Dave Matthews Band and Van Halen join ringtone rush
In recent weeks, two of the more high-profile acts that weren't selling their music as ringtones have given in. And in both cases, AT&T Mobility is involved. The operator scored exclusive access to a handful of Dave Matthews Band's ringtones made from live recordings, but will later include studio tracks. Van Halen, meanwhile, is making its most popular songs available as ringtones to all wireless operators, but agreed to give AT&T exclusive versions of those same songs for a limited time.
Why now? Industry sources suspect that with such supergroups as Led Zeppelin and even AC/DC finally getting into the ringtone game, those influenced by them see less of a barrier for doing so as well. AT&T director of music and personalization products Mark Nagel says the Dave Matthews deal was a result of simply communicating the demand.
NBC to provide TV shows for SanDisk service
Media conglomerate NBC Universal will offer television programming for a Web-based service from SanDisk Corp that lets viewers download shows from the Internet and play them on a TV set-top, the companies said on Tuesday.
New shows from NBC's broadcast network as well as its cable channels like USA and Bravo will be available on SanDisk's Fanfare service in January. They include hit comedy "The Office," supernatural thriller "Heroes" and sitcom "30 Rock."NBC said earlier this year that it would not renew a contract to sell TV shows on Apple Inc's iTunes, the most popular media download service.
Salsa star and Sony BMG sign innovative touring deal
In what represents a first for the Latin music industry, a major label -- Sony BMG -- will promote all performances by a major artist -- Puerto Rican salsa star Gilberto Santa Rosa.
The deal struck between Santa Rosa and Day 1, a talent development division of Sony BMG's Latin-American arm, marks a departure from the revenue-sharing model that other Latin labels have recently taken up with their artists. Where Universal Music Latino, for example, is involved in tour sponsorships for rock singer Juanes and gets a percentage of his touring revenue, Day 1 will also represent Santa Rosa in all his public performances, either directly or by working with independent promoters in specific markets.
RealNetworks lays off a hundred employees
Around a hundred employees at RealNetworks are dealing with the news that their job is no longer available, and about 35 of those positions were in Seattle, Washington while the others were in Asia / Europe. According to company spokesman Bill Hankes, the firm made cuts "across the board to reduce redundancies built up as a result of six acquisitions made over the past two years," and he also added that these were the "first layoffs the company has made since those purchases." As it stands, around 1,700 employees are left, and no further job cuts are "planned."
Napster CFO quits after three years of commuting
Napster CFO and VP Nand Gangwani will leave the company at the end of the year. The "personal reason" cited? A killer commute. "Mr. Gangwani has been commuting from his home in the Bay Area to Los Angeles for the last four years," the release reads. Hmm. Why are we more inclined to believe Gangwani's departure has more to do with Napster's three-year share-price tumble from $10 in 2003 to $2.36 at yesterday's close -- and that his commute showed he was never that committed to the company in the first place?
Vudu gets 'Bourne' the same day as DVD
In a major shift in movie distribution, a high-definition version of the hit "The Bourne Ultimatum" will be released through Vudu Inc.'s online service Tuesday -- the same day the DVD comes out. It is the first of many HD movies Vudu plans to deliver online at the same time DVDs become available.Owners of Vudu's set-top box, which costs $399, use a high-speed Internet connection to watch the movies they rent and to download the ones they buy.
Some Music Still Sells: Latest Gold & Platinum Album Certifications
Despite sales declines that could reach 15% in 2007, some music is still selling. After the jump you'll find the latest gold and platinum album certifications including some surprising older titles that keep on selling. Who knew people still cared about Anne Murray?
Snocap Aggressively Shopping Itself ... Any Takers?
Beleaguered digital music upstart Snocap is now looking for an exit door, and pitching itself to prospective buyers. On Monday, Snocap vice president of Marketing and Public Relations Bruce Taylor confirmed that the company is aggressively seeking acquisition prospects, and courting multiple possibilities. "There are several companies that we are having active discussions with," Taylor told Digital Music News, though the executive stopped short of offering specifics.
Meanwhile, a number of sources pointed to a hard closure at the end of January if a buyer is not found, though Taylor dismissed those claims as unfounded. "We are funded through the sale," Taylor said. The latest development follows a major downsizing at Snocap in October, and revelations of meager revenues from a MySpace ecommerce pact.
Maroon 5, Fergie among year's top sellers on iTunes
Maroon 5 and Fergie hold the top spots on iTunes' year-end sales roundup. The online music store released its top-selling albums and singles Tuesday, though they declined to release actual sales figures.
Maroon 5's sophomore album, "It Won't Be Soon Before Long," was the No. 1 seller on the site, followed by Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" and Kanye West's "Graduation." Winehouse and West are also leaders heading into the 50th annual Grammy Awards - he has eight nominations, she has six. Rounding out the top five best-selling albums were "American Idol" alum Chris Daughtry's band's self-titled debut, "Daughtry," and "Coco" by newcomer Colbie Caillat, who has the hit "Bubbly." Fergie came in first and fifth place in single sales. Her hit "Big Girls Don't Cry" was the top-selling single of the year for iTunes, while "Glamorous" finished in fifth. Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape" came in second place, followed by Plain White T's "Hey There Delilah" and Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend."
Amazon Invests in Bill Me Later
Buying stuff on Amazon is about to get even easier. The online retailer took an equity stake in a Maryland-based company called Bill Me Later that lets people shop now and pay later at more than 700 Websites, including the Apple Store, Overstock, Walmart.com, and ToysRus.com. Amazon will be offering the payment option as well.
The way Bill Me Later works is you enter your birth date and last four digits of your social security number online, and it does a credit check on you in three seconds to determine whether you are worth the risk. Bill Me Later pays the merchant, and sends you a bill. (It also powers PayPal’s Pay Later service). According to the Baltimore Sun, about 3 million people have signed up so far, and the company is on track to pull in over $100 million in revenues this year. It must have some really sophisticated algorithms to make that credit risk decision on the fly. For people still not comfortable using a credit card to pay online, this type of service removes any remaining friction in e-commerce. I wonder what its default rate is.
Digital kids grow up
Club Penguin, Webkinz, Starfall, and Facebook. They may sound like childish names, but these are some of the companies that proved in 2007 that kid's play online is serious business. Kids' lives seemed immersed in technology at every turn this year, whether it was Barbie morphing into an MP3 player or teens spending the summer at a high-tech camp.
Millions of kids cut their teeth on the Web this year. Little ones learned their ABCs on Starfall; tweens paid dues to play virtual house on Club Penguin and Webkinz; and high schoolers and older teens "Facebooked" each other as the hippest way to keep in touch.
XStreamHD to Take on VUDU with HD Movie Box
A new service that will fill a set-top box with high-definition, pre-downloaded movies will launch early next year, and the company will begin announcing content deals at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. The startup is XStreamHD, which will use existing satellite technology to download between roughly 30 to 280 movies, from standard-definition resolutions on up to 1080p.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
snapshot 12/10/07
MySpace gears up for more music with Transmissions
Hoping to broaden its relevance to the music industry in the face of increasing competition from other social networking sites, MySpace will roll out a suite of services and initiatives as part of what company officials are calling MySpace Music 2.0. But a new policy at Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's biggest record company, limiting full-song streaming on the site illustrates the challenges ahead.
The first hint of MySpace's music effort is Transmissions: The site (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.channel&Chann elID=115631898) features video of participating artists in the MySpace studios, performing select songs and conducting interviews, both of which MySpace has the exclusive rights to stream. Bowing to label pressure to start monetizing MySpace traffic that to date has been mostly promotional, MySpace will provide links for users to buy songs by all featured Transmissions artists. According to MySpace VP of marketing and content Josh Brooks, the idea is to create more opportunities for "instant gratification" music purchases. However, the company won't dictate how those purchases are made.
Universal Music Group in Web deal with Imeem
Universal Music Group on Monday said it signed an agreement with music-based social networking Web site Imeem Inc to provide free, on-demand streaming of its digital music and videos that will be supported by advertising. Universal, which is owned by French media group Vivendi, is the fourth major music company to strike a deal with the Web site, following Warner Music Group Corp, EMI Music and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture between Sony Corp and Bertelsmann AG.
