saw vinyl sales grow from 13.1 million in 2016 to 49.6 million in 2023, according to Luminate Music Consumption Data. Domestic vinyl record production in the U.S. is ramping up (in Tennessee, Nashville’s United Record Pressing, which is the nation’s oldest record maker, is busier than ever, and one local company that supplies vinyl makers announced a $10 million expansion in the state in January), but currently, supply can’t keep up with demand. For Swifties whose fandom would otherwise be caught up in Trump’s trade war with the rest of the economy, the law protects their imported vinyl purchases from an extra fee courtesy the president.
Category:
E-Commerce
Kentucky’s attorney general claimed Tuesday that the online gaming platform Roblox has become a “playground for predators” as he announced a lawsuit accusing the company of lax child safety measures.The Kentucky suit, filed by his office Monday in a state court, is the latest action alleging that the wildly popular site isn’t doing enough to protect children on its gaming services.To bolster safeguards for children and teenagers flocking to the site, the company needs to install effective age verifications and content filters, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said. Added parental notifications also are needed, he said.Courtney Norris, a Kentucky mother of three who joined Coleman at a news conference, said she mistakenly viewed Roblox as a safe online gaming choice for her children.“I came to realize, later than I would like to admit, that it actually is the ‘Wild West’ of the internet, targeted at children,” she said.The company is facing a growing backlash. The Kentucky suit comes after Louisiana sued the company in August. A suit was filed in Iowa after a 13-year-old girl was allegedly introduced to an adult predator on the platform, then kidnapped and trafficked across multiple states and raped.Roblox on Tuesday pushed back against the allegations.“We have rigorous safety measures in place from advanced AI models to an expertly trained team of thousands moderating our platform 24/7 for inappropriate content,” the company said in a statement. “No system is perfect and our work on safety is never done. We are constantly innovating our safety systems, including adding 100 new safeguards, such as facial age estimation, this year alone.”Roblox says it has 111 million daily active users. The company said in an email Tuesday that it implements strict safety defaults for its youngest users. It said the platform’s users under 13 cannot directly message others on Roblox, outside of games or experiences, and cannot directly message others during games or experiences unless the default setting is changed using parental controls.The company said it has rigorous text chat filters to block inappropriate words and phrases, attempts to direct under-13 users off the platform and the sharing of personal information such as phone number or address. It does not allow user-to-user image sharing and prohibits sexual conversations, it said.The Kentucky lawsuit gives a starkly different portrayal of the platform.Despite assurances its site is safe, the company has failed to install basic safety controls, the suit said. Roblox also fails to inform its users and their parents about “dangers inherent” on the platform, it said.Coleman, a Republican, said the site’s “cartoonish figures and experiences” appeal to children, but he warned that “underneath this cartoonish, innocent veneer is something sinister. The platform has become a playground for predators who seek to harm our children.”The Kentucky suit alleges that children are exposed to “violent or sexual situations within the Roblox universe, with parents reporting children contacted by strangers using third-party chat apps that function as if they are part of the game.”Norris said that like many parents, she considered it a safe choice for her children.“I described it as a ‘fenced-in backyard’ for kids’ gaming,” she said Tuesday. “And that is the genius and the danger I found of Roblox the illusion of safety it gives parents like me.”“The reality is, Roblox makes it nearly impossible to police as a parent,” she added.The suit claims that Roblox’s lax protections violate Kentucky’s Consumer Protection Act and asks a judge to order the company into compliance. The suit seeks penalties of up to $2,000 for each violation of the consumer protection law.Coleman said his office is open to negotiating a settlement with Roblox.“Our goal is not to shut a platform down,” Coleman said. “Our goal is for Roblox to be safe.”Roblox said it shares the goal of keeping kids safe online, and said it would welcome discussions with Coleman’s office to “ensure they have a clear understanding of all Roblox is doing to keep users safe.” Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Thirty paintings created by the bushy-haired, soft-spoken Bob Ross will soon be up for auction to defray the costs of programming for public television stations suffering from cuts in federal funding.Ross, a public television stalwart in the 1980s and ’90s, “dedicated his life to making art accessible to everyone,” said Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc. “This auction ensures his legacy continues to support the very medium that brought his joy and creativity into American homes for decades.”Bonhams in Los Angeles will auction three of Ross’ paintings on Nov. 11. Other auctions will follow in London, New York, Boston and online. All profits are pledged to stations that use content from distributor American Public Television.The idea is to help stations in need with licensing fees that allow them to show popular programs that include “The Best of Joy of Painting,” based on Ross’ show, “America’s Test Kitchen,” “Julia Child’s French Chef Classics” and “This Old House.” Small and rural stations are particularly challenged.As desired by President Donald Trump, Congress has eliminated $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting, leaving about 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations to find alternative funding sources. Many launched emergency fund drives. Some have been forced to lay off staff and make programming cuts.The beloved Ross died in 1995 of complications from cancer after 11 years in production with “The Joy of Painting.” His how-to program was shown on stations around the U.S. and around the world. The former Air Force drill sergeant known for his calm demeanor and encouraging words enjoyed a resurgence in popularity during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic.Ross spoke often as he worked on air about painting happy little clouds and trees, and making no mistakes, only “happy accidents.”The thirty paintings to be auctioned span Ross’ career and include landscapes depicting serene mountain vistas and lake scenes, his signature aesthetic. He created most of the 30 on-air, each in under 30 minutes, which was the span of a single episode.Bonhams sold two early 1990s mountain-and-lake scenes of Ross in August for $114,800 and $95,750. The auctions of the 30 paintings soon to be sold have an estimated total value of $850,000 to $1.4 million, Bonhams said. Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||