Digital Media Rants

snapshot 8/20/08

2008-08-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

More than a song
The Internet and microchip-powered consumer electronics have created a new set of opportunities to capitalize on the public's demand for music. At the same time, however, file-sharing networks, blogs and other sources of free music have thrown into question the value of music online. So instead of embracing the new opportunities together, labels, artists and entrepreneurs have often scrapped over the licensing fees and royalties that online businesses must pay for the music they distribute.

The Orchard Gets Physical; Launches TVT Distribution
The Orchard is now moving into physical distribution, a move that closely follows its acquisition of the distressed TVT Records. The Orchard, best known for its digital distribution and online marketing campaigns, has tapped Michael Bull to helm the expansion.
The newly-minted TVT Distribution will initially service a select group of independent label partners, according to the company. Describing the diversification, Orchard chief executive Greg Scholl pointed to the acquisition of a "respected physical distribution operation," one that will give label clients the ability to execute more coordinated distribution strategies.

Disc Makers Launches Elite Artist Services
Disc Makers has launched Elite Artist Services, a new division geared towards major artists who want to go independent. Elite Artist Services will make it easy for artists with expiring deals to leave their labels and sell CDs and downloads directly. Elite offers major artists virtually all of the manufacturing, distribution, download, marketing and ecommerce infrastructure services required to release their projects.

Elite offers today’s major artist a complete team and infrastructure to make going independent a turnkey process. The company offers a comprehensive suite of services that used to be offered by the record label, including graphic design, mastering, disc manufacturing and packaging, download sales through the artist’s web site and major sites like iTunes, Rhapsody and Amazon.com, CD distribution through Sony RED, custom merch production, product warehousing, ecommerce processing, web site development, digital and print marketing, and more.

Songbird Releases Beta of Web-Integrated Media Player
Songbird is looking to provide users an alternative to the closed, DRM-laden music stores offered by Apple and a number of other companies. The software behaves like a mix between iTunes (it now features nearly identical icons) and Mozilla’s Firefox (it uses the same engine as the web browser). The software also supports plugins for portable devices like the iPod, and even slightly modified Firefox extensions. The result may be a bit confusing at first, but the interface is familiar enough that it only takes a few moments to adjust to combination.

Songbird allows web developers to integrate a very professional music store on their sites by tapping into the application’s API. After browsing to a supported site, Songbird will display a list of available songs at the bottom of the application in a manner that is strongly reminiscent of iTunes. While we’ve seen other interfaces that look equally professional, replicating the iTunes UI which users are already familiar with is likely to help boost sales.

Mozilla preparing to push Firefox 3 update on all Firefox 2 users
Ready or not, here it comes. And it is Firefox 3.0.1. Mozilla has been issuing automatic updates for Firefox for ages. If you're running Firefox 3, you were probably prompted to install version 3.0.1 a few weeks ago. But if you've been running an older version of Firefox, you might still be at version 2.0.0.16. Now Mozilla plans to push out an update to all Firefox 2 users that will prompt them to update to version 3.0.1.

Apple to pimp MobileMe via an “iTunes Unlimited”?
Rumors that Apple could unveil a subscription-based iTunes are nothing new, the Financial Times reported it back in March, but two tips today to two separate sites are reigniting it. Both MacDailyNews and TUAW, two Apple-focused blogs, received word that an announcement would be made in September with a launch of the service in October alongside iTunes 7.8. The main details of both rumors align, which seems to indicate either the news is true or the tip is from the same incorrect source. I’m gonna go with the latter but you can decide for yourself.

Update
Unfortunately, this is my last snapshot for a while as higher priorities have eaten up the time I allotted for this work. Hopefully, that will change and I will bring the snapshot back.

snapshot 8/19/08

2008-08-19T17:58:00.001-07:00

Netflix Outage Shows Why Disks Deserve to Die
Come on, internet. Just bring us proper movie streaming already. If any more proof were needed that physical media needs to go, and soon, we bring you exhibit A: The Netflix Outage.

The Blurring Borders Of Music And Advertising: P&G Starts A Record Label With Def Jam
The latest example of this is pointed out by reader lavi d, who points us to a clip from NPR's All Things Considered about how Procter & Gamble has teamed up with Def Jam records to create a new record label: Tag Records, which is connected to the P&G product Tag Body Spray.

Rather than bringing on a big name star to "endorse" its product, Tag Records has signed a relative unknown, and is basically promoting both this new musician, Q, and the body spray at the same time. The music doesn't necessarily directly promote the body spray, but the promotions go hand in hand, and there is no real border between the content and the advertising. If the content itself is good content, it doesn't much matter. And, it appears that other brands are following suit. The radio clip notes that the energy drink Red Bull is apparently building its own studio to do the same thing. To some extent, it's no surprise that Def Jam would recognize this as a direction to go in: we pointed out in the past how a bunch of hip hop music execs were way ahead of the curve in recognizing new business models where the music itself is part of the promotion for something else.

snapshot 8/18/08

2008-08-18T16:26:00.000-07:00

Report: Fees may sink Pandora soon
Tim Westergren, the founder of popular Web radio start-up Pandora, has said in an interview with The Washington Post that his company may be close to a shutdown. "We're approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision," Westergren said in the article, published Saturday. "This is like a last stand for webcasting."

The problem, he explained, is last year's royalty hike for Web radio, which makes it extremely expensive for an independent start-up to stay afloat in the business. The royalty increase will eat up 70 percent of Pandora's $25 million in revenue, Westergren said.

GNR's 'Democracy' To Be Retail Exclusive?
But some concrete signs are finally emerging that the album's release could be imminent. That's because, according to sources, negotiations are underway for "Chinese Democracy" to come out as an exclusive at one of the big boxes -- either Wal-Mart or Best Buy.

Wal-Mart to sell new AC/DC album exclusively
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said rock band AC/DC will sell its new album exclusively at namesake and Sam's Club locations in the U.S. The move - which makes the veteran rockers the latest artist to sell a new album only through Wal-Mart - highlights the company's growing music-industry clout.

The AC/DC deal, however, comes at a time when the retail giant - the largest seller of compact discs in the nation - is signaling that it may rock the music world by stocking fewer CDs. Such a move is part of a trend that would further accelerate the already-steep decline of CD sales as consumers make the transition to digital music. The album, called "Black Ice," will be available at the discount retailer's stores and Web sites Oct. 20, as well as on the band's Web site. It is AC/DC's first album of all-new material in eight years and will be priced at $11.88.

Topspin Delivers Byrne Eno Exclusive Album
Topspin's technology puts to the test starting today as they provide the technology behind the exclusive delivery of the first David Byrne & Brian Eno collaboration in 30 years. "The album is available exclusively from this Web site. You can stream all of the songs for free and purchase it in a variety of digital and physical formats, including a limited edition Deluxe Package designed by Stefan Sagmeister. All formats can be downloaded immediately and physical CDs will be shipped in the Fall." One track is available for free with options priced from $8.99 to $69.99; all include an immediate 320 kps mp3 album and booklet download. The site also offers free streaming of the entire release via this viral player...

CinemaNow downloads now playable on Macs
CinemaNow announced today it has signed a deal to use Widevine Technologies' multi-format digital rights management and copy-protection technology to make CinemaNow's video downloads playable on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. The technology also enables CinemaNow to stream movies to users through the Internet Explorer, FireFox, Safari and Opera browsers.

The move could help the company wrestle market share away from Apple iTunes, which dominates the paid digital video business. Up to now, iTunes has been the only download service to sell major studio movie downloads playable on Apple computers and PCs.

Legal P2P Music Service Doomed to Fail
If you can’t beat pirates, join them. This is Playlouder’s philosophy, a music download service that allows subscribers to download music from BitTorrent and other filesharing networks, while reimbursing the copyright owners. The concept sure is interesting, but the current setup is naive, flawed and doomed to fail.

Playlist my way? Not quite.
At first glance, Universal Music's new "Playlist Your Way" program may look like the company is finally catching on to one of the things that fans and digital music mavens have wanted for a long time: options. The company plans to sell greatest hits CDs from artists across a variety of genres which come with a card that lets the consumer download a 15-minute biographical podcast about the artist—basically, audio liner notes. The consumer also gets 6 additional tracks by the same artist "and/or" a studio album of his or her choosing.

The download card also features two digital music offers related to that artist: Consumers may choose six additional tracks and/or a full-length original studio album. With "Playlist Your Way," fans can complete their own "greatest hits album" or their music collection for that artist with physical product and/or digital downloads.

snapshot 8/15/08

2008-08-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

Lyric Culture pays songwriters for their words
Online music thieves can't interfere with the hundreds of songwriters Hanna Rochelle Schmieder has on her payroll. Her company, Lyric Culture, prints famous song lyrics on high-end jeans and T-shirts — and pays artists for the privilege.

Xbox to sell Warner Music videos for $1.99
Gamers with a hankering to watch music videos will have more choices after Warner Music Group Corp. announced Thursday it is adding its library of videos to Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 game console. Videos from Sony BMG, which sell for the equivalent of $1.99, have been offered on the Xbox since last December.

Music Marketing, Alternative Reality Collide At Conference
Palmer predicted that social networks would replace album art as a way to learn about and share with musicians. Gottehrer predicted that albums will become evolving projects, with artists doing things like releasing a few tracks every few months in addition to releasing static records.

snapshot 8/14/08

2008-08-14T16:29:00.001-07:00

Universal Music Group Debuts Hybrid Music Package
Universal Music Enterprises announced today the "Playlist Your Way," a digital-physical hybrid package with a greatest hits CD and a download card that can be redeemed for a podcast on the artist as well as the choice of six additional tracks and/or a full-length original studio album. Looks like the main point is to get CD buyers to test drive digital downloading. Another stated benefit is the podcast as a replacement for the more limited information that can be offered in a CD booklet. (More information, less practical.)

The press release does not give pricing information, but Amazon.com lists 16 "Playlist Your Way" CDs with an August 5 street date and a $10.99 list price. All 16 titles are already being sold as used items by third parties. They're going for less on eBay.

Handleman Reports $65 Million Loss In Quarter
The Handleman Co., in a continuation of its management-led liquidation, reported that the company lost $65.6 million, or $3.22 per diluted share on sales $91.5 million, for the fiscal quarter ended May 3. The company's loss is largely attributed to its decision to liquidate, as it booked a $30 million goodwill impairment charge and a $17.2 million impairment of subsidiary assets and a $20.5 million loss from discontinued operations, which including its North American rackjobbing operation; its Artist To Market unit; and its UK operation, all of which have been sold or in the process of being sold.

FCC leaks second-gen Slacker media player
Slacker is developing a smaller, upgraded version of its unique Wi-Fi media player, according to an FCC filing. Dubbed the G2 Personal Portable Radio, the device is visibly smaller and more rounded than the original but also adds wireless links that aren't present in the original, including 802.11a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 for short-range peripherals, and an FM radio to complement Slacker's existing technique of automatically downloading songs from the Internet.

Disc Makers Starts Courting the Elite...
Established artists are increasingly leaving the major label nest and flying solo. Perhaps the biggest example comes from Radiohead, though a growing number of artists - including Nine Inch Nails and Tori Amos - are making big moves without the help of a big company.

The financial argument is compelling, though the amount of heavy-lifting is daunting. That opens the door for new entrants, a slot that New York-based Disc Makers plans to fill. According to confidential sources familiar with the initiative, Disc Makers is now planning to launch a sister company called Elite Artist Services, an outfit geared towards upper-level, post-label acts. Elite Artist Services will offer a range of physical and digital services, including disc manufacturing, merchandising, ecommerce infrastructure, and asset distribution. Those services would be offered within a no-strings contract, though ahead of a formal announcement, exact terms of the planned agreements remain unclear. The move is part of a broader expansion for Disc Makers, a company that recently acquired CD Baby.

The Jamendo Free Music Story
On Jamendo artists allow anyone to download and share their music. It's free, legal and unlimited. Patrick Haour, the site's chief of music shares how the wonderfully simple concept was born and where they are taking it.

Simplify Media for iPhone
The Simplify Media iPhone application (iTunes link) v1.1 has hit the App Store. As you can see from the video, with Simplify Media installed on your Mac and on your iPhone or iPod touch, you can stream your home iTunes library to your mobile device wherever you may be. It will supposedly work over EDGE, 3G, or WiFi and promises what might be the holy grail for mobile audio devices -- practically unlimited storage.

snapshot 8/13/08

2008-08-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

Best Buy to sell iPhone in the U.S.
Best Buy Co Inc. will be the first national retailer to sell Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone in the United States in a partnership that could help drive sales of a device expected to be one of the hottest gadgets this holiday season.

Vudu now offering 99c rentals
Vudu (see our early review) has cheapened its set-top box movie service in the right way by offering heavily discounted rentals through its newly launched “99 for 99″ movie channel. As the name suggests, 99 movies will be on offer priced at just 99 Cents per rental. Titles will be “personally” chosen by Vudu’s “in-house movie expert” Steven Horn, and will include both recent releases and “classics”, with selections rotated each week.

‘The iTunes Download’ to debut this weekend
Premiere Radio Networks has announced the launch of ”The iTunes Download,” a new three-hour weekend countdown show hosted by iTunes Director of Music Programming Alex Luke. In addition to playing a selection of the 30 most downloaded songs from iTunes, the show will feature interviews with high-profile artists, celebrity playlists, and iMixes. President of Premiere Radio Networks Charlie Rahilly said, “Being the first radio company to do a national show with iTunes demonstrates our desire and ability to explore unprecedented ways to reach, entertain and involve listeners.” “The iTunes charts have become the first indicator, each week, of what millions of music fans are buying,” said Luke. “Radio is where more music buyers first hear what they want to buy and iTunes is the place they go to do it—now we’re connecting the two.” “The iTunes Download” will debut this weekend on Top 40 radio stations nationwide, and will air on Saturdays or Sundays.

Indie bands talk digital music and life without the labels
Panda Riot is a Chicago-based electronic distortion band originally founded in 2005. After recording its first full album in 2007 "in a tiny bedroom in Philadelphia" with the help of a MacBook Pro and Apple's Logic Pro software, Panda Riot began selling music—simultaneously in both CD and online form—in November. Since the band's music sales adventure is still quite young, its perspective on online music is a little different than the old guard that runs, say, the Big Four music labels.

Panda Riot uses Tunecore to sell its music through iTunes in the US, Canada, Japan, and Italy, as well as Amazon MP3. But, as we mentioned in our Tunecore feature, the real key to success online is promoting your music—otherwise, no one has a reason to be aware of it and buy it. "It's all social network type stuff. Blogs are a huge part of the equation too, and Internet Radio (like WOXY.com) also plays a big role," Cook said. "It's all about finding avenues that are global."

snapshot 8/12/08

2008-08-12T16:05:00.001-07:00

MySpace faces rejection, internal dissent in hiring music venture CEO
MySpace Inc.'s search for a new CEO to run the MySpace Music joint venture has hit a number of snags, not the least of which is that its preferred candidates have declined the job. Another obstacle: Key technology executives inside the company have urged top brass not to hire a new leader until after MySpace Music launches next month.

The source describes the technology team's push to launch MySpace Music in September as "all-consuming and desperate," adding that any further delays could jeopardize the venture's relationships with content partners. While leadership for the music division is badly needed, the source said, the technology team either wanted a new CEO several months ago, or wants one a month or two into the future -- but not now. DeWolfe and Kapur are overseeing MySpace music's development a chief executive is hired.

Starz kills Vongo online movie service
Vongo, a service provided by Starz Entertainment, was one of the first major players in the online movie space. But it looks like Starz has decided to pull the plug on Vongo. Starz will now focus on Starz Play, a service the company recently launched for Verizon. Starz Play looks and feels a lot like Vongo -- but it has Verizon branding all over it. Starz is pursuing similar partnerships with other companies.

Current Vongo customers can continue using the service through September 30th. There's some good news in the announcement. Vongo customers paid $9.99 a month for unlimited movie downloads. Starz Play charges just $5.99 for access to the same content library.

States may tax iTunes, other digital downloads
With retail e-commerce sales now estimated to exceed $130 billion a year, and iTunes song purchases topping 5 billion, state politicians and tax collectors have begun to levy new fees on digital downloads.

Text message in your Netflix movies and Amazon wish lists with Kwiry
Kwiry, a service that allows you to interact with different web services through your phone, now allows you to use text messages to send in movies you wish to add to your Netflix movie rental queue. You do this simply by texting “netflix” and then the name of the movie you want to add to Kwiry’s number, 59479 (k-w-i-r-y).

Kwiry is also launching similar integration with Amazon’s Wish List feature. This is the area of the site where you can add items that you hope to buy, or that someone will buy for you later. Simply text “amazon” followed by the name of the product you wish to add to the same 59479 number and the product will be in the list the next time you check it.

snapshot 8/11/08

2008-08-11T16:26:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's Zune player seeking Hollywood stardom
Microsoft executives have been making the rounds at talent agencies and production companies in recent months in hopes of licensing exclusive original video programming for the portable media player, which has struggled to gain traction in the marketplace.

While Microsoft has denied persistent rumors that Zune would expand into communications a la Apple's iPhone, the company confirmed being in an "exploratory phase" regarding supplementing the TV content it already licenses from studios with Zune-only fare.

Citigroup sees better Amazon Kindle sales
Citigroup said on Monday that Amazon.com Inc's Kindle electronic reader appears to be selling much better than expected and could double a previous estimate for units sold this year, sending shares in the online retailer up 7 percent.

Music site dials up volume of traffic
Months after striking unprecedented deals with four major record labels, San Francisco social network Imeem has found itself on the forefront of the music industry's frantic experiment with free, ad-supported music sites. Armed with an expansive music and video catalog, which offers on-demand streaming of major record artists and independent bands, Imeem has attracted millions of users worldwide, in July becoming the No. 1 streaming music site in the United States, according to Web analytics company Compete.

With a wealth of data about its users' musical preferences, the company has attracted big-name advertisers, such as Apple, Nokia, Toyota and Sony, which flock to the site hoping to tap into Imeem's young demographic. The company is also experimenting with the e-commerce model - users can download songs they like on iTunes or Amazon.com, and later this year they will be able to purchase ring tones and merchandise. Meanwhile, Imeem's digital music wholesaler, Snocap, helps indie bands sell their music online.

Slippery Quarter: Napster Revenues, Profits, Subscribers Notch Down
Napster suffered a difficult second quarter, despite the recent shift towards MP3s. For the fiscal first quarter ending June 30th, the company witnessed drops across revenues, income, and subscribers, three critical metrics.

Specifically, revenues slowed to $30.3 million, down from $32.3 million during the year-ago quarter. Earnings also soured, slipping to $4.4 million, down from $4.2 million previously. And subscribers? Napster reported a total of 708,000 subscribers, down from 760,000 at the start of the period. The downer quarter raises questions about the impact of the DRM-free catalog, triggered on May 19th. During the call, Napster chief Chris Gorog pointed to "positive trends for Napster with increases to visitation and user engagement," though broader gains appear missing.

Blockbuster Online Download Store Screenshot Tour
Blockbuster's just expanded their movie store beta test to an audience size that includes me, so here's a screenshot walkthrough of what you're going to see on their service. First, it's really quite similar to their rental pages except for the fact that you'll see prices and labels next to everything. Renting costs anywhere between $0 to $3.99ish, and purchases go all the way up to $19.99. There is one lone $29.99 one but we're assuming that it's a typo. You'll have to use the MovieLink player to download and watch films, so no real luck if you were hoping that it was a WMV file you could stream to your Xbox 360.

snapshot 8/08/08

2008-08-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

Kid Rock's Hot Summer; No iTunes Required
Since Rock has long refused to sell his music as digital downloads, fans who want to get "All Summer Long" — legally, at least — have to buy the album. (Other prominent digital holdouts include AC/DC, who have an album coming out this fall, and the Beatles.) "I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here," says Rock. "Good music just doesn't go out of style, and if you hear a great song that moves you, you'll obtain it — by any means necessary."

As the record industry struggles with weak album sales, Kid Rock's success has execs considering a new strategy. "It's definitely interesting that he's the only artist that's not available on iTunes with a monster hit right now, and we're seeing that kind of a growth," says Livia Tortella, general manager of Atlantic, who acknowledges that the company is considering keeping other artists' singles off iTunes in hopes of building album sales. "It's certainly spurring a lot of debate in our company."

The Record Industry’s Digital Distribution Plan (TotalMusic) Comes Back From the Dead
The music industry’s attempts to create its own digital distribution business is like a bad horror movie. It just keeps coming back no matter how badly bludgeoned it gets. Back in 2001 in response to Napster, the music labels launched two competing music download sites, PressPlay and MusicNet (the latter became a white-label music service called MediaNet. Meanwhile, Pressplay was bought by Roxio, and formed the basis for the current version of Napster). Both were utter failures.

Then in 2007, in response to iTunes, Doug Morris at Universal Music had the brilliant idea of bundling music subscriptions into the price of digital music players. The effort was called TotalMusic, and the idea was to get all the record labels on board, until the Department of Justice launched an antitrust investigation that killed the idea. Or so everyone thought.

Multiple sources in the Web music industry (including two CEOs and another executive) have told us that the music labels are mulling over another attempt at creating their own digital distribution business, or at least one they can control. Details are sketchy, but the buzz is increasing around a project to create a free, advertising-supported streaming service that would be licensed or white-labeled to other Websites. Each stream would link directly to a paid digital download. Some believe that a revived TotalMusic and this project are one and the same.

Nokia Music Store goes live in Nokia Music PC Client
Integration between the Nokia Music PC Client (available via Beta Labs) and the Nokia Music Store has now gone live. This means you can browse and buy music, from the Nokia Music Store, within the Nokia Music PC Client application. This gives Nokia a seamless music experience, akin to Apple's iTunes, for discovering, purchasing, downloading and transferring music to a mobile device. Nokia Music PC Client has been available for some time. Previously, however, only the music library and transfer functions were available. The integration with the Music Store has now been activated.

08.08.08: Auspicious Beginnings For People’s Music Store
The concept is simple and enticing: you sign up to create your own online music shop at The People’s Music Store. Then you personalize your shopfront and search the MP3 database for the products that you would like to sell. The developers have thought of everything; you can arrange and rearrange various playlists and compilations, keep a back catalogue, write commentary on individual tracks and albums, and there’s even a shoutbox!

Once your shopfront is up and running and the sidewalk outside is swept, the punters come in and purchase music from you. The more music you sell, the more points are added to your account and the more DRM free music you can buy from other shops on the site. Every time you buy from someone else, they earn points with which to buy music and you leave a little flyer in their shop window, letting their patrons know about you.

Free Software Turns the iPhone Into an E-Book Reader
Now, though, a free version of the Mac ebook reading software, Stanza, has found its way into the store, and it rocks. Here's a quick rundown of how it works, and just how to turn your iPhone into a mini-Kindle.

New Video helps indies get access to iTunes
For independent filmmakers and suppliers, getting access to market-dominating movie download service Apple iTunes can be even more difficult than landing prime shelf space at Wal-Mart. Because Apple only works with a limited number of companies, more and more independent filmmakers have found the easiest and sometimes only path onto iTunes is through aggregators such as New Video, which is quietly becoming one of the largest digital distributors of independent content thanks to its deal with Apple.

Over the last 18 months, New Video, which distributes DVDs for Docurama Films, A&E, NASCAR and others, has amassed 5,000 hours of TV and movie programming for digital distribution, and it hopes to double that by year-end.

snapshot 8/7/08

2008-08-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

Libraries step into the age of iPod
Hoping to draw back readers, libraries have vastly expanded their lists of digital books, music, and movies that can be downloaded by their patrons to a computer or MP3 player -- and it doesn't cost a cent, unlike, say, media from Apple Inc's iTunes or Amazon.com Inc.

Apple looking to patent remote iTunes streaming?
Apple handhelds may in the future be able to stream content from a remote iTunes library, a newly-published patent application indicates. Titled Remote access of media items, the filing describes a system in which handheld owners would be able to access audio, video and photos over a network. Unlike the current iTunes sharing scheme, however, people would also be able to access games, and reach everything over the Internet, whether through wired, Wi-Fi or cellular networks.

Best Buy Grabs Exclusive Police Concert Set
Wal-Mart isn't the only big box retailer grabbing major music exclusives. On Wednesday, Best Buy disclosed an exclusive offering involving the Police, part of a broader tour tie-in. The live concert video package, Certifiable: Live in Buenos Aires, comes from the recent reunion tour that stretched multiple continents. The package comes in both DVD and Blu-ray configurations, though both include bonus CDs. The product will grace the aisles of Best Buy starting October 7th, though fans can pre-order the collection. The price point is $24.99, according to early data. Incidentally, a third configuration features three, 180-gram vinyl LPs with an MP3 file key, a nod to lovers of the platter.

Y Combinator’s Popcuts Pays You To Find Good New Music
Popcuts , a Y Combinator -funded music store that launches today in public beta, is looking to reward these early adopters by paying store credit to the first people who buy a song that later goes on to become popular. When an artist signs on to the store, they allocate a certain portion of the revenue generated by their songs to go back to their fans. This money is then distributed according to how early each user purchased a song (the earlier you buy, the more you make). For example, the band My First Earthquake has decided to pay out 30% of its revenues to its fans. The earliest adopters (say, the first dozen people to buy the song) will break even after the song has been purchased by around 25 other people. Fans buying the song later on will still earn credit, but it will be earned at a much slower rate (the site will tell you how quickly you’ll be earning credit before you buy a song).

Online Music Sales Muddle Royalties, Lawyers Say
The current system for getting royalty payments to musicians in the United States is seriously hampering the introduction of new, innovative music distribution models, and that problem is not going to get any better in the era of the digital download, leading music experts said Thursday.

As consumers abandon CDs for Internet-based downloads, the industry is filling the gap with new licensing models, but many of the most innovative models are being done internationally, like ISPs abroad bundling unlimited music downloads in with Internet service, Cary Sherman, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), said during a panel at the American Bar Association's annual meeting.

snapshot 8/05/08

2008-08-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

Sony goes solo as Sony BMG disbands
Sony Corp has agreed to purchase Bertelsmann's 50 percent stake in their Sony BMG music joint venture for around $900 million, ending a four-year venture that never lived up to its promise. Sony said in a statement on Tuesday that Bertelsmann will also get $300 million of the cash on Sony BMG's balance sheet, valuing the deal at around $1.2 billion.

New Metallica Album To Arrive On A Friday
Like its predecessor "St. Anger," the new Metallica album, "Death Magnetic," will be released worldwide off-cycle on Friday Sept. 12 via Warner Bros. No reason was given for the switch from a traditional Monday/Tuesday release; in 2003, the group's label claimed Friday was chosen to prevent pirated copies of "St. Anger" from entering the marketplace.

iTunes maintains stranglehold on US music sales
Apple's chief competition is Wal-Mart, which has traditionally sold a high volume of CDs through its big-box retail chain, and has branched into both physical and digital online sales. The same is true of third-place contender Best Buy, but online-only vendor Amazon has risen from fifth place to fourth, based largely on its popular MP3 store. NPD also notes that while online CD sales are in decline, demand remains greater than for retail purchases.

Disc Makers Acquires CD Baby
I chose Disc Makers as the new owner because their president Tony Van Veen has been one of my favorite people for years, and I always felt they’d do a better job of running CD Baby than I would. The CD Baby staff, location, name, and everything else will stay the same, but I think you’ll start to notice more attention given to improvements that help you sell more music.

Disc Makers is a a full-service CD replicator with locations in nine locations in the U.S. and one in Puerto Rico.

CEA mulls standards for MP3 players, more
The Consumer Electronics Association is considering implementing technical standards for handhelds and other home electronics, according to an announcement late yesterday. The organization says it has formed a discussion group that would gauge interest in a cross-platform standard that would ensure digital cameras, GPS navigators, MP3 players, and video screens all obey a certain minimum standard for integrating with other devices in the home.