Songza’s Free Internet Jukebox: Any Song Instantly
Songza is a music search engine that acts as a free internet jukebox. It locates songs posted on the net and lets you listen to them in their entirety and add them to playlists or blogs. To try it out, visit songza.com, choose the song or artist you wish and Songza will search for your request and play it. Its all presented via a clean, clutter-free design and transparent remote control ( play, share, rate and add to playlist). Unlike KaZaa or Bit Torrent, Songza does not enable unauthorized downloads of digital music files; users can only listen to songs, not obtain copies. And unlike Last.fm or Rhapsody, Songza permits users to choose exactly the song or artist they want to hear, and does not require them to subscribe or pay for the service.
Stars Are Aligning for Subscription Music
Now, changing consumer behavior is giving subscription advocates new hope. Members of the Facebook Generation are bombarded with music recommendations every day, and don't necessarily want to pay a buck to check each one out. And since people are used to getting e-mail, appointments, and news feeds streamed to smartphones and other devices, many industry watchers assume they'll want the same for music. "If I can access whatever I want whenever I want," says Ted Cohen, who led EMI's digital music efforts and now runs an entertainment consultancy called TAG Strategic, "why do I need to own it?"
Music Retail Bleeding Continues, Handleman Shows Declines
Music and entertainment retailer Handleman Company reported revenue and earnings declines during the recent quarter, an all-too-familiar result in the sector. For the company's fiscal second quarter ending October 27th, revenues dipped 4.5 percent to $315.5 million, and losses widened $6.8 million to $15.0 million. Those are movements in the wrong direction, and part of a larger bloodletting in music retail.
During its recent quarterly report, the company pointed to "lower music sales in the United States and Canada," as well as a severed relationship with distribution partner ASDA in August. The company also outlined losses from various "cost saving initiatives," and heavy charges from currency fluctuations. Additionally, Handleman incurred a serious loss related to a 2005 investment in London-based startup Blueprint Digital Ltd.
Universal Music Restricting Music Streaming On Certain Sites
Universal Music Group, the largest music label, has implemented a new online streaming policy for its artists: each song for its artists will be limited to either 90-second clips or full-songs that contain promotional voice-over messages, reports Billboard. Excluded are any online services that UMG has a commercial licensing deal with, which means it is getting compensated for each stream. The policy applies to MySpace (which UMG is suing for violation of copyright law) and others. The story says UMG is concerned that users won’t buy the track or album if they get free streaming of full songs.
Video games score headshot against DVDs this season
DVD sales are lagging and game sales are up. Something's gotta give, as they say. Retail shelf space is a finite thing in the world of brick and mortar, so each inch has to be maximized with product that is going to sell. As video games continue their rise, we're likely to see less and less shelf space given to DVDs, and more to video games and related merchandise.
Retailers don't have any loyalty to the DVD market; if they can make more money by stocking their shelves with video games and hardware, they will. With even 7-11 locations beginning to stock games for big launches, games could become the dominant product on the shelves of historically music- and movie-focused stores.
Bands and the net make sweet music The possibilities of the web are setting new challenges for the music business, says Barry Mansfield
After years of kicking and screaming, there are signs that the industry is coming to terms with the fact that the market has changed for good. The internet is now the stage where stars will be born and established artists can indulge their fans in the hope of sell-out crowds when touring.
With the launch of KylieKonnect (kyliekonnect.com) last month, Kylie Minogue became the first star to create a dedicated social-networking site. It allows her fans to create personal profiles, upload images and blogs, and communicate with other fans across the globe using their mobile phone or web browser. Similarly, Habbo (habbo.co.uk), one of the largest virtual worlds for teenagers, has been used by McFly and Bullet for My Valentine to engage with their fans. Artists have an avatar created that looks like them and then chat with their fans in a public room on the site in real time. Other artists, such as Oasis and Sean Kingston, have chosen Habbo to launch previews of new material.
'Everyone is talking about the demise of the music business, but it's really just the demise of big business in music,'' explains Shelley Taylor, the site's founder. "Digital has not, and will not, become the cure for what ails us. We also need to continue to deliver quality, for which there is no substitute.'' That Elton John and the Rolling Stones can command up to pounds 350 per seat at their concerts demonstrates the true value of a star performer. At the root of the music industry's transformation is a rediscovery, or a renewed appreciation, of the communal origins of music-making and listening. As MP3 players and online video have grown in popularity, so has an appreciation that music isn't just something that goes on between your ears.
Wired Decides: Zune or iPod This Holiday Season?
Hardware -The iPod has a nice 2.5-inch screen and a familiar and simple scroll wheel. But the Zune has a larger 3.2-inch, 320 x 240-pixel LCD, a full 0.7-inches bigger than the iPod classic's screen. Yes, the Zune's touchpad is quirky, but it's also elegant.
Content - iTunes is still king of content, but cracks are starting to show. It can't rip DVDs and the hemorrhaging of some content (Goodbye NBC) has blackened the eye of the once unstoppable juggernaut. The Zune marketplace has been re-designed from the ground up and features an ever-expanding library of audio and video content. 3 million songs and growing, all available on an affordable subscription plan.
Networking - iTunes syncing is seamless and quick (but not wireless) and there's no integrated FM radio. Sharing songs or "squirting" them to friends may sound disgusting, but it actually works pretty well. Unlike the iPod, no dongle is needed to listen to FM stations.
Hoping to broaden its relevance to the music industry in the face of increasing competition from other social networking sites, MySpace will roll out a suite of services and initiatives as part of what company officials are calling MySpace Music 2.0. But a new policy at Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's biggest record company, limiting full-song streaming on the site illustrates the challenges ahead.
The first hint of MySpace's music effort is Transmissions: The site (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.channel&Chann elID=115631898) features video of participating artists in the MySpace studios, performing select songs and conducting interviews, both of which MySpace has the exclusive rights to stream. Bowing to label pressure to start monetizing MySpace traffic that to date has been mostly promotional, MySpace will provide links for users to buy songs by all featured Transmissions artists. According to MySpace VP of marketing and content Josh Brooks, the idea is to create more opportunities for "instant gratification" music purchases. However, the company won't dictate how those purchases are made.
Universal Music Group in Web deal with Imeem
Universal Music Group on Monday said it signed an agreement with music-based social networking Web site Imeem Inc to provide free, on-demand streaming of its digital music and videos that will be supported by advertising. Universal, which is owned by French media group Vivendi, is the fourth major music company to strike a deal with the Web site, following Warner Music Group Corp, EMI Music and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture between Sony Corp and Bertelsmann AG.
Songza’s Free Internet Jukebox: Any Song Instantly
Songza is a music search engine that acts as a free internet jukebox. It locates songs posted on the net and lets you listen to them in their entirety and add them to playlists or blogs. To try it out, visit songza.com, choose the song or artist you wish and Songza will search for your request and play it. Its all presented via a clean, clutter-free design and transparent remote control ( play, share, rate and add to playlist). Unlike KaZaa or Bit Torrent, Songza does not enable unauthorized downloads of digital music files; users can only listen to songs, not obtain copies. And unlike Last.fm or Rhapsody, Songza permits users to choose exactly the song or artist they want to hear, and does not require them to subscribe or pay for the service.
Stars Are Aligning for Subscription Music
Now, changing consumer behavior is giving subscription advocates new hope. Members of the Facebook Generation are bombarded with music recommendations every day, and don't necessarily want to pay a buck to check each one out. And since people are used to getting e-mail, appointments, and news feeds streamed to smartphones and other devices, many industry watchers assume they'll want the same for music. "If I can access whatever I want whenever I want," says Ted Cohen, who led EMI's digital music efforts and now runs an entertainment consultancy called TAG Strategic, "why do I need to own it?"
Music Retail Bleeding Continues, Handleman Shows Declines
Music and entertainment retailer Handleman Company reported revenue and earnings declines during the recent quarter, an all-too-familiar result in the sector. For the company's fiscal second quarter ending October 27th, revenues dipped 4.5 percent to $315.5 million, and losses widened $6.8 million to $15.0 million. Those are movements in the wrong direction, and part of a larger bloodletting in music retail.
During its recent quarterly report, the company pointed to "lower music sales in the United States and Canada," as well as a severed relationship with distribution partner ASDA in August. The company also outlined losses from various "cost saving initiatives," and heavy charges from currency fluctuations. Additionally, Handleman incurred a serious loss related to a 2005 investment in London-based startup Blueprint Digital Ltd.
