Monday, March 3, 2008

snapshot 3/3/08

Nine Inch Nails releases Internet album
Trent Reznor, the man behind the rock group Nine Inch Nails, continued his foray into self-distribution by releasing a 36-track instrumental album over the Internet. The album, Ghosts I-IV, went on sale Sunday on NIN.com, the band's Web site, and was available in a varying range of price packages.

Reznor is giving away the first nine songs of the album for free. The entire album in a digital version is available for $5. Nine Inch Nails' fans can order separate disc-sets of the album (with varying bonus materials and merchandise) from $10 to $300.


Is Amazon Rethinking Its Movie Download Service?
It’s been a year-and-a-half since Amazon launched Unbox, its movie download service that competes with Netflix and iTunes. Amazon has a partnership with TiVo to allow people to download movies straight to their TV set-top boxes. But Unbox doesn’t appear to have really made a dent in Amazon’s business yet. The service did not even warrant a mention in last quarter’s earnings announcement. Maybe that is why Amazon is noodling over what it can add to Unbox to make it a hit.

Amazon is asking Unbox customers to fill out an online survey about how satisfied they are with the service. One of the questions asks which of ten potential improvements is “most likely to increase your use of the Amazon Unbox service?” The options range from free streaming with ads and an HBO-like movie subscription service to HD-quality videos and bundling digital copies with the purchase of a regular DVD.


iPhone now fourth-largest browsing platform
The iPhone has become the world’s fourth-largest online browsing platform, according to the latest operating system numbers from Net Applications. For February 2008, the various versions of Windows held nearly 92% market share, followed by the Mac with ~7.5%, Linux with 0.65%, and iPhone, with 0.14% — up 0.01% from January.


Amazon MP3 Store Now Linux-Friendly
Amazon's MP3 store got officially Linux-friendly last week, adding support for Debian 4 Etch, Fedora 8, Open SUSE 10.3, and Unbuntu 7.10 Gutsy.


Digital Music Store Lets Fans Set Pricing
(Kevin Hockin, who handles operations and marketing for the company, points out that RIAA member labels are trying to reduce the artist's cut of a digital sale from 13 percent to 9 percent, and that Apple is trying to lower the payout to artists from songs sold on iTunes down to 4 percent.)


Counting Billions: Are iTunes Store Sales An Issue?
Apple has now sold four billion song downloads on its iTunes Store, a feat accomplished after nearly five years. That is a large number of paid downloads, but is iTunes growing fast enough?
A top-level look shows a rapid acceleration over past few years. It took Apple more than two and one-half years to accomplish its first billion. The threshold was announced in early February of 2006, after an initial launch in May of 2003.

But a slight deceleration is now emerging. The fourth billion happened after roughly seven months, about equal to the time between the second and third billion. The second billion was announced in early January of 2007, and the third came at the tail end of July. That offers more evidence of a plateau, especially given the dominant position that Apple enjoys in the paid download space.


Mercedes-Benz Expands Online Music Initiative
Mercedes-Benz is one of the most recognized brands worldwide, and one of the largest advertisers. But outside of its more mainstream pitches, the company is tapping newer formats to excite a younger generation.
In 2004, the German automaker started a promotional music download initiative called Mixed Tape. Since that point, the company has racked a total of 28 million downloads from roughly 2.5 million users.


Coming soon: Movies on flash memory cards
PortoMedia is setting up kiosks that will let consumers download movies to a flash memory key or portable hard drive. The kiosks will be packed with hard drives that can hold 350 to 5,000 titles. Users then plug in a memory device from the company, enter a PIN code, and buy or rent a movie. When consumers get home, they simply slide the memory device into a dock connected to a TV.

The key to the service is a proprietary USB interface that transfers data at a faster average rate than standard USB devices. A standard-definition movie can be loaded onto a memory device in 8 to 60 seconds, depending on the length and chip speed. High-definition movies, which won't be available initially on the service, can be downloaded in 18 to 45 seconds. The USB interface works just fine with the USB slots on PCs and notebooks.


Apple expands Digital Release cards with iTunes Essentials compilations
Following its mid-2007 rollout of Digital Release cards, which first appeared in Starbucks to offer digital downloads of albums from individual artists, Apple has expanded the Digital Release program to include themed, 15- and 30-song iTunes compilations, and started to sell the cards in Best Buy locations. Branded under the iTunes Essentials name, the cards are available for collections such as “Classic Rock Hits,” “R&B Hits,” “Love Song Classics,” “Party Hits,” “70’s Super Hits,” and “80’s Super Hits,” with prices from $10 to $20. The $10 cards include 15 songs each, while $20 cards provide 30 tracks each, bringing the per-track price to only 67 cents per song. Tracks selected by Apple for these cards come from major artists, and the cards feature eye-catching metallic material rather than just plain plastic or cardboard.


Apple falls short of 1,000 movie rentals
Apple fell far short of its goal of rolling out 1,000 movies for rent through the iTunes Store by the end of February. Macworld's Christopher Breen checked in Friday on Apple's promise, and found that just 351 titles are available to rent through the latest version of Apple TV. If you check the iTunes Store from a Mac or PC, there are 399 movies available to rent. Breen notes that even if you include all the movies available through the iTunes Store, for both purchase and rentals, there are only 770 available.


Analyst: Recording industry needs even newer business models
JupiterResearch analysts are pointing to the music industry's need to revolutionize its business model even further, as social networking sites, Internet radio stations, and legit P2P services are taking command of the market.


A Tough Sell: Movies on Small Screens
Apple TV, Vudu, Movielink, Unbox: the Internet is littered with ventures that offer the ability to download movies legally online. Few have had the predicted success. A new report by the Diffusion Group, a research firm, says that less than 10 percent of adults with broadband connections have ever used such services, and only about 1 percent use them frequently.


TuneCore Starts Getting Physical, Moves Beyond iTunes
Digital distribution is easier than ever, thanks to entrants like TuneCore. The Brooklyn-based company allows artists to direct-inject their content into the iTunes Store, without any special relationships or contracts. The platform also offers distribution into rival outlets like eMusic and Amazon MP3.

Now, the TuneCore footprint is expanding. On Thursday, the company revealed plans to offer a physical sales solution starting April 1st. The concept does not involve brick-n-mortar, though it does involve widget-based stores containing CDs, according to details shared with Digital Music News.

The portable store can be planted into any website, blog, or social networking profile. Artists control pricing, album positioning, artwork, and other details, and TuneCore will ship orders. Artists must pay a flat fee for the first year, according to the company.

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