DVD manufacturing-on-demand rollout delayed
Despite expectations of large-scale pilot tests and a commercial rollout this year of kiosks that would save retailers aisles of shelf space while offering thousands of movies and TV shows on demand, technical and economic challenges have led to a shakeup among DVD manufacturing-on-demand players that is likely to push most retail launches back into 2009. Walgreen’s, which was expected to do a large pilot test at stores this year, has been forced to delay those tests until 2009 after TitleMatch, the kiosk company it was working with, essentially shut down.

Polar Frog Digital has pulled its kiosks from most retail locations after a year of pilot tests at airports, hardware stores and drugstores as it reworks its business model. The digital kiosk company has formed an exclusive partnership with technology company Nero for its liquid media technology. Nero’s technology will allow Polar Frog to make its kiosks one-stop shops where consumers can burn movies, TV, music and books to DVDs and CDs or download them to flash drives and USB devices, CEO Todd Rosenbaum said.

Data-mine Elvis: Yahoo opens music interface
Yahoo has released an API (application programming interface) that lets outside Web sites automatically extract information such as top 10 lists from the Yahoo Music site. For example, a programmer can use the service to search for the numeric ID that Yahoo gives a particular musician, then use that ID to retrieve all the albums by that artist or to retrieve a list of artists Yahoo deems similar, according to self-described Yahoo music nerd Jim Bumgardner on the Yahoo Developer Network blog. The item ID for a particular video can be used to retrieve a thumbnail image for the video or the video itself.

Escape iTunes With the TuneClone Audio Converter
TuneClone Audio Converter has come to the rescue! You can use this to move your library of M4P DRM protected music to the MP3 format that you can use on any player out there worth its salt. This is a useful tool for anyone looking to break their relationship with the iPod. This software does cost $34.95 to register but that price does give you what appears to be a full feature application. The best part is that it maintains all of the music file’s metadata. DigitalMediaOnline has a nice little tutorial that shows how it works.

snapshot 8/4/08

2008-08-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

Social.FM is dead — 30+ music startups to go
Much more silently than it came into the world, music search and sharing site Social.FM has gone back out — leaving what users it had to retreat to Pandora, iLike or one of the other, more successful music sites on the Internet.

8tracks makes it easy to mix your own music play lists, and do it legally; 3,000 passes to early beta here
The music labels haven’t made it easy for unauthorized web sites to stream music on the web. But David Porter, the founder of 8tracks, has figured out a way around the copyright law obstacles to deliver a useful and legal sharing service to music fans.

New York-based 8tracks capitalizes on the same right that radio stations have to play live music over the air: it’s OK to stream recorded music over the web, as long as the user doesn’t know what song is coming next. 8Tracks uses this loophole, allowing users to create half-hour mixes of music and listen to streams of the music that they have created.

Yahoo offers coupons for music that stops working
Yahoo Inc. is offering coupons or refunds to users who find songs they bought inaccessible after Sept. 30, when the company shuts its music-download service. The company said Wednesday it is offering coupons on request for people to buy songs again through Yahoo's new partner, RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody. Those songs will be in the MP3 format, free of copy protection. Refunds are available for users who "have serious problems with this arrangement," Yahoo said.

Country Star Says Industry's CD Outlook Has Improved
"Almost exactly a year ago, I was in some meetings where distributors were planning within five years, and not speculating, but planning to be out of the CD business," says Kix Brooks. "It felt like within five years we would be in a purely Internet download world and a lot of major companies were shifting their networks to prepare for that download world and getting into the download business. And now, in the last couple of months, I've started to hear some backpedaling on that.

"It may be CDs are a format that may last longer than first speculated. I'm not su
re where that slowdown came from because it seemed like a year ago everybody was all prepared. It was full steam ahead, CDs were obsolete, and obviously the Sam Goodys and the ma-and-pa distributors of the world were going out of business right and left. But now for some reason you're hearing that Best Buy and Wal-Mart have said maybe there is some longevity to the CD format."

eMusic Tops 4 Million Tracks
eMusic says its worldwide music catalog has now exceeded four million track from more than 40,000 record labels with the majority available worldwide. Recent additions include reissue label Ace Records, New World Music, Load Records, classical label Delos and What’s Your Rupture, specializing in small-run vinyl releases.

In So Many Words... Survey Shows Spotty Lyrics Landscape
Consumers want more lyrics layered into their music-related purchases, according to a recent survey. The study was conducted by the National Year of Reading, a campaign created by several literacy-focused companies in Britain. According to the consortium, 90 percent of music fans feel that lyrics provide a deeper appreciation of music, though 50 percent feel that less lyrics are easily accessible than five years ago.

But what about the massive collection of lyrics online? On that point, a strong majority of fans complained that most sites contain spotty or inaccurate lyrics listings. That is an issue being combated by players like Lyricfind, Gracenote, Yahoo, and RealNetworks, though the impact of those companies appeared limited amongst the survey participants.

Blockbuster Adds DVD Vending Kiosks; 50 Machine Pilot; Redbox Numbers
Blockbuster has expanded its earlier partnership with NCR, and will be deploying about 50 DVD rental kiosk machines in a pilot test...this expands on their earlier announced separate deal for download-only kiosks which are being tested in Dallas area. The DVD-rental only kiosks will start to appear in the third quarter, with full deployment by the end of 2008...down the line, these kiosks will add DVD buy and downloads as well, the companies said. “Looking beyond this initial deployment, our mutual goal is to have 10,000 kiosks installed within 18 months,” said Bill Nuti, NCR CEO said in the release. No details on locations or pricing was release for now, though I would think the locations won’t be BB stores, but malls or grocery stores.

snapshot 8/1/08

2008-08-01T16:09:00.001-07:00

The State of the Compact Disc
In the compact disc – the CD – there is cause for concern and some optimism. As they have for most of the decade, U.S. CD sales are dropping and will continue to drop in the coming years. After a surge in store closings and reductions of shelf space, the CD’s rate of decline is expected to slow over the next four years. There is evidence that inventory reductions will not lead to a commensurate decrease in sales. Store closings and consumers’ migration to digital music, however, will continue to harm sales. Wholesale prices will come under greater scrutiny as pressure rises to prolong the CD’s useful life and further justify their place on retail shelves. Coolfer forecasts U.S. CD sales to drop 16% in 2008, 14% in 2009 and 12% in 2010, 20011 and 2012.

In spite of the decline in CD sales, its demise has been exaggerated. In the face of changes in the ways people acquire and listen to music, physical formats continue to be the preferred music vehicle. The format still represents the majority of all recorded music revenues and has a good deal of life left in it. One study found 41% of music buyers purchase only physical formats.

Nokia to make Zune Marketplace phone?
An alleged Microsoft source today claims that Nokia is developing phones that would be compatible with the Zune Marketplace. While the project isn't said to involve custom handset design, Nokia in the suggested plan would integrate its software with content from the Microsoft-run Zune store, which in protected format doesn't currently work outside of Zune portable media players. Whether this would involve direct access to the Zune Marketplace from the phones themselves or sync with PC-based Zune software is unknown.

Sony Pictures: Blu-ray discs to outsell DVDs by 2011
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment vice president for Asia-Pacific Tim Meade on Friday announced market reports that lead him to believe sales of Blu-ray movie discs will outnumber standard DVDs sometime in 2011. Meade went on to say global sales of movies on the two disc formats will be split around 60 percent in favor of the standard-definition DVD format by 2010, with the high-definition media eking out an advantage one year later.

By the end of 2008, Blu-ray movie disc sales will grow to 25 percent, up from 20 percent in mid-2008 and just 9 percent at the end of last year, Meade said. Not only is this due to the fact that the amount of movie titles released on Blu-ray discs keeps growing, but also thanks to the increasing sales of Blu-ray players, which is expected to account for 15 percent of the entire video player market by the end of 2008. Last year, Blu-ray players accounted for nearly 10 percent of the market, and sales in the US and Europe have grown by 400 and 600 percent, respectively, in the first half of 2008.

Can MP3s Save the Music Strategy at RealNetworks?
RealNetworks is now transitioning into an MP3-based catalog on Rhapsody, at least on a-la-carte downloads. But is that enough to save its music strategy? But the MP3s only started flowing after the quarter ended, and the transition towards DRM-free remains ongoing. Now, the question is whether consumers will substantially increase their a-la-carte downloading through Rhapsody, and in turn, migrate upward towards the subscription platform.

snapshot 7/31/08

2008-07-31T16:13:00.000-07:00

Mobile Music Anyone? mSpot Passes Four Million Subs
Mobile music provider mSpot has now reached its four millionth subscriber, according to data shared Wednesday with Digital Music News. The Palo Alto-based company nearly quadrupled its subscriber tally over the past year, thanks to a broadening network of carrier and content partners. That includes all four major labels, various independents, and major media brands like ABC, ClearChannel, Fox Sports, NPR, Paramount Pictures and Disney. In total, mSpot powers services for a eight US-based carriers. The company specializes in the delivery of a number of mobile music assets, including music, custom ringtones, live radio streams and videos. The mSpot product portfolio includes mSpot Radio, mSpot Remix, and mSpot Music Videos.

Amazon: The Avis of digital music
But Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had a much better plan for a digital music offering than his naysayers realized. Ten months after its debut, Amazon has overtaken competitors like Wal-Mart and RealNetworks' Rhapsody to become the second biggest online store after iTunes, according to market research firm NPD. Now two music industry sources tell Fortune that Amazon is talking to MySpace about becoming the social networking giant's download store partner when it rolls out its highly anticipated joint venture with Universal, Warner Music and SonyBMG in September.

Here's another thing that helped. Amazon wouldn't have attracted many customers if it sold songs for 99 cents just like iTunes. So it cut its prices. Today, Amazon offers one-sixth of the 5.9 million tunes in its library - including the 100 most popular tracks - for 89 cents each. It sells some classic albums - like Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" - for as little as $1.98.

Disney announces 5 million movies sold via iTunes
During a conference call for the company's Q3 2008 results, Bob Iger, president of the Walt Disney Corporation, has announced that since agreeing to sell movies through the iTunes Store, the company has sold over five million titles. Iger insists however that the presence of Apple CEO Steve Jobs on the board of directors has not influenced any decisions on content distribution. "Some of our agreements were signed before the purchase of Pixar," says Iger.

You Too Can Listen to U2!
The ENTIRE U2 catalog is now available for purchase in the Rhapsody MP3 store. This is the first time the entire catalog is available in DRM-free MP3 format and Rhapsody MP3 has it because Bono and The Edge and... and...ya, they're cool like that.

Yahoo Music Refunds Can Be Rhapsody Credit
Users affected by the shutdown of Yahoo Music Unlimited will also have the option of receiving credits from Rhapsody, Yahoo! said Wednesday.

Buying Free Music
Nine Inch Nails' "The Slip" has been available as free download from the band's website since early May. But enough eMusic subscribers have downloaded a paid version (released last week) to push it to the #15 spot on the daily download chart. The album is also available as an mp3 download from Amazon.com (and there's a CD version with a bonus DVD), but it ranks considerably lower on the daily album download chart -- it's currently #80.UPDATE -- Coolfer notes that the album was near the top of the Amazon chart when it was priced at $5. The album is also available in the iTunes store for $9.90, though it's currently not among the top-100 albums.

Earnings: RealNetworks’s Q2 Revenues Up, In Losses; Music Revenues Increase Still Slow
…and a 1 percent increase in music revenue to $37.2 million (on music front Q208 is a decline from sequential Q108, where music revenues were $38.1 million). More on music: its total number of subscribers-- including Rhapsody, Rhapsody-to-Go, premium radio, and music-on-demand—are flat from Q108 and Q207, at 2.675 million.

snapshot 7/30/08

2008-07-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

Dell tests music player to renew iPod battle: report
In recent months, personal computer maker Dell Inc., has been testing a digital music player that could go on sale as early as September, the Wall Street Journal newspaper said, citing several Dell officials. The music player which Dell has been testing features a small navigation screen and basic button controls to scroll through music play lists, the Journal reported.

It would connect to online music services via a Wi-Fi Internet connection, and Dell would likely price the model at less than $100, the Journal said. Dell's first foray into the music market in 2003 was a huge disappointment. It withdrew from the music-player market after its DJ Ditty player failed to make major inroads. Instead of simply selling a piece of hardware tied to someone else's music service, as it did in 2003, Dell is working on software for a range of portable PCs that will let users download and organize music and movies from various online sources, the paper added.

Pandora Argues That Web Royalties Will Kill It
Should Internet radio stations, cable providers, and satellite radio stations pay the same amount to license the content they provide? What model should be used to determine royalty rates? Why is traditional radio getting a free ride when it comes to royalties? Representatives from Pandora clashed on Tuesday with SoundExchange, the organization that collects royalties for copyright owners in the music business, over these very issues. Pandora reiterated that current royalty rates could potentially put it out of business, but SoundExchange suggested that Pandora was quite capable of paying its way given projected Internet radio advertising revenues, as well as the success of its iPhone app.

“Just like your local record store”, Universal launches Lost Tunes
Launched first in the UK, with international versions of the site expected in the coming months, Lost Tunes is attempting to tap into a bygone era where music fans regularly scoped out local record stores looking for rare gems. “Lost Tunes comes with a secret stash of records you can’t find anywhere else online” the welcome blurb boasts. “Anywhere else online” being an indirect reference to Apple’s iTunes, hence Universal’s choice of name.

To that end, tracks are offered as mp3s, encoded at the higher bitrate of 320kpbs, and compatible with almost any digital music player, including iPods. Lost Tunes’ catalog currently consists of 602 “handpicked albums”, of which 130 you won’t find offered as a download anywhere else.

GROOVIN' ON VINYL
A new generation of music lovers is starting to groove to the sweet sound of vinyl records, reviving sales of the kind of turntables their parents used to own. A lot of older technology has been swept away by the digital age, but old-fashioned analog audio is still alive. Record and turntable sales indicate there is new interest in the sound of vinyl. Turntable shipments topped 32,000 in April, one-third higher than the 19,000 record players sold the same month a year ago, according to the Consumer Electronics Association in Arlington. That's less than 1 percent of total music-player sales, but the increase has not escaped the notice of store managers.

snapshot 7/29/08

2008-07-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

BlackBerry Thunder due Oct 8 with Rhapsody?
The BlackBerry Thunder now has a specific release date and over-the-air music downloads, if a leak is found to be accurate. Research in Motion's first-ever touch BlackBerry is now purportedly due to launch with Verizon on October 8th and will have access to Verizon's version of RealNetworks' Rhapsody service. The feature may supply a technical advantage over the iPhone, which is both prevented from downloading whole songs outside of Wi-Fi and must pay per track rather than getting a flat rate for songs.

RoyaltyShare Adds 7 Download Stores
RoyaltyShare has added to seven new digital services to its Content Management system: AmieStreet, Hot Topic/ ShockHound, PassAlong Networks, Puretracks and SpiralFrog. Record label customers and distributors using RoyaltyShare's Content Management Service can now deliver content directly to these and 72 other digital music retailers. RoyaltyShare's offering is an alternative to the standard aggregation model... offering record labels an on-demand system for managing digital sales, including metadata, storage, delivery and sales processing, as well as, analytics for monitoring sales and artist and mechanical royalty processing at lower cost than most digital distributors.

Hollywood shows musicians the money
DEVELOPING alternative revenue streams first is no longer a case of putting the cart before the horse for recording artists, especially the independent acts who are finding that placements in television and film provide a bit of financial freedom. THE "MOVIE MONEY" as several young artists call it, is having a dramatic effect on the direction they take with their albums. The bonus money provided by placements has led to everything from major label signings to enhancing the sound quality on an album to being in a position to offer downloads for free.

Ad-Supported Music Startup trueAnthem Raises $2 Million
The startup raised $2 million and added Adidas as a sponsor. Unlike most free ad-supported music, songs from trueAnthem are available as MP3 files (the ones I downloaded were 128kbps) and begin with brief audio advertisements. There is also an ad at the bottom of each widget from which songs are streamed and downloaded. The press release says ad-free tracks can be purchased for $0.99 apiece, but I have not found a widget with this option.

Westerberg on Amazon: an exercise in frustration
I'm a Replacements fan. Paul Westerberg's new album, 49:00, sounded intriguing. Like Radiohead and Trent Reznor and others, he's released it as a download first. Unlike these previous experiments, 49:00 is sold as a single album-length track. And while he's not technically giving it away, it costs only $0.49--a bit more than one cent per minute. (Paradoxically, the album is not 49 minutes long, but 43:55. The number refers to his 49th birthday, which occurs on the last day of 2008.)

So I headed over to Amazon.com's MP3 store. The front page has 49:00 as a highlighted selection. But the album download page says this song is available as a "full album only."And you can't download it by clicking on the title. Helpful. After stumbling around a between title pages, I finally figured out the only way to download the album is to click on the button on the upper right that says "Buy MP3 Album with 1-Click."

snapshot 7/28/08

2008-07-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

Label merges software to build Fanbase
Fans of Atlantic Records acts like T.I., Shinedown and Simple Plan need only start up their computer to connect with their favorite artist, via Fanbase, a new application created by the label, Billboard has learned. The software uses Adobe AIR runtime technology to engage fans directly on their desktop: No Googling, repetitive clicking or downloading required. The so-called RIA -- rich Internet application -- merges an imeem music player, video content from YouTube and Brightcove, and a Meebo chat feature, plus up-to-date info on tour dates and new releases, into a single window.

Yahoo To Reimburse Customers Of DRM-Protected Music
Yahoo on Friday said it would reimburse customers who bought music that can no longer be easily played as a result of the Web portal shutting down its online music store. "You'll be compensated for whatever you paid for the music," Davis told InformationWeek. "We haven't said exactly what we will do, but we will take care of our customers."

The company planned to reimburse customers on a case-by-case basis, and has posted an FAQ page that includes a "contact customer care" button at the bottom for former Yahoo Music Store customers. Davis said customers could be reimbursed in several ways, including getting back the money they paid for the music or receiving MP3 versions without DRM technology, which means they can be imported into any music playing software.

Universal looks to bundled subscription service for the future
Universal believes that a bundled broadband plus music subscription package in the UK is an “inevitability”, after signing a deal with Sky to launch an innovative subscription plus download music service.

Universal Music Group International senior vice president of digital Rob Wells is unequivocal n believing his company has an enduring model. He states, “Universal believes that subscription is the future of music consumption.”

Five ways to make digital music sing
Crave checks in with an audiophile about the best options for a high-quality listening experience in the Digital Age.

Napster 2.0's sad song
Today, Napster, headquartered in Los Angeles, has only 760,000 subscribers who pay about $13 a month to listen to its library of 6 million songs. The company has never been profitable. Napster lost $16 million in its most recent fiscal year ending in March on what it described in a press release as "record revenues" of $127.5 million. Wall Street has pretty much given up. Napster's stock price has fallen 69% to $1.44 in the 3 1/2 years since its re-launch.

RAWRIP Pays 100% Download Royalty
RAWRIP, a new ad-supported music site and distribution service is paying indie artists 100% of royalties earned from downloaded tracks. Fans can stream music free and store songs in personal music libraries.
Beyond the site, artists can also sell their tracks via a 'Raw Store' widget that pays 100% from sales on websites, blogs, MySpace, Facebook, etc. 'The Rippler' is a proprietary exploration engine that analyzes each track by a number of characteristics that are indexed and cross-referenced with RAWRIP's catalogue of over 1 million songs.

Say So Long to an Old Companion: Cassette Tapes
While the cassette was dumped long ago by the music industry, it has lived on among publishers of audio books. Many people prefer cassettes because they make it easy to pick up in the same place where the listener left off, or to rewind in case a certain sentence is missed. For Hachette, however, demand had slowed so much that it released its last book on cassette in June, with “Sail,” a novel by James Patterson and Howard Roughan.

The funeral at Hachette — an office party in the audio-book department — mirrored the broader demise of cassettes, which gave vinyl a run for its money before being eclipsed by the compact disc.

snapshot 7/25/08

2008-07-25T16:08:00.000-07:00

Universal Music signs Rolling Stones deal
Vivendi's Universal Music has signed an exclusive, long-term worldwide recording agreement with The Rolling Stones, in a deal that will be a blow to the band's previous record company EMI.

ZVUE's 1GB Journey DAP comes with 22 tracks you'll never delete
The item we're about to explain is most certainly the best thing to ever happen to the digital audio player market. ZVUE's 1GB pre-loaded Journey MP3 player not only reeks of the early '80s in design alone, but this thing actually arrives with 22 Journey tracks loaded on (11 new joints, 11 of your childhood favorites). It's like buying Journey's greatest hits and getting a DAP for free -- go on, be good to yourself, it's only $39.88.

Amazon To Power Upcoming MySpace Music Downloads
The as-yet unlaunched MySpace Music will likely partner with Amazon to handle all music ecommerce transactions, we’ve heard from multiple sources. Apple and Rhapsody are also bidding for the business, however, and one source says a final decision hasn’t yet been made.

snapshot 7/24/08

2008-07-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Britain agrees plan to tackle online music piracy
Britain's music and film industries launched a fight back against online piracy on Thursday, persuading the six biggest Internet providers to send warning letters to those suspected of illegal file-sharing.

Pretenders pour "Concrete" into MP3s
The Chrissie Hynde-led rock band the Pretenders will roll out their new album, "Break Up the Concrete," as one MP3 per week leading up to the September 23 release of the CD via Shangri-La Music. The first song, "Boots of Chinese Plastic," is available for free download via AOL's Spinner.com and the Pretenders' Web site. Subsequent tracks will roll out through various partners, among them QuickTime, ClearChannel.com, CMT.com and iLike.

If Microsoft Opens the Xbox Is an App Store for Apple TV Next?
Opening up game consoles could actually be very important in revolutionizing all of home entertainment. Remember that Xbox 360, Tivo and Apple TV boxes are fundamentally similar devices optimized for different purposes. All of them take information from a hard drive and an Internet connection to display entertainment on a television screen. Yes, the Xbox has much better graphics processing and an optical drive. The Tivo decodes cable and broadcast signals. But the platforms are converging. Xbox does a brisk business in downloaded movies and has a new deal with Netflix. Tivo downloads movies from Amazon and now links to YouTube.

So think about this: a version of Apple’s app store for Apple TV. This could serve as a basic game platform for Apple–not so basic if the company beefs up the graphic chip in the device. Moreover, apps for Apple TV could offer the sort of info snacking that iPhone apps do: weather, yellow pages, photo sharing, viral videos and so on. I assume video, photos and entertainment apps would be most popular, but there is someone who will do anything. And that’s the beauty of an open environment.

Want to Beat the iPhone? First Beat the iPod.
Someone savvy will come along and build a program with a nice interface that gives you options for the source for your downloads. Wal Mart, Amazon and DRM free iTunes songs would be sourced along with P2P sources. Users could choose where to get the song/movie of their choice from.

Microsoft in first meetings for Zune phone?
Microsoft has held its first concrete meetings to design a Zune-branded cellphone, according to an unconfirmed but allegedly credible leak from jkOnTheRun. The device is well away from completion but is intended to use multi-touch input and would use a variant of Windows Mobile 7, Microsoft's first major overhaul to its smartphone platform since 2005. Windows Live services will be a major focus along with the Zune's emphasis on media playback.

Yahoo pulls an MSN Music (only faster)
This afternoon, Yahoo alerted customers of its erstwhile downloadable music store that it would no longer provide support after Sept. 30 (download the cheerful e-mail here). The upshot: starting Oct. 1, said customers won't be able to revive frozen tracks or move working ones onto new hard drives or computers, because Yahoo won't be providing any more keys to the songs' DRM wrappers. But hey, they can always buy MP3 versions from Yahoo's new partner Rhapsody!

Dolby and DTS' new audio schemes worth it?
You bought an audio-video receiver a couple of years ago, and now you're wondering whether it's time to trade up and get a model that features Dolby and DTS' new lossless codecs, TrueHD and Master Audio, respectively. Judging by the numbers they should sound markedly better than standard Dolby and DTS, but according to a recent article in Home Entertainment magazine, the sonic differences were small to negligible. You can read the full article here.

Blockbuster Beta-Testing Movielink Downloads
Blockbuster may be planning in-store download kiosks, but their recent beta-testing of Movielink downloads seems like they're aiming for at-home downloads as well. They've picked 500 Total Access customers to test out the $2 rental, $8 purchase system from Movielink, which will allow customers to rent when flicks hit video-on-demand, and buy when they hit DVD. It's fairly interesting that Blockbuster will charge extra for movies when Netflix is going with a free, albeit limited, streaming service. We'd like Blockbuster to follow suit.

How big of an impact is Internet-delivered video making in consumer living rooms?
· Xbox 360: 10.5 million units sold in the U.S.
· Netflix: 8.2 million subscribers
· Netflix Player by Roku: 10,000 units sold (estimate)
· TiVo Series 3: 250,000 units sold (estimate); 750,000 Series 2 and Series 3 units are connected to the Internet via broadband (two-thirds are estimated to be Series 2 devices).
· PlayStation 3: 4.9 million units sold in the U.S.
· AppleTV: 350,000-400,000 units sold in the U.S. (estimate)
· Vudu: 15,000 units sold in the U.S. (estimate)

snapshot 7/23/08

2008-07-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Gatekeeper of the MP3 blogosphere
A lot has changed since then. The Hype Machine, based in New York, has become one of the most talked-about music sites in the Internet. It attracts more than one million monthly visitors. Valleywag, the widely read technology blog, reported in April that Viacom offered to buy the Hype Machine for $10 million. Volodkin says this isn't true. (So does Viacom.) But he says people approach him "all the time " about investing in his company.

Amazon.com Announces Second Quarter Sales up 41% to $4.06 Billion; Sales Growth Accelerates to 31% in Media and to 58% in Electronics and Other General Merchandise
Worldwide Media sales grew 31% to $2.41 billion in second quarter 2008, compared with $1.83 billion in second quarter 2007.

MySpace’s DeWolfe Says New Music Joint Venture to Launch in September
MySpace ’s upcoming music joint venture with 3 of the 4 major labels, first announced in April, will launch in September (EMI is still a holdout, but from what we hear they may be ready to fold soon). Chris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace, mentioned that date and gave other details about the joint venture in an interview today with Adam Lashinsky at the Fortune Brainstorm conference in Half Moon Bay, CA.

Afterward, he told TechCrunch Co-Editor Erick Schonfeld, who is attending the event, that MySpace Music will be a combination music store/subscription service, with unlimited playbacks of full tracks, but for free. The revenue model will be advertising and paid downloads. Advertisers are already lining up, with some eight-figure deals being negotiated.

SanDisk: "A Rapid Deterioration In Consumer Confidence"
SanDisk went sans profits during the most recent quarter, the result of softening consumer demand for flash memory and MP3 players. After the closing bell Monday, the company reported a massive loss of $68 million, or 30-cents per share, a reversal from year-ago earnings of $28 million, or 12-cents per share.

snapshot 7/22/08

2008-07-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

Report: TiVo, Amazon team up on sales pitches
TiVo--a company well-known for helping TV viewers skip commercials--is teaming up with Amazon.com to make it easier for consumers to purchase products they see on television commercials and talk shows, according to a report Monday on The New York Times Web site.

A "product purchase" feature on onscreen menus will provide TiVo customers with links to buy products like books, compact discs, and DVDs featured on programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Late Show With David Letterman, and The Daily Show, the newspaper reported. Alviso, Calif.-based TiVo plans to offer the feature to advertisers and programmers, giving viewers the chance to purchase products during commercials and product placements in shows, the paper reported.