Universal Music Restricting Music Streaming On Certain Sites
Universal Music Group, the largest music label, has implemented a new online streaming policy for its artists: each song for its artists will be limited to either 90-second clips or full-songs that contain promotional voice-over messages, reports Billboard. Excluded are any online services that UMG has a commercial licensing deal with, which means it is getting compensated for each stream. The policy applies to MySpace (which UMG is suing for violation of copyright law) and others. The story says UMG is concerned that users won’t buy the track or album if they get free streaming of full songs.
Video games score headshot against DVDs this season
DVD sales are lagging and game sales are up. Something's gotta give, as they say. Retail shelf space is a finite thing in the world of brick and mortar, so each inch has to be maximized with product that is going to sell. As video games continue their rise, we're likely to see less and less shelf space given to DVDs, and more to video games and related merchandise.
Retailers don't have any loyalty to the DVD market; if they can make more money by stocking their shelves with video games and hardware, they will. With even 7-11 locations beginning to stock games for big launches, games could become the dominant product on the shelves of historically music- and movie-focused stores.
Bands and the net make sweet music The possibilities of the web are setting new challenges for the music business, says Barry Mansfield
After years of kicking and screaming, there are signs that the industry is coming to terms with the fact that the market has changed for good. The internet is now the stage where stars will be born and established artists can indulge their fans in the hope of sell-out crowds when touring.
With the launch of KylieKonnect (kyliekonnect.com) last month, Kylie Minogue became the first star to create a dedicated social-networking site. It allows her fans to create personal profiles, upload images and blogs, and communicate with other fans across the globe using their mobile phone or web browser. Similarly, Habbo (habbo.co.uk), one of the largest virtual worlds for teenagers, has been used by McFly and Bullet for My Valentine to engage with their fans. Artists have an avatar created that looks like them and then chat with their fans in a public room on the site in real time. Other artists, such as Oasis and Sean Kingston, have chosen Habbo to launch previews of new material.
'Everyone is talking about the demise of the music business, but it's really just the demise of big business in music,'' explains Shelley Taylor, the site's founder. "Digital has not, and will not, become the cure for what ails us. We also need to continue to deliver quality, for which there is no substitute.'' That Elton John and the Rolling Stones can command up to pounds 350 per seat at their concerts demonstrates the true value of a star performer. At the root of the music industry's transformation is a rediscovery, or a renewed appreciation, of the communal origins of music-making and listening. As MP3 players and online video have grown in popularity, so has an appreciation that music isn't just something that goes on between your ears.
Wired Decides: Zune or iPod This Holiday Season?
Hardware -The iPod has a nice 2.5-inch screen and a familiar and simple scroll wheel. But the Zune has a larger 3.2-inch, 320 x 240-pixel LCD, a full 0.7-inches bigger than the iPod classic's screen. Yes, the Zune's touchpad is quirky, but it's also elegant.
Content - iTunes is still king of content, but cracks are starting to show. It can't rip DVDs and the hemorrhaging of some content (Goodbye NBC) has blackened the eye of the once unstoppable juggernaut. The Zune marketplace has been re-designed from the ground up and features an ever-expanding library of audio and video content. 3 million songs and growing, all available on an affordable subscription plan.
Networking - iTunes syncing is seamless and quick (but not wireless) and there's no integrated FM radio. Sharing songs or "squirting" them to friends may sound disgusting, but it actually works pretty well. Unlike the iPod, no dongle is needed to listen to FM stations.
Friday, December 7, 2007
snapshot 12/07/07
Keith Richards reissues rare single on iTunes
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is reissuing his 1978 solo single "Run Rudolph Run" on iTunes just in time for the holidays, his spokeswoman said on Thursday. The tune, popularized by Chuck Berry, will be sold on a two-for-one basis with Richards' more-recent rendition of Toots and the Maytals' "Pressure Drop."
SmugMug adds HD, iPod video sharing
Online media sharing site SmugMug today rolled out a major upgrade that provides an edge over Flickr and other media sharing sites, including .Mac. The site is now one of the first to provide both photos as well as HD video: users can upload QuickTime-ready video up to 720p (1280x720) that can be played at native resolution. High-resolution videos are automatically downsampled for extra editions that will scale properly for DVD players and iPods; the iPhone and iPod touch are supported as well and now play video directly from the website, SmugMug says.
Xbox, Gamefly beef up music offerings
As record stores stock fewer music CDs, the music industry is turning to video games as an alternative method of distribution. Both Microsoft, developer of the Xbox 360 game console, and online game rental service GameFly introduced new music initiatives. Microsoft has added downloadable music videos from Sony BMG to the Xbox Live Marketplace. Free promotional videos have been available on the platform since its November 2005 launch, but the new iteration adds a pay-to-download option featuring a far greater catalog.
Meanwhile, GameFly has begun giving away five digital downloaded tracks a month to members of the online game rental service. GameFly and partner Brandracket--a music licensing and marketing agency--will select the five songs. Anyone visiting the GameFly Web site will get one of the songs, while only subscribers can access the other four.
Research Study: iTunes Video Failing To Duplicate Music Success
Forrester Research, Inc has released a new research study that is critical of Apple's iTunes video attempts, and states there is room for competition in the industry.
The iTunes video experiment of selling TV shows for $1.99 and movies for upwards of $9.99 — although a great service to the 4% of online adults who regularly buy video on iTunes — is not a mainstream model. Importantly, it won’t translate into what Apple really wants: increased demand for sophisticated hardware like the iPod touch and Apple TV.
Kadoink dials up music over the phone
A carrier-agnostic platform for sending music over the phone, has launched a beta in the United States. If it all works out, it could convert the cell phone into a music promotional tool. Kadoink says it gives fans "the ability to evangelize their favorite band or new music...instantly to their own group of friends through the phone."
Bands reach out and touch fans through Kadoink by uploading audio files to the site's servers. These files can then be placed in a widget that is embeddable in any web page, including social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook. From there, fans can send the audio files to as many as a thousand numbers in what Kadoink calls a "blast." Senders have the additional option of adding his or her own personal introduction, so that unspecting recipients aren't caught off guard. Since these messages are sent as a regular voice call, Kadoink's service works on any mobile phone and does not require any additional client to be downloaded.
Nabbr Launches Player With Content From Majors. Grabs More Funding
Widget promotion network Nabbr has announced agreements with all four major record labels, to launch the Nabbr New Music Player. Each week 10 videos will be featured, allowing the 41 million monthly visitors to Nabbr's network of 180 sites to embed a video’s individual widget or the entire program into their social network profiles.
Watching full-length TV programs on Internet increasingly popular
Watching a favorite show you missed on television on the Internet is increasingly popular, two recent studies show. Horowitz Associates found that 16 percent of high-speed Internet users watched at least one full-length TV program online during a week, double the number from last year. Horowitz just released its report: Broadband Content and Services 2007. (Online Media Daily account.)
The Nielsen Company found that 25 percent of the 1,599 Americans surveyed in October have watched full episodes of a TV program in the past three months. (New York Times.)
Amazon vs. Wal-Mart: MP3 Store Showdown Before iTunes Final Battle
Now that EMI and Universal have seen the light and started offering music in DRM-free MP3 format—and according to well-founded rumors, Sony and Warner are also exploring a DRM-free launch in 2008—online music stores finally have the means to get iPod-friendly and take on iTunes. As you know, iTunes only offers AAC files, a small fraction of which are DRM free, so Amazon and Wal-Mart have launched MP3 stores to lure people looking to buy their newly-freed tunes elsewhere. So, iTunes defectors, where should you go? Into the familiar embrace of Amazon, or into the hairy, bologna-scented arms of Wal-Mart? I took them both for a spin, and made the call.
How do the prices compare between the sites? Well, from my unscientific sampling, Amazon seems to be the cheaper choice. All of Nirvana's albums, for example, are $9.22 on Wal-Mart, and that's for the censored versions. The listings for the uncensored versions all say "Not available for download. Buy this on CD from Walmart.com." No, no I won't.
Other price discrepancies include Air's Pocket Symphony ($8.99 on Amazon, $9.22 on Wal-Mart), Broken Social Scene's self-titled album ($7.99 on amazon, $9.44 on Wal-Mart), and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane ($8.97 on Amazon, $9.22 on Wal-Mart). More often than not, the prices are better on Amazon.
