Thursday, February 21, 2008

snapshot 2/21/08

EFF critical of Flash Video DRM
In a recent blog post, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Seth Schoen lays out a number of criticisms of Adobe’s push to introduce Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology into its Flash Video and accompanying Flash Media Server products.

If DRM was to become commonplace for Flash Video (the dominant format for streaming video on the Web e.g. YouTube) then it would stifle competition and dramatically hinder the burgeoning “remix” culture that the Internet has spawned, argues Schoen.


Vivendi Launches Zaoza. A Preview To Total Music?
Universal Music's Vivendi has launched a subscription-based mobile content service called Zaoza that charges $4.50 a month for unlimited downloads including music, ringtones, games and videos. The service works with most cells and services except the iPhone. Content partners at launch include Sony BMG and several larger EU indies. The site already has 100,000 beta users in France and launched in Germany and the U.K. will follow this year. In a departure from competitors, there is also a social networking component that allows users to share downloads with five friends.

Vivendi says that it is considering an expansion into the US. There Zaoza might find itself competing as a kind of cellular version of the Total Music concept being floated by Universal's own Doug Morris. Combine the two services and Vivendi Universal could change the game. But this can only happen if the world's largest music company can move the ball forward more rapidly then it has in the past.


Grammys Give Album Sales A Boost
s usual, many of the artists who appeared on the February 10 Grammy Awards saw a big spike in record sales the following week. A performance is usually a sure fire way for an artist to spark interest in their latest work, and this definitely proved true for Amy Winehouse, who has had some image problems recently as she entered rehab. However, Winehouse pulled it together for her live-via-satellite performance and put on one of her best television performances yet, not to mention the fact that she won five awards. The coup was enough to push her album Back To Black all the way up from #24 to #2, selling 115,300 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. However, she couldn't quite top Jack Johnson, who held on to the #1 spot for the second week in a row with Sleep Through The Static.

Herbie Hancock, the surprise winner for Album of the Year with River: The Joni Letters, rocketed to #5 on the chart after being at #159 the week before. His trophy-winning album sold almost 54,000 copies. Daughtry was shut out at the Grammys, but sales of their self-titled album still rose by 43 percent from the previous week, landing it at #15. The Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace won a pair of Grammys and sales went up 160 percent, while performer Carrie Underwood saw a 43 percent increase in sales of Carnival Ride. Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad went up 60 percent, and Kanye West's Graduation went up 74 percent. John Legend also performed on the show and saw his Live From Philadelphia set jump from #62 to #12 with a 209 percent increase in sales. Even John Fogerty, who performed with Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard as part of a Cornerstones Of Rock segment, saw his latest album, Revival, reappear in the Top 200 at #152.


IDJ, Flycell Partner For Mobile Service
Island Def Jam Music Group has launched the first-ever label-centric mobile subscription service in a deal with mobile and online media company Flycell. IDJ Mobile will offer subscribers exclusive online and mobile content, including ringtones, graphics and games, along with label news, artist mobile blogs and sweepstakes for backstage concert passes and other prizes. The service launched today (Feb. 20) with exclusive ringtones and other content from Kanye West -- its first flagship artist. IDJ plans to add content from Rihanna in the next week. IDJ will be available for $9.99 a month to mobile customers of Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Virgin Mobile, Boost, Alltel, Cellular One, Metro PCS and Suncom.


More Listeners, More Money: Online Radio Growth Continues
Internet radio isn't the biggest earner online, but its appeal continues to grow. Just recently, Accustream iMedia Research pointed to a 26.1 percent increase in total listening hours in 2007 to 4.85 billion. That is drawing more advertiser interest, though the group credited heavyweights Clear Channel and Citadel Broadcasting for drawing the most advertising visibility. In total, internet radio billings topped $80 million in 2007, according to the group, almost triple sales of $26.9 million in 2006.

Additionally, the internet radio industry is also spinning video-based advertisements, which yielded an additional $12-15 million last year. AOL-owned Shoutcast grabbed the most attention last year, with 48.4 percent of total listening hours, according to the ranking. Other top-ranked destinations included Clear Channel Online, Yahoo Music, AOL Radio Networks and Pandora.


iTunes Rental availability outperforms promises
Many of our readers are noticing that rental titles reach iTunes more quickly than expected. Didn't Apple promise new titles 30 days after the DVD release? TUAW reader Robbie Taylor wrote in to let us know that Michael Clayton hit the iTunes "shelves" within just a day or so of its February 19th store release.


'Juno' DVD to be sold in Starbucks
The box office hit "Juno" will be the first Fox Home Entertainment DVD to be sold at Starbucks coffee outlets in the United States, the studio said Wednesday. The DVD will be released April 15. In the latest box office rankings offered by Box Office Mojo, "Juno" was No. 7 after 11 weeks.


iLike Launches Artist News Stream - Users Triple since Last July To 22 Million
San Francisco/Seattle based music service iLike launched a “news feed” for favorite artists this week. Users can now see exactly what their favorite artists are up to - when they go on tour, release new songs or videos, etc, the news is presented to them in the feed.
Users can select their favorite artiest via the iLike website or on their social network applications. Or the service decides what you like based on your playing habits on iTunes (they have an iTunes plugin - if you listen to a song ten times, it thinks you like the artist).


Apple, Starbucks sued over custom music gift cards
A Utah couple acting as their own attorneys have filed a lawsuit against Apple and Starbucks over the retailers' recent "Song of the Day" promotion, which offers Starbucks customers a iTunes gift card for a complimentary, pre-selected song download.

In a seven-page formal complaint, James and Marguerite Driessen of Lindon, Utah say they developed in 2000 (and successfully patented in February 2006) a utility dubbed RPOS, or retail point of sale, for Internet merchandising. The concept, which forms the heart of the infringement lawsuit, would allow gift cards for pre-defined items that can be sold at a brick-and-mortar store but used online; customers could redeem a card for a dining room set or a DVD, for example.

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