One Paul Westerberg album: 49 cents
Here's a bargain: Paul Westerberg this weekend released an one-track, 44-minute song via Amazon.com, distributing it to the online seller with the help of TuneCore. The cut, really one 44-minute album, is available for 49 cents. It's essentially one long, scruffy, low-fi melding of a dozen-plus Westerberg songs.

Baynote, Strands, RichRelevance — will they survive the “recommendation engine” consolidation?
A recent Yankee Group report says the technology is promising, yielding up to a 400 percent increase in click-through rates on some sites. However, Yankee predicts a consolidation. ATG already acquired one player, CleverSet. “In the next 4 to 5 years, only three to four personalization engines will survive in each major market,” according to the report, which also says companies will fight over the mobile sector next.

eMusic Makeover Starts Rolling; Album Pages First
Got 2.0? eMusic is now rolling the first in a series of site changes, part of a broader reach outside of its borders. Last week, the company outlined an agenda that included the integration of YouTube videos and Wikipedia bios, outside commentary, and exportable widgets. Other aspects of the plan are inside the fence, including the introduction of a revamped, highly visual navigation. The focal point for the first-wave change is the album page, a highly-trafficked component of the eMusic site. Alongside album information and tracklisting, the album page now includes related content from Wikipedia, Flickr, and YouTube.

In turn, the album page can also be exported into networked environments like Facebook, Digg, Del.icio.us, Twitter, and StumbleUpon. "Blogs and recommendations from friends are now more relevant in music discovery than what music critics have to say, but what's missing is a place that brings that all together," said eMusic chief David Pakman.

Long Live the Jewel Case
I realize, of course, that most music is still purchased on CD. Even so, one aspect of the recent Last.fm redesign surprised me -- on album pages, every release is now displayed as if it's in a jewel case, complete with a black plastic tray and the faux-sheen of the plastic over the CD insert.

snapshot 7/21/08

2008-07-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

New iPhone music to users' ears
When it was unveiled in June, Apple's new iPhone didn't appear to offer anything new for music fans. But thanks to the subsequent launch of the App Store on iTunes, iPhone users can download a host of applications to add new functions to the device. Many of them are music-oriented and all are made specifically for the iPhone. The weekend after the new iPhone's release, more than 10 million applications were downloaded through the App Store. Some are free, some carry a fee, and most also work on the Wi-Fi-compatible iPod Touch.

Home servers may render CD racks obsolete
Converting to a fully digitized entertainment library is a good way to cut down on clutter in the house. So what replaces the CD rack once you do? The 500 GB hard drive that comes standard on most home computers today? Soon, even that won't be big enough to store and organize the massive amount of digital music, video and photography that consumers are accumulating as part of the emerging "terabyte lifestyle." That opens the door to a new market, one that for now remains a niche afterthought to most people: home servers.

Musicians' unions stay out of digital debate
With digital distribution of entertainment as the focal point, the TV/film and music industries are embroiled in several disputes between those who create the content and those who distribute it. But while those disputes in Hollywood are well-documented -- with powerful unions like the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild staging high-profile negotiations and, in some cases, strikes -- the perception in the music industry is that artists are largely left to themselves to fight for whatever they can get on their own.

Sony BMG Music's days are numbered
The clock is quickly ticking down on a process that could see German media giant Bertelsmann sell its 50% stake in Sony BMG Music Entertainment tojoint-venture partner Sony Corp in the coming months. Sources say the Sony board will meet July 29 to discuss the future of the 4-year-old venture, whose artists include Britney Spears, Bob Dylan and the Foo Fighters. The combo is due to expire next August.

Billboard charts online music hits
In a move that speaks volumes about how the music business is changing, Billboard has launched a monthly chart on its web site of TuneCore's top 25 album and songs. In other words, little-known users of the service like Boyce Avenue, a Florida band that built up a YouTube following by covering songs by Coldplay and Rianna, will get the same treatment as their multi-platinum idols. Don't laugh. Boyce Avenue has seven of the top 25 songs on the TuneCore song chart.

iLike Offers Free Full Track Streaming and Announces New Ad Platform
iLike , the music discovery service with a number of popular applications across social networks, has announced that it will now offer full track streaming through a partnership with Rhapsody. That means that users of iLike’s applications on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and hi5 will now be able to listen to complete tracks, as opposed to the 30 second samples offered previously. Users can listen to up to 25 free tracks per month, at which point they can either subscribe to Rhapsody or will be reverted back to the samples.

The deal also has an interesting business model for artists – they earn revenue each time their music is played. Hadi Partovi, President of iLike, told me in a conversation last week that “in the past, music social networks have been a promotional vehicle [for artists], but now it’s also a way to help fund the music industry through our deal with Rhapsody.” Competitor Last.fm rolled out a similar program earlier this month, dubbed the Artist Royalty Program.

GravityZoo Announces MediaZoo, the 1st True Cloud Based Music Library & Player
GravityZoo announced today the beginning of the private beta program for MediaZoo, the 1st true Cloud-based music library & player, without the need for a browser. MediaZoo represents a new generation of Cloud-based services powered by GravityZoo technology. It allows you to not only build your online music library but also join The Zoo, a project aiming to build the world's largest public library of shared, free music. MediaZoo even allows you to invite up to five close friends to come and listen to your music!

StumbleAudio: Find music you've never heard of but might like
If you want to find music from independent artists, you might want to check out StumbleAudio. The web service uses a music recommendation image engine much like the other sites. But all of the artists are independent acts, which means they're either unsigned or signed to smaller labels.

If you find an artist you like, you can flip through the tracks on their album and listen to full length audio streams. Or you can click on the links on the side of the page to purchase digital downloads or physical CDs. StumbleAudio currently features over 120,000 artists and 2 million songs.

Record Labels Are Not Venture Capitalists by David Rose
Having worked for both venture backed technology companies and record labels I often have friends from one industry attempt to relate to the other by saying something along the lines of “record labels are just like venture capitalists”. It is true both venture firms and record companies invest their time and money into a third party with the intent of making a (large) return on their investment. However, in my experience there are more differences in their traditional approaches to investing than similarities.

KavaTunes 3.2 web-enables iTunes
KavaSoft on Monday released an update to its KavaTunes software, adding in new features. KavaTunes creates a website that looks and works just like iTunes does, so users can browse, search and play their music from any web browser. KavaTunes 3.2 features continuous playback, enabling users to queue up an entire album or songs and listen to one song after another. KavaTunes can also add album artwork to a music library and is also capable of creating web catalogs that look and work just like an iPod. Visitors can then browse and play music using the familiar iPod clickwheel interface.

snapshot 7/18/08

2008-07-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

New Worm Transcodes MP3s to Try to Infect PCs
A new kind of malicious software could pose a danger to Windows users who download music files on peer-to-peer networks. The new malware inserts links to dangerous Web pages within ASF (Advanced Systems Format) media files.

Advanced Systems Format is a Microsoft-defined container format for audio and video streams that can also hold arbitrary content such as images or links to Web resources. If a user plays an infected music file, it will launch Internet Explorer and load a malicious Web page which asks the user to download a codec, a well-known trick to get someone to download malware. The actual download is not a codec but a Trojan horse, which installs a proxy program on the PC, Emm said. The proxy program allows hackers to route other traffic through the compromised PC, helping the hacker essentially cover their tracks for other malicious activity, Emm said.

Napster Takeover Looms as Funds See Cash Exceed Stock (Update1)
Napster Inc., the Internet music pioneer whose shares have plunged 95 percent in six years, has become takeover bait for hedge funds zeroing in on a cash hoard exceeding the company's market value. While Los Angeles-based Napster hasn't posted a profit in four years, its $69.8 million in cash and investments as of March 31 eclipses the shares' $52.1 million value. The company's biggest investor, New York-based hedge fund Eminence Capital LLC, boosted its stake to 9 percent in the second quarter, according to regulatory filings.

Top 5 online music stores
As one may suspect, working in digital music gives a person a somewhat skewed view about the permeation of online music in the general population. Everyone (aside from audiophiles and vinyl buffs) is getting their music fix though the Web nowadays, right? Wrong. Although digital music is on the rise, it's still well behind CDs in terms of overall sales ($2.8 billion versus $15.9 billion, according to one report).

Another report forecasts that digital music sales won't surpass physical media for another four years. Well, what say we prove some people wrong (always fun) and shave a year or two off that number? To help you sort through the clutter of online music, I've rounded up my Top 5 choices for digital tunes. These selections aren't really in any particular order; rather, each service offers a variety of advantages depending on your personal needs and preferences.

Amazon To Target $5.5 Billion Textbook Market With New Kindle?
Earlier this week Crunchgear broke the news on two new upcoming Kindle models : a smaller form factor Kindle to be released this year ahead of the holidays, and a large screen (probably 8.5×11) to come sometime next year. A couple of commenters in that post have pointed out that the large screen Kindle is perfect to target the college/university textbook market, a $5.5 billion market annually in the U.S. alone.

DRM-Free, Sort Of: Rhapsody Still Transitioning Catalog
Rhapsody joint venture partners MTV Networks and RealNetworks trumpeted a DRM-free launch at the tail end of June. But music fans are still encountering a considerable amount of protected content, and the catalog remains in transition. At present, a significant number of songs are encoded as protected, RAX files, instead of the advertised MP3s.

The long list of protected content includes albums from Paul Simon (Songs From The Capeman, Concert In The Park, 1964/1993); Curtis Mayfield (Honesty); Dave Matthews Band (Under The Table & Dreaming, Busted Stuff, Live at Piedmont Park, Listener Supported, others); Sting (Songs From the Labyrinth); Wu-Tang Clan (Iron Flag, The W); Pete Yorn (The Day I Forgot, Westerns, Nightcrawler); David Gray (Live In Slow Motion, White Ladder, A New Day At Midnight); The Who (Live at Leeds, Who Are You, Quadrophenia, others); Method Man (Street Education, Tical 2000: Judgment Day); and Toni Braxton (Libra, Secrets).

Why is the Grateful Dead Amazon.com's #1 MP3 Artist Right Now?
Because the band's album American Beauty is on sale for $1.99. Incredible that two of these album downloads cost less than one gallon of gas. John Lennon's Imagine is currently selling for about one gallon of gas.

snapshot 7/17/08

2008-07-17T16:02:00.001-07:00

Volume rises for music video games
Music genre games "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" are bona-fide smash hits, entering the rarefied air once reserved for only the elite first-person shooters, "Mario" games or sports titles. And success breeds imitation. Music games seemed to be everywhere at this week's E3 video game trade show and it wasn't just Activision Blizzard Inc showing off its upcoming "Guitar Hero: World Tour" or MTV Games, a unit of Viacom Inc, providing a sneak peek at "Rock Band 2." Both are due out later this year.

Amazon.com to launch new online TV, movie store: report
Web retailer Amazon.com Inc will introduce a new online store of TV shows and movies on Thursday, called Amazon Video on Demand, The New York Times said. Customers of Amazon's new store will be able to start watching any of 40,000 movies and television programs immediately after ordering them because they stream, just like programs on a cable video-on-demand service, the paper said.

The service is different from most Internet video stores, such as Apple's iTunes and the original incarnation of Amazon's video store, which require users to wait as video files are downloaded to their hard drives.

It's official: Audiophiles are over CDs
That week's question: how do you listen to digital music? The poll says 34 percent still use CD players as their primary digital source. Thirty-six percent use a computer-based server, and 10 percent use dedicated servers such as Sonos or Squeezebox. Another 4 percent use iPods! I felt a little better that 11 percent use a SACD or DVD-Audio player. Another 3 percent voted "other."

Download free 'Into the Wild' MP3 audiobook from Borders
To help kick off its new MP3-audiobook download service, Borders is offering Jon Krakauer's spellbinding "Into the Wild" free of charge through July 19. You do need to sign up for a Borders Digital Audiobooks account, but it's free to do so, and that's the only catch.

Well, actually, there's one more: To access the book (and any others you purchase), you have to install something called OverDrive Media Console (currently Windows-only--grrr). It's basically a download manager that organizes your audiobooks and generates multi-part MP3s (which you can then copy to any portable player using the software of your choice--iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc.--or burn to CDs).

@ MusicTank: Lavigne To Rake $2 Million From YouTube Plays
Avril Lavigne is set to score a big pay day thanks to YouTube revenue. Her Nettwerk Management CEO Terry McBride told MusicTank’s Face To Face With The Millennials in London today: ”There’s about a $2 million cheque waiting for her for all her YouTube plays.” Next up, they’re targeting the Far-East: “We will start a Mandarin website (for Lavigne) with Mandarin ads and we will make a shitload of money, because 40 percent of her intellectual property value comes from Asia.”

McBride, whose label gained notoriety through innovative online distribution strategies and for donating legal fees to those fighting RIAA filesharing lawsuits, said Nettwerk expects its revenue from digital to tip beyond 70 percent this year. That’s massively more than the 25.5 percent eMarketer forecasts the global music business will make from digital this year.

McBride also said labels should be retailing digital tracks at a sweet spot of just $0.25, albums for $2: “You’d see a huge shift; we haven’t even given kids the choice to show us this tipping point yet ... the profit margin in the digital space is about 300 percent that inside the physical space.”

AimeStreet Debuts Charity Downloads
Watch out Bono. Variable priced download leader AmieStreet has named Creative Visions Foundation as the lead charity in "Download To Make A Difference" a new campaign using downloads to support humanitarian causes. It kicks off with AmieStreet donating $2 to Creative Visions for every free download of the new single, "Anything," by composer-philanthropist Peter Buffett and multi-platinum star Akon exclusively available at AmieStreet.com/CreativeVisions.

Apricado: Selling Your Music Has Never Been This Easy
Over the last few years we’ve seen a number of online music stores that offer independent artists a way to sell their music without a recording contract. And while a handful of these sites, like AmieStreet , have done especially well, but they tend to be pretty involved - you can’t just upload your songs and start getting paid. Apricado , a new startup that launches today in private beta, is looking to solve this problem by streamlining the process as much as possible.

Apricado makes the music submission process ridiculous easy (perhaps to a fault): After uploading a song, the site will automatically detect the artist name and generate a music store (for example, a song by Mika would generate www.apricado.com/Mika). Each song sold will be distributed without DRM, and the site will only take a 20% cut of the revenues (industry standards are usually 30% or more). Visitors who navigate to this site will be presented with a list of available songs. After entering their credit card information on the same page, the selected songs as downloaded as a single .zip file. Artists can also get embed codes for their stores, so they can offer a mini-marketplace on their blogs or MySpace (a Facebook app is on the way).

snapshot 7/16/08

2008-07-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

How eMusic hopes to keep Its groove
When eMusic launched 10 years ago, the online music subscription service faced some long odds. It refused to protect songs from illegal copying, which ruled out major label acts like Britney Spears. Today, eMusic has attracted more than 400,000 customers - a 60% increase from a year and a half ago - who pay as little as 33 cents a download for songs they get to keep. The site still doesn't do business with the major record labels, but it has deals with 33,000 independent labels and a catalogue that includes Radiohead, Paul McCartney and John Mellencamp.

Next Tuesday, it is introducing an array of social networking features to its service. Let's say you are a fan of Arcade Fire. You can already read quite a bit about the critically-acclaimed Canadian cult band on its eMusic album pages. Now eMusic will add a wealth of content from the Web 2.0 universe: the band's Wikipedia entry, pictures from Flickr, and videos of Arcade Fire concerts from YouTube. None of this is available on iTunes or the Amazon digital music store. eMusic will also allow members to share these pages with friends on popular social media sites like Facebook, Digg, Del.icio.us and Twitter. "These are the things that we know our customers are already doing with the music they love," says eMusic CEO David Pakman.

MTV launches another surely doomed music service
MTV is continuing its push into digital music, despite its long litany of failures in the past, by introducing a music recommendation service and social network called Soundtrack. Most of the song recommendations will be based off of MTV's list of shows such as The Hills, Shot at Love, and G's to Gents. RealNetworks' Rhapsody, which recently dropped copyright protections on its music files, will help MTV sell those songs, as well — though a tipster reports Rhapsody been having customer service and outage issues for weeks.

Disney bucks music industry downturn
Whiteside, senior vice president of marketing of Walt Disney Records, saw a whopping 60 percent rise in music sales from 2006 to 2007 because of the tween and young-teen music craze led by Disney star Miley Cyrus. Meanwhile, overall music industry sales were down 17 percent in the same period because of digital downloads and pirated music online.

snapshot 7/15/08

2008-07-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

Widget Enables Radiohead Style Distro
At first glance NoiseTrade is a simple widget that enables Radiohead style pay what you want music distribution. But as two dozen indie acts including Sixpence None The Richer and Sandra McCracken learned, it also can be a powerful viral promo tool which in the two weeks since launched has delivered 20,000 full albums for purchase and fan promotion.

Artists distribute their music via NoiseTrade's embeddable widget where fans can sample then either choose to tell three friends about it or pay any amount in exchange for an album download. Name plus an email and zip code are captured along the way. Fans can also embed the widget into their own blog or social networking profile.

P2P not hurting DVD, Blu-ray sales as revenues up from 2007
Consumers may be tightening their belts, but that reduction apparently hasn't affected DVD sales just yet. In fact, spending on DVDs and Blu-ray discs during the first half of 2008 showed a slight increase over the same period a year ago, according to data collected by Home Media Magazine. Spending on rentals rose even more, indicating that perhaps part of consumers' money-saving efforts involve cozying up to a movie at home for entertainment instead of heading out for a night on the town—or downloading from the Internet.

Home Media found that sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs rose from $6.8 billion in early 2007 to $6.87 billion in the first half of this year—a modest increase of 1.1 percent. This number appears to coincide with "studio reports" saying that unit sales were also up 1.1 percent to 412.3 million discs in the first half of 2008, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Rentals increased by 2.6 percent, from $3.7 billion to $3.9 billion.

Amazon.com's Amazing MP3 Album Prices
Except for a couple songs, I don't even LIKE the Doors, but I almost bought this album this morning. At $3.99 for 20 songs, it was almost too good to pass up, even though I could simply buy the two songs I actually like for 99 cents each. (The album's now back to its regular price of $8.99.)Amazon.com's daily and weekly mp3 album specials are clearly resulting in a lot of impulse purchases. The top album chart is usually dominated by the previous weekend's $5 specials and most all of the daily special albums make it to the top of the chart. Big-name artists (Madonna, the Police, etc.) almost always make it to the number one spot, and even relatively unknown artists like Liam Finn seem to hit the top five when given the bargain price. (Though the relative chart popularity of the specially-priced albums might just be evidence that total album download sales at Amazon are modest enough that it doesn't take too many purchases in a 24-hour period to make the top album chart...)

Sony's PS3 & PSP Movie Service Launching; Seven Studios Signed On; Adopts Marlin Open DRM
…Sony is announcing some of its own services: it is launching a PlayStation 3 and its portable PSP-based video service, and said has signed on at least seven studios including Sony Pictures, Fox, MGM, Lions Gate, Warner Brothers, Disney. Movies, TV programs and original programs will be available and of course would be watchable on TV. Movies will rent for $2.99 to $5.99 and TV shows for $1.99 an episode. For now, the service only has 300 full length movies and 1,200 TV episodes, the company said.

Disney will only offer movies for rent, while all others will offer for rental as well as downloads/sellthrough...Disney is closely aligned with Apple on its iTunes movies service so its reticence with others is understandable. Meanwhile, Jack Tretton, president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America, says it best: "The collaboration of Sony's film, TV and entertainment business units, coupled with our hardware and content offerings, provide consumers with entertainment experiences unlike any on the market"....not the last part, but the fact that all these units could actually work together to launch something. That is an achievement at Sony… Something even more alien for Sony: it has adopted Marlin DRM technology, an open industry content standard...this won't allows users to take it anywhere, but at least will allow content bought to be shared on PS3 and PSP systems, depending on the type of content purchased by the user. Not clear if it will be expanded to include other non-Sony devices in the future, but I doubt it. More details here.

TuneCore Gets Own Billboard Chart
Billboard is now posting the top 25 revenue-generating albums and songs from discount flat fee digital distributor TuneCore in its Digital & Mobile section. The first chart can be viewed here.

snapshot 7/14/08

2008-07-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

Rare Marley, Skynyrd performances sold online
Vintage concert performances by such acts as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bob Marley will soon join the nearly 500 recordings already available for download purchase at the music and memorabilia site Wolfgang's Vault.

Music industry insiders find upside in album leaks
Saleh's relaxed attitude reflects a growing belief among some music industry vets that unauthorized leaks of an album before its release can boost sales. Leaks provide a way of generating buzz for an upcoming album. If fans get excited by what they hear, this line of thinking goes, they'll go out and buy the album when it's released.

Trent Reznor Continues To Show Different Ways To Connect With Fans
Back when Trent Reznor was still signed to Universal Music, he tested out his own form of a promotional campaign for his latest album: he started hiding USB keys with songs off of the album in the bathroom at his various concerts. Now that he's independent and testing out all sorts of interesting business model experiments, he's also doing plenty to connect directly to his biggest fans. Take, for example, this story in the LA Times about Reznor hiding concert tickets around Los Angeles, under rocks and in drainpipes, and then putting up coordinates and clues on the Nine Inch Nails website, sending fans racing across the city to see if they can find the free tickets. While it may be a little silly, it is yet another way for Reznor to build up a really loyal fanbase. He's making being a fan fun

Planned Guns N’ Roses Deal Underscores Power of Video Games to Sell Songs
A decade and a half after releasing its previous album, Guns N’ Roses plans to put out a new song in September — on the video game Rock Band 2. MTV expects to announce on Monday that the sequel to its popular Rock Band game will include “Shackler’s Revenge,” a track from the Guns N’ Roses album that has been in the works for more than a decade, said people familiar with the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity because the arrangement has yet to be announced.

Guns N’ Roses’ plan to reintroduce its music to the public in a video game underscores how important to the music business games have become — especially Rock Band and Activision’s Guitar Hero series, which allow gamers to play along with songs on instrument-shaped plastic controllers. Rock Band 2 will also include songs from marquee acts like AC/DC and Rush; the game may also feature music by Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan, according to a track listing leaked online. Activision recently released a version of Guitar Hero dedicated to Aerosmith, and a game based on Metallica is due next year.

Indian media company acquires MovieBeam assets
Mumbai-based Valuable Group acquired the video-on-demand service last week for what could be considered pennies on the dollar, according to reports.

Netflix Coming to Xbox 360 With Live Content Sharing
Netflix is coming to the Xbox 360 this fall. Netflix subscribers will have instant access to over 10,000 movies and TV shows, streamed directly to the Xbox 360 console.= What’s more, with the new Live Party feature coming to the Xbox 360, you’ll be able to stream whatever Netflix content you’re watching to the rest of the people in your Live Party group — groups can contain up to eight people and everyone will be watching the movie or TV show at the same time, which oughta further alleviate the need to actually leave your house to interact with people face to face.

snapshot 7/11/08

2008-07-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Download Sales Total 394,000 - Biggest To Date In US
Coldplay has sold 394,000 downloads of its latest album, Viva La Vida, the biggest paid online album total in the United States. Not only is this the largest three week total for online sales, but it also represents 35% of the total sales of the album which has sold 1.1 million during the same period, a demonstration of the emergence of digital sales. Coldplay also nailed the best pre-order and first-week album totals on the iTunes Store, according to information confirmed by Apple.

Listening To Music Via TV And PC Rises
… a new survey by Parks Associates says 2/3rds of US and Canadian broadband households regularly use the PC to play music at home and a surprising 1/3 say they use their TV to listen to music. MP3 players ranked equal to TVs. In the report, Parks Associates analysts recommend that developers and service providers account for these standard platforms when designing new digital entertainment services. Music marketers should do the same.

Pandora and AOL Radio apps on the iPhone rock, roll users over to iTunes to buy
Enter two new brilliant apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Pandora and AOL Radio. Both services, available for free through Apple’s new App Store, take music discovery on mobile devices to the next level. While services have been around for a while that will tell you an artists name and track title, none do it quite as easy as these two apps do all on one device.

One of the killer features (at least for Apple) of both of these apps is that you can, with the touch of one button, find the music you are listening to on iTunes. It launches directly into the iPhone/iPod Touch iTunes app and takes you to that song/artist.

Guitar Hero aims to take on iTunes
Activision Blizzard, the games company formed by the merger of Activision with Vivendi’s games unit, plans to capitalise on the popularity of its Guitar Hero franchise by developing an online music platform that could rival iTunes. In an interview with the Financial Times, Bobby Kotick, chief executive of the new company, said creating a Guitar Hero online music platform was “the natural evolution” of a franchise that has sold close to 20m units and generated $1bn in revenues

Shazam on iPhone could change music discovery
he concept behind Shazam is simple: whenever you hear a song playing and can't identify it--on the car radio, at a friend's house, at a bar--you activate the Shazam application on your mobile phone. It "listens" to the song for about 30 seconds, then sends a text message to your phone identifying the artist and title. Shazam's database contains audio fingerprints for nearly 5 million songs, so there's a pretty good chance of a positive ID. However, closing the loop with an actual purchase was hard--you had to tag the song, then consult a Web site to see your tagged item, then go to another service (such as iTunes) to buy it.

The version of Shazam for the iPhone 2.0 fixes this problem: once you've tagged a song in Shazam, you can launch iTunes directly from that tagged song and buy the song immediately. That's assuming you have a Wi-Fi connection to the Internet--iTunes doesn't let you download music over a 3G data connection yet.

snapshot 7/10/08

2008-07-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

Ludacris' digital music play
But one rap luminary thinks there is a business in collecting music from unsigned acts and posting it on the Internet. Ludacris, the Grammy-Award-winning rapper known for his hits like "Chicken and Beer," is one of the founders of WeMix, a Web site where unknown 50 Cents can find a wider audience - that is, if they pass muster with the rest of the Web site's users. "It's almost like a virtual American Idol," says Ludacris, whose real name is Chris Bridges.

Ludacris and his partner, Matt Apfel, a former reality television show producer, have latched onto an increasing popular concept on the Internet called "crowd sourcing." The rapper singles out acts that he thinks are good. Then, Ludacris lets the users of WeMix's pick the songs that rise to the top of the site's home page. This week's favorite is Wally J.'s ribald "Booty On My YouTube," which has been played 614,938 times. That's a lot of mouse clicks for a Web site that only went live in June.

Exclusive Live Recordings From... LimeWire?
LimeWire is now delivering a slate of exclusive live recordings, an unlikely source for fresh content. On Wednesday, the company disclosed it Live at Lime Recording Series, part of a recently-launched paid store. The file-sharing giant, which started recording sessions in June, is now offering EPs from The Morning Benders, Sloan, Tigers and Monkeys, and Lucy Wainwright Roche. Each track is being sold for 99-cents, and subscription packages are also applied. All tracks are MP3s encoded at 256kbps.

MyAWOL, a music company that grasps reality
myAWOL is simultaneously a music-centric multimedia content company, a vehicle for discovering, promoting and capitalizing on musical talent, and a resource for anyone in the music industry looking to make money doing what they love. It’s part old school MTV and part new school record label, with servings of event promotion thrown in for good measure.

The experience is centered around 90-second video clips that feature video bloggers highlighting news, introducing new featured artists, and pointing out places to click to get more information or buy a few tracks. For unsigned artists, the company offers a range of free tools and documents for navigating the business. These include a database of contract templates, a professional web-based video editing application, analytics and guides on how to build a street team, how to choose a manager and so on. Any artist can create a profile, upload content and set the price to sell music through the site.

snapshot 7/9/08

2008-07-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

EMI Taking Vinyl Sales Seriously - Reissues Radiohead, Coldplay
EMI Music has announced that it will be launching a vinyl re-issue initiative in August, hoping to generate additional revenue based on the latest upswing in vinyl sales. The reissue series, dubbed “From the Capitol Vaults,” will debut with eight, out-of-print titles including Radiohead, Coldplay, A Perfect Circle, and the Steve Miller Band.