And a lot of albums that are on Amazon aren't available at all on Wal-Mart. Boxer by The National? Nope, no albums from The National at all on Wal-Mart, nor of Smog. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel, Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem and Horn of Plenty by Grizzly Bear are all available on Amazon and missing from Wal-Mart as well.
You've also got to be careful, because some albums available on Amazon in MP3 are only available on Wal-Mart's site in locked-down 128kbps WMA. Wal-Mart does have the decency to state whether or not a track "Plays on iPod," though, so you're cool if you pay attention. See the Band of Horses' Cease to Begin example here:
Praising Amazon over Wal-Mart isn't the same as saying Amazon's selection is amazing. A lot of times they don't have the complete catalog of an artist (Grizzly Bear's newer Yellow House isn't available on either, for example). And obviously you won't find anything from Sony or Warner on there.
But by and large, the selection on Amazon, especially of independent label artists, is clearly superior to Wal-Mart's. And not having to deal with WMA results mixed in with your MP3 searches is much better. The Amazon version feels a bit more elegant to me, but it really is a personal preference: in terms of functionality, neither one really beats the other.
Wal-Mart also has a program for downloading songs that requires a scary ActiveX script to install—and yes, unlike Amazon's, this thing is only available to Windows XP and Vista PC users. No Macs allowed. The Download Manager is harder to install too, with IE fighting you every step of the way to get it running.
It works a lot like Amazon's program, hiding in your task bar and waiting to be loaded up with songs by the site, but there are fewer preferences. I couldn't even find an option letting me pick a download destination. It only gives you an option to add it to your Windows Media Library, which is useless to me, but later I discovered a "Wal-Mart Purchased Media" playlist in iTunes. When it finishes, it gives you the option to play the song, which if you do opens the song in Windows Media Player regardless of what your default MP3 player is. Worst of all, I had to search for the location of the downloaded file itself. It ended up in My Documents/My Music/Downloads/Artist/Album, again, totally pointless for my purposes. Not having the ability to select a destination folder is bad design; not telling people where to find their freshly paid-for music is idiotic.
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is reissuing his 1978 solo single "Run Rudolph Run" on iTunes just in time for the holidays, his spokeswoman said on Thursday. The tune, popularized by Chuck Berry, will be sold on a two-for-one basis with Richards' more-recent rendition of Toots and the Maytals' "Pressure Drop."
SmugMug adds HD, iPod video sharing
Online media sharing site SmugMug today rolled out a major upgrade that provides an edge over Flickr and other media sharing sites, including .Mac. The site is now one of the first to provide both photos as well as HD video: users can upload QuickTime-ready video up to 720p (1280x720) that can be played at native resolution. High-resolution videos are automatically downsampled for extra editions that will scale properly for DVD players and iPods; the iPhone and iPod touch are supported as well and now play video directly from the website, SmugMug says.
Xbox, Gamefly beef up music offerings
As record stores stock fewer music CDs, the music industry is turning to video games as an alternative method of distribution. Both Microsoft, developer of the Xbox 360 game console, and online game rental service GameFly introduced new music initiatives. Microsoft has added downloadable music videos from Sony BMG to the Xbox Live Marketplace. Free promotional videos have been available on the platform since its November 2005 launch, but the new iteration adds a pay-to-download option featuring a far greater catalog.
Meanwhile, GameFly has begun giving away five digital downloaded tracks a month to members of the online game rental service. GameFly and partner Brandracket--a music licensing and marketing agency--will select the five songs. Anyone visiting the GameFly Web site will get one of the songs, while only subscribers can access the other four.
Research Study: iTunes Video Failing To Duplicate Music Success
Forrester Research, Inc has released a new research study that is critical of Apple's iTunes video attempts, and states there is room for competition in the industry.
The iTunes video experiment of selling TV shows for $1.99 and movies for upwards of $9.99 — although a great service to the 4% of online adults who regularly buy video on iTunes — is not a mainstream model. Importantly, it won’t translate into what Apple really wants: increased demand for sophisticated hardware like the iPod touch and Apple TV.
Kadoink dials up music over the phone
A carrier-agnostic platform for sending music over the phone, has launched a beta in the United States. If it all works out, it could convert the cell phone into a music promotional tool. Kadoink says it gives fans "the ability to evangelize their favorite band or new music...instantly to their own group of friends through the phone."
Bands reach out and touch fans through Kadoink by uploading audio files to the site's servers. These files can then be placed in a widget that is embeddable in any web page, including social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook. From there, fans can send the audio files to as many as a thousand numbers in what Kadoink calls a "blast." Senders have the additional option of adding his or her own personal introduction, so that unspecting recipients aren't caught off guard. Since these messages are sent as a regular voice call, Kadoink's service works on any mobile phone and does not require any additional client to be downloaded.
Nabbr Launches Player With Content From Majors. Grabs More Funding
Widget promotion network Nabbr has announced agreements with all four major record labels, to launch the Nabbr New Music Player. Each week 10 videos will be featured, allowing the 41 million monthly visitors to Nabbr's network of 180 sites to embed a video’s individual widget or the entire program into their social network profiles.
Watching full-length TV programs on Internet increasingly popular
Watching a favorite show you missed on television on the Internet is increasingly popular, two recent studies show. Horowitz Associates found that 16 percent of high-speed Internet users watched at least one full-length TV program online during a week, double the number from last year. Horowitz just released its report: Broadband Content and Services 2007. (Online Media Daily account.)
The Nielsen Company found that 25 percent of the 1,599 Americans surveyed in October have watched full episodes of a TV program in the past three months. (New York Times.)
Amazon vs. Wal-Mart: MP3 Store Showdown Before iTunes Final Battle
Now that EMI and Universal have seen the light and started offering music in DRM-free MP3 format—and according to well-founded rumors, Sony and Warner are also exploring a DRM-free launch in 2008—online music stores finally have the means to get iPod-friendly and take on iTunes. As you know, iTunes only offers AAC files, a small fraction of which are DRM free, so Amazon and Wal-Mart have launched MP3 stores to lure people looking to buy their newly-freed tunes elsewhere. So, iTunes defectors, where should you go? Into the familiar embrace of Amazon, or into the hairy, bologna-scented arms of Wal-Mart? I took them both for a spin, and made the call.
How do the prices compare between the sites? Well, from my unscientific sampling, Amazon seems to be the cheaper choice. All of Nirvana's albums, for example, are $9.22 on Wal-Mart, and that's for the censored versions. The listings for the uncensored versions all say "Not available for download. Buy this on CD from Walmart.com." No, no I won't.
Other price discrepancies include Air's Pocket Symphony ($8.99 on Amazon, $9.22 on Wal-Mart), Broken Social Scene's self-titled album ($7.99 on amazon, $9.44 on Wal-Mart), and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane ($8.97 on Amazon, $9.22 on Wal-Mart). More often than not, the prices are better on Amazon.
And a lot of albums that are on Amazon aren't available at all on Wal-Mart. Boxer by The National? Nope, no albums from The National at all on Wal-Mart, nor of Smog. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel, Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem and Horn of Plenty by Grizzly Bear are all available on Amazon and missing from Wal-Mart as well.
You've also got to be careful, because some albums available on Amazon in MP3 are only available on Wal-Mart's site in locked-down 128kbps WMA. Wal-Mart does have the decency to state whether or not a track "Plays on iPod," though, so you're cool if you pay attention. See the Band of Horses' Cease to Begin example here:
Praising Amazon over Wal-Mart isn't the same as saying Amazon's selection is amazing. A lot of times they don't have the complete catalog of an artist (Grizzly Bear's newer Yellow House isn't available on either, for example). And obviously you won't find anything from Sony or Warner on there.
But by and large, the selection on Amazon, especially of independent label artists, is clearly superior to Wal-Mart's. And not having to deal with WMA results mixed in with your MP3 searches is much better. The Amazon version feels a bit more elegant to me, but it really is a personal preference: in terms of functionality, neither one really beats the other.
Wal-Mart also has a program for downloading songs that requires a scary ActiveX script to install—and yes, unlike Amazon's, this thing is only available to Windows XP and Vista PC users. No Macs allowed. The Download Manager is harder to install too, with IE fighting you every step of the way to get it running.
