Internet media company Yahoo Inc said on Monday its music service will now be handled by Rhapsody America, an on-demand subscription service run by RealNetworks Inc and Viacom Inc. Yahoo, which previously said it would replace its in-house built Yahoo! Music Unlimited service, said it would migrate customers to Rhapsody over the coming months, while allowing subscribers to access their music library from a new Rhapsody account. Yahoo Music's monthly subscribers, who currently pay around $9 a month will eventually have to pay around $12.99 a month for Rhapsody when their existing contracts expire.
Super Bowl XLII Stuns; Music-Related Ads Proliferate
- As expected, Pepsi and Amazon proved a potent combination, thanks to a quick-moving ad spotlighting Justin Timberlake. The Pepsi Stuff spot featured Timberlake being magically dragged around town by a Pepsi-sipping fan, a teaser for a massive redemption program involving Amazon and its MP3-based download store.
- But superstar artists weren't the only ones featured during the game. Developing singer-songwriter Kina Grannis, winner of the Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" contest, enjoyed an amazing promotional showcase during the first quarter. Grannis recently signed with Interscope.
If Yahoo can’t do it . . .
The deal leaves Rhapsody, Napster and Microsoft's Zune Pass as the last subscription services standing, with Zune Pass being available only to consumers who buy a Zune MP3 player. Previous casualties include MTV's Urge, AOL's MusicNet, Sony Music and Universal Music Group's Pressplay, and Circuit City's MusicNow. Put another way, some of the biggest names on the Web, the music industry and electronics retailing have ventured into the subscription music market, only to be forced into retreat.
Breaking: In The Middle of The Storm, Yahoo! Acquires Israeli FoxyTunes
A couple of weeks ago we reported several rumors of acquisition of Israel-based FoxyTunes a Firefox plugin that allows users to control their favorite media players from the browser. According to several sources the acquisition has been completed for an undisclosed amount of money. This happens as Yahoo decided to shut down its premium music service and reroute it to Rhapsody. Prior to Microsoft’s acquisition offer, Yahoo was intending to open an R&D center in Israel: FoxyTunes would probably become the intial operation. It is unclear however for now what would happen in the case of an acquisition by Microsoft.
Slacker Portable Player. Like Pandora To Go.
The system starts with the Slacker Radio service and 2 million songs organized into 100 pro stations, 10,000 artist stations and an unlimited number stations that you create. Like Pandora, your stations evolve over time by rating your favorite songs and banning artists or songs you don’t like. You can even fine tune your stations to play older or newer music, more hits or more eclectic music, or to help you discover more artists.
With the addition of the new Slacker Portable you automatically connect to Slacker over Wi-Fi when in wireless range or USB and instead of streaming, the player fills itself up with your selected music. This means you don’t need a continuous connection to play Slacker Radio. There are ads inserted into the streams but you can eliminate them by paying a monthly fee.
Go To The Movie, Get The Soundtrack For Free
Mark Cuban, who has actually been at the forefront of many of these ideas (and, also happens to very involved in the industry, though more on the independent side) has an interesting new suggestion. He points out that only a small number of people actually buy the soundtracks associated with movies -- but if you want to attract more people to go to the movie, why not give them the ability to download the soundtrack of any movie they go see in the theaters. Put a special code on the ticket stub that takes them to a download store -- and on that store include the soundtrack as well as extras, such as the script from the film. Obviously, this content will be spread around and can be accessed by others, but many will value the fact that by seeing the actual movie they get access to the official content. As Cuban notes, this can also be a win for the music industry, as a portion of the movie ticket sales can be used to compensate them as well.
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