snapshot 4/15/08

Motley Crue to release single on Rock Band game
In a nod to the ascendancy of video games, rock 'n' roll bad boys Motley Crue will become the first group to release a new single through Rock Band, the developer of the wildly popular game said on Monday. "Saints of Los Angeles," the first single from the group's upcoming album, will be available for download for 99 cents on Tuesday via Microsoft Corp's Xbox Live Marketplace and on Thursday via Sony Corp's PlayStation store, said Viacom Inc's MTV Games.


The Filter's mission: Refine music, video and movie tastes
Peter Gabriel's latest venture isn't a new album but a better way to serve up music and other entertainment on the Internet. The Filter (thefilter.com) is the latest entry in a growing lineup of online recommendation engines that suggest new music based on your current favorites.

At its simplest, The Filter uses proprietary artificial intelligence to suggest works that are similar to ones already identified as favorites, using a database of more than 4.5 million songs and 330,000 movies. The database will account for users' changing tastes and grow as more users join during the private beta-testing period, beginning today (request access at thefilter.com).


Apple & Starbucks Launch iTunes Pick of the Week Initiative
Apple and Starbucks have launched the iTunes Pick of the Week music initiative. The Pick of the Week will allow Starbucks customers to download a complimentary song or music video every Tuesday.

More than 7,000 company-operated Starbucks locations in the US will stock a new Pick of the Week download card redeemable on the iTunes Store for a free song or music video, from artists such as Carly Simon, Duffy, Counting Crows, Adele, Sia, Hilary McRae, and more. The first Pick of the Week, available starting today at participating locations, is the new song “Washington Square” by the Counting Crows. Customers will have 60 days from the date the cards are available to redeem them through the iTunes Store.


NPD: Amazon MP3 has no impact on iTunes
Amazon's highly-touted MP3 store has had little to no effect on the success of iTunes, according to a new analysis by The NPD Group. A study conducted by the group reveals that just 10 percent of all purchasers at Amazon MP3 are converts from Apple's service, with the rest either switching from other stores or else are new to direct-download music. This comparatively new audience is a "healthy indication" that other stores don't necessarily have to draw customers away from iTunes to grow, says NPD entertainment analyst Russ Crupnick.


Can Sony Trump iTunes With New PlayStation Store?
Two weeks ago, Sony froze the catalog of its online PlayStation Store—the central hub it uses to offer downloadable content for its PlayStation 3 console—and announced that it would be performing an extensive makeover in two weeks. This morning, the new PlayStation Store launched globally, and it’s a major improvement over the prior version, offering a simplified interface for browsing and downloading games and videos.

To go one step further, it looks like Sony finally has an online store interface that outdoes the one on Apple TV—now, the PlayStation 3’s only challenges are to populate the store with similar content, and get enough hardware out there to make a real impact on the digital marketplace. More photos and details are available by clicking on the headline above, or the read more link below.


TuneCore Pays $1M In January Fueled By Indie Artists
MNany digital distributors are still trying to find their footing, but one outfit seems to have found its own indie sweet spot. TuneCore.com artists and labels earned more than $1 Million in January marking a new peak for the flat fee discount digital distribution service. TuneCore says customers have now earned a total of over seven million dollars from digital sales of their music. Tunecores revenue growth is in part being fueled by big names like Bjork, Nine Inch Nails, Keith Richards and Jay-Z, But according to the distributor unsigned artists are earning the majority of the revenue generated.