California Can't Resist: Wants To Tax iTunes Downloads Again
There are some states that already include a sales tax on internet downloads for things like iTunes purchases (even if the rationale for the tax doesn't seem to exist beyond "the state needs money"). Every so often various other state politicians start itching to add an iTunes download tax. The latest is California. Some state politicians made a bunch of news back in April for proposing just such a plan, but the resulting publicity and anger from California residents made sure that proposal was quickly shot down. So what did the main sponsor of that proposal do? He waited less than two months and proposed a nearly identical tax on digital downloads. Of course, all this will really do is push more people to look at alternatives, legal or not, because of the greater expense associated with digital downloads (a product that should get cheaper over time, rather than more expensive).

INgrooves Ropes Jimmy Buffett, Paul Wall, Chamillionaire...
Digital distributor and label INgrooves has now secured a fresh stable of artist deals, including those involving Jimmy Buffett, Everlast, John Michael Montgomery, Paul Wall, and Chamillionaire, among others. The relationships closely follow a strategic investment from Universal Music Group, one that allows the major to tap into the proprietary, INgrooves digital distribution platform.

That has raised the profile of the San Francisco-based INgrooves, a longtime player in the space. The artists come through a host of label partnerships, including Mailboat Records (Jimmy Buffett); Stringtown Records (Montgomery); K-Tel International (Chubby Checker, Tina Turner, Little Richard); SMC Recordings (Killer Mike, Pastor Troy); and Paid In Full Entertainment (Paul Wall, Chamillionaire). The Buffett relationship is focused on mobile distribution and content licensing, according INgrooves chief executive Robb McDaniels.

What's next, Google Autos or Google Music?
By scrutinizing the traffic Google searches produce, Internet analysis firm Hitwise in January predicted that Google might launch a virtual world. Lo and behold, Google launched Lively on Tuesday. So what's next?

Google Autos or Google Music are the guesses that Hitwise hazarded Wednesday. "Our thinking was that Google might want to fill natural gaps in its portfolio of offerings based on the interests of its users. We looked at which categories are receiving the most traffic from Google in which Google does not have its own property," said Hitwise's Heather Hopkins in a blog post.

myAWOL: A Music Label For The Digital Age
myAWOL (My Artists Without Labels) is looking to show the big four how it’s done. The site is taking a multi-pronged approach to tackle the music industry with the web: first, it will roll out a professional database to help establish itself as an authority in the space. Then, this Fall, it will introduce a consumer site that will function as a mix between a music community, online television channel, and independent music label.

Lofty goals to be sure, but the people associated with myAWOL may have the backing and experience to pull it off. The site is the brainchild of Andrew Bentley, an entrepreneur with a head-turning resume that includes stints as the CFO of Virgin Media, the CFO of EMI, and the CEO of EMI Music/Asia Pacific (before they went on a lawsuit spree). And you can be sure that during his time as a music executive, he’s made some friends. Within the next month, the site will be rolling out a professional-facing music database (an “imdb for music”). The goal of the site is to become an authoritative resource for everyone in the music industry, from studio musicians and equipment managers to studio execs. Bentley says that while this portion of the site may not have much appeal to consumers, it will help the site gain credibility while offering a much-needed service to the industry.

myAWOL’s consumer-facing site is where the real excitement will lie, and while it won’t be launching until early September, it may well be worth the wait. Unlike many music sites that effectively serve as storefronts for artists (leaving little reason for users to come back), myAWOL is focusing on content creation. The site will produce daily content for what amounts to an online television channel, where it will feature concerts, interviews, and TRL-like daily programming that will be distributed both online and through podcasts. Footage will come from submitted tapes, studio filming, and concerts put on by the site (there’s a myAWOL concert at The Roxy later this month).

Who Needs Music Labels? Last.fm Starts Paying Royalties To Unsigned Artists
Music-streaming service Last.fm is now paying unsigned artists royalties for every song played on its service. Since the company announced the program last January, 170,000 artists and small music labels have signed up for it and uploaded 450,000 tracks.

What Last.fm is doing here is creating an alternative to the official royalty-collecting organization for musicians (i.e., SoundExchange). Last year, the royalty rates for music streamed over the Internet were raised, making it more difficult for ad-supported music startups to stay in business. Last.fm got bought by CBS, so it’s not in danger of going under. And for any song owned by a label or artist who participates in SoundExchange, Last.fm continues to pay the going Internet radio royalty rate. But it is beginning to bypass Sound Exchange by giving new, unsigned artists an alternative.

snapshot 7/8/08

2008-07-08T16:05:00.001-07:00

Nickelback latest to join Live Nation in global deal
Canadian rock band Nickelback has signed a global recording, touring and merchandising deal with concert promoter Live Nation, the company said on Tuesday. Financial details were not disclosed but an industry source familiar with the talks said the deal was worth between $50 million to $70 million. The Nickelback deal is the latest in a string of high profile, multi-faceted deals Los Angeles-based Live Nation has signed with major artists including Madonna, Jay-Z and U2 in recent months.

Digital threat prompts movie industry downgrade
A Lehman Brothers analyst downgraded the entertainment industry Monday and slashed forecasts for its five major companies, saying digital downloads of movies and TV shows posed a huge threat to profits from DVD sales that the companies rely on. "Shifts from physical to digital will disrupt the marginal economics of the TV and movie businesses, just as it did for music," analyst Anthony DiClemente said during a conference call.

Online video catching on, but DVD consumers' favorite
Generations X and Y are far ahead of their parents in the consumption of emerging Web-based video, but DVD remains the most popular home entertainment choice among all demographics, according to new research from Knowledge Networks.

In Knowledge Networks’ “How People Use the Video Marketplace” report, 98% of the 30- to 43-year-old Gen X and the 13- to 29-year-old Gen Y groups, and 88% of 44- to 54-year-old Young Boomers said they use DVDs. Sixty-seven percent of Gen Y said they buy DVDs at least once a month; 71%, Gen X; and 51% Young Boomer. Additionally, 67% of Gen Y said they rented at least once a month; 65%, Gen X; and 44%, Young Boomer.

The pattern starts to diverge with Web-delivered content, with 52% of Gen Y, 37% of Gen X and just 21% of Young Boomers saying they stream video. With downloading, the breakdown is 37% Gen Y, 18%, Gen X and 11%, Young Boomer. However, both younger and older generations indicate they normally do not pay for this new media video usage. With video streams, 3% of Gen Y said they bought monthly; 4%, Gen X and 3%, Young Boomers. With video downloads, 2% of Gen Y said they bought monthly; 2% Gen X and N/A for Young Boomers.

Music fans looking online for guidance
Nearly eight out of 10 consumers are turning away from professional music reviews and looking online for guidance when buying CDs or downloads. The latest Trust Index research from e-commerce firm Avail Intelligence said that many listeners are turning to online music stores or social networking sites for opinions on new albums or acts.

Recommendations made while browsing music stores such as iTunes or social networking applications such as I Like on Facebook proved popular for 40 per cent of respondents. This was just pipped by the opinion of family, friends and other shoppers at 41 per cent of respondents.

Wii Will Rock You
Surprisingly, the savior of classic rock may turn out to be the videogame industry. With titles like Electronic Arts' (nasdaq: ERTS - news - people ) "Rock Band" and Activision's (nasdaq: ATVI - news - people ) "Guitar Hero," players--particularly younger ones--are getting a taste of what their parents used to rock out to.

In January, Activision announced that the "Guitar Hero" franchise had generated more than $1 billion in sales in just 26 months. As of May, the franchise has sold 16.3 million copies, according to the NPD Group. Between November 2007 and January 2008, consumers downloaded over 5 million songs, with prices ranging from free to $6.25 for a three-song pack, according to Activision.

"Rock Band" fans have bought some 2.4 million copies of the game at $170 per copy, NPD says. And as of June 30, players have paid to download 15 million songs, most for $2 each.

snapshot 7/7/08

2008-07-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

MasterCard Campaign Offers Free UMG Downloads
MasterCard this week launched a campaign with an extensive music component. As part of a new campaign dubbed "Roots of Rock" from New York ad agency McCann-Erickson the credit card maker is offering MasterCard holders free downloads from the entire Universal Music Group catalog from priceless.com. While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed the card maker did say that once 100,000 songs had been downloaded the company would continue to offer the catalog at a price of .80 per track.

In addition select live performances that have aired over the past years on PBS's "Soundstage" will be available for unlimited free download to cardholders. Some of the artists available include: Heart, Counting Crows, Billy Idol, Jewel, and Ringo Starr.

Mobile Music A $7.3 Billion Industry By 2011
Music on mobile devices is expected to account for $7.3 billion of the global amount spent on recorded music by 2011, according to new data from eMarketer. The report, titled "Recorded Music: Digital Falls Short," predicts that music sales as a whole will continue to decline, but online and mobile markets will grow rapidly.

As more and more multimedia-capable handsets are released, the mobile music market is expected to jump from $1.7 billion in 2007 to $3 billion by the end of the year. The figure is estimated to grow to $4.8 billion in 2009, $6.2 billion in 2010, and $7.3 billion in 2011. As CD sales plummet, the music industry is expected to see a $5 billion decline in total music sales in the next three years, from $31.8 billion to $26.2 billion. Because of this, record labels will look to the mobile space for additional revenue.

MP3 player celebrates 10th birthday
The MP3 player is set to celebrate its 10th birthday this summer. The device that would revolutionize how and where music is played -- and the music industry itself -- first appeared in South Korea in the summer of 1998. SaeHan Information Systems' "MPMan" player offered 16 megabytes of storage capacity. Today's iPod Classic, with 160 gigabytes of space, boasts 10,000 times more space. But it was the Rio PMP300 from Diamond Multimedia, introduced in fall 1998, that set the industry in motion.

Listening Post's Top 10 Hottest Music Sites
Change is the only constant in the music business, and that goes double for the digital music business. Nonetheless, we've assembled a list of the 10 hottest digital music websites in the world. Criteria were simple and admittedly subjective: Sites were chosen based not only on what they currently do for music fans, but also on their potential to impact the future development of the music industry. Based on how things go with the first iteration, this list could be updated periodically and opened for voting.

Digital Music Still Has a Ways to Go
That's the latest chapter in a soap opera whose storylines of bitterness and attempted betrayal are positively Gothic, but at least this time consumers are benefiting instead of being punished. Today consumers have a growing number of legal, unfettered choices for digital music, and they all work smoothly with iTunes. The more likely it is that consumers can find songs they want and listen to them easily, the more likely they are to buy them instead of swiping them. The overall trend is a welcome one, and dust-ups between Apple and the labels (however entertaining they may be) are unlikely to derail that.

But the Rhapsody announcement raises questions, too -- ones that have dogged digital music for some time. Yes, more choices are better, but buying digital music is still a needlessly complicated, haphazard process. And why are subscription services like Rhapsody's core product so stubbornly stillborn?

SpiralFrog Claims Six Million Uniques in June
The Deal (via Ad-Supported Music Central) has an article with some stats on SpiralFrog. In the last week of June, founder and chairman Joe Mohen predicted six million unique visitors for the month. The problem with its catalog is evident in the fact that only 50% of searches were fulfilled.

SpiralFrog is available only in the U.S. and Canada, which have a combined population of 333 million. With six million uniques, that's 1.8% of all citizens. In both countries, there are about a combined 88 million people between the ages of 15 and 34. Again assuming six million uniques, the service is hitting about 7.4% of all people from ages 15 to 34 -- almost one in 14. We don't know anything about length of visit or total tracks downloaded, but that is a very large ratio for such a young and incomplete music destination. (My rough math assumes one user per household for the sake of simplicity.)

snapshot 7/3/08

2008-07-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

Vinyl LP is back in mainstream rotation
Toe-tappers snapped up nearly 1 million records last year, a 15 percent increase and the highest level in three years, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The most recent is Richfield-based Best Buy Co. Inc., which is launching a pilot project at an undisclosed number of stores.

Celebrate Independents Day '08
July 4th is Independence Day in America, but worldwide it's also a celebration of independent music. Starting in New Zealand and ending in the US, activities include an auction of independent music memorabilia via eBay and limited edition albums featuring independent talent from all over the globe supported by a retail campaign and series of one-off music shows and retrospectives across TV and radio. Proceeds benefit independent music initiatives. Learn more and get involved here.

Mid-Year Sales Report: Top Sellers, Market Share And More
At the mid-point of 2008, U.S. album sales stand at an 11% decline when compared to the same period a year ago. Though not as precipitous a drop as the one recorded in the first half of 2007 (15.1%), this year's first half tally is 204.6 million units, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That’s compared to 229.8 million units scanned in the first six months of 2007.

That drop is fueled largely by the 16.3% decrease in CD sales; digital albums posted a 34.4% increase to 31.6 million units and now account for 15.4% of album sales. Digital tracks continue to be a bright spot, growing 30% to 532.7 million units in the six month period ended June 29. That compares with the 417.3 million recorded in the six-month period ended July 1, 2007.

MySpace Music: When Will It Finally Appear?
When will the heavily-hyped MySpace Music finally hit the airwaves? The initiative, first splashed in April, now appears months away. One source pointed to a continuing chief executive search, while another referenced a missing deal with fourth major EMI Music Group.

It remains unclear when those and other show-stoppers will be resolved, though a MySpace representative loosely pointed Digital Music News to a launch "by the end of the year" in discussions Monday. That mostly likely means a release by the fall or beyond, depending on a variety of factors.

The broad-based concept will deliver a number of revenue-generators, including DRM-free downloads, mobile-based assets, ad-supported streaming audio and video, merchandise, and concert tickets. Those elements will be tightly integrated into the artist profile, part of a more comprehensive promotional and sales approach. Participating majors are taking a piece of the revenue action.

EMI Market Share Dips Below 10 Percent; Indies Approach 14
EMI posted a recorded industry market share of less than 10 percent during the first half, according Nielsen Soundscan figures. Specifically, the troubled label group rallied a 9.4 percent share, down from 10.4 percent during the comparable period last year. Others also lost ground, including the dominant Universal Music Group. UMG slipped slightly to 31.2 percent, down from 31.5 percent earlier. Elsewhere, Sony BMG moved downward to 24.8 percent, from 25.3 percent previously.

Gainers included Warner Music Group and the independent sector. Warner bumped to 20.8 percent, up from 20 percent, and the independent sector posted a share of 13.9 percent, up from 12.9 percent during the comparable period last year.

snapshot 7/2/08

2008-07-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

BurnLounge Promoter Settles FTC Complaint
A promoter of a digital music service accused by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission of running an illegal pyramid scheme has settled the agency's complaints and will pay a fine of US$20,000, the FTC announced Tuesday. The FTC announcement comes a year after BurnLounge said it had reached an agreement with the agency to stop the "network marketing" portion of its business that was targeted by the FTC. The FTC's settlement announced Tuesday is with Scott Elliott of Forney, Texas, one of four individuals who was named in the FTC's June 2007 complaint against BurnLounge.

Digital Won’t Halt Music Downfall, Radiohead Go Free Again
The growing importance of online and mobile won’t stop music spending’s decline over the next few years, according to an eMarketer survey of published forecasts. The research aggregator says online/mobile’s share of worldwide music spending will grow from just 15.4 percent last year to 25.5 percent in 2008, 39.4 percent in 2009 and 48.5 percent in 2010, before digital becomes the dominant medium on 56.6 percent in 2011. Still, overall spending will fall from $29.2 million to $26.2 million over that same period.

Breaking: RealNetworks Acquires Listen.com
RealNetworks has acquired the critically-acclaimed online music service Listen.com (with its Rhapsody music service) in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $36 million. The acquisition follows RealNetworks’ strategic investment in Listen.com announced in February. Following the close of the acquisition in Q2 or Q3 of this year, RealNetworks expects Listen.com to incur operating losses of approximately one million to two million dollars per quarter in 2003, and decreasing thereafter.

As part of the agreement, Listen.com’s management team will be joining RealNetworks. CEO Sean Ryan will continue to lead the Listen.com team as VP of music services as part of the RealOne division. Rob Reid, founder of Listen.com, will join RealNetworks as VP of strategic development. Listen.com will remain in San Francisco and will continue to operate music services for its customers and distribution partners.

The key phrase here is “distribution partners”: in a short time, Listen.com has gained some big ground, both in terms of the number of paying subscribers as well as critical acclaim. It was the first music service to have streaming/downloadable music from all the five major labels. For Real, that means the ability to tap into those consumers and perhaps upsell its own services, and potential partnerships with Listen.com’s network of more than 15 companies, including Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner high-speed ISP, Charter Communications, Verizon Online, Sprint, Cablevision Systems Corporation’s Optimum Online, Gateway, Lycos, RCN Corporation, and Sony’s Musiclub.

For music sites, album release partnerships are a newish PR strategy
The likes of iTunes, iLike, and Imeem might be making troubled record labels' lives a bit more complicated. But on a brighter note for the music industry, they've also created digital music's ultimate publicity stunt.

But these "digital release" announcements, where an artist that already has a decent fan base teams up with a digital music service, are growing more and more popular. R.E.M. debuted its most recent album, Accelerate, as an ad-supported stream on iLike in February; and in May, Imeem debuted Anywhere I Lay My Head, the album by actress Scarlett Johansson.

Netflix box' to carry more than just Netflix
Roku's vice president of consumer products, Tim Twerdahl, said Wednesday that, yes, more content partners are coming, but, no, he's not saying who just yet. That makes the $99 price tag look that much more attractive.

snapshot 7/1/08

2008-07-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

Nokia signs Warner to music deal
The world's top cellphone maker Nokia signed a deal with Warner Music Group to make Warner titles available through its "Comes With Music" service and Nokia music store, Nokia said on Tuesday. Nokia struck a deal with Universal in December and Sony BMG in April to offer tracks from their labels on the music service, to be launched in the second half of this year.

"Comes With Music" from Nokia, the first cellphone maker to push heavily into content, would differ from other packages on the market as users can keep all the music they have downloaded during the 12 months. Having the three largest music labels on board looks set to help Nokia attract smaller music companies and challenge the dominant pay-per-track sales model for digital music.

Rhapsody's DRM-free music store offers little to excite
Of course, the fact that Rhapsody MP3 works pretty much as expected in most ways isn't necessarily a good thing—there's little that separates out Rhapsody's new offering from any of the other MP3 stores that have opened up in recent months. What's the difference between, say, Rhapsody MP3 and Napster MP3? At least some of the others have distinctive features—Amie Street has a unique pricing model and focuses fiercely on indie bands, and Amazon MP3 offers the largest selection of DRM-free music online. What, exactly, is Rhapsody doing to stand out?

Neil Young’s answer to iTunes
Young let slip that he is now talking to record companies about licensing an alternative digital platform that he has been working on - something , he claimed, of far higher quality that could provide an alternative to the privacy-prone download world, and perhaps even a new business model for music.

The technology behind this was first shown off last month at Sun’s JavaOne conference (we blogged about it here.) Young, who is something of a techie, has spent 15 years experimenting with different technologies to assemble a complete archive of his career. He is now finally ready to release the first multi-media instalment. It will come out on Blu-ray discs, with the capability of adding extra content in future through downloads.

NARM Calls For Fixed Release Dates
NARM has issued a strong call for common release dates across digital and physical retailers in an attempt to protect its core brick and mortar membership. But digital pre-releases and online promotions are now a core promo strategy and it's doubtful they can reverse the trend.

snapshot 6/30/08

2008-06-30T16:15:00.001-07:00

Rhapsody to challenge iTunes by embracing the iPod
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/rhapsody-runs-hard-just-to-stay-in-place/index.html
Digital music seller Rhapsody is launching a $50 million marketing assault on Apple's iTunes, offering songs online and via partners including Yahoo Inc and Verizon Wireless, Rhapsody said on Monday. The songs will be sold in MP3 format, which means users of the Rhapsody service will be able to play them on iPods.

Rhapsody also will be the music store back-end to MTV's music Web sites and iLike, one of the most widely used music applications on social networking site Facebook. Rhapsody executives describe the strategy as "Music Without Limits." They said it would be backed by a marketing blitz worth up to $50 million in media space over the next year in part by leveraging co-parent MTV's TV networks and Web sites.

Apple's Complete My Album emerges as marketing tool
But in the past few months, labels and artists have begun releasing multiple tracks in advance of an album's street date to promote new releases, relying in no small degree on Apple's iTunes Music Store's Complete My Album feature to convert them into full-album sales -- in some cases with striking effectiveness. Despite the entire album's being leaked online just weeks before its availability, "Tha Carter III" racked up first-week sales of more than 1 million. What's more, 10 percent of the album's sales were digital, up from less than 1 percent for Wayne's past titles. And the most eyebrow-raising statistic? Fifty-two percent of the album's sales on iTunes came through Apple's Complete My Album function.

The Complete My Album feature is simple: iTunes users who buy single tracks from any given album can opt to purchase the remaining tracks on the set for a prorated price. Apple introduced the option at the end of March 2007 and since has seen conversion rates of around 10 percent. But those rates could start climbing now that acts like Lil Wayne, Jason Mraz, the Cure and the Jonas Brothers are using the feature as a marketing tool. Rather than just releasing singles digitally in advance and leaving fans to figure out for themselves how to fill in the blanks when the full album is released, these acts are encouraging the practice by explaining how it works via their iTunes profiles, MySpace pages and personal Web sites.

Verizon Wireless gets Rhapsody music subscriptions
Verizon Wireless is introducing Rhapsody's subscription music service Monday, allowing its customers to download as much music as they want to their phones for $15 per month. The service will work with seven current handsets and three to be launched soon, including the third version of the popular music-oriented LG Chocolate.

Open an account and your first album is on us
Shopping for music online just got easier. The new Rhapsody MP3 Store lets you listen to entire songs before you buy them*, provides recommendations, and delivers high-quality MP3s that can be played on your iPod or any other MP3 player. If you’re one of the first 100,000 to create an account by Independence Day, we’ll automatically apply a $10 credit to your first album purchase. The credit must be used by midnight Pacific time, July 4, 2008 – so sign up and start shopping today. Limit one per household. *Full-length song plays are limited to 25 per month for non-Rhapsody members.

A Digital Music Store That Sells More Than Just MP3s
Hot Topic, a chain of stores that sells clothing and accessories inspired by music and pop culture, plans to start a digital music store called ShockHound. By the time it is introduced in August, ShockHound will have permission to sell MP3s from at least three of the four major labels, the company says, as well as hundreds of independent labels. Hot Topic is starting ShockHound with a very different strategy from its competitors. Like most online stores, it plans to sell songs for 99 cents and albums for $9.99, prices at which profit margins are low. But just as Apple uses the iTunes store to drive sales of high-margin iPods, ShockHound is trying to use MP3s to help sell the kind of profitable band T-shirts and accessories it carries in stores.

“For us, music merchandise is where the profit is,” said Hot Topic’s president, Jerry Cook. “The reason we carry CDs in the stores is that to be in a music-centered business and not have music would be a contradiction. And you can’t be an online music store and not have MP3s.” Unlike Hot Topic’s stores, which favor CDs and clothing from bands identified with its suburban goth aesthetic, ShockHound will sell music and merchandise from a wide array of acts in every genre. It expects to sell T-shirts from more than 1,000 bands, as well as a wide selection of other kinds of clothing, accessories and vinyl records.

Project Red lays groundwork for subscription music service
Project Red is going to be providing some music for that Bono-approved iPod Nano of yours. The high-profile nonprofit, which donates a chunk of profits to combat AIDS in Africa, will be launching a subscription music service this fall. The as-yet-unnamed service will launch in September, according to The New York Times, and cost $5 per month.

It's structured like a newsletter: each week, members will get an e-mail with two MP3s--one an exclusive song from a well-known act and the other from an emerging artist--as well as a "Crackerjack surprise" (say, a video) and an update on how Project Red's charity money is being put to use. The songs are DRM-free, so you won't have to own a "Red" iPod in order to listen to them.

snapshot 6/27/08

2008-06-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

Napster faces proxy battle from three shareholders
Three shareholders of digital music service Napster Inc are seeking election to the board, saying current management had not been aggressive enough in battling rival Apple Inc and Internet piracy.

Perry Rod, Thomas Sailors and Kavan Singh are preparing an independent proxy after their May 21 application to Napster's board for nomination was rejected on June 13, according to a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

Blockbusters stomp on the long tail, Harvard study finds
Meanwhile, our research also showed that success is concentrated in ever fewer best-selling titles at the head of the distribution curve. From 2000 to 2005 the number of titles in the top 10 percent of weekly sales dropped by more than 50 percent--an increase in concentration that is common in winner-take-all markets. The importance of individual best sellers is not diminishing over time. It is growing....

Is most of the business in the long tail being generated by a bunch of iconoclasts determined to march to different drummers? The answer is a definite no. My results show that a large number of customers occasionally select obscure offerings that, given their consumption rank and the average assortment size of offline retailers, are probably not available in brick-and-mortar stores. Meanwhile, consumers of the most obscure content are also buying the hits. Although they choose products of widely varying popularity, top titles generally form the largest share of their choices. (The wide appeal of these top titles is, of course, what makes them popular in the first place.)

B&W Music Club
The B&W Music Club is a subscription based service which provides its members with an exclusive album every month in Apple Lossless Compression. The idea is simple, record the album in one of the most advanced recording studio around and distribute it in a lossless format so that you can hear the music as it was intended. A yearly subscription will run you around $67 which is about $5.50 an album which isn't bad considering the quality you'll be getting.

snapshot 6/26/08

2008-06-26T16:16:00.001-07:00

Radiohead releases live video album on iTunes
Radiohead has released a live video album exclusively on iTunes to coincide with the band's run of U.K. outdoor concerts. "In Rainbows -- From the Basement," made available Tuesday, features the British rock band performing its current album at the Hospital studio in London's Covent Garden.

Sony to start digitally distributing movies before they come out on DVD
As you may know, Sony owns a movie studio. That studio is releasing a big budget Will Smith superhero movie this Summer called Hancock. When Hancock is available to buy in a few months, guess where you will first be able to buy it? Not iTunes, not even DVD, but Sony’s own digital distribution service to be launched this Fall, Sony chief executive Howard Stringer told an audience in Tokyo this morning.

This is part of Sony’s plan to make its television and video game divisions profitable once again. Its new Bravia line of televisions will be able to receive downloads via the Internet without hooking up to cable or satellite. The same will likely be true for its Playstation 3 video game console, which will roll out its digital movie download service this summer. If it can get access to Sony movies before they are released anywhere else, that could certainly help the company move more units — as well as give it a foothold in an arena it’s already late to: Digital distribution in the living room.

Napster Activists: Company Worth At Least As Much As Last.Fm
Back in May we mentioned that three subscribers/shareholders of Napster had launched an improbable proxy fight hoping to get themselves representation on the company’s board. That still looks like a pretty tall order for the trio, though they’ve filed an interesting analysis on why they’re pressing their case. The core argument: Napster’s market value is basically zero (market cap minus saleable assets), yet CBS (NYSE: CBS) paid $280 million for Last.fm. Given that Napster should be able to do everything Last.fm can do and more, and it actually has real paying customers, the company should be valued higher. The fact that it’s not valued higher, say the shareholders, is due to a “lack of confidence in governance.”

By their math, even if you just valued Napster by breaking it up—selling all its assets and paying off its liabilities— the company would be worth $1.79 per share, compared to the $1.45 per share, or $69 million market value it trades at now.

snapshot 6/25/08

2008-06-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

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.

snapshot 6/24/08

2008-06-24T17:15:00.001-07:00

Spain to adopt media player tax on July 1st
Spain will be one of the next countries to adopt a so-called "iPod tax," Billboard writes. Formally known as the "digital canon," the tax will go in effect on July 1st, and apply to all electronic devices (and their media) capable of storing, copying or recording sound and images, even to the extent of applying to printers, scanners and ink cartridges. The fee levied against manufacturers will vary depending on the particular device; while ellphones with MP3 playback will warrant a levy of €1.10, dedicated MP3 players will cost an extra €3.15 each.

