Adobe launches Adobe Media Player
Adobe has officially launched its Adobe Media Player application which has been in public beta since last year. Adobe Media Player is a desktop application built on Adobe AIR that lets users watch streaming and downloaded web videos from content partners including CBS, PBS, MTV, Revision3, and Blip.tv.
Zune Goes Latin
Zune today announced a collaboration with MSN Latino and partnership with Remezcla.com to be the exclusive music sponsor for each site. The new co-branded online platform will launch on April 15. The arrangement with MSN Latino gives Zune the exclusive naming rights to MSN Latino's music channel, which will be rebranded as Zune Musica through 2009 and include links to Zune Marketplace to buy music.
Remezcla.com is a network of bilingual sites showcasing local Latino and Latin American cultures. Launched in New York City in 2006, Remezcla is expanding nationwide including Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco, and will partner with other online and social networking sites like MySpace Latino. Zune will become the network's exclusive online music store through 2009.
Full Text Of Orchard MySpace Letter To Labels
· If news reports are true, it is unclear whether and how the equity the participating major labels received will be shared by them with their artists, or with the independent labels they simply distribute (yet count in their overall market share, and whose music they presumably intend to include in the MySpace service
· To our understanding, independents have not been offered any equity. However, we will make a strong and unequivocal commitment to you: very simply, if we negotiate for and receive equity, we will share it with you
· Digital retail is fairer than physical brick-and-mortar retail ever was. iTunes led by example and helped to shift music industry dynamics towards a more level playing field for all industry participants (for example, in their continued efforts to further standardize pricing, and their reasonably democratic way of dealing with placements on the site). In that light, if reports are true, the apparent MySpace licensing approach is troubling. It hearkens back to a time none of us wants to revisit ... Where independent artists and labels were third-class citizens in the global music economy, instead of the second-class citizenship (with a good chance for an upgrade to first) that we enjoy today
In-Stat: digital 40% of all music in 4 years
Direct music downloads should make up a full 40 percent of all music sales in the space of four years, according to a new study by In-Stat. Research by the company suggests a blossoming of online purchases to the point that two out of every five legal music acquisitions in 2012 will have been made for an Internet-sourced copy instead of a physical copy. The anticipated surge is attributed to much more widespread access to high-speed Internet connections as well as a continued preference for single songs over whole albums and digital libraries that more closely match what's available at retail.
Last.fm’s Free Music ‘Boosts Sales’; Unlimited Services ‘To Kick In By 2012’
Last.fm claims its 12-week-old free, full-track music streams have resulted in 119 percent more CD and download sales through its Amazon.com click-through partnership. Some of that is attributable to an expected increase in site users following the new offering - but Last.fm also claims those who were members prior to the launch have been purchasing 66 percent more albums and tracks than beforehand, thanks to the full new previews. Figures for Last.fm’s 7Digital and iTunes affiliates weren’t disclosed.
Co-founder Martin Stiksel (via emailed release) offers the stats as evidence free music discovery can lead to dollars: “In just over two months, it’s become clear that people will buy CDs and downloads if they get access to the kind of service we offer.” That may help reassure some music execs that services like his, imeem and iLike can indeed aide sales.
Wal-Mart Stalemate Continues; Carey, Adams Campaigns Emerge
In the meantime, the retailing giant is aggressively pushing a pair of new releases across its digital and physical stores. The first involves Mariah Carey, currently signed with Island Def Jam (UMG). Carey is now preparing the release of E=MC2, a follow-up to The Emancipation of Mimi. Ahead of an April 15th street date, Wal-Mart is offering an in-studio Carey interview, and instantly delivering an MP3 of "Touch My Body" alongside an album pre-order. The interview is being layered into Wal-Mart's in-studio series, Soundcheck, sponsored by Degree.
Also on the list is Bryan Adams, who is planning an exclusive physical release across Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in the United States. The album, called 11, hits both mega-stores on May 13th, according to the Adams website. The album was unavailable for download Wednesday morning on walmart.com.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
snapshot 4/8/08
Online music site Sellaband gets $5 mln investor
Dutch-based online music Web site Sellaband.com said on Tuesday that European venture capital fund Prime Technology Ventures has invested $5 million in the company to help it expand in the United States. Sellaband, which allows fans to buy shares in unsigned bands to help fund recordings, will use the investment to boost marketing and development, particularly in the United States, co-founder and Chief Executive Johan Vosmeijer said.
Radio Index' Report: Radio Audience Remains Loyal
CHARLESTON, SC -- April 7, 2008: Seventy-two percent of American adults are listening to the radio about the same amount or more than they did five years ago, according to American Media Services' latest "Radio Index" survey. Seventy-three percent, meanwhile, still usually turn on the radio when they get in the car.
Thirty-three percent of respondents said they've listened to radio over the Internet, and 12 percent have heard an HD Radio broadcast. When they're listening to radio over the air, 53 percent said they stick with a station through commercial breaks, 35 percent change the station, and 8 percent turn off the radio. And those who change the station tend to do it quickly: Seventy-seven percent of those who tune away do it within 30 seconds after commercials begin.
Slacker Completes Deals With Top Music Publishers
Slacker, Inc. today announced it has entered into agreements with top music publishers, including EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner/Chappell Music. The new deals give Slacker the content rights to enable Personal Radio that can be played everywhere on Slacker Portable Radio Players.
With these publishing license agreements, Slacker users can transfer songs from the Slacker service and store the music on Slacker Portables giving listeners the best on-the-go personal radio experience available today. The agreements, completed prior to the availability of Slacker Portables, also enable Slacker Premium Service customers to save songs and replay them whenever they want.
Plan would tax music downloads
A Los Angeles-area lawmaker trying to help raise money to delete the state government's $8 billion shortfall thinks consumers should pay sales tax when buying from online music stores.
The proposal by Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-City of Industry, doesn't seek directly to tax music tracks, but instead would require the Board of Equalization to update a 75-year-old law that authorizes sales-tax collections on tangible personal property. Music, books and videos downloaded off the Internet aren't considered tangible goods.
Digitization Of Album Art Is About New Possibilities, Not Smaller Graphics
Graphic designers working in the music industry are facing a crossroads on par with anything the labels are dealing with. Now that album art is viewed at sizes of one-inch-by-one-inch and smaller, how can cover art add meaning to an album? And with people are finding out about shows online in addition to seeing flyers taped around town, how can bands, labels and designers apply their papering techniques to the online world?
Digital Narm 2008
The National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) has announced that this year's 2008 Convention will feature a two-day Digital conference on May 6 - 7 in San Francisco. Offering both results oriented info and networking, Digital NARM is designed to create discussion around the convergence of physical, digital, and mobile music fueled by rapid changes in technology. “Digital NARM will feature well-respected thought leaders from an array of industries involved with developing the future of digital music,” says NARM President Jim Donio. “This is an ideal, one-of-a-kind forum to share ideas, create partnerships across industries, and develop the future of digital music.”
Participating speakers include: Amazon, AT&T, eMusic, Facebook, My Space Records, Motorola, Napster, IODA, IRIS, The Orchard, Nokia, 9 Squared, Imeem last.fm and the four majors. Sessions will be moderated by analysts and journalists including staffers from the LA Times Gartner Research and Digital Music News.
Wal-Mart focuses on MP3, but without Sony BMG and Warner
Sony BMG and Warner's music is missing from Wal-Mart's online store, which has been recently redesigned to feature its catalog of DRM-free music. With the apparent full switch to MP3, it marks yet another former customer of Microsoft's PlaysForSure who let the DRM technology fall by the wayside. However, it appears that with the embrace of DRM-free music, some artists are not available, at least temporarily.
