Friday, October 5, 2007

snapshot 10/05/07

Music industry wins song-download case
The recording industry has won a major fight in its effort to stop illegal music downloading with a U.S. jury decision to impose $222,000 damages against a Minnesota woman who used a Web service to share music. Although industry commentators are divided over what impact the case will have on stemming illegal downloads globally, the size of the damages is significant -- nearly 80 times higher than the average European settlement figure in such a case.

The jury in the civil case in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota on Thursday found Jammie Thomas infringed copyrighted song recordings, and awarded damages of $9,250 for each of the 24 recordings cited.


Don't want an iPod? Lots of choices available
The good news is that for those wanting to steer clear of the legion of white headphones, there are several solid alternatives, from names such as SanDisk Corp, Sony Corp, Creative Technology Ltd and Microsoft Corp. What is more, three out of four households still do not own a portable media player, studies show. That is why Apple rivals plan to take a bite out of the company's 70 percent market share


Black Friday ads already popping up online
"The Ace Hardware advertisement marks the earliest Black Friday advertisement ever released, nearly 10 full weeks before Black Friday," BFads wrote on its Web site. (http://www.bfads.net/)


Javien and Digonex Partnership to Enhance E-Commerce Capabilities for Music Industry
Javien Digital Payment Solutions, Inc., an e-commerce platform provider, and Digonex Technologies, a leading provider of price optimization technology for the digital media market, today announced that they have partnered to offer the digital music market and other content providers seamless integration between the two platforms.

Javien Digital Payment Solutions, Inc. delivers to content providers a total commerce solution for powering online and off-deck mobile sales of digital content and physical goods. Flexible, adaptable and scalable, Javien’s hosted platform powers sales for leading companies in entertainment, media and publishing including Ruckus Network, iMesh, Bearshare, SNOCAP, Azureus, Hungama Mobile and Forbes.com.


Sony BMG: “We Are Projecting Up To 40% Of US Sales Coming From Digital in 2008”
“2007 has been a difficult year”, said Thomas Hesse, President, Global Digital Business & U. S. Sales, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, who was the morning keynote. He mentioned that Sony BMG are at 30% digital sales in the US this year and projecting up to 40% next year. “Unfortunately it is less abroad and it is not enough to make up for the overall decline in sales”, he continued.


Softening Ringtone Raises Questions on Mobile Music
Mobile devices are supersaturated in many markets, and most consumers are inseparable from their phones. That has translated into huge wins on the data side, yet questions continue to surround the growth potential of mobile music formats. The sagging ringtone is drawing concern, and the future of concepts like OTA downloads remain uncertain.


Rumor: Facebook to take on iTunes?
AllFacebook blogger Nick O'Neill wrote on Friday that an "extremely reliable anonymous source" had told him that Facebook is working on an in-house rival to Apple's mighty iTunes Store. According to O'Neill, the company is in the process of looking for an executive to head this division--his source allegedly knew about the whole deal because of an acquaintance interviewing for the position--and is already meeting with record labels.


Is Subscription the Answer for Movies?
Leonard Kleinrock, sometimes referred to as “the Inventor of the Internet,” spoke recently at an MPAA workshop called “the Expanding Universe of Internet Entertainment.” In Leonard’s speech, he quoted Rick Rubin from a NY Times article, and Rick’s efforts to revive the music industry by pushing for a subscription music model. Leonard mused about whether subscription is potentially the panacea for digital movies as well. Subscription music does show promise, but it really hasn’t taken off with consumers. After several years, the leading subscription service, Rhapsody, claims to have 2.3 million subscribers (some say that's overstated). The new Napster, with its recent acquisition of AOL Music, reportedly has 830,000 subscribers. That's the bulk of the business, but 3 million subscribers represent a minescule fraction of the people consuming digital music.


The DigiMarket Place
Zipidee is the internet's largest marketplace for buying and selling digital goods online. Zipidee provides tools for sellers to market, distribute, and sell original digital goods: video, music, ebooks, ringtones and wallpapers.

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