The tax is meant to compensate artists and publishers for the alleged costs of piracy, but has been extremely controversial in Spain, and fought against by the likes of electronics makers and consumer groups. It was in fact intended to be imposed 18 months ago, but was delayed due to debate.

Hands on: Zoomii breathes life into Amazon's bookshelves
Zoomii, in a nutshell, is a visual bookshelf browser for over 19,000 books from Amazon's catalog, though it can search for over 162,000 titles. Instead of browsing through flat lists of book titles and their cold statistics, Zoomii stacks books in shelves alphabetically by author, organized by genre. You can click and drag across Zoomii's landscape of shelves, zoom in and out with your scrollwheel, and click a book's cover for basic statistics from Amazon, including the ability to add the book to your cart or wishlist.

eMusic Wants to Get into DRM-Free Video
eMusic, the MP3-only music seller, is trying to break out into offering video, CEO David Pakman told NewTeeVee on Friday. But the company would only do so if networks and studios would agree to let it sell DRM-free MPEG-4 files.

snapshot 6/23/08

2008-06-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

Rap stars weigh their options as record deals end
As a string of high-profile hip-hop artists near the end of their record contracts, a question looming over their pending free agency isn't which major label they'll sign with but whether they should sign with a major. While few rappers can match the pull and marketability of the former Def Jam president, big names like 50 Cent, LL Cool J and OutKast will soon be on the market as well. Although they may ultimately re-sign with major labels, their camps have indicated that they are at least contemplating the possibility of a future without a major-label deal.

iTunes Store Dominates Music, and Movies May Be Ne
On Thursday, Apple passed yet another significant milestone at its iTunes Store. The company announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded more than five billion songs. Movies could be the next digital medium to realize those numbers. The iTunes Store is the largest music retailer in the U.S., according to the NPD Group. And iTunes customers are now renting and purchasing more than 50,000 movies every day, according to Apple.

Analysts said Apple's decision to give consumers the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, has helped its cause. "This is just further evidence, if any is needed, that the recorded music business is headed toward Internet distribution," said Phil Leigh, a senior analyst at Inside Digital Media. "Apple is already selling more music than Wal-Mart."

My Experience With Amazon’s MP3 Download Service
First let me say that I went into this review not hoping for much and was instead pleasantly surprised. So, before I go on, let me say that I think for many people Amazon offers a fair alternative to the iTMS. And if you are willing to go through a few more steps then it is definately worth it. Now on to the rest of the review. The selling point that convinced me to give Amazon's service a shot was that they sell DRM-free songs in MP3 format. Some of their songs are also a little bit cheaper (by a dime) but the though of saving 10¢ wasn't really what persuaded me to give them a try. For me it was the joy of knowing that I can do whatever I want with my music without having to first un-cripple it.

Movie studios consider rentals on DVD release
As one of their most lucrative sources of revenue stagnates, several Hollywood studios are considering something that would have been unthinkable even two years ago: renting films to cable subscribers and Internet users on the same day they're released on DVD.

11 Billion Videos Viewed Online Monthly
134 million people in the us went online to watch an astounding average of 81 videos for a total of 11 billion videos in April, the latest figures released by comScore.

71% the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video
The average online viewer watched 228 minutes of video
18-34 year olds were the heaviest viewers watching 287 minutes each
82.1 million viewers watched 4.1 billion videos on YouTube
- 49.8 videos per viewer
46 million viewers watched 481 million videos on MySpace
- 10.4 videos per viewer
The average online video duration was 2.8 minutes

For Tom Petty Fans, the True Sound of Vinyl, Also Captured on a CD
The vinyl version of the new album from Mudcrutch, the recently reunited band from the early ’70s that features Tom Petty, comes with a CD that buyers can play in their cars or rip to make MP3 files. Those who do will notice that it is abnormally quiet — and that the CD holder instructs listeners to play it on a good stereo and turn it up.

The e-Book Test: Do Electronic Versions Deter Piracy?
For example, my own publisher, O’Reilly, is about to offer a bunch of its bestsellers for sale on the Amazon Kindle. Early next month, the company will also start selling electronic versions of certain books with no copy protection. For a single price (cheaper than the printed-book price), the package will include the book in three formats: PDF, Mobipub (compatible with the Amazon Kindle), and Epub (soon to be compatible with the Sony Reader).

Topspin flips the music subscription model
Like a side project of revered indie stars, Topspin features former stars from Yahoo Music, Digidesign, and Real Networks taking charge of the changing record industry landscape. The company is helping build a platform that, in part, allows consumers to subscribe directly to the artist rather than to some music service.

In addition to being able to sell their own products individually, musical acts can offer "subscriptions" to their entire catalog for a single or recurring fee. The artists Topspin has worked with so far that are offering such subscriptions include Jubilee (ex-Icarus Line, NIN, Queens of the Stone Age), Josh Rouse, and The Dandy Warhols.

Amazon E-Book Sales To Hit $2.5 Billion In 2012; Will Add $330 Million To Op Income: Analyst
CEO Jeff Bezos has been famously tight lipped on anything to do with data on the Kindle. Just about the only hard stat ever given out is that of the 125,000 titles the company sells in both physical and electronic forms, the electronic ones account for 6 percent of unit sales. Other than that, it’s been all speculation. We’re not expecting any hard numbers for a long time, so here’s some more speculation: Pacific Crest analyst Steve Weinstein argues that global e-book sales at Amazon could reach $2.5 billion by the year 2012.

snapshot 6/20/08

2008-06-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

Chant #1 Classical Before CD Release
I have seen the future of music and it looks like Chant. Chant - Music for the Soul on Decca debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical Chart and remains the #1 classical release at the iTunes Music Store. Chant, a niche recording even by classical standards, made it to #1 as a digital only release exclusively through the iTunes. The recording will be released physically in-stores nationwide on Tuesday, July 1st.

Last.fm enters the iPhone realm through the back door
The firm responsible for building the database upon which the Last.fm Internet radio service is built, has created software to enable iPhone users to use Last.fm -- if they want to risk it. Even though the iPhone has obvious ties to its iPod roots, the availability of streaming music for the device has still has remained something of a mystery. NPR has a streaming news service, and Pandora has brought its Pandora Everywhere Platform can be used on the iPhone, but very few other alternatives are available to users.

Last.fm is a music site built upon the Audioscrobbler engine, where users are able to stream music to their PC and save ratings on Apple's iTunes music service. Now owned and operated by CBS, the service uses a custom made algorithm that analyzes a user's music ratings and will be able to provide music bases on a user's music interests. The service is available for free to jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touch MP3 players. "Jailbroken" is a term used for unlocked iPhones that are able to run third-party applications, at the risk of voiding the iPhone's warranty and possibly turning the device into a shiny black-and-silver brick.

The MobileScrobbler service offers users a number of capabilities, including: to queue songs while offline and have them automatically submitted when they first connect; to listen to Last.fm's radio service over Wi-Fi or EDGE; to tag songs; to view album artwork; to cache data for offline viewing; to see the stations your friends are listening to; and to "scrobble" songs as a user listens to them -- which means, they get added to users' personal profiles.

Ex-Yahoo Music GM Ian Rogers Launches Topspin Media
Ian Rogers , the former GM of Yahoo Music, has finally taken music startup TopSpin Media out of stealth mode. The new company will offer a marketing software platform for music artists to maximize their fanbase and brand exposure. TopSpin Media describes itself as a technology company (not a “marketing services” company) aimed at helping artists better market themselves. For now TopSpin’s platform is only available to a few select artists, but the company plans to eventually open it to “anyone who would like to make a living from their art”. You can read more about the company on its first blog post here.

Movie Booth DVD rental kiosks head for UK, Ireland
DVD rental kiosks have been lighting up pharmacies and supermarkets across the US, but it seems that UKers and Irish lads / dames will soon have the great, great privilege of interfacing with Movie Booths in the near future. This particular unit doesn't seem all too different from other variations we've seen, boasting a simple touchscreen display and a built-in android tasked with fetching your selected title and spitting it out for a nominal (read: undisclosed) fee. Apparently, trials have been deemed a success in outlets like Tesco, Centra and Applegreen, thus paving the way to see these pop up everywhere by the year's end.

snapshot 6/19/08

2008-06-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

France clamps down on Internet piracy
France moved Wednesday to clamp down on Internet piracy with a bill that would set up a new agency to track down cybersurfers who illegally download music, videos and movies from the web. The legislation would set up a new administrative body that would receive complaints from the music and film industry and track down offenders through Internet service providers. An e-mail warning would be sent to suspected downloaders followed by a registered letter. After two strikes, offenders would risk losing their Internet subscription for up to a year.

Apple has Sold Over 5 Billion Songs on iTunes
Apple announced today that they had sold over 5 billion songs on iTunes. According to data from the NPD Group, iTunes remains the number one music retailer in the US. iTunes features the largest online music catalog with over eight million songs. Apple also reveals that customers are buying and renting over 50,000 movies every day making iTunes the most popular online movie store as well. iTunes now houses over 20,000 TV episodes and over 2,000 films including over 350 in high definition.

Amazon Brings ‘Gold Box’ Sales Initiative To Online Music Store
In an effort to promote their MP3 Download store, Amazon has developed two initiatives for MP3 album downloads. The Friday Fives promotion will discount five select titles to $5 per album. Amazon will then experiment on various price points for other albums, some will be reduced to as low as 99-cents, which has been dubbed Russian Pricing based on the now-defunct AllOfMP3 model. That is part of a fresh sales experiment, one that complements already-discounted tags on a number of albums.

The second part of the promotion features specialty pricing on selected titles, often to bargain bin levels. For example, Coldplay’s X&Y recently dropped to $1.99. This new strategy, developed to build some excitement to downloaded music in the same manner the Gold Box brought to general junk merchandise, will complement their already-discounted tags on a number of albums.

A brief history of the album's recent decline in value
Mired in what will soon be an eight-year downturn, the music business has not only struggled to sell CDs, but has failed to find a consistent price point for new albums. Amazon.com is bringing the cost of an album to new lows, having publicized Tuesday its sale price of $1.99 for a piece of Coldplay's catalog.

Less than 10 years ago, it was common for albums to cost $15 and above. Apple helped redefine what the price of an album could be in the minds of consumers, but Steve Jobs' company is far from the only reason that albums are costing less and less.

Israelite Confirms Royalty Rates Breakthroughs
The publishers, record labels and digital music providers have hammered out a settlement on two of the five royalty rates currently scheduled to be set this October by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), according to National Music Publishers' Assn. president/CEO David Israelite. But the details will remain confidential until they are presented to the three U.S. judges sitting on the board, who must approve and set the rates, Israelite added at the trade association's annual meeting, held in New York at the Marriott Marquis on June 18.

So far, the three sectors have reached an agreement on the rates for limited downloads and Internet streaming, but they could not reach a settlement on the other three rates: digital permanent downloads, physical product and ringtones. Consequently, each sector will file briefs and documentation supporting their respective stances by July 2, with closing arguments expected to be made by July 4. Then, the three U.S judges on the board are expected to announce the new rates for the next five years in October, according to a slide that accompanied Israelite's presentation.

DEG identifies solutions in DVD supply chain
The Digital Entertainment Group’s first study on the state of the DVD supply chain highlighted a number of areas where retailers and studios can work together to achieve a smoother and more profitable flow of product to store shelves. Theodore Garcia, media and entertainment lead at management consultant Capgemini, which conducted the study for DEG, said the exercise had several goals, including to take cost out of the supply chain, leverage investment in I.T., speed adoption of new technologies such as RFID and learn from other industries.

Underscoring the importance of supply chain improvement is the statistic, cited by Garcia, that returns of unsold product to studios from retailers has been as high as 25%. The final report identified 17 opportunities for “collaborative improvement” between retailers and studios, Garcia said. Among them: on-hand inventory accuracy, forecasting, packaging, shipping, score-carding and merchandising.

A Day After 'Launch,' Major-Label Tunes Scarce on Qtrax
The wait for Qtrax's free, legal P2P service continues, as over 24 hours after the site was scheduled to launch with music from EMI and Universal Music Group, a great deal of music from both labels continues to be unavailable for download from the service and an apparent network bug is causing the player to crash when trying to play the music that is available.

snapshot 6/18/08

2008-06-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

We will pay for music if you leave us alone
"The music industry should draw great optimism from this groundbreaking survey," said Feargal Sharkey, head of BMR. "First and foremost, it is quite clear that this young and tech-savvy demographic is as crazy about and engaged with music as any previous generation. Contrary to popular belief, they are also prepared to pay for it, too. But only if offered the services they want."

Diversify or die, claims PWC report
In one of the most extensive reviews of the global entertainment and media (E&M) market to date, management consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers are predicting that spending on all forms of recorded music – from physical formats through to digital distribution on mobile phones - will fall from $33.4bn (£17.1bn) in 2007 to $32.5bn (£16.6bn) in 2012, representing a 0.6% compound annual decline over the next four years.

PWC predicts greatest falls will be felt in the US (-5.3%) followed by EMEA (-1.5%), although there will be slight increase in sales in Latin America and Asia Pacific where broadband penetration per household still has to pick up pace and where mobile downloading is still in its infancy.

Lil Wayne Cracks 1 Million With 'Tha Carter III'
Lil Wayne becomes the first artist since 50 Cent in 2005 to sell more than 1 million copies of an album in a single week, according to chart reports issued tomorrow (June 18) morning by Nielsen SoundScan. in its first week on the market, the rapper's "Tha Carter III" sells just over 1 million units. The last album to top that milestone was 50 Cent's "The Massacre" in March 2005.

Kid Rock Boycotts iTunes, Champions P2P
The digital music revolution has been compromised, according to Kid Rock, because digital music stores and record labels still manage to hoard the lion's share of music revenue. He advises fans to download his music for free from P2P services, although he himself doesn't have to. "I don't steal things," he told the BBC. "I'm rich." As for everyone else, he says, "Download it illegally, I don't care. I want you to hear my music so I can play live."

Rock's tirade was apparently precipitated by a request from his record label, Warner Music Group's Atlantic Records, that he publicly denounce file sharing. His response: "Wait a second, you've been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?" Ouch.

TuneCore Opens Digital Aggregator Platform
Flat fee distributor TuneCore is launching a new service which enables other music companies to offer worldwide digital distribution using TuneCore's infrastructure. Now using Google's open API any music company like management, merchandisers and record labels can act as a digital aggregator. From their own sites, these middlemen can, for example, offer the opportunity for artists to "sign themselves" at a variety of costs and benefits including worldwide digital distribution.

Microsoft Relents on Killing MSN Music DRM Authenticaton...For a Few Years
"On April 22, Microsoft notified you that as of August 31st, 2008, we would be changing the level of support for music purchased from MSN Music, and while your existing purchased music would continue to play, you would no longer be able to authorize new PCs and devices to play that music. After careful consideration, Microsoft has decided to continue to support the authorization of new computers and devices and delivery of new license keys for MSN Music customers through at least the end of 2011, after which we will evaluate how much this functionality is still being used and what steps should be taken next to support our customers. This means you will continue to be able to listen to your purchased music and transfer your music to new PCs and devices beyond the previously announced August 31, 2008 date. Microsoft continues to recommend that you back up your music on CD or hard drive along with other important data."

snapshot 6/17/08

2008-06-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

Last.fm strikes Universal Music video deal
Last.fm added more than 12,000 full-length music videos to its site today following a deal with Universal Music covering the group's artists including Amy Winehouse, Jay-Z, Nirvana and Kanye West.

Swift Plans Wal-Mart Package
The Wal-Mart exclusives continue with a special release by country star Taylor Swift on July 15. Beautiful Eyes will be a CD/DVD package that will be displayed not only in the music section but also on a custom L.e.i. Jeans promotional display in the clothing section of stores. Earlier this year Swift signed an endorsement deal with Jones Apparel Group to be the face of the back-to-school advertising campaign for L.e.i., a Wal-Mart exclusive brand. The CD will have two exclusive songs and a number of new versions of previously released songs. The title is currently available for pre-order at the Wal-Mart website for $11.88.

Bertelsmann invests in ImageSpan’s technology for automating royalty payments
ImageSpan hopes to make a mint by counting up the pennies that artists and media companies are owed every time someone downloads a song or plays a video over the internet. One of the nightmares of the digital age is how to track what an artist is owed by all of the people who use that artist’s work online. Currently, that problem of tracking usage and royalties is solved using an army of attorneys. It often takes a year to settle the books.

Now, Sausalito, Calif.-based ImageSpan promises to automate that process so that royalties can be calculated in seconds instead of a year using internet standards such as XML to track content usage. Its product, LicenseStream Creator, is available for a subscription of $40 a year; a pro version is $99. The improvement in efficiency explains why one of the world’s biggest media companies, Bertelsmann, has led an $11 million second round of investment in ImageSpan.

Dealzmodo: Amazon MP3 Albums For $1.99 (Starting With Coldplay)
Amazon is launching a pair of new discounts for their MP3 album downloads, ''Daily Deals'' and "Friday Five." Daily Deals are deeply discounted albums—today that deal is Coldplay's X&Y for just $1.99. And Friday Five are five albums discounted to $5 every Friday through the weekend. If you're looking to (legally) expand your MP3 collection, these cheap Amazon tracks seem like a pretty good way.

eMusic Raising Subscription Rates; Entry Level Affected
eMusic is now raising rates on its entry-level subscription tier, according to details shared by the company. The online music store bundles a pre-set number of downloads into various monthly packages, a cross between a-la-carte and subscription offerings. A formal announcement will be shared with existing subscribers later this morning, and changes go into effect July 17th. Newer subscribers will experience the elevated rate immediately, according to plans revealed to Digital Music News. The changes specifically affect eMusic Basic, a first-level plan that currently offers 30 monthly downloads for $9.99. That price point will move to $11.99, though existing subscribers will be given an extra 10 downloads per month to soften the blow. For some Basic subscribers, the modified package translates into a monthly allocation of 50 downloads for $11.99.

Discussing the changes, eMusic chief executive David Pakman pointed to continued improvements and steady pricing. "It's been about five years since we bought the business and changed the pricing last," Pakman told Digital Music News. That period witnessed the addition of millions of tracks and a major editorial overhaul.

Tuesday Odds and Ends
If you were wondering how Lala.com was going to handle 10-cent credit card transactions -- it won't. I just did the 79-cent upgrade from a "web song" to an mp3 file (for the lead-off track on this album) and saw the following message:

About your Lala walletIt wouldn't make sense to charge your credit card for every 10¢ purchase, so we ask that you add funds to your wallet in dollar amounts of your choice. This enables you to then continue to easily add web songs with a single click. The funds you add to your wallet can also be applied towards the purchase of web albums and MP3s. We will never add funds to your wallet without asking you first.

snapshot 6/16/08

2008-06-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

Digital challengers to MP3 format face high hurdles
Much like the Dvorak keyboard, new digital music formats pose a challenge even as they offer solutions. The Motion Pictures Experts Group, otherwise known as MPEG, will meet this month in Germany to consider making a new digital audio format called MT9 an international standard. Developed by the South Korean company Audizen, the MT9 format -- commercially known as Music 2.0 -- splits an audio file into six channels, such as vocals, guitar, bass and so on. Users playing the track can then raise or lower the volume on the different channels like a producer on a mixing board, to the point of isolating a single item.

From a technical perspective, replacing MP3 with a new digital music standard would be rather easy. Digital retailers in a matter of months could refresh their entire database with music containing the new format -- just as Napster and Wal-Mart quickly switched from digital rights management to non-DRM formats.

Stones move rocks Terra Firma
The Rolling Stones are on the verge of ending their 31-year relationship with EMI, dealing a blow to private equity owner Terra Firma, led by Guy Hands, which acquired the label in a £3.2bn deal last summer. Sources say the group is close to clinching a deal with Live Nation, the world's largest concert promotion firm, which would market its back catalogue, depriving EMI of around £3m a year. Live Nation, which last year poached Madonna from Warner, would also take highly profitable merchandising and touring rights for future Stones shows, some of which have grossed as much as £750m.

Average Teen Stores 842 Stolen Tracks on their iPod
In a recent study by British Music Rights, 14- to 24-year-olds were polled as to how much stolen music they carried around on a daily basis. The finding was that almost half of said music was never purchased. 842 of the 1,770 tracks held on the average digital music player were reported as stolen—that's 48 percent.

First look: Songbird 0.6 open source media player
The open source Songbird music player took a big step forward on Friday with the official release of version 0.6, which significantly improves performance, augments support for media player devices, and reduces the program's memory footprint. Another noteworthy new feature is support for editing music metadata.

ENTERTAINMENT; Studios editing video strategy; Some are testing offering online and cable rentals on the same day as DVD releases to boost sales.
As one of their most lucrative sources of revenue stagnates, several Hollywood studios are considering something that would have been unthinkable even two years ago: renting films to cable subscribers and Internet users on the same day they're released on DVD. And in an even bigger change, some Hollywood studios now want to open a new "window" -- offering high-definition versions of movies for rental viewing in the home ahead of their DVD release -- if the Federal Communications Commission grants cable and satellite companies permission to block in-home copying.

AOL Turns the iPhone into an Expensive Radio
Buy an Apple iPhone and download the new AOL Radio application. It will connect to AOL’s servers by way of the cellular network. The phone’s GPS system will monitor signals from satellites orbiting 12,000 miles in space in order to determine your location. This will automatically determine your location and tune to the digital stream from the nearest CBS station. AOL Radio on the iPhone will be free to users, with audio advertising inserted in the radio streams. There may be graphic ads in the application later.

The Bargain Bump
When Amazon.com MP3 began running its daily "blue light special," I assumed it would feature older, back-catalog titles. But some of the bargain albums are recent, big-name releases -- today it's Madonna's Hard Candy album for $3.99.I'd love to find out exactly what kind of bounce Amazon.com is getting with these daily specials, though it seems pretty clear that the reduced price is moving some additional units: As of this afternoon, the album is #7 on Amazon's top mp3 albums chart, but it's only in the #50 spot over at the iTunes store... UPDATE: As of Thursday morning, it's #1, and still priced at $3.99.

Pearl Jam offers streaming 'bootlegs'
Pearl Jam, a band with a reputation for delivering great live performances, is offering to sell "bootleg" recordings of the group's concert shows. Fans can go to Pearljam.com and purchase streaming downloads or burn-to-order CDs of each of the band's performances during its 2008 concert tour, which launched last week in Florida. Internap is overseeing the audio streaming. Each concert performance will sell for $9.99 (MP3) and $14.99 (FLAC) and be made available two weeks after the performance. … Pearl Jam is offering the music free of digital rights management. This means fans can burn the songs to disc or transfer them to their digital music players.

Sony BMG Downloads Still Missing at Wal-Mart...
Sony BMG and Wal-Mart remain at an impasse over paid downloads, months after disagreements first surfaced. Downloads from artists like Alicia Keys, Sean Kingston, and Sara Bareilles are still "not available for download," according to checks this weekend. The gap follows a shift by the mega-retailer towards an MP3-only marketplace, a move that initially cause licensing delays with Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

snapshot 6/12/08

2008-06-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

Play-along video game genre amps up music industry
Tapping on fake instruments and screeching into microphones connected to video game consoles has become lucrative for both the music and gaming industries. Downloadable tunes for music-based games "Guitar Hero," "Rock Band" and "SingStar" have become as vital as iTunes itself — and one of the last ways to expose youngsters to classic rock.

The genre will evolve again later this month when game publisher Activision and developer Neversoft release "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith," the first such play-along rhythm game pegged to one music group, instead of featuring a multi-artist compilation more akin to one of those "Now That's What I Call Music!" albums.

Free Music Service QTrax: Launching (Again) June 18
After an embarrassing false start last January, QTrax is just about ready to try again. The service now says it will begin offering free and legal downloads on June 18. As of now, though, QTrax will still only be able to offer music from two of the big four music labels: Universal Music Group and EMI; it has yet to reach deals with the recorded-music divisions of WMG or Sony/BMG.

Despite Leaks, Lil Wayne Album Selling Strong
The recently-released Lil Wayne album could push past 900,000 during its first week, according to projections circulating Wednesday. First-day estimates landed at 423,000, per data compiled by Nielsen Soundscan. That rivals broader, full-week totals from the top-selling albums of the year, specifically Mariah Carey's E=MC2 (463,000) and Usher's Here I Stand (433,000). The Lil Wayne album, Tha Carter III, was leaked earlier this month by a member of the mixtape community.

Interview with Microsoft’s Robbie Bach, part 1, on Zune
Robbie Bach is the president of the multibillion-dollar Entertainment & Devices Group at Microsoft. The group is closing in on a big fiscal year end on June 30. The company has projected that the group will be profitable this year for the first time since its inception in 2005. One of the products that isn’t profitable yet is the Zune media player. A challenger to Apple’s iPod, the Zune is so far a quixotic attempt to unseat Apple in making cool music devices that capture the buzz among consumers.The Zune is just one of many products within Bach’s domain, where the common theme is “connected entertainment.” VentureBeat was part of a small group of reporters that recently got to quiz Bach about all of his businesses, from Zune to the Xbox 360. This edited transcript is the first of several parts and focuses just on the Zune business.

Live Nation's Leaders Battle Over Strategy
A fierce battle has broken out among top executives at Live Nation Inc. over the concert-promotion company's ambitious strategy to reshape the struggling music industry by making wide-ranging but expensive deals with artists such as Madonna and Jay-Z. The battle is over the limits of that strategy, in which Live Nation has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to a handful of performers in return for exclusive rights to release their recordings, promote their concert tours and sell T-shirts and other merchandise bearing their images.

Sharp declines in recorded-music sales have made it tough for traditional record labels to survive by selling music alone. So a variety of players are attempting to build broader businesses around each artist, such as touring and merchandising, which traditionally have been handled by separate entities, creating a turf war among music labels, concert promoters and ticket companies all angling for the same deals.

Jayhawks and Apple Team Up for iTunes Giveaway
The performing arts center of the University of Kansas, the Lied Center, today announced a partnership with Apple to distribute 50,000 special Lied Center iTunes cards to people in the Midwest US. Each of the special cards provides free downloads of 20 songs by artists who will be performing at the Lied Center during the 2008-09 season.
The exclusive card, available at the Lied Center Ticket Office, provides a way for the Lied Center to attract new patrons and give existing ones a way to capture a foretaste of the upcoming season. The free music downloads available with the card include artists such as Phillip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and the Turtle Island String Quartet.

Sony BMG signs mobile-marketing deal with Mozes
Sony BMG, one of the top four recording companies, has signed a deal with Mozes, a start-up that connects communities through mobile phones. Mozes will hand Sony BMG music artists a way to communicate with fans through text and voice messages. He says Mozes only sends messages to people who have opted into the program. If you're a hard-core fan of musician Teddy Geiger, Porter says, you'll want him texting you with his next concert date or leaving a voice message about an upcoming release (Geiger uses the service, Porter said).

snapshot 6/11/08

2008-06-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Pearl Jam and Verizon go mobile for live bootlegs
Pearl Jam has struck a deal with Verizon Wireless' V Cast service to sell select tracks from the authorized live bootlegs that will be available in conjunction with the band's upcoming summer tour, which begins Wednesday (June 11) in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Under this extension of Pearl Jam's long-running live bootleg program, three tracks from each show (excluding Bonnaroo) will be available immediately afterward via V Cast and PearlJamConcerts.com -- one as a free mobile download and two others for purchase. All V Cast tracks will be "dual downloads," meaning that once purchased, they are sent to both the mobile phone and the user's computer. They will feature Verizon's existing digital rights management (DRM) system and will also be sold as ringtones and ringbacks.