Despite the publicity of a recent upset from the number one position in digital music retail by iTunes, Wal-Mart seems happy about its progress in the online music front. "We've been pleased with the overall growth and customer response to our MP3 offering since our launch last August," Wal-Mart spokesperson Ravi Jariwala said. "We'll continue to work with our music partners to further grow our MP3 selection."
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080408/003857784.shtml
http://www.last100.com/2008/04/08/wal-mart-ditches-drm-at-a-cost/
http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/08/wal-mart-wises-up-ditches-windows-based-drm/
http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/040608walmart
http://gizmodo.com/377004/wal+mart-mp3-store-drops-all-drm-but-only-half+ass-opens
Over 340 Clear Channel Radio Stations Now Supporting iTunes Tagging
Clear Channel Radio has revealed that over 340 of its HD Radio stations are now compatible with iTunes Tagging. “Radio continues to be the number one way that people discover new music, and the HD Radio iTunes tagging capability lets listeners add songs to their iPod playlists with just a push of the button,” said John Hogan, President and CEO of Clear Channel Radio. “With the vast majority of our HD primary stations now offering this exciting feature, we’re demonstrating how radio’s collaboration with the iPod benefits consumers.”
Announced last fall, iTunes Tagging is a new HD Radio feature that allows radio listeners to Tag the currently playing song. The track is then automatically added to a Tagged Playlist on the connected iPod. The next time the iPod is synced with a computer, the tagged playlist appears in iTunes, making it easy to then purchase the songs.
Competition unable to take a big bite out of Apple's iTunes
iTunes is widening its lead in the digital music market at the expense of other top brands, according to a new report by Ipsos. In its annual TEMPO Digital Music Brandscape Study, the market research firm says that more people are aware of iTunes than ever before and regard it highly compared to other online music destinations. One brand in particular—MySpace—performed particularly poorly, which could mean bad news for the recently-launched MySpace Music.
"iTunes' steady gain as 'best' brand over the past three years does denote a threat to other digital music services, particularly due to the persistent lack of interoperability," Ipsos senior research manager Karl Joyce said in a statement. "While iTunes' growth in 2006 may have come at the expense of Napster, other brands have begun to feel its impact as well, including other top competitors such as Rhapsody and Yahoo! Music. Moreover, social networking's hope of overtaking the lead in mainstream digital music acquisition appears to have fallen short."
Teen iPhone share seen doubling as iPod, iTunes flatten
In the latest round of its semi-annual teen surveys, analyst group Piper Jaffray finds that ownership of Apple's iPhone has doubled in six months and is set to double again, though cooling iPod and iTunes use suggests a changing of the guard. Clouds loom over the news, however, and point to the iPhone potentially dulling the iPod's earlier success. While Apple's command of MP3 players has increased, actual demand for any MP3 player has dropped to its lowest amount in three years -- just 28 percent look to buy a new player in the next six months, while 47 percent did in fall 2007.
Moreover, while Apple's share of online music purchases is higher than in late 2007, it remains smaller than all-time highs of 89 and 91 percent set in fall 2007 and spring 2006 respectively. Munster and fellow analysts believe it may the result of more sites offering music without copy protection, permitting iPod owners to buy more of their digital music outside of iTunes.
Guitarati aims to make mood music into a business
On its main page, Guitarati lays out a series of colorful dots. Clicking on one of these takes you to a selection of music based around that color. This color/music link-up is set by what other users set as the color they feel best represents the feeling of the song while listening to it.
In terms of making the site profitable, the thought process is less outside-the-box — it charges users money. Still, it’s a somewhat unique combination of flat-fee downloading (usually 99 cents) and cheap streaming fees. A user pays 1 cent for every full length song they stream, but these cents are deducted from the purchase price of the song if they choose to buy it. Songs are all in DRM-free MP3 format with 192 Kbps encoding. Samples of all songs can be listened to for free. Artists and labels get paid for both downloads and streaming. They can dictate the price of their music and get back 75 percent of the earnings. There are no registration fees for those who want to spread their music via Guitarati.
Searching for swag: Music to fans' ears
Forget about MySpace. Music groups are now turning to branded search engines to reach their fans online. By using the special search engines, fans earn points that can be redeemed for band swag, like T-shirts, posters, and autographed guitars, as well as etched iPods and other electronics, movie tickets, music, and books.
Dutch-based online music Web site Sellaband.com said on Tuesday that European venture capital fund Prime Technology Ventures has invested $5 million in the company to help it expand in the United States. Sellaband, which allows fans to buy shares in unsigned bands to help fund recordings, will use the investment to boost marketing and development, particularly in the United States, co-founder and Chief Executive Johan Vosmeijer said.
Radio Index' Report: Radio Audience Remains Loyal
CHARLESTON, SC -- April 7, 2008: Seventy-two percent of American adults are listening to the radio about the same amount or more than they did five years ago, according to American Media Services' latest "Radio Index" survey. Seventy-three percent, meanwhile, still usually turn on the radio when they get in the car.
Thirty-three percent of respondents said they've listened to radio over the Internet, and 12 percent have heard an HD Radio broadcast. When they're listening to radio over the air, 53 percent said they stick with a station through commercial breaks, 35 percent change the station, and 8 percent turn off the radio. And those who change the station tend to do it quickly: Seventy-seven percent of those who tune away do it within 30 seconds after commercials begin.
Slacker Completes Deals With Top Music Publishers
Slacker, Inc. today announced it has entered into agreements with top music publishers, including EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner/Chappell Music. The new deals give Slacker the content rights to enable Personal Radio that can be played everywhere on Slacker Portable Radio Players.
With these publishing license agreements, Slacker users can transfer songs from the Slacker service and store the music on Slacker Portables giving listeners the best on-the-go personal radio experience available today. The agreements, completed prior to the availability of Slacker Portables, also enable Slacker Premium Service customers to save songs and replay them whenever they want.
Plan would tax music downloads
A Los Angeles-area lawmaker trying to help raise money to delete the state government's $8 billion shortfall thinks consumers should pay sales tax when buying from online music stores.
The proposal by Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-City of Industry, doesn't seek directly to tax music tracks, but instead would require the Board of Equalization to update a 75-year-old law that authorizes sales-tax collections on tangible personal property. Music, books and videos downloaded off the Internet aren't considered tangible goods.
Digitization Of Album Art Is About New Possibilities, Not Smaller Graphics
Graphic designers working in the music industry are facing a crossroads on par with anything the labels are dealing with. Now that album art is viewed at sizes of one-inch-by-one-inch and smaller, how can cover art add meaning to an album? And with people are finding out about shows online in addition to seeing flyers taped around town, how can bands, labels and designers apply their papering techniques to the online world?
Digital Narm 2008
The National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) has announced that this year's 2008 Convention will feature a two-day Digital conference on May 6 - 7 in San Francisco. Offering both results oriented info and networking, Digital NARM is designed to create discussion around the convergence of physical, digital, and mobile music fueled by rapid changes in technology. “Digital NARM will feature well-respected thought leaders from an array of industries involved with developing the future of digital music,” says NARM President Jim Donio. “This is an ideal, one-of-a-kind forum to share ideas, create partnerships across industries, and develop the future of digital music.”
