snapshot 6/21/07

Could RealPlayer 11 encourage more DRM?
http://www.last100.com/2007/06/21/could-realplayer-11-encourage-more-drm/
The most useful, and controversial, feature of the upcoming version of Real’s media player, RealPlayer 11 (see our review), is the ability to download almost any online video to a user’s hard drive. In fact, the only content that RealPlayer 11 won’t enable users to save a copy of are those videos that explicitly use Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. Though, for now, in terms of free-to-watch online video, these are in the minority.

Therefore, if products like RealPlayer 11 become popular with users, might this lead to more online video sites employing the use of DRM? Mike Wolf of ABI Research, writes:
…DRM vendors will likely see a boost in business, whether its turning on Windows Media DRM, Adobe’s forthcoming Flash DRM or using a solution from a vendor like Widevine.



Artist Development Co-Op Looks To Future
http://prod1.cmj.com/articles/display_article.php?id=39547323
The Artist Development Co-Op (ADC), a new company created by record industry veterans Bill Hurley and Fred Boenig, among others, hopes to break down the monetary barriers between independent artists and mainstream success by offering a comprehensive and inexpensive promotional package to developing musicians. For a flat rate of $1,600, ADC provides underground acts with radio, press and Internet support, professional graphic design and established label contacts, and placement on ADC's music and merch store, traditionally services that could cost an independent artist thousands in what Hurley argues are mostly wasted fees.


All the Films You Want to See, but When?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/technology/21basics.html?ex=1340078400&en=b944adcdd769e9a2&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Promise is the operative word for this new method. There still aren’t a lot of titles available. Often the movies aren’t the latest releases. You may have to watch them on your computer monitor, not the 46-inch widescreen TV you just bought. Steve Swasey, a Netflix spokesman, said: “Whether it’s Netflix or Apple or Amazon or Wal-Mart.com, we’re all facing the same constraint: title availability.” Netflix, for example, has 80,000 titles on DVD, but only 2,000 for electronic delivery. Mr. Swasey said, “We believe DVDs will have a long life because the studios are not licensing vast amounts of content to anyone.”


PwC: Online, high-def DVD sales to boost movie business
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6192335.html
· Download-to-own services are expected to provide a relatively small but rapidly growing revenue stream in the United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, while piracy will take a bite off revenue in Asia and Latin America, the report said.
· The growth of the U.S. online rental subscription business, dominated by Blockbuster and Netflix, is expected to more than compensate for in-store losses. Online-rental revenue is expected to rise, on average, by 23.1 percent a year, to $3.4 billion by 2011, with subscribers reaching 20 million.
· The prices for download-to-own movies are expected to start falling in 2009, while sales expand rapidly to 80 million movies at an average price of $7 per film by 2011.
· Total spending on download-to-own movies will grow to an estimated $560 million from $32 million in 2006, while sales of download-to-own TV shows are expected to rise to $600 million, the report said.


Music sales shifting to digital globally
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117967322.html?categoryid=18&cs=1

• In three years, digital distribution of music will surpass physical distribution globally as mobile phone services become a bigger part of the music-selling formula.
• Report predicts that digital sales in the U.S. will hit $6.6 billion in 2011, up 28.7% from last year.
• Spending in the U.S. will be dropping about 0.4% a year for the next five years, reaching an expected $11.3 billion in 2011, down from the $11.5 billion spent in 2006.
• Report predicts that sales will drop again this year, to $10.48 billion, and next, to $10.43 billion, but will start to recover in 2009.
• Migration to digital distribution is listed as the primary cause of the decline. The effect will be felt significantly at retail. Last year's $9.65 billion marketplace for CDs and LPs will be reduced to $4.5 billion in 2011.
• Conversely, digital will rise to $6.56 billion in 2011 from $1.86 billion last year.
  Album downloads, in the U.S. in 2011, will hit 135 million units while 2 billion single tracks will be purchased on the Internet that year, the report noted.
• That's a 37.9% increase for albums and a 32.8% increase for singles from 2006.
• Musicvideo spending will also rise significantly -- 57% is the estimate -- to $191 million in 2011.
  
  
  Zune tops 11 percent player share in May
  http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/06/21/zune.11.percent.in.may/
  Microsoft's share of the music player market is continuing to climb, according to preliminary details of a new study published by market researchers NPD. The group notes that the lone 30GB Zune held 11.3 percent of the US market for hard disk-based players in May, a modest but significant increase from the 9.9 percent seen in January. Reasons were not given but the increase in sales is widely believed to be the result of both special edition pink, red, and Halo 3 Zunes as well as store discounts over the course of the spring, which dropped prices to as low as $199 at some large retailers.