snapshot 2/25/08

Random House Audiobooks To Skip Encryption
In a bid to bolster sales by attracting new retail outlets, one of the country's largest suppliers of audiobooks plans to begin publishing its titles without encryption protection. Bertelsmann AG's Random House Audio unit informed literary agents Thursday that its audiobooks will be sold without DRM encryption beginning March 1. In September, Random House Audio made 500 DRM-free titles available on eMusic and concluded that none of the titles ended up on file-sharing networks as pirated material. The Random House decision was reported on the Boing Boing Web site.

Random House is following in the footsteps of major music labels that have moved to sell their products online without DRM protection. One advantage for consumers is that they will now be able to easily move their audiobooks from one digital device to another, something that has traditionally been difficult. "We need to sell digital downloads through all online retailers," said Madeline McIntosh, publisher. "If we insist on using DRM, our audiobooks can't be sold to consumers who have iPods unless they buy them from Audible or iTunes."


Free On Demand Music Spurs Last.fm Growth
CBS owned Last.fm says it has had a unique listener bump of 92% in the four weeks since the launch of their free on-demand music service. In addition, unique visitors continued to show sustained growth, up 59%, and page views increased 58%. Last.fm says it has 21 million active users worldwide monthly.


Studios Are Trying to Stop DVDs From Fading to Black
Movie studios are fighting back by taking a page from the Internet playbook. Indeed, the centerpiece of the market rejuvenation effort is something 20th Century Fox calls “digital copy.” Fox DVDs, starting last month, now come with an additional disc holding a digital file of the title. Consumers can download the file to a computer in about five minutes — far less time than via the Internet — and then watch the movie there or transfer it to their iPod.

But John Freeman, an industry analyst, sees the effort as a stall tactic. Although digital copies are “a step forward,” he said, that step is tantamount to Hollywood admitting that its lucrative hard-goods business is growing obsolete. Today, digital files on discs; tomorrow, mass downloading straight from the Internet.


Subscription Gets Religion; Praiseworthy Application Launches
Devout Christians are now being treated to a music subscription service specializing in faith-based music. The service, called GospelDepot (gospeldepot.com), is powered by MediaNet Digital division MusicNet in partnership with Ways & Means Entertainment. The platform, currently in beta ahead of a March launch, features artists like tobyMac, Shirley Caesar, Kirk Franklin, Steven Curtis Chapman, Natalie Grant, and BarlowGirl. Participating labels include EMI Christian, Integrity, Verity, Word, and Malaco.

Like other subscription offerings, GospelDepot offers on-demand access to a massive catalog, though permanent downloads require a 99-cent payment. In the secular world, that approach has experienced mixed success, though a more targeted pitch could yield different results. "We are finding that certain segments of the market want a customized service that focuses on their musical and entertainment tastes in particular," explained MediaNet president and chief executive Alan McGlade.