Participating speakers include: Amazon, AT&T, eMusic, Facebook, My Space Records, Motorola, Napster, IODA, IRIS, The Orchard, Nokia, 9 Squared, Imeem last.fm and the four majors. Sessions will be moderated by analysts and journalists including staffers from the LA Times Gartner Research and Digital Music News.
Wal-Mart focuses on MP3, but without Sony BMG and Warner
Sony BMG and Warner's music is missing from Wal-Mart's online store, which has been recently redesigned to feature its catalog of DRM-free music. With the apparent full switch to MP3, it marks yet another former customer of Microsoft's PlaysForSure who let the DRM technology fall by the wayside. However, it appears that with the embrace of DRM-free music, some artists are not available, at least temporarily.
Despite the publicity of a recent upset from the number one position in digital music retail by iTunes, Wal-Mart seems happy about its progress in the online music front. "We've been pleased with the overall growth and customer response to our MP3 offering since our launch last August," Wal-Mart spokesperson Ravi Jariwala said. "We'll continue to work with our music partners to further grow our MP3 selection."
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080408/003857784.shtml
http://www.last100.com/2008/04/08/wal-mart-ditches-drm-at-a-cost/
http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/08/wal-mart-wises-up-ditches-windows-based-drm/
http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/040608walmart
http://gizmodo.com/377004/wal+mart-mp3-store-drops-all-drm-but-only-half+ass-opens
Over 340 Clear Channel Radio Stations Now Supporting iTunes Tagging
Clear Channel Radio has revealed that over 340 of its HD Radio stations are now compatible with iTunes Tagging. “Radio continues to be the number one way that people discover new music, and the HD Radio iTunes tagging capability lets listeners add songs to their iPod playlists with just a push of the button,” said John Hogan, President and CEO of Clear Channel Radio. “With the vast majority of our HD primary stations now offering this exciting feature, we’re demonstrating how radio’s collaboration with the iPod benefits consumers.”
Announced last fall, iTunes Tagging is a new HD Radio feature that allows radio listeners to Tag the currently playing song. The track is then automatically added to a Tagged Playlist on the connected iPod. The next time the iPod is synced with a computer, the tagged playlist appears in iTunes, making it easy to then purchase the songs.
Competition unable to take a big bite out of Apple's iTunes
iTunes is widening its lead in the digital music market at the expense of other top brands, according to a new report by Ipsos. In its annual TEMPO Digital Music Brandscape Study, the market research firm says that more people are aware of iTunes than ever before and regard it highly compared to other online music destinations. One brand in particular—MySpace—performed particularly poorly, which could mean bad news for the recently-launched MySpace Music.
"iTunes' steady gain as 'best' brand over the past three years does denote a threat to other digital music services, particularly due to the persistent lack of interoperability," Ipsos senior research manager Karl Joyce said in a statement. "While iTunes' growth in 2006 may have come at the expense of Napster, other brands have begun to feel its impact as well, including other top competitors such as Rhapsody and Yahoo! Music. Moreover, social networking's hope of overtaking the lead in mainstream digital music acquisition appears to have fallen short."
Teen iPhone share seen doubling as iPod, iTunes flatten
In the latest round of its semi-annual teen surveys, analyst group Piper Jaffray finds that ownership of Apple's iPhone has doubled in six months and is set to double again, though cooling iPod and iTunes use suggests a changing of the guard. Clouds loom over the news, however, and point to the iPhone potentially dulling the iPod's earlier success. While Apple's command of MP3 players has increased, actual demand for any MP3 player has dropped to its lowest amount in three years -- just 28 percent look to buy a new player in the next six months, while 47 percent did in fall 2007.
Moreover, while Apple's share of online music purchases is higher than in late 2007, it remains smaller than all-time highs of 89 and 91 percent set in fall 2007 and spring 2006 respectively. Munster and fellow analysts believe it may the result of more sites offering music without copy protection, permitting iPod owners to buy more of their digital music outside of iTunes.
Guitarati aims to make mood music into a business
On its main page, Guitarati lays out a series of colorful dots. Clicking on one of these takes you to a selection of music based around that color. This color/music link-up is set by what other users set as the color they feel best represents the feeling of the song while listening to it.
In terms of making the site profitable, the thought process is less outside-the-box — it charges users money. Still, it’s a somewhat unique combination of flat-fee downloading (usually 99 cents) and cheap streaming fees. A user pays 1 cent for every full length song they stream, but these cents are deducted from the purchase price of the song if they choose to buy it. Songs are all in DRM-free MP3 format with 192 Kbps encoding. Samples of all songs can be listened to for free. Artists and labels get paid for both downloads and streaming. They can dictate the price of their music and get back 75 percent of the earnings. There are no registration fees for those who want to spread their music via Guitarati.
Searching for swag: Music to fans' ears
Forget about MySpace. Music groups are now turning to branded search engines to reach their fans online. By using the special search engines, fans earn points that can be redeemed for band swag, like T-shirts, posters, and autographed guitars, as well as etched iPods and other electronics, movie tickets, music, and books.
Monday, April 7, 2008
snapshot 4/7/08
Digital music firms pay heavy price for labels' support
A stark truth facing any aspiring digital music service these days is that working with record labels is going to carry a hefty price. The last 18 months have seen the major music labels accept new technological and business models -- such as dropping digital rights management and allowing ad-supported free music -- that have given rise to a new generation of digital music services. But the flip side of this willingness to experiment is a demand for higher upfront advances for licensing music and in some cases a substantial equity stake in the company.
Amazon.com beefs up Latin music store
Amazon relaunched its Latin music store Friday, with video content from top artists, more bilingual product descriptions and a selection that's grown by at least 10% in less than a year. The online retailer will also shortly introduce blogs by Latin artists on their product pages, as well as partner with them for video debuts and possible event sponsorships, music category manager Craig Pape says.
The company won't reveal how much its Latin music sales have grown over time, but says it increased its selection of Latin titles to 140,000 (not including individual digital tracks) after an analysis of its Latin category in mid-2007. Some of that increase was accomplished by re-directing international/world music titles to the Latin category, but the company says the Latin selection will grow another 15% in the coming year.
Social Net Imeem Buys Struggling Music Service Snocap
As had been rumored for a while, music-based social networking service Imeem has finally bought the assets of trouble digital music services firm Snocap. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. This deal bring in content identification technology and a digital registry for Imeem, besides the team. This will help Imeem offer commerce services to labels and artists. Imeem had previously been working with Snocap.
Snocap was founded by Napster founder Shawn Fanning, and had received about $10 million in funding from Morgenthaler Ventures, WaldenVC and other angels. The company laid off 60 percent of staff last October. It had changed tracks a few times: started an an music ID/registry for P2P distribution, and when the industry didn’t take off, move to a widget-based model to sell music through social networking sites and blogs. Meanwhile, Fanning has moved on, as he usually does after stirring the pot, and has launched Rupture, a virtual social community for online gamers.
Amazon Accelerates Its Move to Digital
“Digital is where the growth in music is, and other industries are likely to follow,” said Bill Rosenblatt, chief executive of GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies, a New York consulting firm. “Amazon needs to position itself to capture that.” Amazon does not release sales figures for its digital initiatives, so their initial success is difficult to gauge, although by all accounts the MP3 store has quickly become one of the top sellers of digital music.
The executives say they are happy with the service’s progress and are focusing on adding international music and expanding the service overseas. But they also say that most customers probably do not understand that songs bought in the MP3 format are more flexible and can be transferred to a greater number of devices.
