Borders explores sale, suspends dividend
Book retailer Borders Group Inc (BGP.N) on Thursday suspended its quarterly dividend and said it was reviewing strategic options, including the sale of some or all of its businesses, and its shares sank more than 30 percent to a new year low.
Mixwit - Make your mix tapes online
Making a mix tape with Mixwit is super easy. You can upload your own artwork for the tape skin, search for songs online and drag and drop them on the playlist you're creating, share by publishing it on Mixwit or even embedding on your blog or website. It's absolutely free too. We think you'll love it.
Inside Rock Band's New In-Game Music Store
An in-game music store will be added to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Rock Band with Thursday's big title update, Harmonix said. The store will free players from having to scroll through the clunky interfaces of the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace, and allow them to more easily find what they're looking for and preview tracks before buying them.
Sabotage: Safari bundled with WiniTunes
If you’ve downloaded iTunes for Windows, you might get a window encouraging you to download a software update — really the entire package — for the latest version of Safari. This seems a bit disingenuous and smacks of bundling and the only thing I can imagine is that iTunes needs some sort of Safari DLLs to visit the iTunes store. That, however, is fairly bogus because why not just offer a patch.
Nokia's "Comes With Music" now comes with EMI
EMI is looking to become the second major label to provide music to Nokia's unlimited subscription download service called "Comes With Music." Announced last December, Comes With Music would give owners of compatible Nokia handsets access to unlimited music downloads for one year. Universal was the first label to sign up at the time of Nokia's announcement, and EMI will be another welcome ally in the industry's renewed movement towards music subscription models.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
snapshot 3/19/08
Apple Working On A “Radical New Business Model”: Flat-Rate iTunes: Report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080319/tc_nm/apple_music_dc_3
This sounds similar to what Nokia, Omnifone and some others are working on in Europe: giving away music for free to users, and the handset/service providers pay the premium, only in Apple’s (NSDQ: AAPL) case the premium would be passed onto consumers. In easier language, also called subscription services...so much for the “a radical new business model.”
The FT story says Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is offering almost $80 per handset to music labels, divided according to their market share, to subsidize the service for users...and giving it to users for free. However, Apple has so far offered only about $20 per device, the story quotes sources and labels are balking at the lowball offer. There could be two variation of the business model, the FT story says: Subscriptions, which would work only for its iPhone devices, where it has a monthly billing relationship with customers, and a bundled-in model (markup on these devices) would work with iPhones and with iPods. Presuming that each of these would have different compensation models for labels.
DRM is added to Flash with new rights management server
With today's rollout of the Adobe Flash Media Rights Management Server, Adobe is unabashedly targeting a product specifically at movie studios, big corporations, and content providers anxious to protect their IP.
"Flash Media Server 3 has content protection for streaming video over RTMP. But the Media Rights Management Server protects video downloaded in FLV or MPEG4," said John Landwehr, director of Adobe's security solutions strategy, in a briefing for BetaNews "The DRM can continue to work even when you're playing back video offline." But to make this happen on a desktop or mobile PC or Mac, you can't use a garden variety Flash player. Instead, downloading content from the new DRM server requires installation of either the new Adobe Media Player or a custom video application running on Adobe's recently released AIR software.
Music functions off-limits to iPhone SDK developers
Any functionality related to music playback is inaccessible by the iPhone SDK, a new report claims. While the SDK allows access to many other functions of iPhone and the iPod touch, such as dialing, the camera and Internet access, The Inquirer writes that any components connected to iTunes are off-limits, preventing developers from accessing one of the most popular features of the phone, next to web browsing and Google Maps.
Apple has not spoken about the restriction, but it is suggested that this may be a way of blocking third-party alternatives to the Wi-Fi Music Store, which would undermine Apple's music sales. This may have the unintended side-effect, however, of stopping the creation of enhancements to music functions, such as native versions of the iLike or Last.fm plug-ins.
Apple could split device sales with music labels
As part of a deal to offer devices featuring preprogrammed music, Apple would have to agree to share sales revenue from the devices with the labels, says a source close to the deal. Cutting the labels in on iPod or iPhone revenue would mark a sharp turn in Apple's strategy. The deal being discussed by the labels and Apple calls for the company to license the music and also "kick in a piece of the device sales," said the source. The Apple device, which hasn't been determined yet, would come preprogrammed with a certain amount of music that after a period of time, perhaps six months or a year, would roll into a subscription type of service plan, the source said.
Songkick Debuts Live Music Recomendation Destination
Songkick scans the web, blogosphere and a user’s music library, and alerts users whenever a band that they like or may like is playing in their area. For every concert listed, Songkick provides one-click access to ticket vendors, providing convenient price comparison for music fans.
SanDisk launches Sansa Sessions -- music distribution by microSD, what else
SanDisk just dipped its toe into the digital content distribution waters with the launch of Sansa Sessions. Of course, this isn't an on-line storefront, it's flash-based naturally in support of SanDisk's core business. As such, the US-based program relies upon microSD cards to distribute DRM-free tracks of unspecified quality from more than 50 "emerging artists" on more than 30 labels. At the moment, the featured artists include All Time Low, Ladytron, Magnet, Nada Surf, Of Montreal and The Coup. SanDisk has tied a free, 55 track microSD "sampler" card (of el cheapo 512MB capacity, presumably) to the purchase of its 8GB Sansa Fuze MP3 player. While the $0 cost and DRM-free aspects of Sansa Sessions are certainly appealing to us, this seems best fitted as a record / artist promotional tool than it does a replacement for web-based or over-the-air music distribution.
Ebooks Catalog OverDrive Adds MP3 Audiobooks; Borders Signs On First
Ebooks distributor OverDrive is expanding its online catalog to include MP3 audiobooks, the company told us. Publishers who are participating in OverDrive’s audiobooks program include Random House Audio, Blackstone Audiobooks, Hachette Book Group and Books in Motion, among others. The MP3 titles, which naturally come without copy protection software, will be added to OverDrive’s existing catalog of roughly 20,000 DRM-protected digital audiobooks and over 100,000 eBooks.
Borders is the first bookseller to agree to sell OverDrive’s MP3 at its dedicated Borders Audiobooks channel. For Borders, this is one more initiative that it hopes will round out its website, which is concluding a digital overhaul by the end of this month. OverDrive’s audiobooks, however, won’t be available until May.
Starbucks caters to digital crowd with social-networking site
Starbucks has launched My Starbucks Idea, an electronic suggestion box where people can offer up their best ideas for making the already ubiquitous coffee retailer even more successful. You could say the company is as aggressive with its Internet campaigns as it is with its prices. There is Wi-Fi in the stores, they let you log onto iTunes to see what song is playing in the store and download it, let you use text messaging to find the nearest store, and they gave away free digital songs for a month last year. You can offer up ideas, vote on other peoples' ideas, and get feedback from Starbucks employees. The company says it will consider implementing the most popular ideas.
eMusic: Apple's bundled-music device would be anticompetitive
Apple is in for a fierce legal fight should it ever release a device that offers all-you-can-eat music, according to David Pakman, CEO of rival digital music service eMusic.
