snapshot 10/09/07

TiVo, Realnetworks in Rhapsody music deal
TiVo and RealNetworks are set to announce an agreement on Tuesday that will allow TiVo subscribers to listen to songs from the Rhapsody digital music service on their televisions, the companies said. F inancial terms were not disclosed. Both services require a monthly subscription fee of around $13 a month, but TiVo subscribers will receive a free one-month trial of Rhapsody.

Consumers using the service will be able to search for music directly on their TV, browse charts of Rhapsody's most popular artist or tunes, or listen to thousands of radio channels.


AT&T's Samsung SGH-a717: More Music, More Confusion
The music offering typifies the issue. A number of music services are offered on the deck, including ringtones, music subscription services, streaming satellite radio stations, and even an over-the-air (OTA) download play involving eMusic. The ringtone download process is fairly straightforward, yet more sophisticated features are a bit cumbersome.

An easy example comes from Napster and Yahoo Music Unlimited - competing subscription services that exist side-by-side on the SGH-a717. That approach might make sense if those services had strong respective positions among music fans. But both are rather niche - and that means that many users are being introduced to the concept for the first time on the AT&T third screen. Meanwhile, subscribers on both services can only bookmark downloads for later access on the PC, a somewhat limited experience.

eMusic, on the other hand, has tossed an interesting, OTA concept into the ring. The company is just toeing the mobile waters, and offering modest download packages. Surfing the mobile-based eMusic selection is also a bit painful, especially for those used to the more sophisticated, big-screen layout. Yet the mobile downloads are delivered nicely, and users can subsequently retrieve a PC-based version. A pack of five, mobile-based downloads can be purchased for $7.49.


First Radiohead...now Nine Inch Nails bids adieu to music label
Less than a month after publicly calling executives at his music label unprintable names, rocker Trent Reznor has signaled that his days of working for a record company are over. The only official member of the band Nine Inch Nails, Reznor announced Monday that the group is now a "free of any recording contract with any label." Representatives from Reznor's music label, Universal Music Group, were unavailable for comment.


Seeking Truly Mobile Music (requires subscription)
There's a flurry of activity around a common theme: making digital music truly mobile, instead of contained in music players that get topped up at desktop PCs. But what will be the effect of this newfound musical mobility? Could it mark a substantive change in the digital-music experience? Or will wireless buying and sharing remain mere offshoots of the familiar PC/MP3 player ecosystem?

"I still think the PC is the place where consumers want to have their digital library -- and it's certainly where they want to store and manage that library," says Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin, who ticks off a list of advantages PCs have over mobile devices: Their user interfaces are more convenient, they're harder to lose, and they're easier to back up.


(People Don't) Share Music With Friends (Album Mix)
-- The Live Disc Swap. Similar to the previous idea, release a full tour's worth of live CDs-- but only sell one disc per region. The people in Boston only get the CD from their show; same for Los Angeles, or Chicago. Then set up a Bit Torrent site where anyone who bought your CD can swap it with fans around the globe. Inevitably record stores will "import" the alternate versions, but that's not the point: $17 still gets you access to all the other discs, as long as you find someone else to share with. Add message boards where people can argue about the best performances of each track, and you've got a community.

-- "Anyone Have an Invite to...?" Speaking of Joost, you remember the last time you heard about some hip new website or gadget, and you had to give it a whirl-- but the only way to gain access was to find somebody else who could give you an invite? It worked for Joost, it worked for Gmail-- why didn't Radiohead try it with the online release of In Rainbows, starting with the folks on their mailing list? Believe me, I don't want to exclude the losers who are always last to get an invite to one of these things (like me).

- Help people play along, together. The remix sites that let people rework and share portions of a record are terrific-- at least, for the fans who have the time and chops to try a remix. But there's another, far more primitive idea: Why don't more singer-songwriter types ship CDs with the sheet music? Yes, it's old-fashioned. But people have been getting stoned by the campfire and strumming bad music for longer than they've been playing Halo. Why not sell them a reason to do it again?


Oasis, Jamiroquai to follow Radiohead
Now Jamiroquai and Oasis, two major names that are not contracted to a record labels, are rumoured to be considering following Radiohead by offering work for free, according to industry sources. Google say that searches for Radiohead have increased tenfold this week as fans log on to the band’s site, with the majority – according to the band’s spokesman – spurning the opportunity to download the album for as little as 45 pence and instead signing up for the £40 box set, which includes vinyl records, CD and artwork The Charlatans are also offering fans their next album completely for free if they visit the site of radio station XFM.