Wal-Mart Reaffirms Commitment to MP3s; Standoff Continues
Wal-Mart recently reaffirmed its commitment to an MP3-only download store, with or without the participation of Warner Music Group and Sony BMG. On Friday, Digital Music News discovered that tracks from Warner and Sony BMG were unavailable on Wal-Mart Music Downloads, the result of a licensing impasse related to DRM-free content. The majors declined comment on the matter, though Wal-Mart used the opportunity to reaffirm its DRM-free agenda. "We'll continue to work with our music partners to further grow our MP3 selection, however, we don't publicly share details of our ongoing discussions with these partners," a Wal-Mart representative disclosed.
The rest involves a simple process of filling in the blanks. Sources noted that Wal-Mart is now mirroring the hardline, MP3-only stance assumed by Amazon last year, one that ultimately resulted in DRM-free licenses from all four major labels. In August, majors EMI and Universal Music licensed their catalogs DRM-free to Wal-Mart, though insiders continue to point to onerous requirements from both Warner and Sony BMG.
Music Community mTraks Raises $550k From Angels
mTraks, a music community and marketplace, has raised another $550,000 from unidentified angel investors. The San Diego-based company raised the same amount last year, for a total raise of $1.1 million. The site offers a platform for independent artists to establish a basic web presence and sell MP3s or full albums directly to fans. It claims to get 100,000 unique visitors per month and to feature music from over 5,500 independent labels. Funding will be used to build out the direct-to-consumer functionality of the site. As MySpace Music is getting into the transactions side of the equation, it’s definitely a direct competitor, although smaller sites like mTraks may seek to play up the indie side.
A stark truth facing any aspiring digital music service these days is that working with record labels is going to carry a hefty price. The last 18 months have seen the major music labels accept new technological and business models -- such as dropping digital rights management and allowing ad-supported free music -- that have given rise to a new generation of digital music services. But the flip side of this willingness to experiment is a demand for higher upfront advances for licensing music and in some cases a substantial equity stake in the company.
Amazon.com beefs up Latin music store
Amazon relaunched its Latin music store Friday, with video content from top artists, more bilingual product descriptions and a selection that's grown by at least 10% in less than a year. The online retailer will also shortly introduce blogs by Latin artists on their product pages, as well as partner with them for video debuts and possible event sponsorships, music category manager Craig Pape says.
The company won't reveal how much its Latin music sales have grown over time, but says it increased its selection of Latin titles to 140,000 (not including individual digital tracks) after an analysis of its Latin category in mid-2007. Some of that increase was accomplished by re-directing international/world music titles to the Latin category, but the company says the Latin selection will grow another 15% in the coming year.
Social Net Imeem Buys Struggling Music Service Snocap
As had been rumored for a while, music-based social networking service Imeem has finally bought the assets of trouble digital music services firm Snocap. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. This deal bring in content identification technology and a digital registry for Imeem, besides the team. This will help Imeem offer commerce services to labels and artists. Imeem had previously been working with Snocap.
Snocap was founded by Napster founder Shawn Fanning, and had received about $10 million in funding from Morgenthaler Ventures, WaldenVC and other angels. The company laid off 60 percent of staff last October. It had changed tracks a few times: started an an music ID/registry for P2P distribution, and when the industry didn’t take off, move to a widget-based model to sell music through social networking sites and blogs. Meanwhile, Fanning has moved on, as he usually does after stirring the pot, and has launched Rupture, a virtual social community for online gamers.
Amazon Accelerates Its Move to Digital
“Digital is where the growth in music is, and other industries are likely to follow,” said Bill Rosenblatt, chief executive of GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies, a New York consulting firm. “Amazon needs to position itself to capture that.” Amazon does not release sales figures for its digital initiatives, so their initial success is difficult to gauge, although by all accounts the MP3 store has quickly become one of the top sellers of digital music.
The executives say they are happy with the service’s progress and are focusing on adding international music and expanding the service overseas. But they also say that most customers probably do not understand that songs bought in the MP3 format are more flexible and can be transferred to a greater number of devices.
Wal-Mart Reaffirms Commitment to MP3s; Standoff Continues
Wal-Mart recently reaffirmed its commitment to an MP3-only download store, with or without the participation of Warner Music Group and Sony BMG. On Friday, Digital Music News discovered that tracks from Warner and Sony BMG were unavailable on Wal-Mart Music Downloads, the result of a licensing impasse related to DRM-free content. The majors declined comment on the matter, though Wal-Mart used the opportunity to reaffirm its DRM-free agenda. "We'll continue to work with our music partners to further grow our MP3 selection, however, we don't publicly share details of our ongoing discussions with these partners," a Wal-Mart representative disclosed.
The rest involves a simple process of filling in the blanks. Sources noted that Wal-Mart is now mirroring the hardline, MP3-only stance assumed by Amazon last year, one that ultimately resulted in DRM-free licenses from all four major labels. In August, majors EMI and Universal Music licensed their catalogs DRM-free to Wal-Mart, though insiders continue to point to onerous requirements from both Warner and Sony BMG.
Music Community mTraks Raises $550k From Angels
mTraks, a music community and marketplace, has raised another $550,000 from unidentified angel investors. The San Diego-based company raised the same amount last year, for a total raise of $1.1 million. The site offers a platform for independent artists to establish a basic web presence and sell MP3s or full albums directly to fans. It claims to get 100,000 unique visitors per month and to feature music from over 5,500 independent labels. Funding will be used to build out the direct-to-consumer functionality of the site. As MySpace Music is getting into the transactions side of the equation, it’s definitely a direct competitor, although smaller sites like mTraks may seek to play up the indie side.
Friday, April 4, 2008
snapshot 4/4/08
Universal extends music market share: report
Amy Winehouse and Mika helped Universal Music extend its dominance of the recorded music sector in 2007, taking its share of the market to almost 30 percent, according to new research. It grew its market share of the recorded music market to 28.8 percent from 25.7 in 2006. Sony BMG was second with 20.1 percent, ahead of Warner at 14.4 percent and EMI with 10.9.
It grew its market share of the recorded music market to 28.8 percent from 25.7 in 2006. Sony BMG was second with 20.1 percent, ahead of Warner at 14.4 percent and EMI with 10.9.
Movie download services bypass discs
Forget DVDs. Several services now let you download movies and play them right on your TV -- no disc needed. The services require you to shell out several hundred dollars for special hardware first; they also demand a bit of set-up, and rely on a fast Internet connection.
There is remarkable price uniformity among Apple TV, Xbox Live and Unbox. Newly released movies cost $4 to rent, with hi-def versions going for a dollar more.
Kindle boosts tiny e-book market
More than four months after Amazon.com released the Kindle, no one is sure whether the latest e-book reader is really hot — or not. But publishers believe that the Kindle has helped, if not revolutionized, the tiny electronic market.
Publishing officials are reluctant to discuss sales figures, but say that they have seen double digit increases in e-book sales since the Kindle's release, including renewed interest in downloads on the Sony Reader. Sales for the most popular books are in the hundreds, comparable to the number for the Sony, which came out in 2006.
Wal-Mart Pulls SonyBMG & WMG Downloads
WalMart.com has gone mp3 only without product from SonyBMG and WMG. EMI and Universal catalog has been available DRM-free on the site since late summer.
Digital Music news first noticed the take-down last night and Hypebot confirmed that whether its a newcomer like Sean Kingston or a top selling icon like Madonna, artists from SonyBMG and WMG are only available on the mega-retailer's download site as part of compilations released by other labels. CD's form these labels are still on sale online and in stores.
