snapshot 7/2/07

Apple sold 525,000 iPhones since launch: report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070702/tc_nm/apple_iphone_dc_2;_ylt=Au5M.46I4SqE6PxgUr_XzklkM3wV
The iPhone, which combines a phone, Web browser and a music player, went on sale on Friday. About 2 percent of buyers have experienced delays in activating their service, a source said on Sunday.


Universal Music declines long-term iTunes deal: source
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070702/wr_nm/universalmusic_itunes_dc_2;_ylt=Aquve3uEJUKzvkUzHe46SwhkM3wV
Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, has declined to sign a long-term deal with Apple Inc.'s iTunes music store, leaving open the possibility for exclusive deals with other services, an industry source said on Sunday. Universal will continue to sell music and videos of artists including 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and Black Eyed Peas via iTunes on a month-to-month basis, rather than be locked in to a two-year agreement Apple had proposed, the source said.


iPhone Live Disassembly
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone
A live disassembly of the iPhone.


Facebook helps iLike stand out in Internet crowd
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070702/music_nm/facebook_dc_1;_ylt=AidBPtRoTre6oaMK3w5FS61kM3wV
A month ago, iLike was just another online music community struggling for relevancy in an increasingly crowded market. Today, it's the fastest-growing digital music service on the Internet, registering 1 million new users per week and fielding information requests from record labels every half-hour. The music-sharing site enables users to share music preferences, receive personalized concert and music recommendations and includes a "sidebar" for Apple's iTunes that creates automatic playlists based on one's iTunes library.

The smart money says someone will acquire iLike, and soon. The company's social media discovery capabilities are a natural extension to any digital music service, particularly iTunes -- given the tight integration it already has with the service. What's more, iLike's tour alert and recommendation feature, not to mention ticketing service, would bring a much-needed new revenue stream to many of today's struggling digital music efforts. Ticketmaster owns 25 percent of the company


Q&A: Storm brewing over Starbucks disc surprises Moore
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070630/people_nm/moore_dc;_ylt=AuAQYZFu686BFrTFHM7KlXtkM3wV
In an interview published recently in Pitchfork, Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore mentioned that the band needed to record a new song for a Starbucks compilation. Within minutes of his remarks hitting the Internet, chat rooms and the band's fan sites were awash in cries of "foul" and "sellouts." For many, the idea of the ultimate indie art band getting into bed with the ultimate mainstream lifestyle brand was pure blasphemy.


Amazon.com to sell indie films on demand
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070702/ap_en_mo/amazon_hd_dvd_on_demand;_ylt=AsTMOMw8SDqrUmvBHa_Lp9ZkM3wV
Amazon.com Inc. will begin selling high-definition independent films in the HD DVD format through its on-demand DVD printing service, the company said late Sunday. The Web retailer said it will waive processing fees for the first 1,000 films it accepts for production by its CustomFlix Labs Inc. subsidiary. Microsoft Corp. will supply the necessary technology — VC1 high-def video encoding software and the HDi program used to package the film and extra features on the disk. With CustomFlix, when a customer buys a movie, it kicks off an automated process that copies the film onto a disk and puts together the packaging on the spot.


Public Enemy to Use a Digital Distributor
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/business/media/02tunes.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Jeff Price, the founder and chief executive of TuneCore, a digital music distributor, has a simple pitch for musicians: “For $30, the cost of a pizza and a six-pack, you can get your album on iTunes, the third-largest music store in the country.” Today, the company is expected to announce that Public Enemy, one of the seminal hip-hop groups, will use its service for its new album, “How Do You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul.”

“I knew I had a fan base and I wanted to go directly to them,” he said. “What good is a label? All they do is give you money. And in the area of digital distribution, they can’t do anything better or faster than anyone else.” “I couldn’t see why I should give them a percentage of sales if most of the work associated with traditional distribution no longer needed to be done,” he said. “You don’t need a middleman anymore to market and promote.”


EMI Group and Snocap Reach Web-Sales Accord
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118333998512354877.html?mod=rss_whats_news_technology
EMI Group PLC signed an agreement with Snocap, a digital-music-distribution company, enabling artists to sell music directly from their Web sites or social-networking pages. The deal marks a further shift toward selling digital music in a variety of formats over the Internet. EMI two months ago became the first major record company to scrap digital-rights-management software, which typically prevents music purchased for use on one listening device being used on other, incompatible devices. Digital-music tracks will be sold in the MP3 format, which will also be compatible with Apple Inc.'s iTunes. Some artists will start selling music shortly in the U.S. using Snocap's MyStores technology, for $1.30 a track, EMI said.


Yahoo Facebook Music Videos Application Rocks
http://facereviews.com/2007/06/30/yahoo-facebook-music-videos-application-rocks/
Yahoo has joined facebook and hit a home run in the process with the Yahoo Music Videos Application. This is an official application from Yahoo Music. This application is one of the best designed, executed and deeply integrated facebook applications we have seen yet. The user interface is amazing and very intuitive.

With this yahoo facebook application you can have access to the largest collection of music videos online. You can easily post your favorite video on your profile; watch videos by your favorite artists; search, discover and share favorite videos with your friends; send and receive video dedications; and more.