snapshot 1/4/08

Album sales plunge in '07 as digital growth slows
Total album sales plunged 15 percent in 2007, and retailers waited until October for the year's top release, California tenor Josh Groban's holiday-themed "Noel," according to sales data issued on Thursday by industry tracker Nielsen SoundScan. Sales of physical and digital albums tumbled to 500.5 million units, as the music industry was pillaged by piracy and competition from other forms of entertainment like videogames, industry experts said.

Overall sales -- including albums, singles, and digital tracks -- rose 14 percent to 1.4 billion units, also down from a 19 percent rise in 2006. The main driver of growth was a 45 percent jump in digital track sales to 844.2 million units. But even then, the pace slackened from 65 percent in 2006.


Antitrust Lawsuit Charges Apple With Monopolizing Online Music
An antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple on Dec. 31 charges the company with maintaining an illegal monopoly on the digital music market.

Plaintiff Stacie Somers, represented by attorneys Craig Briskin and Steven Skalet of Mehri & Skalet PLLC, Alreen Haeggquist of Haeggquist Law Group, and Helen Zeldes, alleges that Apple dominates the market for online video, online music, and digital music players and that its dominance constitutes a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The attorneys are seeking to have their lawsuit certified as a class action.


Sony BMG Joining Amazon Music Store; Final Major To Try DRM-Free: Report
Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG will join EMI, Vivendi’s (EPA: VIV) Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) in selling music through Amazon’s (NSDQ: AMZN) MP3 store, making it the last of the major’s to start retailing DRM-free music, BusinessWeek suggests. The Sony/Bertelsmann JV had already been expected this quarter to start selling iTunes Store-like gift cards in stores, granting access to $12.99, MP3-format albums from a forthcoming website. BW’s unnamed source says Sony BMG will, around the same time, join the other labels giving away DRM-less tunes for free via Amazon in a SuperBowl-related promotion starting February 3. It’s not clear how much of the label’s catalog will be involved.


Archos unveils DVR, WiFi-enabled set-top box
Archos, best known for its portable media players, is the latest company to enter the highly competitive and volatile consumer facing set-top box market. Offered in 80GB ($249) and 250GB ($349) versions, the Archos TV+ features TiVo-like DVR functionality, as well as WiFi and Ethernet connectivity to support access to the Internet for web browsing and downloading paid-for video content from CinemaNow. Additionally, the device can operate as a media extender of sorts, to stream content (movies, TV shows, photos and music) from a PC to the TV.

The Archos TV+ offers support for an impressive range of video and audio codecs. Used as a DVR, programs are recorded in MPEG-4 (AVI) at VGA resolution (640 x 480 at 30 or 25 f/s), while the device is capable of playing back MPEG-4 video (which we’re pretty sure includes DivX/Xvid), MPEG-2, WMV and H.264, although some codecs require the purchase of additional plug-ins. On the audio side, the Archos TV+ can playback MP3, WMA, Protected WMA, WAV, and AAC.


Napster Warns Users of Monthly Subscription Increases
Napster is bumping its monthly subscription price tag by 30 percent, and warning users in advance. The company alerted subscribers of the increases in a recent email. "We wanted to let you know about an important pricing change to your Napster membership," the letter stated. "For the first time in over four years, we are increasing the Napster monthly subscription fee from $9.95 to $12.95."

The changes go into effect next month, though existing subscribers can retain their rates by jumping into an annual plan. The yearly cost of $199.40 translates into a $9.95 monthly cost, though the longer-term agreement limits flexibility.


PassAlong Networks Launches Rostr Playlist Widget
Media distribution developer PassAlong Networks™ today launched Rostr™, a customizable and interactive Web playlist widget that enables artists, labels, fans and brands to extend their reach into social networks while offering users a unique tool for displaying their music tastes.
“Rostr is great for companies wanting to extend their brand by having a presence on social networking sites like MySpace™, Facebook and Friendster,” said Dave Jaworski, co-founder and CEO of PassAlong Networks. “Music lovers can make the Rostr playlist widget their own and list their favorite songs for everyone to see and hear."

Rostr allows users to create and display a list of songs they want to exhibit on their social network profile page or on their blog. Visitors can listen to samples of the listed songs and then follow links to where they can purchase the showcased tracks. Users can customize the widget with a variety of colors and by allowing friends to rate and comment on their music selection, while visitors can easily click-through to create their own Rostr playlist widget or duplicate an existing widget.


Universal Flexes Dominant Marketshare Once Again
When Doug Morris speaks, other labels listen, thanks to the massive marketshare enjoyed by Universal Music Group. According to album-specific figures released by Nielsen Soundscan data, Universal Music grabbed a share of 31.9 percent, up from a year-ago share of 31.61 percent. That easily outpaces second-place Sony BMG, which pulled a 24.97 percent share, a dip from year-ago totals of 27.44 percent.

Elsewhere, Warner Music gained while EMI slipped. Specifically, Warner moved to 20.28 percent, up from 18.14 percent previously. And EMI fell to 9.37 percent, below year-ago totals of 10.20 percent. Meanwhile, independents showed strength at 13.48 percent, up from 12.61 percent in 2006.


Gracenote, Philips expand fingerprint file
With their eyes on the exploding online video market, Gracenote and Philips announced Friday that they are expanding on their existing relationship by combining their respective audio and video fingerprinting technologies to offer content owners are comprehensive solution to tracking and filtering video on the Internet.


NBC to provide kiosk downloads at CES
Entertainment kiosk company Mediaport has inked its first video download deal with a major studio, NBC Universal, and the pact will kick off at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 7-10.

Mediaport will be installing several of its kiosks at the studio’s CES booth, which will let convention-goers download free NBC Uni-owned episodes, spanning such shows as 30 Rock and Project Runway. The CES attendees will receive a 1GB flash drive in order to access the episodes from the kiosks, dubbed Mediaport ATMs.