Sources at other download retailers have told Hypebot for months that the majors are making unreasonable demands in exchange for going DRM-free. The mighty Wal-Mart, whose download store has never gained traction despite offering lower prices, apparently decided that enough was enough. Wal-Mart knows that what's good for the customer - in this case low priced DRM-free mp3's - is good for business.
CD Sales an Improper Proxy for Measuring Purchased Music Demand
Every now and then I see a commentary on the music industry that notes reduced CD sales (especially to young people), and then goes on to blame the RIAA’s attacks on Napster (NAPS), lawsuits against down loaders, etc, as the cause. The basic idea is that young people are so angry with the record companies that they’re refusing to buy CDs, and that the music industry dug its own grave by not embracing file sharing, suing people, etc. While I respect many of these commentators greatly, I think they’re missing the boat as they’re not considering how young people actually listen to music these days.
The problem with the above argument is that it basically assumes that CD/DVD players are the preferred music listening device amongst young people, or that the preferred method of acquiring music is via a CD. In truth: iPods/MP3 players, followed by personal computers, are the most popular listening devices. A lot of people my age don’t even own stand-alone stereo systems, as they listen to all of their music on their iPods or on their computers. Even if they own CDs, the bulk of them are burned from their digital music collections, as opposed to being pre-recorded.
Major players rewrite the music business
The song may remain the same, but a chorus of digital developments may be reshaping the struggling music industry's business model. On Thursday, News Corp.'s online social networking powerhouse MySpace launched a new competitor to iTunes with three major labels.
Earlier in the day, Apple said that its iTunes Store has surpassed Wal-Mart to become the No. 1 music retailer in the U.S. With more than 50 million customers, iTunes has sold more than 4 billion songs and features the world's largest music catalog of more than 6 million songs, Apple said. Napster also had positive news to share Thursday, saying that it expects to report fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $31 million, beating Wall Street estimates and the $29.1 million recorded in the year-ago period. Napster also said that it had about 760,000 subscribers at the end of March.
The most significant development, however, involves Live Nation, which is taking its largest steps yet in its transformation from a concert promoter into a full-fledged music company. The firm is close to a broad-based $150 million deal with Jay-Z that would cover recordings and touring, it said. The deal would even be bigger than similar recent blockbuster agreements with Madonna and U2.
Something Important Is On The Horizon In The Music Business
Having ceded the file based music opportunity (mp3s and drm’d file formats) to Apple, the recorded labels are now getting hip to the much bigger opportunity, streaming music.
Here’s what we need. We need someone to create an easy to search streamable library of all the recorded music in the world. We need to be able to grab a track and embed it on our blog. We need to be able to see how many people played it. We need others to be able to crawl these user pages with the embedded music and create algorithms based on who posted it, how often it was played, and how often it was reblogged and linked to. The services that do all of that need to be able to play the music that flows out of these social algorithms in the same way. This all has to be licensed and legal and it has to result in money flowing to the artists. If you put the music on your blog, you should have two choices. Allow the ads to be served into your music or your page or both by the service you got the music from. Or deal with the monetization yourself and pay the royalties you owe. Most people will do the former but some will do that latter.
Amazon.com mp3 vs. iTunes
When it first launched, direct comparisons of the Amazon.com mp3 store with Apple's iTunes store were difficult, largely because of major differences in their respective catalogs. (Amazon launched without any titles from Warner Music Group or Sony BMG.) Several months later, there's much more overlap between the two stores. Here's what the top-20 digital albums looked like for both stores on Wednesday morning, April 2nd:
It's a 50% overlap, with 10 titles appearing on both lists. Of the non-overlapping iTunes titles, all except the pre-order of Madonna's "Hard Candy" are available from Amazon.com mp3, while the NIN Ghosts release (#6 at Amazon.com) isn't sold in iTunes. Hence, it seems likely that the major differences -- at least at the top of the digital album charts --- are more likely the result of customer habits, demographics, and prices, as opposed to product availability
As for prices, across the board, all 10 overlapping best sellers were cheaper at Amazon.com. Nine of the albums are selling for $8.99 and one title is $9.99, for an average Amazon.com price of $9.09. Over at iTunes, the album prices range from $9.99 to $14.99, with an average iTunes price of $11.59 for these 10 albums.
The DRM-Free Drag... Why a Broader Rollout Remains Elusive
Major labels have now ditched DRM, right? Not exactly. Despite a number of high-profile deals over past year, the digital sales landscape remains a patchwork of protected and unprotected content. And the culprit appears to be a combination of politics, strategic gamesmanship and cautious observation, despite strong consumer disinterest in usage limitations and iPod incompatibility.
But according to one major label executive, the sluggishness is happening for a reason, one rooted in strategic competitive licensing. That means tilting the playing field more towards the benefit of labels, and targeting the attack against influential online retailer Apple. "Mostly they are just rewarding the 'comers'," the executive said. "Basically, those they think can make a real run at iTunes."
Amy Winehouse and Mika helped Universal Music extend its dominance of the recorded music sector in 2007, taking its share of the market to almost 30 percent, according to new research. It grew its market share of the recorded music market to 28.8 percent from 25.7 in 2006. Sony BMG was second with 20.1 percent, ahead of Warner at 14.4 percent and EMI with 10.9.
It grew its market share of the recorded music market to 28.8 percent from 25.7 in 2006. Sony BMG was second with 20.1 percent, ahead of Warner at 14.4 percent and EMI with 10.9.
Movie download services bypass discs
Forget DVDs. Several services now let you download movies and play them right on your TV -- no disc needed. The services require you to shell out several hundred dollars for special hardware first; they also demand a bit of set-up, and rely on a fast Internet connection.
There is remarkable price uniformity among Apple TV, Xbox Live and Unbox. Newly released movies cost $4 to rent, with hi-def versions going for a dollar more.
Kindle boosts tiny e-book market
More than four months after Amazon.com released the Kindle, no one is sure whether the latest e-book reader is really hot — or not. But publishers believe that the Kindle has helped, if not revolutionized, the tiny electronic market.
Publishing officials are reluctant to discuss sales figures, but say that they have seen double digit increases in e-book sales since the Kindle's release, including renewed interest in downloads on the Sony Reader. Sales for the most popular books are in the hundreds, comparable to the number for the Sony, which came out in 2006.
Wal-Mart Pulls SonyBMG & WMG Downloads
WalMart.com has gone mp3 only without product from SonyBMG and WMG. EMI and Universal catalog has been available DRM-free on the site since late summer.
Digital Music news first noticed the take-down last night and Hypebot confirmed that whether its a newcomer like Sean Kingston or a top selling icon like Madonna, artists from SonyBMG and WMG are only available on the mega-retailer's download site as part of compilations released by other labels. CD's form these labels are still on sale online and in stores.
Sources at other download retailers have told Hypebot for months that the majors are making unreasonable demands in exchange for going DRM-free. The mighty Wal-Mart, whose download store has never gained traction despite offering lower prices, apparently decided that enough was enough. Wal-Mart knows that what's good for the customer - in this case low priced DRM-free mp3's - is good for business.
CD Sales an Improper Proxy for Measuring Purchased Music Demand
Every now and then I see a commentary on the music industry that notes reduced CD sales (especially to young people), and then goes on to blame the RIAA’s attacks on Napster (NAPS), lawsuits against down loaders, etc, as the cause. The basic idea is that young people are so angry with the record companies that they’re refusing to buy CDs, and that the music industry dug its own grave by not embracing file sharing, suing people, etc. While I respect many of these commentators greatly, I think they’re missing the boat as they’re not considering how young people actually listen to music these days.