"It smells like classic Sherman Antitrust Act to me," Pakman said. "I only know what I've read but the plan sounds very similar to the tying practices Microsoft used with Windows/Explorer. And Microsoft is still paying the penalties for that one."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080319/tc_nm/apple_music_dc_3
This sounds similar to what Nokia, Omnifone and some others are working on in Europe: giving away music for free to users, and the handset/service providers pay the premium, only in Apple’s (NSDQ: AAPL) case the premium would be passed onto consumers. In easier language, also called subscription services...so much for the “a radical new business model.”
The FT story says Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is offering almost $80 per handset to music labels, divided according to their market share, to subsidize the service for users...and giving it to users for free. However, Apple has so far offered only about $20 per device, the story quotes sources and labels are balking at the lowball offer. There could be two variation of the business model, the FT story says: Subscriptions, which would work only for its iPhone devices, where it has a monthly billing relationship with customers, and a bundled-in model (markup on these devices) would work with iPhones and with iPods. Presuming that each of these would have different compensation models for labels.
DRM is added to Flash with new rights management server
With today's rollout of the Adobe Flash Media Rights Management Server, Adobe is unabashedly targeting a product specifically at movie studios, big corporations, and content providers anxious to protect their IP.
"Flash Media Server 3 has content protection for streaming video over RTMP. But the Media Rights Management Server protects video downloaded in FLV or MPEG4," said John Landwehr, director of Adobe's security solutions strategy, in a briefing for BetaNews "The DRM can continue to work even when you're playing back video offline." But to make this happen on a desktop or mobile PC or Mac, you can't use a garden variety Flash player. Instead, downloading content from the new DRM server requires installation of either the new Adobe Media Player or a custom video application running on Adobe's recently released AIR software.
Music functions off-limits to iPhone SDK developers
Any functionality related to music playback is inaccessible by the iPhone SDK, a new report claims. While the SDK allows access to many other functions of iPhone and the iPod touch, such as dialing, the camera and Internet access, The Inquirer writes that any components connected to iTunes are off-limits, preventing developers from accessing one of the most popular features of the phone, next to web browsing and Google Maps.
Apple has not spoken about the restriction, but it is suggested that this may be a way of blocking third-party alternatives to the Wi-Fi Music Store, which would undermine Apple's music sales. This may have the unintended side-effect, however, of stopping the creation of enhancements to music functions, such as native versions of the iLike or Last.fm plug-ins.
Apple could split device sales with music labels
As part of a deal to offer devices featuring preprogrammed music, Apple would have to agree to share sales revenue from the devices with the labels, says a source close to the deal. Cutting the labels in on iPod or iPhone revenue would mark a sharp turn in Apple's strategy. The deal being discussed by the labels and Apple calls for the company to license the music and also "kick in a piece of the device sales," said the source. The Apple device, which hasn't been determined yet, would come preprogrammed with a certain amount of music that after a period of time, perhaps six months or a year, would roll into a subscription type of service plan, the source said.
Songkick Debuts Live Music Recomendation Destination
Songkick scans the web, blogosphere and a user’s music library, and alerts users whenever a band that they like or may like is playing in their area. For every concert listed, Songkick provides one-click access to ticket vendors, providing convenient price comparison for music fans.
SanDisk launches Sansa Sessions -- music distribution by microSD, what else
SanDisk just dipped its toe into the digital content distribution waters with the launch of Sansa Sessions. Of course, this isn't an on-line storefront, it's flash-based naturally in support of SanDisk's core business. As such, the US-based program relies upon microSD cards to distribute DRM-free tracks of unspecified quality from more than 50 "emerging artists" on more than 30 labels. At the moment, the featured artists include All Time Low, Ladytron, Magnet, Nada Surf, Of Montreal and The Coup. SanDisk has tied a free, 55 track microSD "sampler" card (of el cheapo 512MB capacity, presumably) to the purchase of its 8GB Sansa Fuze MP3 player. While the $0 cost and DRM-free aspects of Sansa Sessions are certainly appealing to us, this seems best fitted as a record / artist promotional tool than it does a replacement for web-based or over-the-air music distribution.
Ebooks Catalog OverDrive Adds MP3 Audiobooks; Borders Signs On First
Ebooks distributor OverDrive is expanding its online catalog to include MP3 audiobooks, the company told us. Publishers who are participating in OverDrive’s audiobooks program include Random House Audio, Blackstone Audiobooks, Hachette Book Group and Books in Motion, among others. The MP3 titles, which naturally come without copy protection software, will be added to OverDrive’s existing catalog of roughly 20,000 DRM-protected digital audiobooks and over 100,000 eBooks.
Borders is the first bookseller to agree to sell OverDrive’s MP3 at its dedicated Borders Audiobooks channel. For Borders, this is one more initiative that it hopes will round out its website, which is concluding a digital overhaul by the end of this month. OverDrive’s audiobooks, however, won’t be available until May.
Starbucks caters to digital crowd with social-networking site
Starbucks has launched My Starbucks Idea, an electronic suggestion box where people can offer up their best ideas for making the already ubiquitous coffee retailer even more successful. You could say the company is as aggressive with its Internet campaigns as it is with its prices. There is Wi-Fi in the stores, they let you log onto iTunes to see what song is playing in the store and download it, let you use text messaging to find the nearest store, and they gave away free digital songs for a month last year. You can offer up ideas, vote on other peoples' ideas, and get feedback from Starbucks employees. The company says it will consider implementing the most popular ideas.
eMusic: Apple's bundled-music device would be anticompetitive
Apple is in for a fierce legal fight should it ever release a device that offers all-you-can-eat music, according to David Pakman, CEO of rival digital music service eMusic.
"It smells like classic Sherman Antitrust Act to me," Pakman said. "I only know what I've read but the plan sounds very similar to the tying practices Microsoft used with Windows/Explorer. And Microsoft is still paying the penalties for that one."
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
snapshot 3/18/08
Stats: iPhone/iPod browser share growing rapidly
The number of Americans browsing the web via the iPhone and iPod touch rose dramatically between December and March, according to StatCounter. The web tracking company reports that figures rose 64 percent in the period, from 0.14 to 0.23 percent of surfers; while the amount is dramatically smaller than that using desktop browsers such as Firefox or Internet Explorer, it is far in excess of some other cellular technologies, such as Nokia's. People browsing from Nokia devices represent just 0.01 percent of the US market.
LiveWire acquires Groove Mobile for $14.5 million
The all stock transaction calls for the purchase of every outstanding share of Groove, and gives LiveWire a larger presence in the mobile music download market. With the addition of Groove, LiveWire gains some large provider contracts like those from Sprint, 3 UK, and Bell Mobility, among others. The company's total presence will expand to 42 countries with about 15 million active subscribers.
R.E.M. pushes limits with Accelerate as record deal expires
The avant-garde fun doesn't stop there, either. R.E.M. has licensed several songs (no, I don't know which ones) to video games after squeezing Orange Crush into Harmonix/Electronic Arts hit Rock Band. Bertis noted that some licenses never get used, but that there's a good chance that we might see more of Michael Stipe and the gang on our Xboxes and Wiis. Also, iTunes seems to be treating the band very well because they're set to play a set in the world's largest Apple store next Wednesday, two days after doing the Albert Hall. "We're playing a lot of smaller venues to support this album," said Downs, "but this is definitely the only computer store on our schedule."
