Web search leader Google Inc is planning to boost its presence in China by tying up with a Chinese online music company to provide free music downloads, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The report, quoting people close to the situation, said Google was in the late planning stages of a venture and will likely offer access to tunes from three global music companies as well as dozens of smaller brands. The service could start in the next several weeks barring any last-minute problems, it said.
Warner Music posts $16M loss
Recording company takes first-quarter loss on higher expenses and goodwill impairment charge, but revenue beats Wall Street's forecasts. Warner Music Group Corp., whose artists include Led Zeppelin and Josh Groban, posted a first-quarter loss Wednesday, hurt by higher expenses and an impairment charge. The recording company reported a loss of $16 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with a profit of $18 million, or 12 cents, in the previous year. The results included an $18 million goodwill impairment charge, which reflects the reduced current value of an asset, as well as increased selling, general and administrative expenses.
First Review of Sony BMG's MusicPass MP3 Card
This writer tested several cards including Ultimate Santana, a collection of 18 tracks and three bonus music videos. MusicPass.com began to automatically download four songs at once, but due to the large number of tracks and high file size (the videos were around 80 megabytes each) I ran out of time before all the material had transferred. Upon logging in again later, the site remembered me (via the pin/serial numbers) and picked up where it had stopped. Before long I was sweating on a spin bike grooving to “Oye Como Va” on my iPhone iPod.
Other items of note (from the post and the MusicPass FAQ:
- Each card has a scratch-off PIN code and serial number combination that are entered at the MusicPass site.
- After the consumer has downloaded the album, there is an opportunity to purchase a complete catalog album from the same artist.
- Said Sony BMG Nashville's VP of Digital Business,"They have to be activated at the register just like any other gift card purchase."
- The cards have no expiration date.
- The files are watermarked with "a unique code indicating that they belong to Sony BMG" but no personal information.
- Users are not required to enter anything other than the PIN code and serial number. An email address is optional (to receive artist info).
To watch a video about the MusicPass cards, go to the website and click on the "What Is MusicPass?" link.
Pirated by iTunes, Artist Turns to BitTorrent
The Flashbulb, aka Benn Jordan, became so outraged when he discovered that iTunes was effectively pirating his music, that he uploaded copies of his latest album to BitTorrent. TorrentFreak caught up with Benn to learn more about the decision to stop distributors and ‘coked-up label reps’ from getting all the cash.
Cablevision Will Let You Watch Movies The Day Of Their Release, If You Buy The DVD
We were surprised that even Apple was forced by the movie industry to delay the release of online movie downloads until a month after the DVD release. This seemed totally pointless and self-defeating by the movie industry (though, hardly the first time that's happened). However, it looks like Cablevision has discovered an interesting workaround to this "window" between releases: it's launching a video-on-demand (VOD) system that will let you watch movies the day they're released on DVD. The trick? You need to actually buy the DVD first, via Cablevision. Then, while you're waiting for the physical DVD to arrive in the mail, you're free to watch the movie via the VOD offering. Of course, this sounds something like what the original MP3.com used to do, allowing people to access MP3s of CDs they just bought, while they wait for the CD to arrive. And, as I'm sure many of you remember, the entertainment industry sued MP3.com and actually won that lawsuit.
Earnings: Napster Slims Losses In Q4; Revs Gain 15 Percent; DRM-Free Downloads By June
Napster narrowed its net loss to $2.8 million ($0.06/share) in Q4, compared to a net loss of $9.5 million ($0.22 /share) last year. Revenues continued to grow, reaching $32.8 million, up 15 percent from Q406’s $28.4 million. The company may also be starting to arrest subscriber losses, which were down less than 1 percent compared to Q307. The online music service also offered a look at its with cash holdings on a consecutive basis: by the end of the quarter, Napster had $69.3 million in “cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments,” an increase of $900,000 from the prior quarter.
Earlier this week, Napster bumped up subscription prices from $9.95 per month to $12.95 monthly - a 30 percent hike. Aside from that, Napster has also been focusing on building up its mobile services outside the U.S., particularly in Japan and Latin America. For the full year, the company’s revenues were up about 18 percent to $96.6 million from $89.1 million. However, total cost of revenues were also up, rising from $57.4 million to $68.4 million, a 19.2 percent increase.
-- Conference call: Chairman and CEO Chris Gorog began by saying he believes that the shift to the MP3 format will make things less complicated for consumers and for Napster, as the company prepares to offer DRM-free downloads at its download store within the first six months of this year. He twice boasted that Napster reduced its ad spend in Q4, yet still managed to generate more subscription trials, which he presented as proof that the company’s subscription is working. He believes the introduction of MP3 sales will attract more users to its subscription service.
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