The problem with the above argument is that it basically assumes that CD/DVD players are the preferred music listening device amongst young people, or that the preferred method of acquiring music is via a CD. In truth: iPods/MP3 players, followed by personal computers, are the most popular listening devices. A lot of people my age don’t even own stand-alone stereo systems, as they listen to all of their music on their iPods or on their computers. Even if they own CDs, the bulk of them are burned from their digital music collections, as opposed to being pre-recorded.
Major players rewrite the music business
The song may remain the same, but a chorus of digital developments may be reshaping the struggling music industry's business model. On Thursday, News Corp.'s online social networking powerhouse MySpace launched a new competitor to iTunes with three major labels.
Earlier in the day, Apple said that its iTunes Store has surpassed Wal-Mart to become the No. 1 music retailer in the U.S. With more than 50 million customers, iTunes has sold more than 4 billion songs and features the world's largest music catalog of more than 6 million songs, Apple said. Napster also had positive news to share Thursday, saying that it expects to report fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $31 million, beating Wall Street estimates and the $29.1 million recorded in the year-ago period. Napster also said that it had about 760,000 subscribers at the end of March.
The most significant development, however, involves Live Nation, which is taking its largest steps yet in its transformation from a concert promoter into a full-fledged music company. The firm is close to a broad-based $150 million deal with Jay-Z that would cover recordings and touring, it said. The deal would even be bigger than similar recent blockbuster agreements with Madonna and U2.
Something Important Is On The Horizon In The Music Business
Having ceded the file based music opportunity (mp3s and drm’d file formats) to Apple, the recorded labels are now getting hip to the much bigger opportunity, streaming music.
Here’s what we need. We need someone to create an easy to search streamable library of all the recorded music in the world. We need to be able to grab a track and embed it on our blog. We need to be able to see how many people played it. We need others to be able to crawl these user pages with the embedded music and create algorithms based on who posted it, how often it was played, and how often it was reblogged and linked to. The services that do all of that need to be able to play the music that flows out of these social algorithms in the same way. This all has to be licensed and legal and it has to result in money flowing to the artists. If you put the music on your blog, you should have two choices. Allow the ads to be served into your music or your page or both by the service you got the music from. Or deal with the monetization yourself and pay the royalties you owe. Most people will do the former but some will do that latter.
Amazon.com mp3 vs. iTunes
When it first launched, direct comparisons of the Amazon.com mp3 store with Apple's iTunes store were difficult, largely because of major differences in their respective catalogs. (Amazon launched without any titles from Warner Music Group or Sony BMG.) Several months later, there's much more overlap between the two stores. Here's what the top-20 digital albums looked like for both stores on Wednesday morning, April 2nd:
It's a 50% overlap, with 10 titles appearing on both lists. Of the non-overlapping iTunes titles, all except the pre-order of Madonna's "Hard Candy" are available from Amazon.com mp3, while the NIN Ghosts release (#6 at Amazon.com) isn't sold in iTunes. Hence, it seems likely that the major differences -- at least at the top of the digital album charts --- are more likely the result of customer habits, demographics, and prices, as opposed to product availability
As for prices, across the board, all 10 overlapping best sellers were cheaper at Amazon.com. Nine of the albums are selling for $8.99 and one title is $9.99, for an average Amazon.com price of $9.09. Over at iTunes, the album prices range from $9.99 to $14.99, with an average iTunes price of $11.59 for these 10 albums.
The DRM-Free Drag... Why a Broader Rollout Remains Elusive
Major labels have now ditched DRM, right? Not exactly. Despite a number of high-profile deals over past year, the digital sales landscape remains a patchwork of protected and unprotected content. And the culprit appears to be a combination of politics, strategic gamesmanship and cautious observation, despite strong consumer disinterest in usage limitations and iPod incompatibility.
But according to one major label executive, the sluggishness is happening for a reason, one rooted in strategic competitive licensing. That means tilting the playing field more towards the benefit of labels, and targeting the attack against influential online retailer Apple. "Mostly they are just rewarding the 'comers'," the executive said. "Basically, those they think can make a real run at iTunes."
Thursday, April 3, 2008
snapshot 4/3/08
Apple takes the #1 music retailer spot from Wal-Mart, or does it?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080402-apple-passes-wal-mart-now-1-music-retailer-in-us.html
There's a rumor floating around this morning that Apple has surpassed Wal-Mart to become the top music retailer in the US. Ars Technica reports that Apple has sent a memo to employees showing the results of an NPD MusicWatch survey in January. There's just one problem. In February, Apple publicly stated that it was now the number two music seller in the US.
As Engadget points out, there may have been a spike in January because a whole bunch of people picked up new iPods and iPod gift cards for the holidays in Decemeber. Suffice it to say, if Apple was really the top music retailer in the country right now, they wouldn't be passing around an internal memo. They'd be sending out press releases with pictures of Steve Jobs stepping on a smiley face with blood poring out of its nose. Wait, smiley faces don't usually have noses, do they?
MySpace forms music joint venture with big labels
N ews Corp MySpace, the world's largest social network Web site, said on Thursday it has formed a joint venture with three major music companies called MySpace Music. The joint venture will include Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group as minority stake holders in the new company. The new company will offer free music audio and video streaming supported by advertising, paid-for MP3 downloads, ringtones, artist ticket sales and merchandise.
eMusic Adds Rolling Stones ABKCO Catalog
In a coup for eMusic, the DRM-free download service has the entire 28 album Rolling Stones ABKCO catalog available to its subscribers. The bulk of the material was first released between 1964 and 1969 and includes most of the bands hugely successful early input.
First Quarter Country Sales Slide
First quarter 2008 ended with country album sales down 11.3%, compared to overall music sales which fell 10.7% according to Nielsen SoundScan. Top Current Country Albums for the week ending 3/30/08 reaped a total of 324,895 units, a stark contrast to last year’s total of 774,000 units—bolstered by a Tim McGraw debut (325k units). Not unexpectedly, country market share remains flat at 10.3%, nudging downward from last year’s 10.4%.
Album sales decline, but is the slump slowing?
Album sales for the first quarter of 2008 are down by double digits, but that's significantly less than 2007's decline. So there's more than one way to look at the results.
For the glass-half-empty crowd, this year's numbers continue a trend that has seen album sales tumble from 140.4 million in 2006's first quarter to 104.5 million this year, according to Nielsen SoundScan — a drop of more than 25% in two years. For the Mr. Brightside contingent, the decline from 2007 is 11%, compared with a 17% first-quarter drop a year ago.
Apple Confirms #1 Music Retailer Status With Four Billion Songs Sold
April 3, 2008—Apple® today announced that the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com) surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the US, based on the latest data from the NPD Group*. With over 50 million customers, iTunes has sold over four billion songs and features the world's largest music catalog of over six million songs.
Metrolyrics adopts Gracenote authorized lyrics service
MetroLyrics, one of the largest online sites to search for and find song lyrics, has just announced the addition of Gracenote's catalog of lyrics into its existing database. In case you didn't know, Gracenote is currently the largest database of licensed (read: accurate) song lyrics out there, and has agreements with the big dogs: EMI, Universal/BMG, Sony/ATV, and Warner/Chappell.