It works a lot like Amazon's program, hiding in your task bar and waiting to be loaded up with songs by the site, but there are fewer preferences. I couldn't even find an option letting me pick a download destination. It only gives you an option to add it to your Windows Media Library, which is useless to me, but later I discovered a "Wal-Mart Purchased Media" playlist in iTunes. When it finishes, it gives you the option to play the song, which if you do opens the song in Windows Media Player regardless of what your default MP3 player is. Worst of all, I had to search for the location of the downloaded file itself. It ended up in My Documents/My Music/Downloads/Artist/Album, again, totally pointless for my purposes. Not having the ability to select a destination folder is bad design; not telling people where to find their freshly paid-for music is idiotic.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
snapshot 12/6/07
Slacker Portable Player Delayed Again
The debut of Slacker’s Digital Audio Player has been officially delayed until January 31st, 2008. According to an email received by customers who have pre-ordered, Slacker has rescheduled the ship date of its Wi-Fi-enabled, streaming portable to 2008 “in order to deliver the best possible player.”
This is not a good sign. The player was originally supposed to bow last summer, then got pushed to Fall 2007. When that come and went, the concern issued a firm December 13th delivery date — just in time for the holidaze. Now with this important target missed, the investors have got to be asking themselves, “why did I think this was a good idea?” Customers can opt to wait it out for another six weeks or can cancel their orders.
Digital distribution isn't free
For many people who paid for print publications, including newspapers, magazines, and books, a significant part of the value was in the distribution. That DOESN'T mean people don't value the content anymore. It means that the value of having it delivered to their doorstep every morning, or having it show up in their mailbox, or carrying it with them on a plane -- in print -- has CHANGED because of the availability of digital distribution as an alternative.
The problem for people who sell printed content is that the value of the distribution and the value of the content itself was always deeply intertwined -- now it's separable. People ARE willing to pay for certain digital content, but they AREN’T willing to pay for the distribution — specifically, not the analogue distribution premium.
Will Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” Finally Debut On iTunes?
Radiohead’s management is reportedly in discussions with Apple over releasing “In Rainbows” on iTunes. Earlier both sides were at a standstill over Apple’s insistence that Radiohead’s latest release be available as a la carte downloads, and not album-only.
The British alt rockers’ EMI catalog is still not available from the world’s largest online music store because of the band’s assertion that its albums remain complete. An Apple/Radiohead deal with would require a shift in position from one of the parties. But who will blink first is unknown.
7Digital Gets Agressive With Pricing & Features. US Launch Appears Imminent
UK digital retailer 7Digital is pushing aggressive pricing as well as new features and alliances designed to challenge iTunes and other retailers. The online retailer smartly sells content in whatever format is available leaving fewer holes in its catalog, but now offering more than 70% of it'S 3.5 million track catalog DRM free. New pricing lowers some album downloads to 5 Pounds Sterling (or 10 pence per track) and single track prices are 50 pence. Both prices are far below iTunes' 79 pence pricing. 7Digital features include:
The debut of Slacker’s Digital Audio Player has been officially delayed until January 31st, 2008. According to an email received by customers who have pre-ordered, Slacker has rescheduled the ship date of its Wi-Fi-enabled, streaming portable to 2008 “in order to deliver the best possible player.”
This is not a good sign. The player was originally supposed to bow last summer, then got pushed to Fall 2007. When that come and went, the concern issued a firm December 13th delivery date — just in time for the holidaze. Now with this important target missed, the investors have got to be asking themselves, “why did I think this was a good idea?” Customers can opt to wait it out for another six weeks or can cancel their orders.
Digital distribution isn't free
For many people who paid for print publications, including newspapers, magazines, and books, a significant part of the value was in the distribution. That DOESN'T mean people don't value the content anymore. It means that the value of having it delivered to their doorstep every morning, or having it show up in their mailbox, or carrying it with them on a plane -- in print -- has CHANGED because of the availability of digital distribution as an alternative.
The problem for people who sell printed content is that the value of the distribution and the value of the content itself was always deeply intertwined -- now it's separable. People ARE willing to pay for certain digital content, but they AREN’T willing to pay for the distribution — specifically, not the analogue distribution premium.
Will Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” Finally Debut On iTunes?
Radiohead’s management is reportedly in discussions with Apple over releasing “In Rainbows” on iTunes. Earlier both sides were at a standstill over Apple’s insistence that Radiohead’s latest release be available as a la carte downloads, and not album-only.
The British alt rockers’ EMI catalog is still not available from the world’s largest online music store because of the band’s assertion that its albums remain complete. An Apple/Radiohead deal with would require a shift in position from one of the parties. But who will blink first is unknown.
7Digital Gets Agressive With Pricing & Features. US Launch Appears Imminent
UK digital retailer 7Digital is pushing aggressive pricing as well as new features and alliances designed to challenge iTunes and other retailers. The online retailer smartly sells content in whatever format is available leaving fewer holes in its catalog, but now offering more than 70% of it'S 3.5 million track catalog DRM free. New pricing lowers some album downloads to 5 Pounds Sterling (or 10 pence per track) and single track prices are 50 pence. Both prices are far below iTunes' 79 pence pricing. 7Digital features include:
- an open, web-based service that supports the iPod and all other players
- no subscription or download required
- browse by tags, genres and labels or an enhanced search engine
- a 7digital Locker provides access to personal collections from anywhere
- EMI’s entire DRM and DRM-free catalog in MP3 at 320kbps
- new exclusive video content for download
- Pan-European roll-out of the service in Q3 2007
MovieBeam to shut down on December 15
It hasn't even been a year since MovieBeam was sold by Disney to Hollywood Video owner Movie Gallery, but the service told customers this week that it will shut its doors on December 15. Some newer customers will be eligible for a refund on the hardware. Movie Gallery spent less than $10 million buying MovieBeam, a fraction of the $50 million it was recapitalized with last year after Disney spent a reported $70 million on the project. But this service has failed to achieve any critical mass, largely due to its high cost and unique delivery method that limited its ability to expand.
Grooveshark’s Having Another 29 Cent MP3 Download Sale
Just in time for holiday giving, download resale site Grooveshark is back with another 29 cent download sale. The sale runs December 5 - 12 throughout Hannukahand on December 25th Christmas day. Lots of hit and indie music with no limits and no strings (like DRM) attached.
Muze Surpasses 7.5 Billion Audio Streams
Muze Inc., a world leader in enabling entertainment commerce, today announced that the company’s digital music samples service, MuzeTunes®, had surpassed 7.5 billion music streams for their retail, mobile, and internet services clients. These streaming samples are utilized by more than 75 clients worldwide, including Amazon, AOL, CD Universe, House of Blues, Nellymoser, and Yahoo!, and are an essential aspect of music sales and services to consumers. Streaming samples enable consumers to “try before they buy” songs, CDs and digital albums. These samples are also used to link consumers to related works and artists which enables consumers to explore music on their mobile devices or on their personal computers and raises the average transaction values for Muze clients. When MuzeTunes is combined with Muze’s other media information search and discovery products such as MuzeMusic™, Muze Essential Artists™ or the Muze Encyclopedia of Popular Music®, the impact is even greater.
Live Nation rocks the music industry
The music business may be in turmoil, but Rapino couldn't be happier. He is the CEO of Live Nation, a two-year-old spinoff of Clear Channel that generated $4.4 billion in revenue in the past 12 months by running concert tours - more than any other outfit in the world - and owns venues large and small, like the House of Blues chain. The performance business is thriving, in oft-noted contrast to the selling of CDs, which has been buffeted by everything from the advent of file sharing to the disruptive effects of Steve Jobs' iPod (see "Power 25"). For years CDs were the cash cow, and artists toured to promote their albums. Today major artists make 75% of their earnings from touring.