All of this speaks volumes about Warner's willingness to embrace the new realities of the entertainment industry. It's impossible to tell how much of this freedoms comes from R.E.M.'s Hall of Fame-worthy star power, how the impending contract negotiations factor in, and how open-minded the label's top brass would be without those factors. But it's a start. Would R.E.M. walk in Radiohead's footprints and go truly indie? Bertis simply said that the band is looking at all its options, and that the opportunities to make interesting moves are so plentiful that they have to say "no" to most of them. In other words, wait and see. Whatever happens, R.E.M. will make news—and waves.
The number of Americans browsing the web via the iPhone and iPod touch rose dramatically between December and March, according to StatCounter. The web tracking company reports that figures rose 64 percent in the period, from 0.14 to 0.23 percent of surfers; while the amount is dramatically smaller than that using desktop browsers such as Firefox or Internet Explorer, it is far in excess of some other cellular technologies, such as Nokia's. People browsing from Nokia devices represent just 0.01 percent of the US market.
LiveWire acquires Groove Mobile for $14.5 million
The all stock transaction calls for the purchase of every outstanding share of Groove, and gives LiveWire a larger presence in the mobile music download market. With the addition of Groove, LiveWire gains some large provider contracts like those from Sprint, 3 UK, and Bell Mobility, among others. The company's total presence will expand to 42 countries with about 15 million active subscribers.
R.E.M. pushes limits with Accelerate as record deal expires
The avant-garde fun doesn't stop there, either. R.E.M. has licensed several songs (no, I don't know which ones) to video games after squeezing Orange Crush into Harmonix/Electronic Arts hit Rock Band. Bertis noted that some licenses never get used, but that there's a good chance that we might see more of Michael Stipe and the gang on our Xboxes and Wiis. Also, iTunes seems to be treating the band very well because they're set to play a set in the world's largest Apple store next Wednesday, two days after doing the Albert Hall. "We're playing a lot of smaller venues to support this album," said Downs, "but this is definitely the only computer store on our schedule."
All of this speaks volumes about Warner's willingness to embrace the new realities of the entertainment industry. It's impossible to tell how much of this freedoms comes from R.E.M.'s Hall of Fame-worthy star power, how the impending contract negotiations factor in, and how open-minded the label's top brass would be without those factors. But it's a start. Would R.E.M. walk in Radiohead's footprints and go truly indie? Bertis simply said that the band is looking at all its options, and that the opportunities to make interesting moves are so plentiful that they have to say "no" to most of them. In other words, wait and see. Whatever happens, R.E.M. will make news—and waves.
Monday, March 17, 2008
snapshot 3/17/08
Indie labels take e-commerce into their own hands
With their digital download sites, a growing number of indie rock labels have begun to answer the prayers of fans who would love to hear long-out-of-print singles on their iPods or other mobile devices. Merge Records became the latest to join the field with the recent launch of its online emporium, which, according to label president Mac McCaughan, features "high-quality MP3s and full FLAC (free lossless audio codec) files of recent, older and out-of-print titles, including all the early Merge singles, as well as the Superchunk 'Clambakes' series." The store will also eventually host exclusive tracks, remixes and video content, in addition to the label's catalog.
Such sites can also help foster a new ethic of digital-song ownership. After a song is purchased at Seattle label Sub Pop's download store, launched in fall 2007, "you can log on to your account page and download it as many times as you want," director of technology and digital development Dean Hudson said. "We are also able to do things like automatically upgrade songs without any cost to the buyer once the song becomes available at a higher bit rate. And of course, all the songs are (digital-rights-management)-free."
More bands embrace the option of giving away music
The two latest bands to offer their new albums online for free are advancing divergent versions of the business model Radiohead introduced in fall 200 Where Nine Inch Nails' approach, like Radiohead's before it, draws fans in with free music and then offers additional music for purchase in more extravagant configurations, the Charlatans UK release doesn't seem connected to any such game plan.
California looks to tax iTunes, other downloads
Mirroring efforts by a number of other states, including New York, legislators in California hope to apply sales taxes to iTunes and other digital downloads, according to the Orange County Register. The tax would result in the price of a 99-cent song going up to $1.07 or more for California purchasers, while more expensive downloads would also increase by roughly 8 cents on the dollar. Digital downloads from Apple and other companies would all be subject to the tax requirement. However, the report notes that the legality of California’s proposed “iTax” has come into question, as Assemblyman Charles Calderon of Whittier is attempting to use an unconventional and likely illegal voting strategy to get it passed, circumventing the state’s requirement that two-thirds of the legislature approve of any new tax. Consequently, should Calderon’s bill be voted into law, it will likely face immediate enforcement and other legal challenges.
LimeWire DRM-free music store launches
The U.S.-only store currently has a catalog of 500,000 tracks, with thousands more to be added “daily”. All music is offered as MP3s encoded at 256 kbps and priced a la carte at 99c per track. Additionally, LimeWire is offering pre-paid plans similar to eMusic, ranging from $9.99 per-month for 25 downloads (40c per track) to $19.99 per-month for 75 downloads (27c per track).
Despite being at least six months in the making, the LimeWire music store is a purely Web-based affair and doesn’t yet tie into the LimeWire P2P client. On that note, LimeWire says that in the future it “will be releasing a version of our file-sharing software optimized for integration with the Music Store.” That way, LimeWire can begin to leverage its, albeit shady, brand recognition amongst music down-loaders in an attempt - like Napster before it - to develop a legitimate business in the onlooking eyes of the music industry.
Retailers clash with Pepsi over free music downloads
Pepsi is at odds with some of its biggest US retail customers over a national marketing campaign offering free digital music downloads from online retailer Amazon.
But the partnership has antagonised rival bricks-and-mortar retailers. Amazon's media and electronics business competes directly with Wal-Mart and Target, the two largest mass retailers, while its rapidly growing grocery business competes with major supermarkets. "You have to ask yourself why Pepsi would team up with a company that doesn't sell its products, and risk antagonising all the people that do sell its products," said a source at one retailer.
In an apparent response to retailers' concerns, Amazon's name has been banished from the front of Pepsi bottles carrying the promotion - rendering it invisible in supermarket aisles to passing shoppers. Similarly, Amazon's logo is on the back of cardboard multi-pack cartons of cans that are stacked on the shelves of mass discounters and supermarkets, next to the product's bar code and nutritional information.
Songkick Attempts To Rank Band Popularity
Songkick, a concert listings website, has introduced a new online application that attempts to rank a band’s popularity online. The site measures band popularity by gauging activity levels on MySpace, blogs and Amazon sales rankings.
The results are heavily swayed towards currently touring rock bands, but it’s entertaining to pit your favorite bands against each other. Unfortunately, the technology is somewhat clunky. In the battle of the bands chart above, The Chemical Bros. received a Zero in overall rank, which tells you something is amiss — but the concept is provocative.