Napster Touts Revenue Gains; Profitability, Licensing Questions Remain
Napster continues to boost revenues, but profit and licensing issues remain. Ahead of a formal earnings call, the company pointed to recent-quarter earnings of $31 million, a figure that falls at the high end of earlier guidance. It also spells a revenue record level of $127 million for the fiscal year ending March 31st, boosted by a subscriber base of roughly 760,000.
The group also pointed to a third-place, revenue-based ranking among competing music stores. The ranking was recently offered by MultiMedia Intelligence head Mark Kirstein, formerly an analyst at both iSuppli and In-Stat. The revenue picture offers some encouragement, though profitability and licensing issues are clouding the picture. During the recent, third quarter ending December 31st, Napster posted a loss of $9.5 million, a substantial sum. On the positive side, that represents a narrower drop from a year-ago loss of $17.0 million.
Separately, the company is now pushing to convert its catalog into a DRM-free offering. The company initially offered guidance for a transition this quarter, though recent executive comments suggest a slower-than-expected licensing process. On Thursday morning, a representative reaffirmed a current-quarter transition schedule to Digital Music News.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080402-apple-passes-wal-mart-now-1-music-retailer-in-us.html
There's a rumor floating around this morning that Apple has surpassed Wal-Mart to become the top music retailer in the US. Ars Technica reports that Apple has sent a memo to employees showing the results of an NPD MusicWatch survey in January. There's just one problem. In February, Apple publicly stated that it was now the number two music seller in the US.
As Engadget points out, there may have been a spike in January because a whole bunch of people picked up new iPods and iPod gift cards for the holidays in Decemeber. Suffice it to say, if Apple was really the top music retailer in the country right now, they wouldn't be passing around an internal memo. They'd be sending out press releases with pictures of Steve Jobs stepping on a smiley face with blood poring out of its nose. Wait, smiley faces don't usually have noses, do they?
MySpace forms music joint venture with big labels
N ews Corp MySpace, the world's largest social network Web site, said on Thursday it has formed a joint venture with three major music companies called MySpace Music. The joint venture will include Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group as minority stake holders in the new company. The new company will offer free music audio and video streaming supported by advertising, paid-for MP3 downloads, ringtones, artist ticket sales and merchandise.
eMusic Adds Rolling Stones ABKCO Catalog
In a coup for eMusic, the DRM-free download service has the entire 28 album Rolling Stones ABKCO catalog available to its subscribers. The bulk of the material was first released between 1964 and 1969 and includes most of the bands hugely successful early input.
First Quarter Country Sales Slide
First quarter 2008 ended with country album sales down 11.3%, compared to overall music sales which fell 10.7% according to Nielsen SoundScan. Top Current Country Albums for the week ending 3/30/08 reaped a total of 324,895 units, a stark contrast to last year’s total of 774,000 units—bolstered by a Tim McGraw debut (325k units). Not unexpectedly, country market share remains flat at 10.3%, nudging downward from last year’s 10.4%.
Album sales decline, but is the slump slowing?
Album sales for the first quarter of 2008 are down by double digits, but that's significantly less than 2007's decline. So there's more than one way to look at the results.
For the glass-half-empty crowd, this year's numbers continue a trend that has seen album sales tumble from 140.4 million in 2006's first quarter to 104.5 million this year, according to Nielsen SoundScan — a drop of more than 25% in two years. For the Mr. Brightside contingent, the decline from 2007 is 11%, compared with a 17% first-quarter drop a year ago.
Apple Confirms #1 Music Retailer Status With Four Billion Songs Sold
April 3, 2008—Apple® today announced that the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com) surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the US, based on the latest data from the NPD Group*. With over 50 million customers, iTunes has sold over four billion songs and features the world's largest music catalog of over six million songs.
Metrolyrics adopts Gracenote authorized lyrics service
MetroLyrics, one of the largest online sites to search for and find song lyrics, has just announced the addition of Gracenote's catalog of lyrics into its existing database. In case you didn't know, Gracenote is currently the largest database of licensed (read: accurate) song lyrics out there, and has agreements with the big dogs: EMI, Universal/BMG, Sony/ATV, and Warner/Chappell.
Napster Touts Revenue Gains; Profitability, Licensing Questions Remain
Napster continues to boost revenues, but profit and licensing issues remain. Ahead of a formal earnings call, the company pointed to recent-quarter earnings of $31 million, a figure that falls at the high end of earlier guidance. It also spells a revenue record level of $127 million for the fiscal year ending March 31st, boosted by a subscriber base of roughly 760,000.
The group also pointed to a third-place, revenue-based ranking among competing music stores. The ranking was recently offered by MultiMedia Intelligence head Mark Kirstein, formerly an analyst at both iSuppli and In-Stat. The revenue picture offers some encouragement, though profitability and licensing issues are clouding the picture. During the recent, third quarter ending December 31st, Napster posted a loss of $9.5 million, a substantial sum. On the positive side, that represents a narrower drop from a year-ago loss of $17.0 million.
Separately, the company is now pushing to convert its catalog into a DRM-free offering. The company initially offered guidance for a transition this quarter, though recent executive comments suggest a slower-than-expected licensing process. On Thursday morning, a representative reaffirmed a current-quarter transition schedule to Digital Music News.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
snapshot 4/2/08
Researchers Compress Music Files 1000 Times Smaller Than MP3s
University of Rochester researchers on Tuesday said they have come up with a way to reproduce music into a computer file that's 1,000 times smaller than a comparable high-quality MP3 file. The technique involved isn't an audio recording technology; rather, it re-creates the clarinet solo in the same way that a player piano re-creates a piano piece from a roll of punched paper. But in addition to re-creating the notes, it also re-creates the way in which the player played the notes.
eBay bans auctions of digital downloads
Online auction site eBay is changing its policy on digital items that are delivered electronically. Instead of selling these items via auction, eBay now requires sellers to take out 30-day classified ads for $9.95 to sell digital goods. The change is intended to prevent sellers from artificially boosting their feedback ratings by selling thousands of identical downloads for as little as pennies.
Users can still sell digital goods in traditional auctions -- as long as they provide physical media which requires shipping. If you've got software on a CD or DVD for sale, that's fine. Just don't offer buyers the option of digital downloads or you'll be in violation of eBay's new terms of service.
Red Bull Readies Music Label For 2008 Launch
Red Bull plans to officially launch their new record label in 2008 and is now exploring different distribution models. The initiative, which we revealed in November, now has several A&R executives attached to it, as well as a website. The professional recording studio in Santa Monica is said to be active with several indie rock acts, however nothing has been disclosed about electronic music artists, which seems to be a more natural fit, especially for the European market. Red Bull has always sought more innovative marketing strategies, and currently supports several music based endeavors including Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Music Labs. The elaborate Santa Monica studio has been letting hand-picked rock-based acts record there since it opened for free, and is being run by Greg Hammer, who left Universal’s A&R team to launch Grace Marketing.
Eschewing massive spending on more traditional advertising approaches, Red Bull enjoys supporting lifestyle events and “experiences” which promote the brand in a more subliminal manner. However, judging by the scale of the endeavor it appears that the company is actively pursuing a revenue model instead of creating yet another music money pit. The question is what can Red Bull truly offer artists in the current climate of plummeting record sales? Recording and touring support are no-brainers, but a comprehensive distribution model is going to be a tough nut to crack. Although, Red Bull has tremendous brand-equity in the market, how will that translate into record sales when they don’t have their own retail presence for physical distribution, like Starbucks.