Nabbr Secures Third Round Funding For Music Widget Marketing
Nabbr, a distributor of music videos via widgets, has completed a third round financing led by Allen & Co., a company representative said. The amount of this and the last two fundings were not disclosed. As we reported last July, music label S-Curve Records participated in its second round. In addition to Allen & Co. and S-Curve, New York-based Nabbr has attracted a number of new backers, including: Michael Wolfson, formerly of AOL and founder/CEO of Rocket Fuel; former Paramount Pictures CEO Jonathan Dolgen, president of Phoenix Pictures Arnold Messer; PrimaryWave Music Publishing founder Larry Mestel and former President of MDC Partners Steven Berns.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
snapsho9t 12/05/07
Nielsen to unveil Web piracy remedy: report
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nielsen is unveiling a new service aimed at ensuring that video distributed on the Internet is done only in ways sanctioned by its owners, the Wall Street Journal said in its online edition. The service -- which Nielsen is hoping to offer to media companies such as General Electric Co's NBC Universal, or the Discovery Channel -- could be announced as early as Wednesday, the Journal said.
Privately held information and media company Nielsen has already approached Google Inc and News Corp's Fox about the new service, the Journal said. The service, called Digital Media Manager, will be available in the spring, the Journal said. Digimarc Corp is its partner in the venture, the Journal added.
Christmas Release Schedule Raises More Sales Concerns
Major labels are not enjoying a fruitful holiday season, thanks to lukewarm post-Thanksgiving sales levels. But buying activity over the next few weeks may also be soft, and a release schedule thin on big-name, superstar releases may fail to generate heavy traffic levels.
Multi-platinum heavyweight Mary J. Blige (Geffen) is among the bigger names, though her album, Growing Pains, is not expected until December 18th. Among the others pushing holiday-quarter releases are Birdman (Cash Money), Wyclef Jean (Columbia), Godsmack (Universal/Republic), Too $hort (Jive/Zomba), Wreckers (Reprise), Daft Punk (Virgin), and Wu-Tang Clan (SRC), according a schedule recently published by Hits Magazine.
Those are well-known artists, though previous years have seen more potent rollouts. Meanwhile, bigger superstars have already pushed product into the marketplace, and will probably experience a bump over the next few weeks. That includes the Wal-Mart exclusive Eagles, as well as Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Chris Brown, Celine Dion, and Josh Groban. The soundtrack to High School Musical 2 is also expected to perform solidly.
Why Apple can't do to video what it did to music
From Hollywood to New York City, media executives have spent the last two years fretting that Steve Jobs could wreak havoc on the video distribution business the same way he upended the music industry. The hand-wringing can end; the Apple juggernaut won't be able to do to video what it did to music.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nielsen is unveiling a new service aimed at ensuring that video distributed on the Internet is done only in ways sanctioned by its owners, the Wall Street Journal said in its online edition. The service -- which Nielsen is hoping to offer to media companies such as General Electric Co's NBC Universal, or the Discovery Channel -- could be announced as early as Wednesday, the Journal said.
Privately held information and media company Nielsen has already approached Google Inc and News Corp's Fox about the new service, the Journal said. The service, called Digital Media Manager, will be available in the spring, the Journal said. Digimarc Corp is its partner in the venture, the Journal added.
Christmas Release Schedule Raises More Sales Concerns
Major labels are not enjoying a fruitful holiday season, thanks to lukewarm post-Thanksgiving sales levels. But buying activity over the next few weeks may also be soft, and a release schedule thin on big-name, superstar releases may fail to generate heavy traffic levels.
Multi-platinum heavyweight Mary J. Blige (Geffen) is among the bigger names, though her album, Growing Pains, is not expected until December 18th. Among the others pushing holiday-quarter releases are Birdman (Cash Money), Wyclef Jean (Columbia), Godsmack (Universal/Republic), Too $hort (Jive/Zomba), Wreckers (Reprise), Daft Punk (Virgin), and Wu-Tang Clan (SRC), according a schedule recently published by Hits Magazine.
Those are well-known artists, though previous years have seen more potent rollouts. Meanwhile, bigger superstars have already pushed product into the marketplace, and will probably experience a bump over the next few weeks. That includes the Wal-Mart exclusive Eagles, as well as Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Chris Brown, Celine Dion, and Josh Groban. The soundtrack to High School Musical 2 is also expected to perform solidly.
Why Apple can't do to video what it did to music
From Hollywood to New York City, media executives have spent the last two years fretting that Steve Jobs could wreak havoc on the video distribution business the same way he upended the music industry. The hand-wringing can end; the Apple juggernaut won't be able to do to video what it did to music.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
snapshot 12/04/07
Nokia in free music pact with Universal
Nokia Oyj said on Tuesday it has agreed with the world's largest music group Universal to offer free 12-month access to Universal artists' music for buyers of Nokia's music phones. The world's top cellphone maker said it has signed up Universal Music Group International, owned by French media giant Vivendi, for its new "Comes With Music" offering and is eyeing similar deals with other labels before the offer starts in the second half of 2008. Nokia said the new offering would differ from other packages on the market as consumers can keep all the music they have downloaded for free during the 12 month period.
MySpace may compete with record labels for distributing new music
The social networking site is looking to draw users by offering exclusive video and audio content from artists, and is offering incentives for those artists to, in effect, "sign with MySpace."
Universal Music Restricting Music Streaming On Certain Sites
Universal Music Group, the largest music label, has implemented a new online streaming policy for its artists: each song for its artists will be limited to either 90-second clips or full-songs that contain promotional voice-over messages, reports Billboard. Excluded are any online services that UMG has a commercial licensing deal with, which means it is getting compensated for each stream. The policy applies to MySpace (which UMG is suing for violation of copyright law) and others. The story says UMG is concerned that users won’t buy the track or album if they get free streaming of full songs.
Live Nation Teams with Costco for Ticket Sales
For the upcoming 2008 amphitheatre concert season, Live Nation is selling general admission lawn tickets at 263 Costco price club stores nationwide, as the company continues its push to grow its own ticketing identity before it splits with Ticketmaster. The deal with Costco marks the first time Live Nation has extended its ticket distribution channel into the national retail arena.
Called the Amphitheatre Concert Pack card, the pass retails for $39.99 and includes two general admission lawn tickets to any 2008 concert in amphitheatres owned and operated by Live Nation, subject to availability. In addition, music fans will get six MP3 downloads from the Live Nation music download page supplied by Puretracks, Inc.
MySpace Unplugged
Today, MySpace launched a new part of its Website called Transmissions that will feature candid session videos and recordings of musicians. The only thing on the page right now are a few session recordings from James Blunt and a video interview of him sitting at a piano. The page has a bunch of sliders like on a stereo equalizer that you can move around, but don’t seem to actually do anything. The level indicators are nice, though. Five songs for $14, though, seems a bit steep. (Songs are purchased through a partnership with Lala.com).
MySpace obviously wants this to become the MTV Unplugged for today’s music fans. Session recordings are perfect for MySpace because of their intimate nature and immediacy. Fans can get involved by leaving comments or going to the forums. Soon it looks like they will be able to vote for their favorite songs in each session, and request musicians to be featured in upcoming “transmissions.” This would be great for live performances as well.
Music Recommendation Service MyStrands Adds $24 Million to Second Round; $12 Million ‘07 Revs
Another huge raise for music recommendation engine MyStrands… the company has announced a $25 million investment led by Spanish Bank BBVA, which comes just six months after it raised $24 million from Spanish media mogul Antonio Asensio. Also participating in this round is previous investor Debaeque. All told, the company has now raised $55 million. The Corvalis, OR-based company offers its Social Recommender Engine, which can deliver context-sensitive recommendations to a user across a range of devices, including computers and mobile phones. In the release, the company claims to have already done $12 million in revenue in 2007. The company says the funding will be used for product development and business expansion. Release.
Mobile Music A $11 Billion Industry By 2011
Music delivered to mobile phones will account for almost 30% of global retail music values by 2011, according to a report released Tuesday. Understanding & Solutions has forecast that mobile music will bring in $11 billion by then and begin to make up for some of the decline in music revenues. The industry now accounts for about 14% of global retail music revenue, according to the report.
Hollywood Records Licenses DRM-Free, Starts Multi-Store Push
Hollywood Records is now spreading MP3s to Wal-Mart, Amazon, Passalong Networks, and other digital takers, according to details shared with Digital Music News on Monday. Marisa Kurtz, manager of Digital Sales at the Disney-owned record label, confirmed DRM-free releases from Atreyu, Marié Digby, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, as well as content from the Mammoth catalog. But the move does not include the iTunes Store, which has yet shift into a broader, DRM-free sales mode.