Merlin claims 8% share of US market
Merlin, the world’s first global rights body for independent music, now claims to have captured 8% of the US market. The organization has seen its membership swell to over 12,000 and now represents the repertoires of independent US music market leading labels and distributors, including Koch, Epitaph, IODA, Beggars and Concord.

CDs Have Another Thing To Fear: Vinyl?
There has been no doubt that CD sales have been declining due to the growth of digital music. Well, CDs are now being flanked by an old format: vinyl. Although vinyl LPs have always enjoyed a niche popularity with dance djs and indie rock fanatics, large mass-market retailers like Fred Meyer are starting to stock vinyl versions of albums in response to broad increasing consumer demand for the "obsolete" format. Though vinyl enthusiasts claim that the analog sound from records is of higher quality than that of their digital counterparts, audiophiles are not necessarily the ones leading this resurgence in vinyl demand. Consumers like the larger format's liner notes and the nostalgic experience of owning and playing a vinyl LP -- both things that cannot be replicated with the digital version of a song. Unlike the declining sales of CDs, Vinyl LP sales are expected to grow 60% this year over last year. However, the actual volume of vinyl sold (1 million albums sold versus 450 million for CDs) is very low, so clearly the resurgence is not an indication of a shift in consumer's primary demand. That said, as more consumers are exposed to the music, the market for related non-digital goods will grow, and the increasing demand for vinyl albums is yet another indication of this trend.

Grammy winning record producer says CD quality isn't good enough
Producer T Bone Burnett talked passionately about sound quality, or lack thereof on a radio program, Soundcheck, from WNYC on Monday. Turns out Burnett's no fan of CDs or downloads, stating that CD's inadequate sampling rate loses too much of the sound he heard while making and mixing records. He put it this way, "We've been fighting digital sound since it came out twenty years ago...music's gotten to a place that's harder to listen to."

To fix the problem Burnett wants his future projects, like the new John Mellencamp album he produced that's due in July, to come out on DVD-Audio, with a bevy of formats including 24 bit/96 kHz WAV files, uncompressed 16bit/44.1kHz files, AAC, and MP3, so you can pick the level of fidelity that works for you. Burnett claims you'll finally get to hear the music as he intended when he made the record in the first place. "It's all part of what makes music feel good."

Disney busts out of iTunes ghetto, tries on-demand experiment
While the existence of P2P networks has yet to force open the vault, Disney has made other concessions to the modern world, including the creation of oddly-enticing MMOs for teens and kids. But when it comes to one of the company's core assets—movies—Disney has in some ways taken a safer path. It has partnered with iTunes, where it managed to move four million movies in two years, but it hasn't yet embraced the brave new on-demand streaming video culture that has grown up in the past couple of years at sites like Hulu and networks like ABC and CBS. Hulu, in particular, now offers a wide range of films (with the requisite ads) for streaming whenever you need a cinematic fix.

Disney has now announced its own foray into the world of streaming, though it will keep total control over the experience and will tie it to the Wonderful World of Disney show on ABC. Here's how it works: seven films are shown on TV throughout the summer, and free streaming versions of the movies are available from Monday to Friday of the following week. What's more, the films appear to have no ads apart from a single pre-roll advertisement. Finding Nemo is streaming throughout this week, and when I checked it out, I was treated to an upfront Cocoa Pebbles Cereal ad, which I'm told is "part of a good breakfast." Ugh. Once that was out of the way, though, I could watch the entire film, in fullscreen, for free. Quality was good, though no one will mistake this for a DVD.

Yahoo! Music Doesn’t Want You to Forget the Lyrics
Yahoo! Music is testing the waters with a few such options: offering lyrics to “tens of thousands” of songs through Gracenote’s Lyrics Program; and FoxyTunes, a browser plug-in that essentially takes control of any media player to locate additional and related content. Both offerings are part of a complete redesign of the company’s music Website, which provides, in addition to digital music, content like music videos (more than 17,000), nearly 100 streaming radio stations, concerts, music news, and blogs. FoxyTunes, available as a download at www.foxytunes.com, is a plug-in that is compatible with the Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers. Once downloaded, it allows you to change tunes or other content from virtually any media player without having to close your current browser window.

Yahoo! Music’s homepage now includes on-demand music, videos, themed radio and video stations, and exclusive artist features. Users will be given music video recommendations based on an accumulation of their ratings, tastes, and interests. An embedded music player has also been added so users can post their favourite videos on their own Websites or blogs; and a drag-and-drop video playlisting tools makes it easy to create personalized video selections. Concert listings will also be provided via a wiki.

The Bargain Bump
When Amazon.com MP3 began running its daily "blue light special," I assumed it would feature older, back-catalog titles. But some of the bargain albums are recent, big-name releases -- today it's Madonna's Hard Candy album for $3.99.
I'd love to find out exactly what kind of bounce Amazon.com is getting with these daily specials, though it seems pretty clear that the reduced price is moving some additional units: As of this afternoon, the album is #7 on Amazon's top mp3 albums chart, but it's only in the #50 spot over at the iTunes store...

Court Rules That Selling Promo CDs Is Perfectly Legal
There was a big win for copyright and the concept of the first sale doctrine today, as a court has ruled that record labels cannot stop the sale of a promo CD just because it's stamped with a message that says "not for resale." We had discussed this case last summer, when it was first filed. Universal Music was trying to prevent a guy selling promo CDs on eBay. He had bought them at various music stores. Universal claimed that because the CDs were stamped with that "not for resale" message, they really retained ownership of those CDs and no one could sell them. This would go against the very concept of the first sale doctrine, and, thankfully the court agreed, trashing Universal's weak claim that just by writing a note on any piece of content, it could ignore copyright law and retain ownership of the good forever.

snapshot 6/10/08

2008-06-10T15:59:00.001-07:00

Bertelsmann wants to sell Sony BMG stake to Sony
German media group Bertelsmann is in talks with Japanese partner Sony on the sale of Bertelsmann's half in their jointly owned music company Sony BMG, a newspaper said Tuesday. Each has owned half of the music publishing firm since 2004, and Sony has an option to buy should Bertelsmann decide to sell its stake, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper said, without identifying its source.

SanDisk buys MusicGremlin for music service
SanDisk today said it has bought out MusicGremlin for an undisclosed amount. The deal is meant to give the Sansa player manufacturer access to the smaller company's still rare direct-download subscription service, which allows members to download an unlimited number of songs each month to the player itself via Wi-Fi rather than first transferring them to a PC. The features will have a "key role" in future Sansa devices, according to SanDisk's Sansa Senior VP Daniel Schreiber.

The California company briefly tried offering a similar feature in the past through its Sansa Connect player, which tapped Yahoo's then-active unlimited music subscription service for nearly the same functionality. The closure of Yahoo's service this year will require SanDisk to search for a new partner for any future projects.
Such features have been considered one of the primary advantages of the MusicGremlin and SanDisk players over rivals; users of Apple's iPod touch can download songs but must pay by the track or album, while the Zune has had Wi-Fi since 2006 but has been limited to temporary song swaps between local users as well as wireless synchronization when the player is docked. Newcomer Chinese firm Haier's Ibiza Rhapsody is currently the only active player on the market beyond MusicGremlin's to allow direct subscription downloads.

DVD retailers increase game sections
DVD retailers are scoring with videogames, but some predict film merchandising may be squeezed as stores make room for the fast-growing category. There has never been a hotter period for the videogame industry, with the largest variety of consoles ever available at one time, note retailers. Next generation Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 bump elbows with handhelds Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable, along with earlier generation PS2. First-quarter DVD spending was basically flat versus the same time last year. Total game sales are up 31% year-to-date through April over the comparable 2007 frame, according to NPD Group.

To get in on the action, several DVD specialists have expanded their game offerings. Virgin Megastores carved out special Microsoft-branded sections in 2007. Newbury Comics, which previously dealt only in used games, last year began selling new titles in about half of its 27 stores. Two years ago, DeepDiscount.com began with a small selection of ‘rated E for everyone’ games. More recently, it has expanded to games in all ratings.

No New Music Download Method On New iPhone
However, at least at this point, the device has no different method of buying and downloading music. Just like the original iPhone, the only way users can access and download music from the iTunes music store is via the WiFi connection. Downloading content over a wireless operators network—which the faster 3G iPhone would certainly allow—generally means sharing the price with the operator, something Apple has been less than enthusiastic about doing.

Stateside Albums: The Sales Story Keeps Getting Worse
US-based album sales are continuing to drop precipitously, according to recent Nielsen Soundscan data. The downward trend is being mirrored globally, part of a worldwide shift away from the physical disc. During the most recent reporting period, weekly sales moved to 7.24 million units in the United States, a 13.4 percent drop from the comparable period last year. The weekly plunge is not an isolated incident, as the year-over-year downturn now stands at 16.5 percent. The comparative data is based on a relatively depressed 2007, one that witnessed a 15 percent album sales decline. The United States represents the largest recorded music market, according to IFPI rankings.

snapshot 6/9/08

2008-06-09T16:13:00.000-07:00

As CDs Decline, Wal-Mart Spins Its Strategy
Veteran rockers AC/DC are set to become the next major band to sell a new album only through Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, a move that highlights the growing music-industry clout of Wal-Mart. The AC/DC deal, however, comes at a time when the retail giant -- the largest seller of compact discs in the nation -- is signaling it may rock the music world by stocking fewer CDs. Such a move is part of a trend that would further accelerate the already steep decline of CD sales as consumers make the transition to digital music.

Such deals exemplify the kind of special treatment Wal-Mart increasingly seeks -- and receives -- from artists and record labels alike. These constituencies are willing to risk their relationships with competing retailers to keep Wal-Mart happy. Unlike the Eagles or Journey, AC/DC is under contract to a major record label, Sony BMG's Columbia Records, which brokered the pact with Wal-Mart and will also benefit from sales there. Columbia's decision to sell a major new release at only one chain has the potential to alienate retailers left out. (One competitor unlikely to complain is Apple Inc.'s digital iTunes Store, where AC/DC has never made its music available.)

Will flash memory cards emerge as the next CD?
This story is about the CD and its likely successor. The music industry - dragged kicking and suing into the 21st century by controversial Internet file-sharing technologies like Napster - is still adapting to the new reality. As more music is downloaded, CD sales have declined for years.

So what gizmo will replace the CD? Or will anything? The iPod and other MP3s, after all, come equipped with memory and functionality that require nothing akin to a disc. If SanDisk Chief Executive Eli Harari has his way, CDs will indeed have a physical replacement: tiny flash memory cards that already plug into many cell phones and other devices.

Labels eye variable pricing for digital sales
Arguably the No. 1 item on record labels' to-do list for the year is, "Establish variable pricing for digital downloads." As luck would have it, the No. 1 item on the to-do list of digital music services not named iTunes is converting their library to digital rights management-free sales. So it comes as no surprise that the labels have made an openness to variable pricing a prerequisite of any DRM-free licensing negotiations.

CDs remain the most popular source of music, at 32%, followed by FM radio (31%) and dropping sharply to paid online music services (8%). Peer-to-peer services follow closely behind at 5%. For those who did pay for music, 33% downloaded between 10 and 50 songs in the six months preceding the survey, while 26% downloaded less than 10.

How that's done is where the real science kicks in, which is why even those labels pushing for variable pricing most aggressively are still only in the test phase. The latest is Warner Music Group (WMG), which last month began a trial of a dynamic pricing system from Digonex. The company's system recommends raising or lowering the price of a track and/or album based on a variety of factors. In some cases, new releases selling very well may get priced higher, but so might catalog items appealing only to the die-hard fan willing to pay more. In other cases, the system recommends lowering the price of even new releases to spur more sales.

According to PassAlong CEO David Jaworski, the system on average priced full albums $1.18 less than what other services were selling them for -- between $4 and $6. Singles pricing also fell on average. However, revenue from the tracks included in the program increased an average of 122%, with some individual singles' sales spiking up to 500%.

Microsoft Looks To Improve Windows Mobile Music
Microsoft is well aware that one of the key allures of Apple's iPhone is its music-playing abilities. To counteract that, the software giant said it will focus on improving the music features on its Windows Mobile operating system for smartphones. Lees said the mobile music market represents a huge opportunity since consumers bought 10 times more music-enabled cell phones than iPods. Other studies forecast the market to hit $11 billion in three years.

Secret Life of Bebo’s online drama
Bebo is linking up withUniversal Music to create an online drama based on the music industry as part of a broader effort by the social networking site to bolster its music offerings. The Secret Life of Sam King, will tell the story of a junior Universal employee who starts her own record label and will feature artists and music from the world’s largest record company.

Lil Wayne & Universal Embrace Musicane
Universal Motown artist Lil Wayne will sell downloads of is new release, Tha Carter III directly to fans via his website, blog and social network pages using the Musicane widget - a viral player with embedded commerce capability. Musicane's network of websites, widgets and media players. To date, Musicane has generated over 50 million impressions and created incremental retail sales around album release campaigns of up to 55%. Recently, Musicane garnered attention for its distribution of Saul Williams' newest album The Rise and Fall of Niggy Tardust. Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor came out in support of the company's distribution services in an interview with New York Magazine.

Lil' Wayne's Musicane widget will be posted on all of his official sites offering fans a chance to buy the entire album and/or individual songs directly from his page. The player will also stream previews of the album, promotional interviews and, in the immediate future, merchandise and other products. The digital music downloads sold via Lil' Wayne's Musicane will be 320 kbps DRM-free MP3's.

Radio’s Popularity Declining Unevenly
Over the last 10 years, the average share of Americans listening to radio at any given time has shrunk about 14 percent, or 2.3 percentage points. Teenagers account for a well-recognized chunk of that decline. But Larry Rosin, a radio consultant with Edison Media Research in Somerville, N.J., points out that college graduates are also far less likely to listen to radio than nongraduates, a gap that has widened with time.

Rap star Ludacris launches online record label Wemix
Christoper Bridges, the rapper and actor better known as “Ludacris,” has put his celebrity power into an online music community called Wemix. The recently launched startup isn’t your run-of-the-mill music site. It’s a community for unsigned talent in the music industry — singers, songwriters, rappers, musicians and producers — who can register, create profiles and upload their original music. Users can offer tips and pointers, as well as collaborate on new songs. And recognition as a top performer on Wemix could get an artist a chance to collaborate with well known artists (like Ludacris himself) and jam out demos.

CBS spins digital record label
CBS will launch a digital record label in January, signing artists with the goal of breaking them via television show placement, iTunes and the Eye web's broadband channel. CBS Records will be launched primarily utilizing the existing infrastructure of CBS Entertainment and CBS Interactive. It will operate as a newly created unit within the entertainment division based in Los Angeles. The label will debut with three artists -- Boston rock act Senor Happy; Will Dailey, a John Mayer-ish singer-songwriter, also from Boston; and P.J. Olsson, an established indie-rock artist -- and is looking to sign another five acts in the first year.

Reading into Kindle, Sony Reader numbers
Are electronic readers really getting that big? An Oxford University Press executive crunched some numbers, and he says combined sales of Amazon.com’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader Digital Book (what a name) will reach 1 million by the end of the year. He came to that conclusion by looking at sales numbers of electronic books as well as the e-ink screens that both readers use. And, he points out, some “good old-fashioned guess-timation.” And hey, what about reading books on cell phones?

snapshot 6/6/08

2008-06-06T16:13:00.001-07:00

Paying for free content
This, of course, is what a lot of folks--whether as a way to justify music piracy or otherwise--have been saying for years about the business model for music. It's (supposedly) OK if you can't sell a lot of CDs (or iTunes downloads) any longer. Krugman notes that, according to a recent Rolling Stone article: "Downloads are steadily undermining record sales — but today’s rock bands, the magazine reports, are finding other sources of income. Even if record sales are modest, bands can convert airplay and YouTube views into financial success indirectly, making money through 'publishing, touring, merchandising and licensing'."

Sony Completes Acquisition Of Gracenote
Sony has completed its acquisition of Gracenote formerly known as CDDB. Gracenote’s existing business will continue to operate separately, and Gracenote will continue to develop new technologies in existing as well as new areas of operation. The senior management team will remain with the company. Gracenote powers leading services including Apple iTunes, Yahoo! Music Jukebox, Winamp; home and automotive products from Alpine, Panasonic, Philips and Sony; and mobile music applications from Samsung, Sony Ericsson, KDDI, KTF, Musiwave, and others.

Coldplay's new Capitol album Viva La Vida
which will be released June 17 is the #1 pre-order in iTunes history. Insiders feel it's a lock to beat the 140k first-week sales record set by Jack Johnson's Brushfire/ Universal Republic album, Sleep Through the Static, set in February. (HITS via EMI)

Tunecore Cuts Some Fees
Starting June 20th, flat rate digital distributor TuneCore will deliver a single track into any 11 digital stores of the customer's choice for a flat rate of $9.99. Current stores include: iTunes US, iTunes Canada, iTunes Japan, iTunes Australia/New Zealand, iTunes UK/Europe, AmazonMP3, eMusic, Napster, Rhapsody, LaLa, and Groupie Tunes. Shockhound and Amie Street will be added in the near future.

Warner Music Group pulls catalog from Last.fm
Warner Music Group has pulled its entire catalog from Last.fm, a company spokeswoman confirmed Friday. Warner Music would not comment on the reason for leaving Last.fm, but the label's departure is certainly a setback for the social-networking site. Warner was the first of the major labels to do a deal with Last.fm.

Last.fm offers an on-demand streaming service that's free to members but has been seriously hamstrung by limits placed on song playback. At rival Imeem, users can listen to free streaming music as many times as they want. Silicon Alley Insider reports that Warner Music licensed its music to Last.fm on a month-to-month basis and hasn't renewed it.

snapshot 6/5/08

2008-06-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

Review: Netflix Player vs Apple TV
Roku's new dedicated box for streaming content from Netflix's Watch Instantly service offers a fairly large but somewhat eclectic variety of decent quality movies and TV programs at a very reasonable price, particularly for existing Netflix subscribers. While frequently pitted against Apple TV, the two products are actually more complementary than directly competitive. Here's how they stack up.

Qbox Indexes Music Of Social Web
Now in beta, Qbox indexes the music on MySpace, YouTube and Bebo and empowers users to search, organize, and listen to the entire catalog of music available through a single point of access.

Qbox's Qplayer is an ultra-light download and unobtrusive desktop player that provides on-demand access to over 21 million songs from MySpace, YouTube, and Bebo - with more supported sites to come.
Meanwhile, Qbox.com offers library and playlist management, and acts as a collaborative database of streaming music, continually edited and improved by users and artists.

snapshot 6/4/08

2008-06-04T16:14:00.001-07:00

Yahoo signs ad deals with Wal-Mart and CBS
EW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc., which is under pressure from Carl Icahn and other shareholders, on Wednesday announced a series of advertising deals with companies ranging from Wal-Mart Stores Inc to CBS Corp. The multiyear Wal-Mart deal makes Yahoo the primary marketing and sales channel for Walmart.com's display and video advertising. Yahoo also becomes the exclusive portal to resell the site's display inventory.

Rare Marley and Hendrix performances sold online
Vintage concert performances by such acts as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix will soon join the nearly 500 recordings already available for download purchase at the music and memorabilia site Wolfgang's Vault. The additions were made possible through a deal between Universal Music Group (UMG) and Wolfgang's Vault founder Bill Sagan. The recordings include live performances by UMG artists culled from thousands of concerts produced by late promoter Bill Graham, along with gems from other catalogs and archives dating back decades.

Last.fm Spreads To Major Sites
Last.fm has announced "In A Box" a new initiative that gives partners sites access to the company's personalized streaming radio services without leaving the host sites. "Last.fm In a Box" will be available via Bebo, Billboard.com, Break Media, CBS Television Stations, CBS Affiliates, eMusic, Frengo, Gigya, iGoogle, Live Nation, Meebo, MP3.com, Netvibes, Ning, Pageflakes, Photobucket, Piczo, Six Apart, Stardoll, WAYN.com and WordPress.com.

The service is dubbed "Last.fm in a Box" because... it is a complete and easy to implement "soundtrack for the Web" experience for users featuring millions of tracks from Last.fm’s catalog.

Universal Music Keeps Investing; Uber Stake Surfaces
Major labels are continuing to invest in emerging digital companies, part of a broader diversification strategy. Over the weekend, sources pointed Digital Music News to a Universal Music Group stake in Uber (uber.com), a startup that allows users to instantly create multimedia websites and blogs.

The Uber investment follows news of a Universal stake in Buzznet, the music-focused social network that recently purchased blogs Stereogum and Idolator. Specific percentages and valuations have not been disclosed on either bet, though at least one executive pointed to modest stakes. That suggests a more experimental approach, one that may also include a content distribution and promotion strategy.

FanDoodle Pays Fans To Sell Music
FanDoodle.com enables fans to distribute downloads for artists and labels and get paid for it. Unlike the Burnlounge pyramid scheme, which I understand finally went out of business, FanDoodle is straight forward and artist friendly.

Once music has been uploaded, fans place banner code or text links in their emails, websites, MySpace or Facebook pages, blogs, or forums. When someone purchases a download, the fan keeps 20%. While the ability to distribute downloads is not new, the ability to... instantly distribute them in partnership with their fans is. Potentially, an artist or label can sell music through thousands of distribution points rather than just a handful. It's $9.95 for set-up and artists receive 60% of sales. Fans and FanDoodle split the remaining 40%. Not a bargain but comparable to what most indie acts receive after iTunes and a distributor take their cut.

snapshot 6/3/08

2008-06-03T16:11:00.001-07:00

Tori Amos splits with label, goes indie
Tori Amos has ended her six-year tenure with Epic Records, calling on her fellow artists to "stop being dependent ... on any system that has become undependable." "Artists need not fear structure, we just have to design and partner with expansive ideas," she said. "It is time for us as artists to stop being dependent, dependent on any system that has become undependable. Only then can we help to create a new system that propagates and secures independence for each creator."

Musicians push for better sound online and on disc
As more listeners turn to music downloads and the compact disc seems headed for history's scrap heap, a growing number of artists are making a renewed effort for better-sounding tracks, online and on disc. It's generally accepted that regular MP3 music files compromise CD sound quality for convenience and portability. (Some listeners argue that even CDs are less than optimal.) Last year, Amazon and iTunes made concessions to upgrade the quality of their download tracks.

Some artists want the bar raised even higher. Metallica announced last week that its upcoming untitled album, in addition to being released on CD, will be available as a higher-quality digital download ($12) and on audiophile vinyl in a limited-edition $125 boxed set. It's due this fall.

Spiralfrog.com to offer downloads from EMI artists
SpiralFrog Inc., which operates an ad-supported, free music and video download Web site, said Monday it will soon begin offering content from Coldplay, Keith Urban and other recording artists as part of a new licensing deal with EMI Music. Terms of the deal between the New York-based company and Britain-based EMI Music, a unit of EMI Group PLC, were not disclosed.

The EMI deal gives SpiralFrog users access to content from two of the four major recording companies. SpiralFrog inked a licensing deal with Universal Music Group prior to launching last September.

Firefox on track to crack 20% share in July
Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox browser is on pace to hit the 20% market-share mark next month, a Web metrics company said today. Firefox boosted its share by 0.6% in May, accounting for 18.4% of the browsers used during the month and putting it within shouting distance of a major milestone, according to Net Applications Inc. "Firefox is trending to hit 20% market share sometime in July," said Vince Vizzaccaro, the company's executive vice president of marketing, in an e-mail.

Radiohead catalog comes to iTunes Stor
Radiohead's back catalog is now at the iTunes Store (link), Apple has announced. Although the British band was previously selling material from its latest album, In Rainbows, its earlier albums had been left off, possibly due to licensing issues. In Rainbows was initially launched as an independent download, for which customers could pay as much or as little as they felt it was worth. A traditional CD release and digital distribution on Amazon followed.

TuneCore: Get yourself on iTunes for $30
Suddenly, without the need for massive infrastructure and with the presence of unlimited "shelf space" for music, artists could get themselves into the new stores without needing a label, but they still needed someone to help with the mundane details that surrounded loading music into a store like iTunes, stuff like contracts, signatures, renewals, payment processing, properly-formatted music files, and album art produced to each store's specifications. In other words, artists needed an administrator but not necessarily a full-blown label.

And the digital stores want a middleman, too; none of them really want to deal with a million artists directly, artists who can't properly submit XML-formatted album data and AAC files at the right bitrate.

Short Ads
Those of you who use immem have surely noticed that they have started inserting audio ads between playlist tracks. Bravo immem! Audio ads are the only format that works with audio content. This morning I heard two ads on imeem; one for the Zune and one for T-Mobile. The Zune ad was about three seconds and the T-Mobile ad about 10 seconds.

My Morning Jacket Premieres Album on Internet Jukeboxes
My Morning Jacket and its label ATO Records have struck upon a new way to introduce an album to existing fans and help the band find new ones: Zapping the record across the internet onto thousands of jukeboxes in bars and nightclubs around the world. The band's upcoming album, Evil Urges, doesn't go on sale until June 10, but barflies and club kids can catch it as of Tuesday on any one of these music machines.

snapshot 6/02/08

2008-06-02T16:19:00.000-07:00

Staples Didn't Get the Memo, To Start Selling Self-Destructing DVDs
The tech world is full of inherently terrible ideas, but one especially bad one that just won't seem to die is the idea that people want to buy DVDs that will self-destruct in a couple of days. Beyond the fact that the entire concept is a giant kick to the balls of the environment, it's an idea that consumers have shown zero interest in getting behind. But here we are, nearly a decade after the idea was first floated, and Staples is about to get onboard with them.

Flexplay, a company that's been peddling self-destructing DVDs for five years or so, teaming up with the office supply store to start selling the coasters for $4.99 each later this month. It's pretty much exactly like the deal between DIVX and Circuit City that tanked so badly back around the turn of the century, but now they're doing it at a time when downloads are becoming more popular, Netflix is ubiquitous and there's a newer disc format out there competing with DVD. Boy, I don't see how this can fail! [PC World]

MySpace Music to stage its 150th Secret Show
The secret's out: MySpace Music Secret Shows are a hit. Social networking pioneer MySpace has created its most successful music program with the intimate Secret Shows series, whose 150th installment will feature Gnarls Barkley on June 8 at Irving Plaza in New York.

Secret Shows is MySpace's most successful and longstanding music program to date, and the program with the most user interaction, Walter says. "Almost half a million kids have signed up for the Secret Shows profile, and those kids are keeping the profile active, going in and requesting bands to play."

Bertelsmann Selling Out To Sony?
Reports are surfacing that Bertelsmann is currently in talks to sell out their share of Sony BMG to Sony. Other rumors are circulating that the sell off may only include a portion of the joint venture, but this seems unlikely considering Bertelsmann’s recent moves and quotes from CEO Hartmut Ostrowski.

The merger was finalized in 2004, but has sparked rumors of a split since the new year. Ostrowski recently confirmed suspicions, when he stated publicly in March, “We might take over 100%, or sell our 50% to Sony so that they have 100% or we might continue the joint venture…all three outcomes are possible.”

New FYE kiosks load your iPod with MP3s
Retail chain FYE (For Your Entertainment) has begun testing an "MP3 kiosk" in two of its stores, sources have told Ars Technica. Allowing customers to browse and purchase MP3s from a retail store, as well as providing a convenient way to get the music back onto a computer at home, FYE may have a decent chance at bringing MP3 shopping to the real world.

The idea is simple: patrons are able to browse a catalog of songs at an FYE Tunes kiosk in a store for single tracks or complete albums, then build a playlist. The customer can then either pay to have the songs burned to CD or downloaded as DRM-free MP3s to an iPod or other USB-compatible player for $.99 per track. There's no word yet on whether discounts will be applied when purchasing larger playlists of songs or full albums. Making deals for videos like TV shows and movies is also reportedly on hold to see whether this idea takes off.
Right now, FYE Tunes has a catalog of over one million tracks available to purchase in store. The major labels—Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI—are all coming soon. The first of the two stores this pilot program has been rolled out to is in the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. The other is the store at Colonie Center in Albany, NY.

