Wednesday, June 25, 2008

snapshot 6/25/08

AT&T to boost online content distribution
AT&T said on Tuesday it wants to expand its business of delivering online media, moving into more direct competition with specialized content delivery companies like Akamai Technologies Inc and Limelight Networks Inc.


Starbucks (SBUX) Dumping CDs, iTunes Gift Cards (AAPL)
Starbucks, which has been scaling back its once-grand ambitions to turn itself into an entertainment hub, is about to shrink its plans yet again. We hear that by September, the chain will have dumped almost all of its in-store music retail offerings.

That means no more "spinner" racks offering multiple CD choices to latte-buyers. And that also means no more gift cards and promotional giveaways for Apples iTunes (AAPL). Instead, we're told, the coffee chain will offer just four CD "slots" per store. But it will also continue to offer free Wi-fi access to Apple's online music store and may continue to try to sell entertainment online.


Amie Street Lands Big Content Deal With The Orchard
Amie Street , the music store that features dynamic pricing that varies according to a song’s popularity, has secured a deal with digital music distributor The Orchard , which holds a catalog of over 1 million songs. For the time being not all of The Orchard’s music labels will be taking part in the deal, but Amie Street hopes to have them all finalized in the near future.


..And iTunes Album Totals Could Be Smashing
Coldplay could smash iTunes album sales records this week, based on information floating Tuesday. Hits Magazine pegged iTunes-specific sales of Viva La Vida at more than 275,000 during the recent week, a figure that would double a previous record-setting total from Jack Johnson.

In February, Johnson accomplished digital album sales of more than 137,000 on Sleep Through the Static. Overall, the Johnson album sold 375,000 units in its first week. More recently, Apple pumped millions into a Coldplay-focused iTunes campaign, one that appears to be producing rich dividends.


Whatever happened to Microsoft's DRM plan?
Asked if the world has been spared a Microsoft digital rights management machine, Anderson responded in an e-mail: "Wrong--WMP (Windows Media Player) and the surrounding stuff that MS hopes will enable it to do to the HDTV market what Apple did for MP3s."


RedAntenna tries to play fair
Though still in beta, RedAntenna has begun signing up indie bands and small record labels to start using its e-commerce widget--RedAntenna calls it a ShopLet--to sell directly to consumers from their own Web sites or their MySpace profile page. RedAntenna handles the transaction and product distribution in exchange for a 7% fee

While other e-commerce providers offer similar services--SnoCap comes to mind--U.S. business development manager Freddy Nager told Media Wonk RedAntenna hopes to go SnoCap one better for artists by letting creators set whatever price they want for their content and by keeping its own commission low. SnoCap has a fixed price schedule and takes a bigger cut of the sale.


Skip The Video Store -- And Mailbox; Netflix Makes DVDs Obsolete; With its $99 video player, the movies-by-mail pioneer poised for yet another shift
With its low-cost set-top box for streaming movies from the Internet, Netflix may have succeeded where others have failed. The Netflix Player by Roku has enjoyed brisk sales since it was launched on May 20, company officials say. Roku, a privately held company in Saratoga, Calif., sold out its initial supply of Netflix boxes and has been ramping up production to meet demand. Netflix and Roku wouldn't give sales figures.


Ubuntu community head tests music economics with open content
Ubuntu community manager Jono Bacon, an independent musician and prominent figure in the open-source software community, is starting a new solo music project through which he aims to explore the challenges of distributing music under a Creative Commons license. He hopes that his efforts will bring some clarity to the copyright debate and provide real answers about how open content might change the economics of the music industry.


Renew That Library Card: DC Public Library Starts Lending DRM-Free Audiobooks
ffering something for free doesn’t guarantee people will make the most of it. The latest example: eBooks distributor OverDrive says providing DRM-protected audiobooks to public libraries in the WMA format has discouraged iPod-centric users so it is expanding its catalog to DRM-free MP3s as well. The new program starts today at the District of Columbia Public Library with five more libraries to follow. It’s a small number compared to OverDrive’s arrangements with about 7,500 libraries to distribute its catalog of 20,000 DRM-protected digital audiobooks.

The MP3 audiobooks are tied to specific libraries so users will still need a card from their local branch. And even though MP3s are not copy-protected, users have to agree to borrowing terms. When the lending period is over—different branches have different terms—access to the software expires and a prompt is sent ordering users to delete the files.

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