Black Friday a CD Sales Turkey, Broader Declines Continue
Despite a soggy economic backdrop, American consumers recently surpassed post-Thanksgiving Day purchasing expectations. The Black Friday rush, the beginning of the all-important holiday spending period, benefited from healthy crowds and loose wallets. That buoyed a number of segments, though CD sales were not among the winners.
For the week ending November 25th, which includes Black Friday, album sales (physical and digital) dropped 18 percent compared to the comparable week last year. And year-to-date, cumulative album sales are lagging 14.4 percent, according to figures published by Nielsen Soundscan.
MP3 Blogs Offer File Sharing Even the RIAA Could Love
Although the term "file sharing" has all sorts of ugly connotations, it's not necessarily a bad thing. In some cases, it's even a win-win-win situation for the recording industry, music lovers -- and Google.
There are countless MP3 file-sharing sites that don't look anything like BitTorrent or Lime Wire. They're low-key, homegrown blogs that don't host illicitly copied music, but do provide links to third-party sites, or storage lockers, such as Megashare, where pirated music is stored. These bloggers do it for the love of the music, they say, but it doesn't hurt that they make a little money from advertising along the way.
Nokia Oyj said on Tuesday it has agreed with the world's largest music group Universal to offer free 12-month access to Universal artists' music for buyers of Nokia's music phones. The world's top cellphone maker said it has signed up Universal Music Group International, owned by French media giant Vivendi, for its new "Comes With Music" offering and is eyeing similar deals with other labels before the offer starts in the second half of 2008. Nokia said the new offering would differ from other packages on the market as consumers can keep all the music they have downloaded for free during the 12 month period.
MySpace may compete with record labels for distributing new music
The social networking site is looking to draw users by offering exclusive video and audio content from artists, and is offering incentives for those artists to, in effect, "sign with MySpace."
Universal Music Restricting Music Streaming On Certain Sites
Universal Music Group, the largest music label, has implemented a new online streaming policy for its artists: each song for its artists will be limited to either 90-second clips or full-songs that contain promotional voice-over messages, reports Billboard. Excluded are any online services that UMG has a commercial licensing deal with, which means it is getting compensated for each stream. The policy applies to MySpace (which UMG is suing for violation of copyright law) and others. The story says UMG is concerned that users won’t buy the track or album if they get free streaming of full songs.
Live Nation Teams with Costco for Ticket Sales
For the upcoming 2008 amphitheatre concert season, Live Nation is selling general admission lawn tickets at 263 Costco price club stores nationwide, as the company continues its push to grow its own ticketing identity before it splits with Ticketmaster. The deal with Costco marks the first time Live Nation has extended its ticket distribution channel into the national retail arena.
Called the Amphitheatre Concert Pack card, the pass retails for $39.99 and includes two general admission lawn tickets to any 2008 concert in amphitheatres owned and operated by Live Nation, subject to availability. In addition, music fans will get six MP3 downloads from the Live Nation music download page supplied by Puretracks, Inc.
MySpace Unplugged
Today, MySpace launched a new part of its Website called Transmissions that will feature candid session videos and recordings of musicians. The only thing on the page right now are a few session recordings from James Blunt and a video interview of him sitting at a piano. The page has a bunch of sliders like on a stereo equalizer that you can move around, but don’t seem to actually do anything. The level indicators are nice, though. Five songs for $14, though, seems a bit steep. (Songs are purchased through a partnership with Lala.com).
MySpace obviously wants this to become the MTV Unplugged for today’s music fans. Session recordings are perfect for MySpace because of their intimate nature and immediacy. Fans can get involved by leaving comments or going to the forums. Soon it looks like they will be able to vote for their favorite songs in each session, and request musicians to be featured in upcoming “transmissions.” This would be great for live performances as well.
Music Recommendation Service MyStrands Adds $24 Million to Second Round; $12 Million ‘07 Revs
Another huge raise for music recommendation engine MyStrands… the company has announced a $25 million investment led by Spanish Bank BBVA, which comes just six months after it raised $24 million from Spanish media mogul Antonio Asensio. Also participating in this round is previous investor Debaeque. All told, the company has now raised $55 million. The Corvalis, OR-based company offers its Social Recommender Engine, which can deliver context-sensitive recommendations to a user across a range of devices, including computers and mobile phones. In the release, the company claims to have already done $12 million in revenue in 2007. The company says the funding will be used for product development and business expansion. Release.
Mobile Music A $11 Billion Industry By 2011
Music delivered to mobile phones will account for almost 30% of global retail music values by 2011, according to a report released Tuesday. Understanding & Solutions has forecast that mobile music will bring in $11 billion by then and begin to make up for some of the decline in music revenues. The industry now accounts for about 14% of global retail music revenue, according to the report.
Hollywood Records Licenses DRM-Free, Starts Multi-Store Push
Hollywood Records is now spreading MP3s to Wal-Mart, Amazon, Passalong Networks, and other digital takers, according to details shared with Digital Music News on Monday. Marisa Kurtz, manager of Digital Sales at the Disney-owned record label, confirmed DRM-free releases from Atreyu, Marié Digby, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, as well as content from the Mammoth catalog. But the move does not include the iTunes Store, which has yet shift into a broader, DRM-free sales mode.
Black Friday a CD Sales Turkey, Broader Declines Continue
Despite a soggy economic backdrop, American consumers recently surpassed post-Thanksgiving Day purchasing expectations. The Black Friday rush, the beginning of the all-important holiday spending period, benefited from healthy crowds and loose wallets. That buoyed a number of segments, though CD sales were not among the winners.
For the week ending November 25th, which includes Black Friday, album sales (physical and digital) dropped 18 percent compared to the comparable week last year. And year-to-date, cumulative album sales are lagging 14.4 percent, according to figures published by Nielsen Soundscan.
MP3 Blogs Offer File Sharing Even the RIAA Could Love
Although the term "file sharing" has all sorts of ugly connotations, it's not necessarily a bad thing. In some cases, it's even a win-win-win situation for the recording industry, music lovers -- and Google.
There are countless MP3 file-sharing sites that don't look anything like BitTorrent or Lime Wire. They're low-key, homegrown blogs that don't host illicitly copied music, but do provide links to third-party sites, or storage lockers, such as Megashare, where pirated music is stored. These bloggers do it for the love of the music, they say, but it doesn't hurt that they make a little money from advertising along the way.
Monday, December 3, 2007
snapshot 12/03/07
Digital developments could be tipping point for MP3
Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony BMG Music Entertainment are feeling increased pressure to follow EMI and Universal Music Group's lead in distributing music in the MP3 format, which forgoes restrictive digital rights management technology.
Labels said they have been watching the success of an MP3 test that Universal Music Group (UMG) began in August. The major label continues to allow the sale of 85 percent of its current catalog as MP3s. Sources said UMG is on the verge of permanently embracing that digital format. But a source close to the testing insisted that the decision is still up in the air while the company awaits conclusive results from the trial, which are due in mid-January.
Another factor driving the labels' decisions, sources said, involves mass merchant Wal-Mart alerting WMG and Sony BMG that it will pull their music files in the Windows Media Audio format from walmart.com some time between mid-December and mid-January if the labels haven't yet provided the music in MP3 format.
WalMart Goes Mobile
WalMart is getting into the mobile content business. According to Mobile Entertainment Magazine, the retail giant has launched a new WAP portal that will sell ringtones, images, games and more. Content aggregator PlayPhone is behind the portal, providing the technology and the content, while WalMart provides the brand and the marketing. One interesting element-artists that WalMart promotes in its stores nationwide will also get mobile exposure. For instance, WalMart launched the mobile service offering an exclusive $2 ringtone by The Eagles to match its exclusive on the classic rockers new album.
AOL uses Amazon for video sales
AOL on Friday scrapped its year-old pay-for-download service in favor of Web retailer Amazon.com Inc.'s technology for selling movies and TV shows online. Financial terms of the deal were not available, but Amazon said it will share revenue with AOL.
NBC Takes Its Shows Off iTunes And Goes Home
After a very public rift, NBC and Apple are finally kaput. With its contract now expired, NBC has taken all of its shows off iTunes, with the exception of some NBC news podcasts. The move was expected. See the list of TV networks featured on iTunes at right? NBC used to be right after National Geographic. Its absence leaves a very noticeable hole, and is a marked reminder of how Apple is not able to dominate digital video to the same extent that it has digital music. NBC will now distribute its own downloads NBC Direct, which works only with Windows machines.