Major Music Distributor Handleman Exits Music Business
Major music distributor Handleman Corp. announced Monday (June 2) that it is exiting the music business. The Wal-Mart chain has been Handleman's biggest CD customer. Handleman president/CEO Albert A. Koch said, "CD music sales have been declining at double-digit rates for several years, both industry wide and at our customers' stores, resulting in a sharp drop-off in our business. Unfortunately, even the significant steps we've taken over the past two years to reduce our costs have not enabled the company to return to profitability." The Troy, Mich.-based company will lay off 260 workers. Its inventory and other assets will be sold to Anderson, based in Amarillo, Tex. Handleman said it will continue to operate its other units, including video game maker Crave Entertainment.

Front 242 Free Download Fights Compression
Front 242 wants listeners to discover the quality-destroying aspects of digital music compression for themselves. Quit reading about the differences -- or lack thereof -- between CDs' .wav files and different levels of MP3 compression and experience the difference for yourself with a free download from the venerable industrial act. The band will give away its two-song "First Moment" single at no cost to anyone who registers in advance through its label, Alfa Matrix. The single's set to see the light of day in five different formats to give listeners the opportunity to compare the difference in sound quality between formats. MP3 files, encoded at 192Kbps and 320Kbps, .wav files (16-bit CD quality) and lossless encryption for both PC and Macs will be bundled in the download.

snapshot 5/30/08

2008-05-30T16:10:00.000-07:00

BurnLounge Burnt? Few Signs of Life Remain
The once-promising BurnLounge now appears totally dead, the result of an unsuccessful model and an ongoing federal investigation. Late last year, sources pointed Digital Music News to an impending shutdown and serious layoffs. Now, a visit to burnlounge.com produces a page that simply states, "this account has been suspended," a sign of things gone wrong.

The BurnLounge model empowered members to sell downloads in a highly-decentralized way. After paying various sign-up and account fees, sellers started selling paid downloads while keeping a percentage of the final sale. The model was designed to push paid downloads into every nook-and-cranny of the internet, though the company derived most of its revenues from sign-up and account fees, not download payments.

That caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, which started investigating BurnLounge on charges of creating a pyramid scheme. The company ultimately forged a cooperative agreement, one that called for serious modifications to the model. Eventually, the destination was shuttered, though it remains unclear exactly when operations were terminated.

Sony's Stringer: The Vanishing Album Is an Issue
Consumers prefer singles, mostly from illegal channels. But even on paid platforms like the iTunes Store, a-la-carte downloads trump album purchases. The shift is old news, though labels remain unable to replace the once-powerful album bundle. "The problem with the iPod model is it is a singles model, and the album stands for a body of work," commented Sony chief executive Howard Stringer at D6, a tech-focused conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal. "The vanishing album is an issue I worry about, but maybe I am old," Stringer continued, according to notes shared by paidContent.

EMI says yes to music on the go
EMI has opened up its catalogue to the airport market by allowing music from its artists to be sold in MEDIAnywhere's download kiosks. The kiosks, designed by British company MEDIAnywhere for use in airports, allow consumers to plug in their digital music device and download music on the spot. The first of these kiosks to open are situated in Fiumicino airport in Rome. However, MEDIAnywhere expects to open another 350 kiosks in 26 European airports within the next two years.

The company has invested more than $5m (£2.5m) in the design and marketing of the kiosks, which have touch screens and easy to use interfaces. "The MEDIAnywhere kiosks are a fantastically convenient and compellingly simple way for music lovers to get the music they want when they are out and about, without the need to be at their PC," says EMI Music UK head of digital sales Graeme Rogan.

Mötley Crüe Song Sells More on Xbox Than On iTunes
Now the rock band Mötley Crüe (yes, they are still alive) is getting in on the action as well. They released a single from their latest album, Saints of Los Angeles, both in the video game Rock Band and as download on iTunes, Amazon and elsewhere. In the first week that the digital single was available for sale (the physical album won’t be released until June 24), it was downloaded 47,000 times on the Xbox alone compared to 10,000 times on iTunes and other digital download stores on the Web.

snapshot 5/29/08

2008-05-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

EMI May Be For Sale, HQ Shift To LA
According to London's Evening Standard Terra Firma's Guy Hands is said to be open to offers to unload his record division and hold onto the more lucrative publishing arm. He also is considering consolidating US operations in LA rather than the current NYC. Its all part of move to help investors recoup some of the almost $5 billion they paid for EMI rather than ask them to be patient through what Hands sees as a long term turn-around.

Borders Group Reports Q1 2008 Results; Operating Cash Flow Improves by $133 Million
Music declined by 25.8% as negative sales trends continued and the company implemented a planned reduction in inventory and floor space devoted to the category.

Is Apple changing course on variable pricing?
Thus we are left with a question: Is HBO the exception to the rule on iTunes, or is Apple changing the rule? With its usual Kremlinesque approach to public relations, Apple isn't explaining the change. But sources at several major studios who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of negotiations, say Apple has changed its tune on iTunes.

Finally! Somebody (Vudu) extends movie-rental deadline beyond 24 hours
Vudu, the movie-on-demand service with its own set-top box, has upgraded its software to version 1.5 — ho hum — but this upgrade includes the ability to extend the rental past the 24-hour deadline. Vudu now allows you to extend the rental period for $2 off HD movies and $1 off regular flicks. The option is available for a week after the movie expires; once chosen, you have another 30 days to watch, 24 to 48 hours (depending on the film) after you hit play. The extension is available only once, although we wish it was without an additional cost.

Soundflavor Wants To Be IMDB For Music
Soundflavor has relaunched as a consumer-friendly database of song information that will provide users with a one-stop-shop for song information, videos, and recommendations. The site sports a clean interface and offers a slew of search options that make it easy to find a particular song or artist. Users can browse and filter their searches by genre, decade, or even by the subject of the lyrics. After choosing a song, the user is presented with a mashup of related information, including artist bios from Wikipedia, recent news headlines, store links to purchase the song, and flickr photos. Some independent songs are available for free, while the rest can be purchased on iTunes or Amazon.

Over the last five years Soundflavor has compiled a comprehensive database of metadata on over one million songs, but up until this point the information was primarily used by other companies that license music. The company brought on Dave Pell , who was previously just an investor, as its VP of Product Design to make the site more accessible to the consumer audience. Pell is known for his past work on sites including Rollyo and Addictomatic . Soundflavor has raised a total of $5.8 million since it was founded in 2003.

snapshot 5/28/08

2008-05-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Amazon Ready To Unbox Video Streaming For Digital Movies
Jeff Bezos leaked a little nugget of news during an interview on stage at the D conference this morning: Amazon is getting ready to release a pay-per-view streaming service for movies.

The music biz's digital flops - a short history
Since the record industry first noticed that some of the kids were using the internet in the mid-90s, it's flopped from one puddle to the next. Despite a desperate need to evolve - guys, the pond is drying up, do try to breathe - recording industry strategy has flopped from one muddy puddle to the next, and a muddy puddle is quite a good metaphor for the latest survival strategy: advertising supported music which 'feels like free' to the consumer.

Rock's New Economy: Making Money When CDs Don't Sell
CD sales are no longer the yardstick the band uses. While hip-hop and pop artists ranging from Jay-Z to Britney Spears have long used recordings to sell every- thing from perfume to liquor, rockers are only just starting to think of album sales as a component — rather than the sum of — the commercial equation. Spoon have been actively licensing their music for use in films, television shows and a Jaguar commercial, making money, gaining exposure and moving up from clubs to 3,000-seat venues.

DRM-Free Music: Too Little, Too Late
Much to some readers' chagrin, we don't believe that the music labels' belated embrace of DRM-free music -- tracks without digital locks, which consumers can copy as much as they want, and play on any digital music player -- will help the business out of its lengthy slide. Our central thesis:

Most online music buyers don't have a problem with DRM, because most of them buy their music from Apple's store and play it on some combination of iTunes/iPod/iPhone (AAPL). Which means the common complaints about DRM -- that, for instance, it prevents them from playing the music they bought on other brands of music players -- never come up.
Most online music consumers don't have a problem with DRM, because they don't buy music at all, but rip it from their CDs (or their friends' CDs) or nab it from P2P filesharing networks. So they don't deal with DRM, period.

Amazon's Music For The Price Of A Latte
Amazon.com will augment its digital music and video business, which currently sells content on a per-unit basis, with a for-pay streaming service "in a couple of weeks," Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said Wednesday. "A few different (business) models can be supported" in digital music, Bezos said. He did not provide prices for the service, but possibly indicated a range. "If people can skip a latte that day and have it for free, they will," he said. Electronic music and video, he said, is a "very serious" business for Amazon.

Blockbuster Planning In-Store Downloads, Not At Home Streaming?
This is an interesting turn to the Blockbuster media streamer rumor we heard last month. The Hollywood Reporter says Blockbuster will be going for the in-store kiosk download scheme where customers can download a movie within two minutes onto portable devices (we're thinking iPods as opposed to USB hard drives).

The plan is to have a fee of about $10 a month as well as a free device, but the pilot test in the Dallas area will only work with Archos players. Individual movie rentals will be $3.99, but if you're going to have to go down to the store AND pay about the same amount for a movie as you do already, why not just rent a DVD?

Metallica Repents, Sort Of
The band has a long, storied history of clashing with fans online, but along with its label, it hopes to make amends with a new website called Mission: Metallica, offering fans a chance to "experience the new album before it's done" that will offer its upcoming album in the unprotected MP3 format -- no digital rights management attached. When the two-years-in-the-making album is finally ready to be released, members of the site will be able to download it in the DRM-free MP3 format (320 Kbps) -- quite a big step for the band that sued the original Napster. The album will also be available in vinyl and CD formats, each of which will also come with release-day digital download versions. Fans have several options when signing up for Mission: Metallica, from free all the way up to $125.

snapshot 5/27/08

2008-05-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

Rock acts ringing up sales via video games
Games like "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero III" have proved their ability to breathe new life into classic rock sales. But can they do the same for new music? Last month, Motley Crue decided to find out. The band placed its new single, the title track from "Saints of Los Angeles," for sale as a downloadable track on "Rock Band" well in advance of the album's release date, which has been pushed back to June 24. The only other place to obtain the track was iTunes.

According to data provided by the band's management, Tenth Street Entertainment, the track was downloaded more than 47,000 times via the Xbox 360 version of the game alone in the first week after it became available. By comparison, the same track received slightly more than 10,000 downloads via digital services like iTunes and Amazon, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Aloha, Mr. Hands: What I would do with EMI’s new music business
In a nutshell: With the disappearance of advantaged label competencies such as superior production, distribution, and marketing, reconfigure your labels to be based around affinities and focused narrowly enough to serve roughly the same audiences from release to release. The labels would be very small teams responsible for fan cultivation, focused and direct marketing, and A&R. They would rely on EMI for service, support, and tools (generic marketing would happen on the EMI mothership, for example).

Borders Group reopens its independent online bookstore
Despite the overwhelming dominance of Amazon and Barnes & Noble in the online bookstore space, Borders Group today opened its own independent retail store on the Web. The launch of the new Borders.com takes place a little over two months after Borders announced it might put itself up for sale.

Borders, however, will reportedly move ahead with its next generation Web site -- along with related plans around integrating technology into its brick-and-mortar stores -- regardless of whether an acquisition takes place. A BetaNews check of all three major online book retailers this morning revealed Borders offers one feature that's prominent on Amazon and that B&N appears to still lack: audiobook downloads. Check out this example, which includes a prominent "WMA" download option.

Liberty Pulls Back from Vongo Internet Movie Service
In the race to figure out how movies will be delivered over the Internet, one of the more promising efforts, Vongo from Liberty Media’s Starz Entertainment group, has floundered. Liberty said it will still offer the standalone Vongo service, but will now focus its marketing efforts on a version, called Starz Play, through existing cable and satellite operators.

For $9.99 per month, Vongo gives its users unlimited streaming of movies over the Internet. Because it has access to the films on the Starz cable channel, its movies tend to be a little older than the $3.99 pay-per-view titles on Apple’s iTunes and Amazon’s Unbox, but much newer than the films on the Netflix Internet streaming service. (Vongo also has a pay-per-view option for newer films.)

Creative scraps Wi-Fi player, focuses on design
Creative has for now shelved its plans to develop a Wi-Fi capable player, the company's Nordic product manager Jan Hvidberg has revealed in an interview. The senior official confirms the one-time existence of the ZEN Share but says that there were "technical complications" developing the player that prompted the company to drop the project. The executive doesn't rule out the possibility of a future player with wireless but for now shelves hopes of an immediate release.

Korean music format MT9 tries to replace MP3 - with a karaoke twist
MT9 was developed by South Korean engineers at Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in association with venture company Audizen, and the format has been dubbed "Music 2.0." Its creators hope to see MT9 replace MP3, but that lofty goal will likely be replaced by one more attainable: becoming the standard for karaoke.

The main difference between MT9 files and other commonly-consumed audio formats like MP3, WMA and AAC is that MT9 is essentially six channels of unmixed audio packaged within the format's own mixer. The advantage is complete flexibility in playback, enabling players to adjust -- or remove -- any channel independently. Vocals, chorus, piano, guitar, bass and drum each have their own track contained in the MT9 audio file. Like MP3, the format has no digital rights management built in.

Apple still has biggest slice of the MP3 pie
Apple remains high atop the list of portable media player makers as measured during the first quarter of 2008.
· Apple 71%
· SanDisk 11%
· Microsoft 4%
· Sony 2%
· Creative Labs 2%

MP3 players losing muscle
The MP3 player industry - otherwise known as the iPod market - seems about to go from being a rock star to a has-been. While still strong, sales have slowed and even begun to decline in some markets. Prices, particularly on the low end, are plunging, typically an indicator of slacking demand.

snapshot 5/23/08

2008-05-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

Deathwatch: GameStop Dumps the Zune Because Nobody Wants It
The Zune Social may be winding down. One big retailer, GameStop, has decided to stop selling Microsoft’s digital music players because of a lack of demand. From TheStreet.com :

"We have decided to exit the Zune category because it just did not have the
appeal we had anticipated,” said a GameStop spokesperson. “It (also) did not fit
with our product mix."

Sony BMG Dives Into Controversial MP3 Sales Model (requires subscription)
In selling MP3s directly to U.S. retailers, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is testing a controversial business model. Since it switched away from digital rights management to the open MP3 format earlier this year, Sony BMG is providing its content to Amazon through what is know as an "agency" or "commission" model, sources say and Sony executives privately confirm. In this model, Sony BMG is actually the seller and sets all retail prices on its content while Amazon acts as Sony BMG's agent and gets a commission on the sale.

But so far Amazon is the only merchant that has agreed to it. In fact, sources say the agency model is a point of contention in the negotiations between Wal-Mart and Sony BMG, which is why the latter is the only major that has not yet achieved a signed MP3 deal with the giant discounter. Some familiar with the Amazon deal say that if Sony BMG can't convince other retailers to accept the model, it would have to revert to the wholesale model for Amazon.

Adieu to the true audiophile?
And it's not because they don't like music. Quite the opposite, actually. The popularity of online streaming music sites, rise of music blogs, and skyrocketing digital music sales from places like iTunes, Wal-Mart.com, and Amazon.com show that young people are voracious music consumers.

Home audio sales have been in decline for the past half decade, and have drooped even lower in recent years. Home CD player sales totaled $36.2 million last year, but that's 35 percent below 2005 sales figures. Home speaker sales are down 2 percent, but home shelf systems sales are down 40 percent in the same time period, according to data gathered by the NPD Group.

Napster to expand reach to 6 million AT&T customers
Napster, the pioneer in online music downloading, said its subscription service will become available to between 5 million and 6 million AT&T mobile phone customers in June. "When AT&T turns this on, we will have access to 5 million subscribers virtually overnight," Napster Chief Executive Officer Christopher Gorog said Thursday in an interview. AT&T will inform subscribers about the Napster service in "a couple of weeks," he said. Los Angeles-based Napster, is focusing on increasing subscribers through deals with mobile carriers such as AT&T in the United States and NTT DoCoMo in Japan. Although AT&T announced it would offer Napster service last October, Gorog said few mobile phones capable of downloading music were in use at the time.

Should Music Startups Give Equity to Copyright Holders?
Online music startups have two options in the race to profitability: They can get permission from all relevant copyright holders before uploading a single song, or they can rely on a combination of luck and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act until they are either acquired or earn enough to pay for proper licensing.

Copyright holders occasionally sue new businesses into the ground or, as is growing more commonplace, use legal pressure to force maturing startups into surrendering an equity stake. MySpace seems to have agreed to exactly such a deal, cutting the major labels in on an equity level, partially in return for Universal Music Group dropping its copyright-infringement lawsuit against the company.

CinemaNow comes to Windows Media Center
And then we got a friendly email from CinemaNow letting us know that starting today you could access the service through Windows Media Center, which is actually kind of awesome. You'll need to register for a CinemaNow account to use the service. And of course, you'll need Windows Media Center, which is built into Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate. You should be able to find the CinemaNow icon in the More TV section. If you don't see it, go into your Media Center settings and force your computer to download updates.But with CinemaNow making its 3400 feature length films, 3000 TV episodes, and 2900 music videos available, we're going to say better late than never.

Update: As we've been reminded, this is not the first time you've been able to access CinemaNow from Windows Media Center. The company released a plugin for earlier versions of MCE which you could download and install in order to watch movies using the media center "10 foot interface." To our knowledge, this is the first time CinemaNow has been available to all Windows Vista MCE users without a separate download though.

Trans World Posts Q1 Loss, Music Sales Slide
Trans World, which operates f.y.e., Suncoast and other retail chains, posted a $11.8 million first quarter loss. Total sales dropped 19% to $233 million and same-store revenue dropped 6%. Same-store music sales dropped 23% on a comp basis while sales from the top 50 titles dropped 30% on a comp basis. CD sales accounted for 37% of revenue, down from 44% the year before.

The company has been searching for success with in-store digital kiosks. It will soon test a music download service at stores in Albany, NY and the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. The service, which has yet to have tracks from all four major music groups, will reportedly download music to iPods and other portable music players. Although the article does not mention formats, the implication is the service will offer MP3 files. Trans World has tried to get its Mix & Burn kiosks off the ground for a number of years but has appeared to have little to no success. A year ago the company said the kiosks were showing "promising, but still inconclusive results." Monday's article in the Albany Business Review says the Mix & Burn kiosk at the Albany store "was shrunk and moved to a corner as part of a recent downsizing of the store."

The Marginal Value of the Long Tail
Just how often would I delve further than five million tracks into a download store's catalog? To find out I selected 16 albums to compare at five stores: Amazon.com MP3, eMusic, iTunes, Napster and Wal-Mart. The albums were a mix of titles I recently purchased (both CD and digital), CDs randomly pulled from a rack next to my computer and a couple local artists from Nashville that have independently released EPs.

Of the stores that carry major labels, Amazon.com had the lowest prices, followed by Napster, iTunes and then Wal-Mart.

The Latest from Lala: The Return of the Dime Store
I received an e-mail today from Lala.com, touting the new features it will roll out next week as part of a site redesign. You can preview it here. The big one is the new "a la carte" streaming option, where you pay 10 cents for the right to stream a single track as many times as you want:

snapshot 5/22/08

2008-05-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

Napster Shareholders' Plan To Save Company: Put Themselves On The Board
Napster is in a tough spot: Still losing money, unable to get any traction for its core subscription service, hoping against hope that selling DRM-free downloads will somehow give it a lift. Perry Rod think he has the solution: Put him and two of his buddies on the Napster board. Well, good luck with that. But if Perry and pals do get on the board, here's what Napster CEO Chris Gorog can expect to hear about -- "specific areas of immediate concern include, but are not limited to":

positioning, developing, and perhaps transforming, the Napster brand with a strategy that better explains and promotes the value proposition,
further development of an in-home music solution with additional AV hardware manufacturing partners
capturing the attention of adult music consumers who wish to avoid piracy and could benefit from multiple family members on subscription,
utilizing the viral effects of social networking combined with streaming to promote the brand and the value proposition,
better utilization of relatively inexpensive but creative marketing opportunities available in today's internet marketplace, and
cost effective outsourcing opportunities.

Reading the E-Leaves With Amazon's Bezos
Condé Nast Portfolio contributing editor Kevin Maney interviewed Bezos before a packed auditorium at New York University's Stern School of Business. The following is an edited transcript.

Apple Daydreaming: Report Predicts Move Toward Home Devices
Forrester's conclusion: While much of Apple's great successes have been mobile products such as the iPod and the iPhone, the company will seek to colonize rooms throughout the home.

Among the new products Forrester predicts Apple will create are wall-mountable digital picture frames with small high-definition screens and speakers that wirelessly play media, including photos, videos and music, stored on a computer elsewhere in the home. Such products already exist, but Apple could put its own twist on them -- for example, by adding its design panache and a touch-sensitive screen that lets viewers flip from image to image with a finger swipe, a la the iPhone.

Forrester also thinks Apple could extend into the home the technical assistance currently offered by "Genius Bar" personnel in Apple retail stores. Apple in-home installation services will become especially important as its array of products for the home grows. "The complexity level here can be quite daunting if you have five or six of these different devices," says J.P. Gownder, one of the Forrester analysts who wrote the report.

Peter Gabriel's new audiophile subscription site
Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios has launched a download service with high-end British speaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins. It's called the B&W Music Club, and it offers exclusive monthly albums to members, recorded at Gabriel's Real World Studios in southwestern England and downloadable in a "loss-less" file format with CD-quality sound. Subscribers pay just under $67 for a year (that's about $5.60 per recording), or about $47 for a six-month run. Subscribers can download one album per month.

Recordings are dedicated live sessions and they're DRM-free. Two months after the music is offered to Music Club members, B&W will return the album rights to the artists. Right now, you'll find Skip McDonald's Little Axe album on the B&W site. B&W is also offering free trial memberships. Check the site for more details. Gabriel commented, "This collaboration with B&W is unique as far as I know. It's going to allow a lot of interesting projects to happen. For artists, Music Club is a dream proposition because they get some great time in the studio, access to really good recording facilities, and can experiment without being committed to anything or anyone beyond a month with B&W."

JamBase Adds imeem and Fuzz.com to Growing Roster of Syndication Partners: Powering Live Music Show Listings Across the Web
Fans, musicians and promoters alike require a new set of tools to accommodate this shifting business and entertainment model. In response to the increased demand for live shows and the need of music fans to find information about shows and musicians, JamBase (www.jambase.com), the largest database for live music show listings and ticket information, announced today that imeem and Fuzz.com are joining the roster of content syndication partners who will carry live show information provided by JamBase.

Through its syndication partners—which also include iConcertCal, Rhapsody and Zvents—JamBase expands the reach of its content to more than 35 million monthly unique visitors. With JamBase’s open API, developers and users can share JamBase data in various formats and locations online, making JamBase’s comprehensive live music data pervasive across the Web. Together with JamBase, these syndication partners drive a shared mission to support live music by making it easy for fans to connect.

snapshot 5/21/08

2008-05-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

AOL Music Launches Genre-Specific Destinations
AOL Music, among the most heavily-trafficked music destinations, has now launched a pair of genre-specific sites. The first is The Boot (theboot.com), a country-specific site, and The Boom Box (theboombox.com), a destination dedicated to hip-hop and r&b. That is part of a broader, genre-geared strategy, one that already includes PopEater (popeater.com). It also includes Spinner (spinner.com), which has been recast into an indie-focused website.

The destinations collectively jump into the music-focused blog arena, an area that frequently features genre- or scene-specific coverage. The AOL Music sites are being filled with video and song premieres, news, photos, and interviews. The destinations are being monetized by advertising, according to the company.

Microsoft pitches Zune-based ad service
Microsoft on Thursday revealed its plans for an advertising network built into its Zune media players, offering advertisers a direct line to consumers through the device. Yahoo writes that the company demonstrated the concept using a phony Doritos mockup. In the example, a user could befriend a musician through the Zune social page on a Doritos’ sponsored concert to view news and updates on the artist’s profile.

Once added to the friends list, users could also email the profile to friends, as well as downloading selected tracks from the website for playback on the Zune. When the recipient receives the email through Microsoft’s Hotmail service through their mobile phone, a brief ad will trigger, followed by a short game similar to Asteroids. Provided the user does well at the game, they earn a coupon for a free bag of Doritos chips, with map directions to nearby stores that sell the chips.

HP to run DVD, download service for PTA
Hewlett-Packard, which folded the movie download store it ran for Wal-Mart in December, is getting back into the business, this time partnering with The Parent Teachers Assn. and the Boys and Girls Club of America to launch kid-friendly online video stores. The stores will launch today with 10,000 DVD titles and nearly 1,000 movie downloads from every major studio for sale. HP plans to add movies from its manufactured-on-demand service to the selection in the coming months.

Last.fm Quietly Rolls Out New Beta Features, Points to Expanded Subscription
The site's little-publicized music subscription service costs $3 per month. In its current iteration, the basic subscription removes ads, shows who's been cruising your profile, lets others listen to your station and allows faster access during peak usage hours. Last.fm says it will continue offering this basic subscription, but that an upcoming subscription package will include unlimited access to the catalogs of all four major labels plus 150,000 indie labels and artists. As of now, Last.fm users can listen to any artist/label-uploaded track up to three times for free (songs that have been heard three times will still play on the site's radio stations).

But this Last.fm beta, currently available only to current basic subscribers, is about much more than just the upcoming subscription package; it involves a full redesign, adding powerful features for playing, sharing and adding music to your library from anywhere on the site. To those ends, the site has added a new player at the top of every page that lets you play whatever music is listed there, so there will be "hopefully no more digging around for play buttons and radio stations," Donovan said. Every music page has also been set up to encourage sharing with friends or adding songs to your library. You can also browse your friends' libraries and add tracks from there. In addition, the beta lets users manually add songs and artists to their libraries in addition to having them added automatically, or "scrobbled," via iTunes or their preferred media player. This will let you expand your music collection purely through Last.fm, rather than acquiring the music elsewhere and scrobbling it into your library.

Pew/Internet Study Offers Insights Into Consumer Behavior
A new study by the Pew/Internet & American Life Project titled "The Internet and Consumer Choice: Online Americans Use Different Search and Purchase Strategies for Different Goods" (main page, 42-page PDF of study) examines how Americans use the Internet to buy music and search for information. It offers great insight into the importance of pre-Internet mass media like TV and radio as well as traditional word of mouth, and it shows how different age groups have different preferences for formats and pre- and post-purchase behaviors.

Search For Information
· Only 7% of respondents said online information had a major impact on music purchases.
· Of the respondents that made the music purchase online, only 22% said online information had a major impact on the purchase decision.
· 86% of music buyers find out about music through TV, radio or movies.
· 64% of music buyers find out about music through family, friends or co-workers.
· 56% of music buyers find out about music through online tools such as artist websites or streaming samples.
· Only 42% of music buyers said online information helped them save money on the purchase.
· 51% of respondents said online information had no impact whatsoever on their music purchases, 37% said it had a minor impact and 12% said it had a major impact.

Formats:
· 82% of respondents (69% for people under 35) said they still buy all (62%) or most (20%) of their music in the CD format.
· 15% (27% for people under 35) said half the music they purchased were individual digital files.