Indie labels bypass iTunes, give digital sales a shot
So why are some indie labels ditching the cheap and easy distribution channels and doing their own digital distribution? "Money" and "shelf space" (or the digital equivalent of shelf space) are the answers. The money angle is simple enough: the label slaps up a store, offers its music for sale directly to fans, and splits all the profits with the artists. Steve Jobs doesn't get his pound of flesh.
Nor are the labels at the mercy of stores like iTunes, which choose which artists to promote. The blessing of a major retailer can be a good thing, as it is for artists like Feist who are lucky enough to appear in an Apple television ad, but it generally means that small acts won't be prominently featured on the iTunes Store. Unless buyers already know about these bands, they're unlikely to discover them through browsing. Building your own store solves this problem and allows labels to feature the bands they want, when they want.
But in the digital, long-tail era, such stores can succeed by targeting a niche fan base with exclusives, rarities, and out-of-print material. They can also cater to online buyers concerned about audio fidelity by offering lossless versions of tunes, something that the major stores don't even make available.
Music on the Web awaits non-techies
The shift to the Web hasn't caught on with people who, like Ms. Berry, feel that they don't have the time or the technical know-how to track new music online. But in fact, to reach casual fans, several Internet sites have developed easy, typically free ways for music lovers to cut through the clutter: music search engines, music-streaming sites and music-based social networks. Some musical artists are using these sites to connect with their fans on a more personal level, too.
Does This Latte Have a Funny Mainstream Taste to You?
In 2005, Starbucks looked like it was going to do for undiscovered music what it had done for the nonfat latte. The company decided to stock “Careless Love,” a CD of sophisticated pop-jazz songs by Madeleine Peyroux, who had attracted only a modest following in this country, plying her craft in small bars. Ms. Peyroux soon found herself at No. 81 on the Billboard chart, and has become a mainstay of jazz.
Starbucks was betting that its eclectic taste played to the upscale atmosphere of its coffee shops, where it enticed customers to pay $4 for their daily caffeine fix. And record companies saw Starbucks at the vanguard of a new class of unconventional sales outlets that could keep the CD alive in an age of digital downloads.
But the ardor for Starbucks has gone the way of yesterday morning’s grounds. Critics in the music industry say the company squandered its cachet by mismanaging the effort to broaden its music mix. The choices that reflect its early taste for the offbeat — like an album from Lizz Wright, a torchy pop singer — are now squeezed in with offerings not unlike those at Wal-Mart, including the latest releases from Alicia Keys and James Blunt. The shift has not been lost on some customers.
With their digital download sites, a growing number of indie rock labels have begun to answer the prayers of fans who would love to hear long-out-of-print singles on their iPods or other mobile devices. Merge Records became the latest to join the field with the recent launch of its online emporium, which, according to label president Mac McCaughan, features "high-quality MP3s and full FLAC (free lossless audio codec) files of recent, older and out-of-print titles, including all the early Merge singles, as well as the Superchunk 'Clambakes' series." The store will also eventually host exclusive tracks, remixes and video content, in addition to the label's catalog.
Such sites can also help foster a new ethic of digital-song ownership. After a song is purchased at Seattle label Sub Pop's download store, launched in fall 2007, "you can log on to your account page and download it as many times as you want," director of technology and digital development Dean Hudson said. "We are also able to do things like automatically upgrade songs without any cost to the buyer once the song becomes available at a higher bit rate. And of course, all the songs are (digital-rights-management)-free."
More bands embrace the option of giving away music
The two latest bands to offer their new albums online for free are advancing divergent versions of the business model Radiohead introduced in fall 200 Where Nine Inch Nails' approach, like Radiohead's before it, draws fans in with free music and then offers additional music for purchase in more extravagant configurations, the Charlatans UK release doesn't seem connected to any such game plan.
California looks to tax iTunes, other downloads
Mirroring efforts by a number of other states, including New York, legislators in California hope to apply sales taxes to iTunes and other digital downloads, according to the Orange County Register. The tax would result in the price of a 99-cent song going up to $1.07 or more for California purchasers, while more expensive downloads would also increase by roughly 8 cents on the dollar. Digital downloads from Apple and other companies would all be subject to the tax requirement. However, the report notes that the legality of California’s proposed “iTax” has come into question, as Assemblyman Charles Calderon of Whittier is attempting to use an unconventional and likely illegal voting strategy to get it passed, circumventing the state’s requirement that two-thirds of the legislature approve of any new tax. Consequently, should Calderon’s bill be voted into law, it will likely face immediate enforcement and other legal challenges.
LimeWire DRM-free music store launches
The U.S.-only store currently has a catalog of 500,000 tracks, with thousands more to be added “daily”. All music is offered as MP3s encoded at 256 kbps and priced a la carte at 99c per track. Additionally, LimeWire is offering pre-paid plans similar to eMusic, ranging from $9.99 per-month for 25 downloads (40c per track) to $19.99 per-month for 75 downloads (27c per track).
Despite being at least six months in the making, the LimeWire music store is a purely Web-based affair and doesn’t yet tie into the LimeWire P2P client. On that note, LimeWire says that in the future it “will be releasing a version of our file-sharing software optimized for integration with the Music Store.” That way, LimeWire can begin to leverage its, albeit shady, brand recognition amongst music down-loaders in an attempt - like Napster before it - to develop a legitimate business in the onlooking eyes of the music industry.
Retailers clash with Pepsi over free music downloads
Pepsi is at odds with some of its biggest US retail customers over a national marketing campaign offering free digital music downloads from online retailer Amazon.
But the partnership has antagonised rival bricks-and-mortar retailers. Amazon's media and electronics business competes directly with Wal-Mart and Target, the two largest mass retailers, while its rapidly growing grocery business competes with major supermarkets. "You have to ask yourself why Pepsi would team up with a company that doesn't sell its products, and risk antagonising all the people that do sell its products," said a source at one retailer.
In an apparent response to retailers' concerns, Amazon's name has been banished from the front of Pepsi bottles carrying the promotion - rendering it invisible in supermarket aisles to passing shoppers. Similarly, Amazon's logo is on the back of cardboard multi-pack cartons of cans that are stacked on the shelves of mass discounters and supermarkets, next to the product's bar code and nutritional information.
Songkick Attempts To Rank Band Popularity
Songkick, a concert listings website, has introduced a new online application that attempts to rank a band’s popularity online. The site measures band popularity by gauging activity levels on MySpace, blogs and Amazon sales rankings.
The results are heavily swayed towards currently touring rock bands, but it’s entertaining to pit your favorite bands against each other. Unfortunately, the technology is somewhat clunky. In the battle of the bands chart above, The Chemical Bros. received a Zero in overall rank, which tells you something is amiss — but the concept is provocative.
Indie labels bypass iTunes, give digital sales a shot
So why are some indie labels ditching the cheap and easy distribution channels and doing their own digital distribution? "Money" and "shelf space" (or the digital equivalent of shelf space) are the answers. The money angle is simple enough: the label slaps up a store, offers its music for sale directly to fans, and splits all the profits with the artists. Steve Jobs doesn't get his pound of flesh.