The Digital Pricing Conundrum Part IV: The Loss of Resale
In a comment to Sub Pop records' recent announcement of the sale of digital downloads, one potential customer summarized the shortcomings of digital downloads relative to compact discs: But one difference wasn't mentioned -- the right to legally sell or trade a disc that you don't like or have simply grown tired of. (Or, to be cynical, one that you've already ripped to mp3, though ripping and then selling/trading a disc is considered a "fair use" no-no.)
Perspective: Flailing the latest digital whipping boy
Recently, Michael Eisner placed the economic woes of the entertainment industry at the feet of Steve Jobs and iTunes. According to Eisner, Apple has forced movie studios and television producers to execute deals that do not fairly compensate them for their content. Though Eisner has essentially called Jobs a bully, it is likely a case of seller's remorse. Eisner and his cohorts may have undervalued their content to participate in what, at the time, was the iTunes juggernaut.
The movie studios and television producers are to blame for the economic woes of their industry, not Jobs or Apple. When iTunes expanded to include video, the studios and producers were thrilled to have a means to deliver content on demand over the Internet to consumers and be able to be paid. Hindsight is 20/20, but in Eisner's case he may be looking back through cracked glasses. Some could argue that being able to deliver content through iTunes stemmed the tides, or at least slowed the currents, of BitTorrent and peer-to-peer delivery streams.
Fox-y iTunes in the works?
Pali Research's well-informed media analyst Rich Greenfield is reporting in a blog post this morning [reg. req.] that Fox is in negotiations with Apple to offer its movies via iTunes beginning early next year.According to Greenfield, Apple has apparently agreed to a modest increase in the wholesale price it pays the studios from roughly $14 per new release to somewhere around $15. That's still less than brick-and-mortar retailers pay for a DVD, but Greenfield speculates that Fox might be willing to offer them the Apple price if they agree to a no-returns deal.Greenfield also notes that Fox has recently begun experimenting with including a digital copy of a movie on the DVD for transferring to a PC or portable device for a premium price. Since the device most consumers are likely to want to transfer their movies to is an iPod, Fox has to reach some sort of accommodation with Apple anyway, which could form the foundation for a broader deal.
Live Music Revenues Could Exceed Music Sales
Two of the main trends in the music industry right now are the decline in music sales and the simultaneous increasing revenues from live music. Combine those two trends with the right data, and you can estimate when live music revenue will eclipse recorded music revenue, assuming current trends continue.
Movie fans saying "bah humbug" to DVD purchases has studios concerned
VD sales are still tanking—a trend that has been ongoing for some time now. This news isn't exactly shocking, but Natixis Bleichroeder analyst Alan Gould says that early fourth quarter results are bad despite a strong box office season. The nearly 30 percent reduction in per-film profits undoubtedly has movie studios worried, even though other movie-watching methods are growing in popularity.
A major movie would have been able to sell 20 million DVDs in the past, Gould wrote in a research note issued last week and recounted by ContentAgenda. Such is no longer the case, however, with top movies struggling to hit the 10 million mark. Still, Wall Street apparently expected this quarter's sales to do better than they did, "given the strong summer at the box office," wrote Gould.
Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony BMG Music Entertainment are feeling increased pressure to follow EMI and Universal Music Group's lead in distributing music in the MP3 format, which forgoes restrictive digital rights management technology.
Labels said they have been watching the success of an MP3 test that Universal Music Group (UMG) began in August. The major label continues to allow the sale of 85 percent of its current catalog as MP3s. Sources said UMG is on the verge of permanently embracing that digital format. But a source close to the testing insisted that the decision is still up in the air while the company awaits conclusive results from the trial, which are due in mid-January.
Another factor driving the labels' decisions, sources said, involves mass merchant Wal-Mart alerting WMG and Sony BMG that it will pull their music files in the Windows Media Audio format from walmart.com some time between mid-December and mid-January if the labels haven't yet provided the music in MP3 format.
WalMart Goes Mobile
WalMart is getting into the mobile content business. According to Mobile Entertainment Magazine, the retail giant has launched a new WAP portal that will sell ringtones, images, games and more. Content aggregator PlayPhone is behind the portal, providing the technology and the content, while WalMart provides the brand and the marketing. One interesting element-artists that WalMart promotes in its stores nationwide will also get mobile exposure. For instance, WalMart launched the mobile service offering an exclusive $2 ringtone by The Eagles to match its exclusive on the classic rockers new album.
AOL uses Amazon for video sales
AOL on Friday scrapped its year-old pay-for-download service in favor of Web retailer Amazon.com Inc.'s technology for selling movies and TV shows online. Financial terms of the deal were not available, but Amazon said it will share revenue with AOL.
NBC Takes Its Shows Off iTunes And Goes Home
After a very public rift, NBC and Apple are finally kaput. With its contract now expired, NBC has taken all of its shows off iTunes, with the exception of some NBC news podcasts. The move was expected. See the list of TV networks featured on iTunes at right? NBC used to be right after National Geographic. Its absence leaves a very noticeable hole, and is a marked reminder of how Apple is not able to dominate digital video to the same extent that it has digital music. NBC will now distribute its own downloads NBC Direct, which works only with Windows machines.
The Digital Pricing Conundrum Part IV: The Loss of Resale
In a comment to Sub Pop records' recent announcement of the sale of digital downloads, one potential customer summarized the shortcomings of digital downloads relative to compact discs: But one difference wasn't mentioned -- the right to legally sell or trade a disc that you don't like or have simply grown tired of. (Or, to be cynical, one that you've already ripped to mp3, though ripping and then selling/trading a disc is considered a "fair use" no-no.)
Perspective: Flailing the latest digital whipping boy
Recently, Michael Eisner placed the economic woes of the entertainment industry at the feet of Steve Jobs and iTunes. According to Eisner, Apple has forced movie studios and television producers to execute deals that do not fairly compensate them for their content. Though Eisner has essentially called Jobs a bully, it is likely a case of seller's remorse. Eisner and his cohorts may have undervalued their content to participate in what, at the time, was the iTunes juggernaut.
The movie studios and television producers are to blame for the economic woes of their industry, not Jobs or Apple. When iTunes expanded to include video, the studios and producers were thrilled to have a means to deliver content on demand over the Internet to consumers and be able to be paid. Hindsight is 20/20, but in Eisner's case he may be looking back through cracked glasses. Some could argue that being able to deliver content through iTunes stemmed the tides, or at least slowed the currents, of BitTorrent and peer-to-peer delivery streams.
Fox-y iTunes in the works?
Pali Research's well-informed media analyst Rich Greenfield is reporting in a blog post this morning [reg. req.] that Fox is in negotiations with Apple to offer its movies via iTunes beginning early next year.According to Greenfield, Apple has apparently agreed to a modest increase in the wholesale price it pays the studios from roughly $14 per new release to somewhere around $15. That's still less than brick-and-mortar retailers pay for a DVD, but Greenfield speculates that Fox might be willing to offer them the Apple price if they agree to a no-returns deal.Greenfield also notes that Fox has recently begun experimenting with including a digital copy of a movie on the DVD for transferring to a PC or portable device for a premium price. Since the device most consumers are likely to want to transfer their movies to is an iPod, Fox has to reach some sort of accommodation with Apple anyway, which could form the foundation for a broader deal.
Live Music Revenues Could Exceed Music Sales
Two of the main trends in the music industry right now are the decline in music sales and the simultaneous increasing revenues from live music. Combine those two trends with the right data, and you can estimate when live music revenue will eclipse recorded music revenue, assuming current trends continue.
Movie fans saying "bah humbug" to DVD purchases has studios concerned
VD sales are still tanking—a trend that has been ongoing for some time now. This news isn't exactly shocking, but Natixis Bleichroeder analyst Alan Gould says that early fourth quarter results are bad despite a strong box office season. The nearly 30 percent reduction in per-film profits undoubtedly has movie studios worried, even though other movie-watching methods are growing in popularity.
A major movie would have been able to sell 20 million DVDs in the past, Gould wrote in a research note issued last week and recounted by ContentAgenda. Such is no longer the case, however, with top movies struggling to hit the 10 million mark. Still, Wall Street apparently expected this quarter's sales to do better than they did, "given the strong summer at the box office," wrote Gould.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