Amazon's Blue Light MP3 Special
That $1.99 Van Morrison album I bought on Friday is back to its regular price, but it looks like Amazon.com MP3 -- in addition to its weekly $5 deals -- now has a regular daily special: Yesterday it was a Green Day collection for $2.99, today it's a live album from BB King for $3.99.

snapshot 5/20/08

2008-05-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

Napster rolls out MP3 store in challenge to iTunes
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080520-hands-on-napsters-new-mp3-store-stumbles-out-of-the-gate.html
Napster Inc., the digital music service, on Tuesday opened the world's biggest MP3 download store with more than 6 million songs in a direct challenge to Apple Inc's iTunes store. The new Web-based music store will have digital songs from all major music labels as well as thousands of independent labels. The MP3-format songs will be compatible with the vast majority of digital media devices and mobile phones including Apple's popular iPod as well as its iPhone.

Before now Napster has focused on selling all-you-can-eat monthly streaming music subscription packages but has struggled to win over the majority of fans who want to be able to transfer songs they like on to a portable device such as the market-leading iPod. The new Napster service tries to take on Apple's dominance in digital music by offering fans more songs without copy protection or digital rights management (DRM). Most of the six million songs on the iTunes Music store are available with Fairplay DRM, which prevents the songs from being played on most portable players other than the iPod.

Most songs on the service will be available for 99 cents each and $9.95 an album. Though Napster will be hoping to take on iTunes it will try to do so by being compatible with Apple's service. According to executives, MP3 songs bought on the Napster Web-based service will be automatically synched into a user's existing iTunes music library if they use that library.

Napster is also selling MP3 packs

15 MP3s for $13.95–Save over 5%
25 MP3s for $21.95–Save over 10%
50 MP3s for $39.95–Save nearly 20%

Netflix offers movie downloads; stock upgraded
Netflix Inc said on Tuesday it will offer a device for just under $100 to let people transfer movies to their televisions, while a Lehman Brothers analyst raised his rating on the company's stock, sending shares up more than 9 percent. Netflix said that it and partner company Roku will offer a device that lets Netflix subscribers "stream" movies and television episodes to their TVs. The player costs $99.99, Netflix said in a press release.

There are no extra charges or viewing restrictions and people can "watch as much as they want and as often as they want without paying more or impacting the number of DVDs they receive," Chief Executive Reed Hastings said in the statement. The player is about the size of a paperback book and requires an Internet connection. It also works with wireless Internet connection systems through Wi-Fi technology. Users can fast-forward and rewind the video streams with a remote control, Netflix said. The Netflix service offered through the Roku player offers more than 10,000 movies and television episodes, Netflix said.

snapshot 5/19/08

2008-05-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

Apple Wants More Mobile Music From Labels
As part of Apple’s efforts to improve on the shortcomings of its popular iPhone, the company has approached some of the major music labels to try to expand the variety of ringtones and other musical features available on the device, several label executives said last week. The negotiations are very active right now and a final deal has not been set, said the executives, who requested anonymity so as not to disrupt the ongoing talks.

Also under discussion is whether Apple can sell songs from its iTunes store directly to iPhones over the cell-phone broadband network. With the next generation of phone expected to use much faster 3G technology, this is technically feasible. Here too, music labels argue that they should be paid more for an over-the-air download than a standard track bought over the internet, where the wholesale price is about 70 cents.

Pennywise, Poundwise: MySpace Free Experiment Pays Off
But others, including Pennywise, are also pushing gratis concepts and helping to define best practices in the process. In March, Digital Music News reported that the band attracted 500,000 takers on a free album giveaway driven by MySpace Records. That figure eventually notched to 640,000, according to MySpace, though 400,000 actually completed the process to secure the MP3s. "On top of the 400,000 downloads, we've scanned over 20,000 albums in the US and another, roughly 25,000 overseas," MySpace Records executive J. Scavo told Digital Music News on Friday. The giveaway officially ended in April.

Now, the band is seeing some meaningful results, boosted by the MySpace project. That includes a well-charting single, and according to Scavo, significant jumps in concert tickets, tour guarantees, and merchandise sales. After playing sold-out dates in Japan and Australia, the group is now hosting shows in the United States through mid-June. And the band is being factored into the Vans Warped Tour this summer. "If you ask them, their career has been revitalized far beyond their expectations," Scavo said.

Backstage Seeks To Distribute Free Music For The Long Tail
That’s the premise of an attempt by Grant Blakeman and the Backstage project, a startup that seeks to present bands with an easy way to grow their listener bases through the distribution of free music and video downloads. Built squarely upon the concept that the release of music albums and singles need not directly cost the prospective fan - or even the existing follower - anything other than his or her attention, consideration, and basic personal information like name, area of residence, and email address, Backstage presents bands with the option to create pages through which to promote recordings, DRM-free, with audio fidelity reaching as high as 320kbps, for a small fee: $12, $24, or $36, depending on desired download limit. (150, 500, or 2000 downloads, respective to the price plan, with file size limits of 50MB, 75MB, and 100MB. Per-download overages are $0.02-0.03.

Music promotion via Backstage can work one of two ways. People can first pay a visit to the site, where they can download albums, and subsquently be listed to receive tour announcements and other relevant updates about artists through email. Or, if a event is planned, artists can purchase cards ($50-$210, depending on quantity) to distribute to attendees, who in turn can venture to Backstage to grab downloads of songs they may or may not have heard at the live performance.

Rock's New Economy: Making Money When CDs Don't Sell
For Austin rockers Spoon, 2007 was a breakthrough year — but not because they sold a lot of records. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, their album on the indie label Merge, garnered more radio play than any disc in their 15-year history and earned them an appearance on Saturday Night Live. So far the disc has moved just over 250,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan — about half of what Spoon's manager, Ben Dickey, believes it would have sold even five years ago. "But as far as the band is concerned, the record is a hit," says Dickey.

The reason? CD sales are no longer the yardstick the band uses. While hip-hop and pop artists ranging from Jay-Z to Britney Spears have long used recordings to sell every- thing from perfume to liquor, rockers are only just starting to think of album sales as a component — rather than the sum of — the commercial equation. Spoon have been actively licensing their music for use in films, television shows and a Jaguar commercial, making money, gaining exposure and moving up from clubs to 3,000-seat venues.

Music 1.0 Score Card
Record Label Market Share 2007 -

Universal 28.8% (up from 25.7 in 2006)
Sony BMG 20.1%
Warner 14.4%
EMI 10.9%.

The value of physical and digital recorded music sales fell 8.3% in 2007 to $18.9 billion. Of that, digital sales rose to $2.9 billion from $2.1 billion in 2006, equivalent to slightly less than 15% of total sales.

Subscriptions Picking Up Steam
Typical music subscription services have yet to move out of niche status and have pretty much performed below everyone's expectations. Other types of subscriptions, on the other hand, are proving to be an increasing popular purchase option. eMusic is the most popular and most obvious of the download subscriptions, and Audio Lunchbox has a similar product offering, but a number of artists and labels are finding new ways to capitalize on consumers' desire for music in bulk. Earlier this month, Magnatune launched download memberships that give buyers access to its entire catalog. A streaming membership costs $9 per month and an all-you-can download membership costs $18 per month (there are three-month and annual options). For the download plan, files are offered in WAV and MP3 formats. Magnatune founder John Buckman wrote about the download plans at his blog and said daily revenue increased 150% before the subscriptions were even announced. In another post, he showed the results of a survey in which 45% of respondents said they would be interested in signing up for a CD club.

Speaker company Bowers & Wilkins has just launched a music club that once a month gives subscribers exclusive album downloads in lossless files. Each album will be recorded at Real World Studios in Bath, England, with which Bowers & Wilkins has a partnership. Membership costs $39.95 for three months or $59.95 for six months. Equal Vision Records is offering a 2008 Release Subscription. For $60 (plus shipping for the first shipment) the buyer gets a CD of every Equal Vision title released in 2008 (expected to be from seven to ten titles) and an Equal Vision t-shirt.

Negotiations Leak: Could Variable iTunes Pricing Be on the Table?
Steve Jobs wants to extend Apple's lead in online music sales to the mobile market, and the 3G iPhone expected next month positions them to make the iTunes store available everywhere you have signal. Jobs also wants in on the ringtone and ringback tones business -- thoroughly impulse buys which become feasible on the iPhone only if purchasing can be done outside of a hot spot. Trouble is, he needs some new deals from the record labels to make this happen. The record labels have some demands of their own -- chief among them variable pricing. As music licensing negotiations between Apple and the labels continue, the labels hope to trade mobile delivery for variable pricing, according to a New York Times' record label executive source.

TouchTunes pushes Usher with iTunes pre-order
TouchTunes is giving away iTunes material as part of a multi-pronged promotional strategy, according to an announcement. Visitors to bars and other public places can now queue Usher's "Love in This Club Part II," from one of TouchTunes' digital jukeboxes; by agreeing to submit an e-mail address, they can pre-order Usher's new album on iTunes with three bonus tracks, and meanwhile download the single, plus the original "Love in This Club" music video. The album otherwise goes on sale May 27th.

Gabriel launches music download service for purists
The subscription-based music club will offer users one new, exclusive album per month, delivered in a "lossless" music format that provides CD-quality sound, one of the best recording formats currently available. The service promises to offer subscribers an eclectic mix of music from established acts as well as up-and-coming artists. It's aimed at music aficionados and audiophiles who value high-quality recordings, but who aren't currently catered for by online music services. Most download sites sell songs that have been digitally compressed to reduce the size of the file and make it quicker to download, but this process also diminishes the audio quality of the recording. Lossless tracks, by contrast, are optimised for fast downloads without compromising sound quality.

snapshot 5/16/08

2008-05-16T16:03:00.001-07:00

Rock's New Economy: Making Money When CDs Don't Sell
The reason? CD sales are no longer the yardstick the band uses. While hip-hop and pop artists ranging from Jay-Z to Britney Spears have long used recordings to sell every- thing from perfume to liquor, rockers are only just starting to think of album sales as a component — rather than the sum of — the commercial equation. Spoon have been actively licensing their music for use in films, television shows and a Jaguar commercial, making money, gaining exposure and moving up from clubs to 3,000-seat venues.

Album sales are down 25 percent since 2000, leading to widespread predictions of the record business' demise. But smart artists and managers are finding new ways to reach fans and make money. "For some bands we represent, there's more licensing income than record sales," says Carol Sue Baker, whose Ocean Park Music Group has been connecting independent artists with music supervisors for movies, TV and advertising agencies since the early 1990s.

Music Services Compared
Wal-Mart might still offer only a no-frills service, but it’s come a long way in three years. Then again, although the uber-retailer’s prices are cheap ($0.88/track for WMA format songs, $0.99 for MP3), there’s still a lot working against it for anyone who’s serious about music, including a library that’s pretty much limited to big names and major new releases only. Where family-friendly edits of tracks exist as well, that’s what they’re guaranteed to carry, so be warned, parental advisories definitely do apply! Also, you can’t search for a track in MP3 or WMA format.

Congrats Chris, that’s the most factually inaccurate review to date!

Handleman Negotiates Financial Breathing Room...
Physical music distributor Handleman Company negotiated some financial breathing room this week, instead of facing the default gauntlet. The company renegotiated its recovery loan package downward, while preserving enough liquidity to keep the lights on.
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According to details shared Thursday, the company reduced its financial loans from $223 million to $163 million, based on revised projections and commitments. "The amended credit facility will help ensure that we have sufficient liquidity to operate our business as we continue to take action to address the rapid and dramatic change under way in the music industry," explained Albert A. Koch, president and chief executive of the company.

snapshot 5/15/08

2008-05-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

Phone-wallets still years away
The new technology which enables small payments from mobile phones by just flashing the handset is likely to reach masses only around 2012, when one phone from five sold will be equipped with the technology.

Consumers will be able to use a phone as a wallet or as an access card simply by waving it over a wireless reader -- and in some cases punching a PIN number into the phone -- similar to how travelers in Tokyo and London access public transport.

Apple files patent for custom iPhone merchant apps
The iPhone and iPod touch may eventually have custom applications tailored to merchants they visit, a published Apple patent filing hints. As detailed by AppleInsider, the proposed concept calls for a local wired or wireless network at a business, with one or more routers such as an AirPort Extreme. Somewhere on site would be a central server, offering custom information and applications for Apple "media devices" that enter wireless range. "For example, assuming the establishment is a restaurant, local server may provide a menu to media device," the filing reads.

Possibilities for other businesses include broadcasting the likes of ads, event calendars and product information, or music, in a manner similar to that begun with Starbucks. At movies and concerts however people could additionally buy tickets and soundtracks, or even receive material such as directors' commentaries or foreign-language translations.

Analyst: Amazon.com's Kindle to generate $750 million by 2010
Calling it the iPod of the book business, CitiGroup analyst Mark Mahaney says the Kindle e-book reader will generate three-quarters of a billion dollars for Amazon.com in less than two years. His calculations assume that unit sales will grow from 189,000 by the end of this year to 2.2 million units in just two years. By then he assumes the price of the device will be just below $300. Mahaney also points out that Amazon does have the largest selection of e-book content.

How Apple is changing DRM
Ironically, the music companies are now abandoning DRM because it worked too well. Apple wouldn't license its version to rivals - so the best-selling iPod drove the iTunes store to its present position, where it is the third-largest music retailer in any form in the US. Rosenblatt says that record labels "have been desperate to find a viable competitor to Apple and iTunes". Industry sources suggest that Apple's iTunes store has more than 70% of the UK download market, and growing. "The record companies don't like dealing with Apple, because Apple is in a position where it can dictate the economic terms and dictate the business models," says Rosenblatt. "What's going to draw people away from iTunes? One answer is to get rid of DRM."

Wake up and smell the Doritos™ - Avril Lavigne's manager
Copyright is over, and musicians should make themselves as pretty as they can for big brand advertisers, says top music manager and label boss Terry McBride. "Discovery of new music in the digital economy will be synonymous with consumption". The money will come from ad-supported music services and subscriptions.

Actually free music will become "an upsell technique for other music related products, e.g. concert tickets, clothing, music or artist branded physical products," reckons McBride. The recorded music helps establish a larger commercial presence. And don't forget micro-monetisation of P2P recommendations, he writes.

CloudTrade: Free, Legal Music Sharing on Your Smartphone
CloudTrade has announced that music from its first two label deals is now available for trading on its mobile file-sharing network. Users can trade about 250 songs from CloudTrade's label partners: ATO Records (Radiohead's U.S. CD distributor) and the jam-band-friendly Sci Fidelity Records.

snapshot 5/14/08

2008-05-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Josh Rouse Launches Membership Only Digital Download Store
This month acclaimed singer songwriter Josh Rouse is set to release the third volume in his Bedroom Classics EP, series. With Bedroom Classics, Vol. 3, Josh continues to build upon the successful series of EPs that has allowed him to take adventurous leaps with his sound over the years.

The first Bedroom Classics EP (2001) was limited to 750 copies fast becoming a collector's item for his long time fans (currently going for well over $100 on Ebay). This new installment marks another groundbreaking chapter, as it is truly self released; only available directly from Josh himself, off his newly launched membership based digital download store at www.joshrouse.com

Now through June 1st, there's a premium membership package priced at $99.99, which includes a CD copy of the EP along with a 2 CD "Bootleg", set and, once it's completed, an early copy of Josh's next full length release. These are limited to just 750 copies and once their gone, a "digital only" membership will be offered for $29.99.

Betting On Mobile Phones Won't Save The Recording Industry
The recording industry hasn't had much of a strategy for dealing with the changing marketplace over the past decade (and, no, I don't consider lashing out and suing music fans as a "strategy"), so far be it for them to start now. That's why it's amusing to see articles about how the recording industry honchos are now betting on a new generation of mobile phones to save them. Funny how that works. This is the same group of executives who will claim that the phones themselves have no value without the music -- and yet here they are hoping and praying that the devices will save their industry.

But the real problem is that this isn't a strategy. It's wishful thinking. It doesn't involve any actual insight into what's happening in the market. It doesn't involve any proactive movement towards accepting new business models and changing the way business is done. It's merely the old way of thinking, trying to figure out what the "next" platform will be on which to sell music. It went from vinyl to cassette tape (we'll skip 8-track) to CD to computer... and now they want it to go to mobile. But they're missing the fact that the more popular mobile devices get, the sooner it is that we'll see file sharing apps for mobile devices pop up. Rather than waiting and praying that some new platform will be the savior, isn't it time that the industry started taking lessons from the past 10 years, and worked towards adapting to the age of digital content?

Developers Say Adobe Is Delaying Online Music Apps
Some developers of audio applications see online music mixers, studios and instruments as the next wave of music creation. The two biggest trends in music are online distribution and social networking... why not combine them further upstream

For developers working on online music creation applications, Adobe's Flash is the natural option, in part because it's installed on over 97 percent of internet-enabled PCs according to Adobe. However, the audio application developers behind Adobe, Make Some Noise say the company needs to get with the program, so to speak, if it wants Flash to be the go-to platform for online music creation.

snapshot 5/13/08

2008-05-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

Scarlett Johansson album debuts on Imeem
Although it isn't in full release until next week, social-media site Imeem is streaming the album live in advance. You can't actually download it, but you can listen to the whole thing for free…

Music Sites Choosing Amazon Over iTunes
Yesterday Emmis announced a pact with iTunes for downloads from its radio station web sites. The deal is part of a growing trend as music and social networking sites search for ways to monetize traffic beyond advertising. But iTunes is increasingly a second choice as Amazon appears poised to finalize a variety of partnerships. Universal mp3 compatibility is a factor, but so is the web retail giant's extensive credit card database. Ease of use and trust dominate when purchasing online.

The major labels are also motivating some download store partnerships. If they are going to license a fledgling music discovery service or social network, the majors want to be certain that discovery can lead to purchase. Napster and Rhapsody are barely a factor in these talks. Their slow crawl towards DRM-free appear to have left them out of this race altogether

10-Q Watch: RealNetworks Lays Out Risks Of Rhapsody America
RealNetworks’ 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31 should be required reading for anyone going into a complex JV or the online music business. Line by line, it lays out the risks of the Rhapsody America joint venture with MTV Networks, all the more interesting giving RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser’s admission last week that Michael Bloom, the MTVN Urge exec who has been running the JV since it was formed, has gone back to MTVN. In his place, at least for now: Glaser.

As the 10-Q details, Real, with its 51 percent of the JV, has the right to appoint the GM but certain activities require unanimous approval—items like a budget, some capex, affiliate transactions—and failure to agree could cause harm. It gets more blunt: ”Neither we nor the current management of Rhapsody America have extensive experience in managing and operating complex joint ventures of this nature, and the integration and operational activities may strain our internal resources, distract us from managing our day-to-day operations, and impact our ability to retain key employees in Rhapsody America.” That’s not the only issue musically speaking: Licensing fees, competition by rights holders, and more, larger subscription churn rates and more, Real is careful to mention them all.

1,000 more jobs to be cut at EMI
EMI'S owner, Guy Hands, is planning to axe up to 1,000 more jobs at the music company. Mr Hands, who runs buyout firm Terra Firma, told senior EMI directors last week that the company's headcount at its recorded music division will need to be reduced to around 2,000 people from 4,500, according to sources.

Emmis, Apple sign iTunes affiliate deal
Emmis Communications has announced a new affiliate deal signed with Apple, under which its Interactive division's Storefront technology will be tied to the iTunes Store, and in turn sold to other companies. Storefront lets radio stations -- mainly those owned by Emmis -- create custom online shops, particularly for the purpose of selling tracks as they are played live on air. The company claims that many alternatives only direct listeners to separate sites, instead of letting them pull music straight into local software.

Sony BMG releases more DRM-free music
Sony BMG, one of the top four recording companies, is releasing more DRM-free songs through a partnership with Dada USA, a mobile-entertainment company based in Italy.

Songs from Sony BMG artists such as the Foo Fighters, Kelly Clarkson, and The Strokes, will be offered through a new music service, Dada Entertainment, where users can pay $9.99 to obtain 15 tokens. Each token can be redeemed for a music download or ringtone or other content such as games or wallpaper. The unprotected MP3 files can be transferred to an iPod, mobile phone, or any other digital music-playing device, the companies said Tuesday. Over-the-air downloads aren't ready yet, but Dada said in a statement that it expects to launch that in coming months.

Imeem Unseats Yahoo as Top US Music Streaming Site
Imeem has taken over Yahoo's throne by becoming the number one streaming music site in the United States. Yahoo, which had acquired large music sites like Broadcast, Launch Media and Musicmatch in order to become the top-ranked music streaming site in the country, has slipped into second place behind imeem in Compete's list of the top 20 US streaming music sites for the month of March.

Imeem's expensive label deals, which allow it to offer on-demand music from all four majors plus indies -- combined with emphases

snapshot 5/12/08

2008-05-12T15:54:00.000-07:00

Music industry hopes upgrades boost mobile sector
Perhaps no single device has had more impact on mobile music than Apple's iPhone. While only 6.7 percent of overall mobile customers use their phone to listen to music, rising to 27.9 percent for smartphone users, a full 74.1 percent of iPhone owners reported using the device as an MP3 player, according to M:Metrics.

The majority of this music, however, is transferred from the computer, rather than purchased through the phone and downloaded wirelessly. That may change this summer once Apple unveils what many expect will be a new version of the iconic device, featuring access to high-speed third-generation (3G) wireless networks.

HBO might be coming to iTunes, with flexible pricing
Porfolio.com is reporting that you might soon be able to find Tony Soprano in the iTunes Store. HBO, the premium cable channel known for their original programming, is in talks with Apple to add their programming to the iTunes Store.

This is good news for fans of HBO shows, but the real story here is the deal that HBO has reportedly managed to wrangle out of Apple. Portfolio's sources say that Apple has agreed to flexible pricing for HBO, which might mean we'll have to pay more than $1.99 per episode for that content. This is the structure that NBC, and many other studios, would love but Apple has been resistant to in the past.

Amazon Unbox on TiVo getting HD content
TiVo users have been able to rent and buy movies from Amazon.com's Unbox service for over a year now, but lately the service has felt a little outdated compared with competitors like Vudu and Apple TV, which offer HD downloads. Well, thanks to a comment by TiVo's VP of product marketing, Jim Denney, it seems like that's going to change soon. In an article on TV Week, Denney claims TiVo and Amazon will announce HD capabilities "in the not too distant future."

Music & Money: Will They Ever Learn to Dance?
In a discussion Thursday at the SanFran MusicTech Summit, venture capitalists acknowledged the incredible sexiness of the space, though they also recognized a treacherous path towards success. "The bar is a bit higher on music investments, and there tends to be an oversupply of ideas and entrepreneurs in the space," said Toni Schneider of True Ventures. "There is still that prize out there of figuring it all out, though it is risky and a lot of money has been lost. So people are very, very gun-shy."

Not only that, but successful growth frequently involves complicated and risky legal pitfalls. In fact, the less-than-legal route is now becoming a viable and recognized strategy. "The standard playbook in digital music is to infringe like crazy, get to scale, and gain some leverage against labels," explained Tim Chang, a principal at Norwest Venture Partners. "Once you get their attention, they come knocking with a lawsuit, which is basically foreplay to a licensing deal. At that point, you go raise venture money and try to pay off the labels, and convince them to convert some of that infringement suit penalty into strategic equity."

Music Revenues Move Up at RealNetworks; Gaming Moves Out
RealNetworks revenues improved during the first quarter, thanks partly to music-related increases. During the three-month period ending March 31st, music-related revenues bumped 12 percent to $38.1 million. Broader revenues increased 14 percent to $147.6 million, and most units showed gains during the period.

The music increases happened despite stagnant subscriber levels. The company reported a music-specific subscriber total of 2.675 million, level with year-ago totals. The figure lumps subscribers across Rhapsody and RadioPass, a combination that makes an isolated analysis difficult.

Activision SEC filing via Coolfer
From Activision's May 8th earnings call: "Consumers have already downloaded more than 15 million individual songs for Guitar Hero."

snapshot 5/9/08

2008-05-09T16:01:00.001-07:00

CDs Get Into the Groove, Do Music the 45RPM Way
This is a story of a not so environmentally friendly, but rather groovy repurposing idea: reusing CDs as records (remember them?) At the UK's Futuresonic festival last week, a guy named Aleks Kolkowski had his vintage record-cutting machine ready to carve sound tracks into old CDs and DVDs. People simply had to turn up with an old disc and a sound file and he'd "overwrite" the CD with a track ready to be played on a turntable.

Zune reaches 2m sales; flat versus iPod
As part of its recent Zune update, Microsoft has revealed that it has sold two million of the music players since their launch in November 2006, revealing relatively flat growth for the device lineup. Although the company originally promised and slightly exceeded a target for its first million sales between the original launch date and June 2007, the company has largely remained silent on its data for its players in nearly a year.

Interview: The Former Hedge Fund Owner Who Teamed with Tutu for Free Music
"Steve Jobs -- quote me – does not give a shit about music. Because what he's done is bifurcated the music business. No longer is the test of an artist's work the embodiment of an album, what is considered as consumable are single songs, and that's because of the Apple platform. He's a genius, the only thing he cares about is selling his platform."

snapshot 5/8/08

2008-05-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

Warner Music Group 2Q loss widens on increased expenses
Warner Music Group Corp., whose artists include R.E.M., Madonna and Green Day, said Thursday that higher costs and a shift to digital music resulted in a wider second-quarter loss and it suspended dividends. Shares tumbled more than 20 percent, or $1.87, to $7.18 in morning trading.

For the period ended March 31, the New York-based recording company reported a loss of $37 million, or 25 cents per share, compared with a loss of $27 million, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier. Losses from continuing operations totaled 23 cents per share in the latest period. Revenue grew 2 percent to $800 from $784 million a year earlier.

Microsoft Sends Indie Labels Bonus Checks
Microsoft recently sent substantial one time bonuses to some digital distributors and independent labels. The checks appear to be the company's answer to criticism of payments as high as $1 per player extracted by Universal and other major labels granting permission for Zune's music sharing functionality. In an email sent earlier this week to label and artist partners obtained by Hypebot, The Orchard wrote that Microsoft "made a corporate decision to demonstrate their commitment to the independent sector in a manner we all appreciate: rather than simple lip service, they wrote a check". The digital distributor plans to share the revenue with content providers in a "Zune Bonus".

Warner Music, Wal-Mart Work It Out... MP3s Online
Warner Music Group has now licensed MP3s to Wal-Mart's online music store, according to information confirmed Wednesday. During a presentation at the annual gathering of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) in San Francisco, Warner Music Group executive vice president of Digital Strategy and Business Development Michael Nash announced the shift. "I'm pleased to announce today that we have just started a very important partnership with respect to MP3 download sales on Wal-Mart," Nash said.

On Wal-Mart's store, MP3s can now be purchased from a variety of high-profile, Warner Music Group artists, including Metallica (Elektra) and Missy Elliott (Atlantic). The move ends a logjam between the parties, one that rendered Warner content unavailable.

Just recently, Wal-Mart shifted exclusively to MP3s, and removed any DRM-protected content. That mirrors a successful, MP3-or-nothing stance by Amazon, a move that eventually resulted in DRM-free licenses from all four majors. The recent licensing development leaves Sony BMG as the only major that has not licensed MP3s to the Wal-Mart Music Store.

Desmond Tutu Venture Emerges... Free Music For All
A music startup involving Archbishop Desmond Tutu has now emerged, complete with an open access ethos. SOS Records, at welovefreemusic.com, currently offers content from a limited group of artists. Early names include Naomi Striemer, Mario Winans, and Idrissa Diop, though artists are being encouraged to upload their content to the destination.

Then, fans vote on which artists should ultimately be signed and recorded by SOS. SOS eventually plans to offer a fresh, free MP3 every day, and the broader model includes paid, physical product. Backing the concept is Steven Nowack, a former hedge fund manager.

An Alternative Approach to Marketing Rock Bands via Techdirt
The New York Times has an interesting profile of Fueled by Ramen, a record label that has managed to thrive at a time a lot of other labels are struggling.