Nor are the labels at the mercy of stores like iTunes, which choose which artists to promote. The blessing of a major retailer can be a good thing, as it is for artists like Feist who are lucky enough to appear in an Apple television ad, but it generally means that small acts won't be prominently featured on the iTunes Store. Unless buyers already know about these bands, they're unlikely to discover them through browsing. Building your own store solves this problem and allows labels to feature the bands they want, when they want.
But in the digital, long-tail era, such stores can succeed by targeting a niche fan base with exclusives, rarities, and out-of-print material. They can also cater to online buyers concerned about audio fidelity by offering lossless versions of tunes, something that the major stores don't even make available.
Music on the Web awaits non-techies
The shift to the Web hasn't caught on with people who, like Ms. Berry, feel that they don't have the time or the technical know-how to track new music online. But in fact, to reach casual fans, several Internet sites have developed easy, typically free ways for music lovers to cut through the clutter: music search engines, music-streaming sites and music-based social networks. Some musical artists are using these sites to connect with their fans on a more personal level, too.
Does This Latte Have a Funny Mainstream Taste to You?
In 2005, Starbucks looked like it was going to do for undiscovered music what it had done for the nonfat latte. The company decided to stock “Careless Love,” a CD of sophisticated pop-jazz songs by Madeleine Peyroux, who had attracted only a modest following in this country, plying her craft in small bars. Ms. Peyroux soon found herself at No. 81 on the Billboard chart, and has become a mainstay of jazz.
Starbucks was betting that its eclectic taste played to the upscale atmosphere of its coffee shops, where it enticed customers to pay $4 for their daily caffeine fix. And record companies saw Starbucks at the vanguard of a new class of unconventional sales outlets that could keep the CD alive in an age of digital downloads.
But the ardor for Starbucks has gone the way of yesterday morning’s grounds. Critics in the music industry say the company squandered its cachet by mismanaging the effort to broaden its music mix. The choices that reflect its early taste for the offbeat — like an album from Lizz Wright, a torchy pop singer — are now squeezed in with offerings not unlike those at Wal-Mart, including the latest releases from Alicia Keys and James Blunt. The shift has not been lost on some customers.
Friday, March 14, 2008
snapshot 3/14/08
Rocker Lou Reed takes aim at new technology
Lou Reed is lashing out at new modes of audio technology, saying that "people have got to demand a higher standard" than current MP3 music files. In typically glib and dry-witted form throughout the wide-ranging 55-minute conversation, the bespectacled Reed bemoaned the current state of audio and other digital technologies, noting that "it's like the technology is taking us backwards. It's making it easier to make things worse.
"Here's our song reduced to a pin drop -- what, what, what?!" Reed explained. "It's like if no one knows any better or doesn't care, it's gonna stay on a really, really low level and people who like good sound are gonna be thought of as some kind of strange zoo animal." Reed did express some hope that "you hear they've got a newer version (of MP3) that sounds better, and you suddenly hear the other instruments that are on the song. They've got to bring up the standard. You have the world open to you now; you can get almost any song in the world as an MP3, and I suppose if you like it you can go out and try to find a version you can actually listen to -- if you like good sound. If you don't like good sound, none of this matters for a second."
Bebo Music Meets AOL Music (Or Something Like That)
The ink is still drying on the massive, $850 million buyout of Bebo by AOL. That means that integration details are largely unresolved, including those related to music. AOL Music is one of the largest stand-alone music portals, and it represents a very different animal than Bebo Music. Bebo officially started in 2005, the year that MySpace was purchased by News Corp. That seems hard to believe, though the internet is now crowning champions overnight. Still, the compressed timeframe means that Bebo's music strategy has developed more recently.
In the summer of 2006, the company opened dedicated band profile pages, and well-known names like Paramore, Rihanna, Dizzee Rascal, and 50 Cent are now among the most visited. In October of last year, the network reported a total of 700,000 profiles. Additionally, Bebo music fans can download the iLike application, which offers its own set of 200,000 profiles.
With the HD War Over, Why Aren't We Seeing Blu-ray Drives in Apple Computers?
Before we attempt to calculate what's at risk here for Apple, let's think about what the company has to gain -- or what they might THINK they have to gain – by delaying. Apple clearly sees a huge part of its future in content distribution including TV shows and movies. I can only guess that Jobs sees Blu-ray as a threat to that download business and this decision to delay Blu-ray deployment is an expensive stalling action, buying time for Apple to launch its own true HD alternative. Yes, you can download some movies from iTunes in 720p right now, but in the surging HD market 720p is no longer good enough. The obvious standard is 1080p and right now you need Blu-ray or BitTorrent to get that. Putting on my near-futurist hat, then, I'm guessing Apple is working madly to deploy its own 1080p download solution and is hoping the world will wait for it.
Lou Reed is lashing out at new modes of audio technology, saying that "people have got to demand a higher standard" than current MP3 music files. In typically glib and dry-witted form throughout the wide-ranging 55-minute conversation, the bespectacled Reed bemoaned the current state of audio and other digital technologies, noting that "it's like the technology is taking us backwards. It's making it easier to make things worse.
"Here's our song reduced to a pin drop -- what, what, what?!" Reed explained. "It's like if no one knows any better or doesn't care, it's gonna stay on a really, really low level and people who like good sound are gonna be thought of as some kind of strange zoo animal." Reed did express some hope that "you hear they've got a newer version (of MP3) that sounds better, and you suddenly hear the other instruments that are on the song. They've got to bring up the standard. You have the world open to you now; you can get almost any song in the world as an MP3, and I suppose if you like it you can go out and try to find a version you can actually listen to -- if you like good sound. If you don't like good sound, none of this matters for a second."
Bebo Music Meets AOL Music (Or Something Like That)
The ink is still drying on the massive, $850 million buyout of Bebo by AOL. That means that integration details are largely unresolved, including those related to music. AOL Music is one of the largest stand-alone music portals, and it represents a very different animal than Bebo Music. Bebo officially started in 2005, the year that MySpace was purchased by News Corp. That seems hard to believe, though the internet is now crowning champions overnight. Still, the compressed timeframe means that Bebo's music strategy has developed more recently.
In the summer of 2006, the company opened dedicated band profile pages, and well-known names like Paramore, Rihanna, Dizzee Rascal, and 50 Cent are now among the most visited. In October of last year, the network reported a total of 700,000 profiles. Additionally, Bebo music fans can download the iLike application, which offers its own set of 200,000 profiles.
With the HD War Over, Why Aren't We Seeing Blu-ray Drives in Apple Computers?
Before we attempt to calculate what's at risk here for Apple, let's think about what the company has to gain -- or what they might THINK they have to gain – by delaying. Apple clearly sees a huge part of its future in content distribution including TV shows and movies. I can only guess that Jobs sees Blu-ray as a threat to that download business and this decision to delay Blu-ray deployment is an expensive stalling action, buying time for Apple to launch its own true HD alternative. Yes, you can download some movies from iTunes in 720p right now, but in the surging HD market 720p is no longer good enough. The obvious standard is 1080p and right now you need Blu-ray or BitTorrent to get that. Putting on my near-futurist hat, then, I'm guessing Apple is working madly to deploy its own 1080p download solution and is hoping the world will wait for it.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
snapshot 3/13/08
Starbucks to release Simon & Garfunkel live CD
The Simon & Garfunkel live album originally due last September via Columbia/Legacy has been revived as a Starbucks exclusive, beginning March 25. A release to traditional retail outlets is expected in the fall. Live 1969" is drawn from previously unreleased recordings from Simon & Garfunkel's November 1969 U.S. tour, which turned out to be the duo's last for more than a decade.
