snapshot 3/31/08

Sony films headed to mobile phones
Sony Pictures Television is looking to launch the first movie network on mobile phones in the United States. The studio has signed a deal with AT&T and MediaFLO USA to launch the linear channel as one of two exclusive channels coming to the newly announced AT&T Mobile TV with FLO service in May.


Musicians take social networking into their own hands
50 Cent has more than 1 million friends on MySpace, but if the rapper ever decides to leave the social network, he'll be leaving behind those friends, too. So like a growing number of artists, he's started his own social networking site. Even more important: Fans seem to be buying directly from the sites. On Minogue's KylieKonnect, launched in fall 2007 through U.K.-based New Visions Mobile, nearly 25 percent of users have made a ringtone, download or merchandise purchase, company director Julia McNally says.


Web-based YouTube coming to iPhone Safari
Apple's anticipated iPhone 2.0 firmware will add some form of YouTube support within Safari, accounts say. Apple recently began distributing an updated version of the iPhone firmware to accompany the latest version of the SDK, and YouTube is now said to be accessible through a plug-in for MobileSafari.app. Traditionally, iPhone and iPod touch users have had to access YouTube from a separate, custom application, which also only links specially-formatted videos.

Still to be confirmed by developers is whether the plug-in simply provides an integrated web version of the current application, or whether it somehow introduces a form of Flash support. The public iPhone version of Safari does not presently support Flash, mainly due to concerns over battery consumption. Adobe, however, has said it is building a variant of the software that will be downloadable after the App Store goes live in June.


The Greatest Threat, and Opportunity for iTune
The challenge is that all this media is available for free from multiple outlets most notably Bittorrent, Limewire, etc. The other challenge is that a lot of people are getting their media this way. It isn’t an act of hackers. It isn’t underground. The words Bittorrent and Limewire are, I would argue, are more widely know than HMV (do they still exist?) or any other number of brick and mortar stores. As people’s expectation is thaTt music (and, increasingly movies) should be available freely and readily this is a problem for Apple. But in that problem hopefully lies a solution.

So now, the big question. How to pay for this all? Think back to radio. In order to listen to radio you have to a) own a radio, b) listen to advertising or c) pay a fee to not have advertising. Same model for music. You will have to own an iPod (which will assumedly have a tax on it of some sort), listen to advertising between songs, or pay a fee to download and own the music, forever.

TIf Apple doesn’t somehow adjust to this new reality the users and industry will do it without them. Already there are discussions underway between Comcast and Bittorrent with the idea floating around of some sort of monthly fee. What we are seeing right now with iTunes is the in between step from the old structures of selling and distributing music and the new. The new way is Apple’s greatest opportunity, or threat, if it choses to ignore it.


SpiralFrog's deal with Warner Music is half-baked
What's sad about the Warner/Chappell licensing deal, which SpiralFrog announced Monday, is that the troubled music service may be years away from actually featuring music from James Blunt, Green Day, Linkin Park, or any other Warner Music artist. That's because in addition to gaining the music's publishing rights, SpiralFrog must also acquire the recording rights in order to offer the music.

During my meeting with Mohen, no sooner had we sat down then SpiralFrog's public relations people sheepishly told me that the company was filing a Form 15 with the Securities and Exchange Commission later that day. SpiralFrog would no longer be reporting them publicly. What this means is that Mohen no longer has to reveal his company's progress--or lack thereof--since reporting a dismal third quarter. For the quarter that ended September 30, SpiralFrog posted a loss of $3.4 million on revenue of just $20,400.


The Democratization of the Music Industry
Allowing all music creators "in" is both exciting and frightening. Some argue that we need subjective gatekeepers as filters. No matter which way you feel about it, there are a few indisputable facts -- control has been taken away from the "four major labels" and the traditional media outlets. We, the "masses," now have access to create, distribute, discover, promote, share and listen to any music. Hopefully access to all of this new music will inspire us, make us think and open doors and minds to new experiences we choose, not what a corporation or media outlet decides we should want. It is then the public, not a corporation that gets to decide what is bad and good. The revolution (pun intended) has truly begun.


Buzznet Acquires Steve Case-Backed Music App Qloud: Report
A day after we broke the news on Buzznet’s latest funding and wondered who they’d be buying, Mashable claims, citing sources, that it has bought Qloud, the DC-based social music company that claims backing from Revolution LLC. SocialTimes reports the same and says an announcement is imminent. Deal terms have not been reported.

Qloud, started by two ex-AOLers, is the developer of the My Music app on Facebook, which, at one point claimed to be the second biggest music app on the site. Other investors include Ted Leonsis and former Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) music chief David Goldberg.