snapshot 7/20/07

The-Muzic.com - offering a new service to bands
http://millionmedia.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/the-muziccom/
The main benefit of The-Muzic.com is its dedication to the music industry, we are well on our way to providing artists with everything they need to get a firm foothold on the ladder. Among our biggest benfits, we allow free hosting of upto 20mb of song space to all artists. We also host our very own chart system for artitsts to ‘battle it out’ to reach the top of and be featured in our weekly email.


Is The DRM Free Train Stalled Or Is This The Calm Before The Storm?
http://hypebot.typepad.com/hypebot/2007/07/is-the-drm-free.html
Every label we talk to seems done with negotiations. (It's doubtful, but could Amazon possibly have grabbed them all?) And one major who we know dislikes DRM had a high level delegation at the internet giant's offices recently looking at beta of something...

And what's up with Steve Jobs? He goes public with a much heralded statement that all labels must set their music free and yet months later there's not a single non-EMI related DRM free track on iTunes. We know a dozen good sized indies who would give their stuff to Apple DRM free tomorrow, but Steve doesn't seem to really care.
And what about Naptser, Rhapsody or any of the other mainstream download stores? Since DRM free is their best chance to compete with iTunes why aren't they making the moves that they can make today?


McDonald's Goes Live With 10-City Trek
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i4e5cfeef7081c5c87ae845ed628f80e3
McDonald's has announced its entrance into the live music business. The fast food giant will host a free 10-city tour with multi-genre performances from Ne-Yo, Kenna, Kat DeLuna, the Dey, Single File, Twista and Kevin Michael in various markets. The majority of dates will be held in McDonald's parking lots around the country.


BazaarVoice Gets Walmart Deal
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/20/bazaarvoice-gets-walmart-deal/
In those articles, Walmart CMO Cathy Halligan said reviews and comments were “the No. 1 customer-requested feature.” What this article didn’t mention is that Austin-based Bazaarvoice , a company I covered just over a year ago, is the technology and service behind Walmart’s new features.


Vintage AC/DC, Nirvana Still Big-Sellers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071601061.html?nav=rss_artsandliving/entertainmentnews
The short answer is that, above all, people are buying vintage Metallica, AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Guns 'N Roses and, well, Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Metallica's self-titled 1991 album is altogether the second-biggest selling album of the Nielsen SoundScan era, which began in 1991. "Metallica" sold 275,000 copies last year.

Bon Jovi's greatest hits collection "Cross Road" last year sold 324,000 copies, while Guns 'N Roses "Appetite for Destruction" (1987) sold 113,000. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" (1996) continues to be a holiday favorite; it was bought 289,000 times last year.


Zune exceeds 1M sales target
http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/07/20/zune.exceeds.sales.target/
Sales of the Zune have more than surpassed the one million target the company set for the end of June, according to Microsoft's latest quarterly financial results. Over 1.2 million units of the jukebox have sold between the device's November 14th, 2006 launch and the end of the recent quarter on June 30th. The result represents over 170,000 units per month and should see the Zune reach the 2 million mark by the device's one-year anniversary if the sales rate remains unchanged.


Dave Matthews Band To Distribute Live Trax Album At Starbucks
http://weeklydavespeak.com/news/official_release/dave_matthews_band_to_distribute_live_trax_album_at_starbucks
Prepare to find a new Dave Matthews Band Live Trax release at your local Starbucks. Dave Matthews Band will release a new live compilation album thanks to the Starbucks Hear Music label. The CD will be available at Starbucks locations throughout the United States as early as the end of this month.