Apple Researching Digital Video Recorder (DVR) Possibilies
A new patent application published by Apple today reveals that they have done considerable research into the possibility of an Apple-branded Digital Video Recorder (DVR). The Tivo-like device would offer the ability to tune into television channels, record and playback shows. The currently shipping AppleTV does not support any sort of recording or tuning functionality
Of most interest is that Apple appears to be looking into ways to integrate their iPod or iPhone into this experience. They describe and picture an iPod-like device that would dock to the DVR. Customers could then sync their recorded television content with their iPod and also select future shows to also be recorded from the portable device. Once syncing takes place the future shows are added to the DVR's recording queue and new shows are transfered to the iPod.
Live Nation in running for the Rolling Stones archives
Live Nation, the world's largest concert promotion firm, has emerged as a surprise bidder for the Rolling Stones back catalogue of hits as the band considers ending its relationship with EMI.
Partner Details Emerge on PushButtonMusic Initiative
More details emerged Wednesday on PushButtonMusic, a pre-loaded portable music concept scheduled for summer release. The idea, developed by Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) founders Hal Oppenheimer and Robert Uhlmann, was first tipped by Digital Music News earlier this week. Now, supporting partners are emerging. The team includes Javien, which will provide backend payment processing; and J. River, which is developing the PC-based media player and synchronization interface. Also in the mix is MediaNet Digital, which is powering the subscription content and offering catalog licensing.
In recent discussions, Oppenheimer also pointed to a roster of advisers, though specific names are not revealed. "This includes individuals with time spent at RealNetworks, MTV/Urge, Sony, RadioShack, major record labels, internet TV, MediaNet and large scale web-based projects," Oppenheimer described. Oppenheimer also clarified that MediaNet is handling all licensing details, though major labels are being consulted along the way.
Luxurious Fairmont Offers Pampered Music Downloads
Anyone staying at a luxury hotel can afford a music download, though even the elite surf with the riff-raff on LimeWire. But the Fairmont, known for its pampered inns, is now creating its own music download store. The guests-only destination, appropriately titled the Fairmont Music Store, will be unveiled at the Plaza Hotel in New York this spring. The store will initially carry music exclusively from EMI, which is the only major currently extending its catalog to the hotel without content restrictions. "As the only major music company offering its entire digital catalog in a premium, DRM-free, higher audio quality form, EMI is unique among major music companies in their ability to offer Fairmont customers music that will work on all music players and devices," the hotel group explained in a statement.
The Complete Guide to iTunes Tagging
Though support for the feature was added to iTunes 7.4, iTunes Tagging remains one of the least-understood expansions of the iPod ecosystem—arguably, for good reason. Developed by Apple and implemented in new iPod speaker systems by companies such as Polk Audio and JBL, iTunes Tagging enables an HD Radio tuner to record information about the currently playing track, save it to an iPod, and let the iPod’s user easily find that track in the iTunes Store for purchase.
Third Generation Zune in Fall 2009
There are some more interesting pieces of news from this article stating that the Zune Marketplace will hit mobile platforms on the upcoming Windows Mobile 7 OS. Could this be the start of a Zune Phone? My guess would be that is will not be a fully fledged Zune Phone but an intermediary step with music being a tight integration with Windows Mobile 7. Without a doubt we will see this new mobile Zune service in coming Sidekicks since Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Danger.
Widgets are great for musicians, and not so bad for businesses, either
Second, widget service provider Gydget has struck a deal with indie music marketer and distributor The Orchard, to distribute music through widgets on MySpace and other social networks. The site lets anyone create a simple widget that they easily put their social networking information inside of. For example, for bands on MySpace, Gydget’s widget lets them enter their user ID or profile URL, then it imports their images, events, MySpace blog and YouTube videos. After a band creates the widget, it can easily update the widget with new information, such as tour dates.
The company, which faces music-focused competitors like Splashcast, says that in less than four months, more than 800 “major” recording artists have started using its widgets, with more than 15 million people seeing these widgets each month.
The Simon & Garfunkel live album originally due last September via Columbia/Legacy has been revived as a Starbucks exclusive, beginning March 25. A release to traditional retail outlets is expected in the fall. Live 1969" is drawn from previously unreleased recordings from Simon & Garfunkel's November 1969 U.S. tour, which turned out to be the duo's last for more than a decade.
Apple Researching Digital Video Recorder (DVR) Possibilies
A new patent application published by Apple today reveals that they have done considerable research into the possibility of an Apple-branded Digital Video Recorder (DVR). The Tivo-like device would offer the ability to tune into television channels, record and playback shows. The currently shipping AppleTV does not support any sort of recording or tuning functionality
Of most interest is that Apple appears to be looking into ways to integrate their iPod or iPhone into this experience. They describe and picture an iPod-like device that would dock to the DVR. Customers could then sync their recorded television content with their iPod and also select future shows to also be recorded from the portable device. Once syncing takes place the future shows are added to the DVR's recording queue and new shows are transfered to the iPod.
Live Nation in running for the Rolling Stones archives
Live Nation, the world's largest concert promotion firm, has emerged as a surprise bidder for the Rolling Stones back catalogue of hits as the band considers ending its relationship with EMI.
Partner Details Emerge on PushButtonMusic Initiative
More details emerged Wednesday on PushButtonMusic, a pre-loaded portable music concept scheduled for summer release. The idea, developed by Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) founders Hal Oppenheimer and Robert Uhlmann, was first tipped by Digital Music News earlier this week. Now, supporting partners are emerging. The team includes Javien, which will provide backend payment processing; and J. River, which is developing the PC-based media player and synchronization interface. Also in the mix is MediaNet Digital, which is powering the subscription content and offering catalog licensing.
In recent discussions, Oppenheimer also pointed to a roster of advisers, though specific names are not revealed. "This includes individuals with time spent at RealNetworks, MTV/Urge, Sony, RadioShack, major record labels, internet TV, MediaNet and large scale web-based projects," Oppenheimer described. Oppenheimer also clarified that MediaNet is handling all licensing details, though major labels are being consulted along the way.
Luxurious Fairmont Offers Pampered Music Downloads
Anyone staying at a luxury hotel can afford a music download, though even the elite surf with the riff-raff on LimeWire. But the Fairmont, known for its pampered inns, is now creating its own music download store. The guests-only destination, appropriately titled the Fairmont Music Store, will be unveiled at the Plaza Hotel in New York this spring. The store will initially carry music exclusively from EMI, which is the only major currently extending its catalog to the hotel without content restrictions. "As the only major music company offering its entire digital catalog in a premium, DRM-free, higher audio quality form, EMI is unique among major music companies in their ability to offer Fairmont customers music that will work on all music players and devices," the hotel group explained in a statement.
The Complete Guide to iTunes Tagging
Though support for the feature was added to iTunes 7.4, iTunes Tagging remains one of the least-understood expansions of the iPod ecosystem—arguably, for good reason. Developed by Apple and implemented in new iPod speaker systems by companies such as Polk Audio and JBL, iTunes Tagging enables an HD Radio tuner to record information about the currently playing track, save it to an iPod, and let the iPod’s user easily find that track in the iTunes Store for purchase.
Third Generation Zune in Fall 2009
There are some more interesting pieces of news from this article stating that the Zune Marketplace will hit mobile platforms on the upcoming Windows Mobile 7 OS. Could this be the start of a Zune Phone? My guess would be that is will not be a fully fledged Zune Phone but an intermediary step with music being a tight integration with Windows Mobile 7. Without a doubt we will see this new mobile Zune service in coming Sidekicks since Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Danger.
Widgets are great for musicians, and not so bad for businesses, either
Second, widget service provider Gydget has struck a deal with indie music marketer and distributor The Orchard, to distribute music through widgets on MySpace and other social networks. The site lets anyone create a simple widget that they easily put their social networking information inside of. For example, for bands on MySpace, Gydget’s widget lets them enter their user ID or profile URL, then it imports their images, events, MySpace blog and YouTube videos. After a band creates the widget, it can easily update the widget with new information, such as tour dates.
The company, which faces music-focused competitors like Splashcast, says that in less than four months, more than 800 “major” recording artists have started using its widgets, with more than 15 million people seeing these widgets each month.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
snapshot 3/12/08
War against Web tops music biz "screw-ups" list
The talent scout who turned down the Beatles has long been credited with committing the music industry's biggest gaffe. But Dick Rowe's billion-dollar boo-boo has been beaten to the top spot on Blender magazine's list of the "20 biggest record company screw-ups of all time" by the failure of record companies to capitalize on the Internet.
The major labels took top dishonors for driving file-sharing service Napster out of business in 2001, instead of figuring out a way to make money from its tens of millions of users. The downloaders merely scattered to hundreds of other sites, and the industry has been in a tailspin ever since. "The labels' campaign to stop their music from being acquired for free across the Internet has been like trying to cork a hurricane -- upward of a billion files are swapped every month on peer-to-peer networks," Blender said in the report, which appears in its newly published April issue.
Handleman Company Reports Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2008 Results
Handleman today announced results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2008, which ended January 31, 2008. The Company also announced that it has entered into an amendment to its credit agreements that, at its request, is intended to provide sufficient liquidity to fund the Company's day-to-day operations through May 31, 2008. Handleman intends to use this three-month period to finalize its fiscal 2009 business plan and then revise the terms of its credit agreements based on that plan. Revenues for the third quarter of this fiscal year were $346.9 million, compared to $485.0 million for the third quarter of last year. The decline in revenue was due primarily to the termination of the Company's unprofitable music supply agreement with ASDA in the United Kingdom (UK) at the end of August 2007 as well as lower music sales in the United States. This decline was offset somewhat by an increase in higher margin fee-for-services and video game revenues. Operating income for the third quarter of this year was $8.0 million, compared to $7.8 million for the third quarter of last year. Net income for the third quarter of this year was $2.4 million or $.12 per diluted share, compared to $4.2 million or $.21 per diluted share for the same quarter of last year.
Are Carriers Crushing US-Based Mobile Music?
The US-based mobile media market has always been a giant step behind its European - and especially Asian - counterparts. But what is stunting growth in the stateside market? Plenty of factors are potentially in play, including awareness problems on newer music formats like ringback tones. But major cultural and consumer differences cannot be ignored. After all, Americans have the disposable income to purchase mobile media assets, just like they have the money to purchase expensive iPhones, subscribe to high-end wireless plans, and barrel though endless text messages.
That introduces the question of whether carriers are killing an early-stage media market by imposing heavy percentage demands. According to Chris Brunner, Vice President of Mobile Content & Services at Univision Communications, carriers are cramping entrants and innovation with heavy access percentages. "We do all of the marketing, branding, content creation, billing, and customer care, but we get less than the carrier does," Brunner explained to Digital Music News during the Mobile Monday symposium in Los Angeles. "40 percent goes to the carriers, without us ever seeing it."
.
Carriers see the issue differently, especially given the upfront, multi-billion dollar sunk costs associated with their networks. But Universal Music Group digital and mobile executive Rio Caraeff pointed to heavy differences between Asian and American carrier demands. "The average carrier revenue share for off-deck transactions in the US is 35-40 percent," Caraeff said. "It would be as low as 9 percent in Japan."
Are music graphics dead post-digital?
The music industry is set for massive upheaval, with digital distribution destabilising long-held business models. How will this affect the designers who create the all-important visual imagery? asks Adrian Shaughnessy
But Saint is critical of the way labels view digital work. ‘Their thinking is that if it’s digital it must be cheap. There almost seems to be a naive attitude that things should cost less when created for digital usage when we all know that in commissioning terms the cost and value remain the same no matter what the usage. Ethical photography, image-making or graphic design do not become cheaper to produce just because the end usage lives in a virtual medium.’
Amazon.com Music's First Ever "Live In-Store" Band Performance, Presidents of the United States of America
Mark your calendars! On Saturday, March 15, at 10pm PDT, the Presidents of the United States of America will be celebrating the release of its new album, These Are the Good Times People, with a performance at Seattle's Paramount Theatre, and we'll be broadcasting the show worldwide right here from our music blog. Be sure to tune in to catch this exciting performance.
Disney: 4 Million iTunes Movies Sold
Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that Disney CEO Robert Iger announced today at the Digital Hollywood Media Summit that the company has sold 4 million movies on iTunes since the movie store launched in 2006, along with 40-50 million videos.The site extrapolates that the total revenue from these sales is just under $123 million USD. Disney recently announced a $1 billion digital sales goal for 2008, which includes revenue from advertising online (i.e. ad revenue from online video viewing or from any of its sites), subscriptions to online games, downloads of movies and music, and e-commerce that is not related to its theme parks. For perspective, Disney had sold 1.3 million movies by February 2007 after 3 months of the iTunes movie store being in operation.
iTunes makes $570m
Although Apple has often maintained that the iTunes Store is a vehicle for sales of the iPod rather than a source of profit, the company may have earned $570 million in pre-expense income for 2007 alone, according to calculations by the music chart keeper Billboard. Using as a yardstick Apple's recent revelation that it had sold four billion songs since the store opened in April 2003, the publication estimates that Apple sold about 1.7 billion tracks last year. This amounts to more than just $1.7 billion, however: as stores in Europe and elsewhere often charge more than 99 US cents per track, Apple is more likely to collect $1.9 billion.
After factoring in Apple's roughly 30 percent direct earnings from every song sold, this leaves the Cupertino, Calif.-based company with about $570 million of its own versus the 70 percent left to the labels. The income doesn't translate to a similar amount in profit for iTunes. Apple has explained in the past that its portion of the song price is largely used by bandwidth and maintenance costs, though the company has never broken down its revenues in public statements.
Apple sued over foundation to iPod + iTunes franchise
ZapMedia Services, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc., claiming to have conceived the underlying principles of the iPod + iTunes franchise a full two years before the first iPod went on sale.
Report: gamers still hot and heavy for CDs, DVDs
Entertainment is big business and, while sales of physical DVDs and CDs are down, consumers are spending on video games in a big way. While conventional wisdom may say that more time and money spent buying and playing games leeches profits from other forms of media entertainment, a new report from the NPD Group says that gamers actually spend more money on non-gaming entertainment products, making them an important target for companies worried about withering sales.
"While it's true that growth was centered on gaming last year, core gamers—those who played video games daily or several times each week—still spent most of their entertainment budgets on non-gaming entertainment," the NPD Group states. "These consumers remain more likely to buy a DVD or CD than they are to purchase a new video game. In fact, 58 percent had purchased a new DVD in the past six months, 46 percent bought a CD, and 43 percent purchased a game for a console."
The talent scout who turned down the Beatles has long been credited with committing the music industry's biggest gaffe. But Dick Rowe's billion-dollar boo-boo has been beaten to the top spot on Blender magazine's list of the "20 biggest record company screw-ups of all time" by the failure of record companies to capitalize on the Internet.
The major labels took top dishonors for driving file-sharing service Napster out of business in 2001, instead of figuring out a way to make money from its tens of millions of users. The downloaders merely scattered to hundreds of other sites, and the industry has been in a tailspin ever since. "The labels' campaign to stop their music from being acquired for free across the Internet has been like trying to cork a hurricane -- upward of a billion files are swapped every month on peer-to-peer networks," Blender said in the report, which appears in its newly published April issue.
Handleman Company Reports Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2008 Results
Handleman today announced results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2008, which ended January 31, 2008. The Company also announced that it has entered into an amendment to its credit agreements that, at its request, is intended to provide sufficient liquidity to fund the Company's day-to-day operations through May 31, 2008. Handleman intends to use this three-month period to finalize its fiscal 2009 business plan and then revise the terms of its credit agreements based on that plan. Revenues for the third quarter of this fiscal year were $346.9 million, compared to $485.0 million for the third quarter of last year. The decline in revenue was due primarily to the termination of the Company's unprofitable music supply agreement with ASDA in the United Kingdom (UK) at the end of August 2007 as well as lower music sales in the United States. This decline was offset somewhat by an increase in higher margin fee-for-services and video game revenues. Operating income for the third quarter of this year was $8.0 million, compared to $7.8 million for the third quarter of last year. Net income for the third quarter of this year was $2.4 million or $.12 per diluted share, compared to $4.2 million or $.21 per diluted share for the same quarter of last year.
Are Carriers Crushing US-Based Mobile Music?
The US-based mobile media market has always been a giant step behind its European - and especially Asian - counterparts. But what is stunting growth in the stateside market? Plenty of factors are potentially in play, including awareness problems on newer music formats like ringback tones. But major cultural and consumer differences cannot be ignored. After all, Americans have the disposable income to purchase mobile media assets, just like they have the money to purchase expensive iPhones, subscribe to high-end wireless plans, and barrel though endless text messages.
That introduces the question of whether carriers are killing an early-stage media market by imposing heavy percentage demands. According to Chris Brunner, Vice President of Mobile Content & Services at Univision Communications, carriers are cramping entrants and innovation with heavy access percentages. "We do all of the marketing, branding, content creation, billing, and customer care, but we get less than the carrier does," Brunner explained to Digital Music News during the Mobile Monday symposium in Los Angeles. "40 percent goes to the carriers, without us ever seeing it."
.
Carriers see the issue differently, especially given the upfront, multi-billion dollar sunk costs associated with their networks. But Universal Music Group digital and mobile executive Rio Caraeff pointed to heavy differences between Asian and American carrier demands. "The average carrier revenue share for off-deck transactions in the US is 35-40 percent," Caraeff said. "It would be as low as 9 percent in Japan."
Are music graphics dead post-digital?
The music industry is set for massive upheaval, with digital distribution destabilising long-held business models. How will this affect the designers who create the all-important visual imagery? asks Adrian Shaughnessy
But Saint is critical of the way labels view digital work. ‘Their thinking is that if it’s digital it must be cheap. There almost seems to be a naive attitude that things should cost less when created for digital usage when we all know that in commissioning terms the cost and value remain the same no matter what the usage. Ethical photography, image-making or graphic design do not become cheaper to produce just because the end usage lives in a virtual medium.’
Amazon.com Music's First Ever "Live In-Store" Band Performance, Presidents of the United States of America
Mark your calendars! On Saturday, March 15, at 10pm PDT, the Presidents of the United States of America will be celebrating the release of its new album, These Are the Good Times People, with a performance at Seattle's Paramount Theatre, and we'll be broadcasting the show worldwide right here from our music blog. Be sure to tune in to catch this exciting performance.
Disney: 4 Million iTunes Movies Sold
Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that Disney CEO Robert Iger announced today at the Digital Hollywood Media Summit that the company has sold 4 million movies on iTunes since the movie store launched in 2006, along with 40-50 million videos.The site extrapolates that the total revenue from these sales is just under $123 million USD. Disney recently announced a $1 billion digital sales goal for 2008, which includes revenue from advertising online (i.e. ad revenue from online video viewing or from any of its sites), subscriptions to online games, downloads of movies and music, and e-commerce that is not related to its theme parks. For perspective, Disney had sold 1.3 million movies by February 2007 after 3 months of the iTunes movie store being in operation.
iTunes makes $570m
Although Apple has often maintained that the iTunes Store is a vehicle for sales of the iPod rather than a source of profit, the company may have earned $570 million in pre-expense income for 2007 alone, according to calculations by the music chart keeper Billboard. Using as a yardstick Apple's recent revelation that it had sold four billion songs since the store opened in April 2003, the publication estimates that Apple sold about 1.7 billion tracks last year. This amounts to more than just $1.7 billion, however: as stores in Europe and elsewhere often charge more than 99 US cents per track, Apple is more likely to collect $1.9 billion.
After factoring in Apple's roughly 30 percent direct earnings from every song sold, this leaves the Cupertino, Calif.-based company with about $570 million of its own versus the 70 percent left to the labels. The income doesn't translate to a similar amount in profit for iTunes. Apple has explained in the past that its portion of the song price is largely used by bandwidth and maintenance costs, though the company has never broken down its revenues in public statements.
Apple sued over foundation to iPod + iTunes franchise
ZapMedia Services, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc., claiming to have conceived the underlying principles of the iPod + iTunes franchise a full two years before the first iPod went on sale.
Report: gamers still hot and heavy for CDs, DVDs
Entertainment is big business and, while sales of physical DVDs and CDs are down, consumers are spending on video games in a big way. While conventional wisdom may say that more time and money spent buying and playing games leeches profits from other forms of media entertainment, a new report from the NPD Group says that gamers actually spend more money on non-gaming entertainment products, making them an important target for companies worried about withering sales.
"While it's true that growth was centered on gaming last year, core gamers—those who played video games daily or several times each week—still spent most of their entertainment budgets on non-gaming entertainment," the NPD Group states. "These consumers remain more likely to buy a DVD or CD than they are to purchase a new video game. In fact, 58 percent had purchased a new DVD in the past six months, 46 percent bought a CD, and 43 percent purchased a game for a console."
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