Amazon Launches Text-Message Shopping
Amazon.com Inc.'s brick-and-mortar competitors have yet another reason to fear the Web: a new service that lets shoppers compare prices and buy things with a few quick taps on their cell phones. Amazon TextBuyIt, which launched late Tuesday, lets people text the name of a product, its description or its UPC or ISBN to 262966 (that's "Amazon" on the keypad) from anywhere their cell phones work - including from inside physical stores.
If Amazon stocks matching items, the service returns two results at a time. Shoppers can immediately buy one of the first two the selections by texting back the number "1" or "2," or they can ask for more by texting the letter "M." New TextBuyIt customers will be prompted to enter the e-mail address associated with their existing Amazon account plus a shipping zip code. The service then calls them and walks through the checkout process using an automated voice system. Shoppers get confirmation by text message and e-mail.
The Four Dollar Insert
Is an iTunes "Digital Booklet" worth four bucks? That's the only difference between the $13.99 iTunes version of the new R.E.M. album and the $9.99 bonus track version from Amazon.com. (Interestingly, Amazon's also selling a non-bonus-track version for $9.99.)Update: It's now a $5 digital booklet -- Amazon lowered its album price to $8.99 at some point during the day.
Amazon.com Digital Payout Same As iTunes'
Our first download sales from Amazon.com just showed up in our CD Baby account. We received 63.7 cents per download, after CD Baby's 9% cut. Which means that Amazon.com is paying out 70 cents per single-song download to CD Baby, which is the same as the standard payout for U.S. iTunes sales of 99-cent downloads.
Sources: MySpace Music Service To Launch This Week
The much-anticipated digital music service from MySpace could go live as early as Thursday, but most likely Friday, Billboard.biz has learned. According to sources close to the discussions, UMG and WMG have either already signed agreements or are in the process of doing so today. EMI is not expected to be onboard at this time, and Sony BMG's status remains questionable. Draft versions of a press release announcing the service are in the review stage, with only a few minor details, and a distribution date, left to finalize.
Simply called MySpace Music, the service is expected to be a one-stop destination for all things music, including DRM-free full-song downloads, ad-supported free full-song streaming, concert tickets, merchandise and ringtones. There may even be a mobile storefront that will include some or all of these services as well.
How Long Until People Start Worrying About The Decline Of The MP3 Player Market?
We've been pointing out for a while that analysts who try to measure "the PDA market" are wasting everybody's time. The addition of personal organizer functionality to mobile phones (or we could just as easily say, the addition of wireless telephony features to PDAs) meant that phones and PDAs were now part of one big "mobile communications device" market. The next step in that trend, already underway, is the gradual merging of the smart phone and MP3 player markets. An analyst is predicting that half of all cell phones will double as MP3 players by 2011. The cell phone market is getting close to saturation in the developed world, which means that manufacturers have to keep adding new features in order to convince customers to upgrade. I really hope this doesn't mean we'll have to spend the next five years debunking silly stories about the decline of "the MP3 player market."
Scott Moore shakes up Yahoo Media Group, music chief leaves
Scott Moore, the former Microsoftie now running Yahoo's media businesses, has reorganized his group, which runs Yahoo's original-content websites. Out the door: Ian Rogers, the outspoken head of Yahoo Music, who had loudly criticized the music industry for insisting on copy protection. Rogers says on his blog that he's joining Topspin Media, a music startup, as CEO. Rogers also oversaw some of Yahoo's video efforts, which Moore now says he'll run personally. The reorg comes in advance of two days of all-hands meetings in Sunnyvale and Santa Monica in two weeks.
University of Rochester researchers on Tuesday said they have come up with a way to reproduce music into a computer file that's 1,000 times smaller than a comparable high-quality MP3 file. The technique involved isn't an audio recording technology; rather, it re-creates the clarinet solo in the same way that a player piano re-creates a piano piece from a roll of punched paper. But in addition to re-creating the notes, it also re-creates the way in which the player played the notes.
eBay bans auctions of digital downloads
Online auction site eBay is changing its policy on digital items that are delivered electronically. Instead of selling these items via auction, eBay now requires sellers to take out 30-day classified ads for $9.95 to sell digital goods. The change is intended to prevent sellers from artificially boosting their feedback ratings by selling thousands of identical downloads for as little as pennies.
Users can still sell digital goods in traditional auctions -- as long as they provide physical media which requires shipping. If you've got software on a CD or DVD for sale, that's fine. Just don't offer buyers the option of digital downloads or you'll be in violation of eBay's new terms of service.
Red Bull Readies Music Label For 2008 Launch
Red Bull plans to officially launch their new record label in 2008 and is now exploring different distribution models. The initiative, which we revealed in November, now has several A&R executives attached to it, as well as a website. The professional recording studio in Santa Monica is said to be active with several indie rock acts, however nothing has been disclosed about electronic music artists, which seems to be a more natural fit, especially for the European market. Red Bull has always sought more innovative marketing strategies, and currently supports several music based endeavors including Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Music Labs. The elaborate Santa Monica studio has been letting hand-picked rock-based acts record there since it opened for free, and is being run by Greg Hammer, who left Universal’s A&R team to launch Grace Marketing.
Eschewing massive spending on more traditional advertising approaches, Red Bull enjoys supporting lifestyle events and “experiences” which promote the brand in a more subliminal manner. However, judging by the scale of the endeavor it appears that the company is actively pursuing a revenue model instead of creating yet another music money pit. The question is what can Red Bull truly offer artists in the current climate of plummeting record sales? Recording and touring support are no-brainers, but a comprehensive distribution model is going to be a tough nut to crack. Although, Red Bull has tremendous brand-equity in the market, how will that translate into record sales when they don’t have their own retail presence for physical distribution, like Starbucks.
Amazon Launches Text-Message Shopping
Amazon.com Inc.'s brick-and-mortar competitors have yet another reason to fear the Web: a new service that lets shoppers compare prices and buy things with a few quick taps on their cell phones. Amazon TextBuyIt, which launched late Tuesday, lets people text the name of a product, its description or its UPC or ISBN to 262966 (that's "Amazon" on the keypad) from anywhere their cell phones work - including from inside physical stores.
If Amazon stocks matching items, the service returns two results at a time. Shoppers can immediately buy one of the first two the selections by texting back the number "1" or "2," or they can ask for more by texting the letter "M." New TextBuyIt customers will be prompted to enter the e-mail address associated with their existing Amazon account plus a shipping zip code. The service then calls them and walks through the checkout process using an automated voice system. Shoppers get confirmation by text message and e-mail.
The Four Dollar Insert
Is an iTunes "Digital Booklet" worth four bucks? That's the only difference between the $13.99 iTunes version of the new R.E.M. album and the $9.99 bonus track version from Amazon.com. (Interestingly, Amazon's also selling a non-bonus-track version for $9.99.)Update: It's now a $5 digital booklet -- Amazon lowered its album price to $8.99 at some point during the day.
Amazon.com Digital Payout Same As iTunes'
Our first download sales from Amazon.com just showed up in our CD Baby account. We received 63.7 cents per download, after CD Baby's 9% cut. Which means that Amazon.com is paying out 70 cents per single-song download to CD Baby, which is the same as the standard payout for U.S. iTunes sales of 99-cent downloads.
Sources: MySpace Music Service To Launch This Week
The much-anticipated digital music service from MySpace could go live as early as Thursday, but most likely Friday, Billboard.biz has learned. According to sources close to the discussions, UMG and WMG have either already signed agreements or are in the process of doing so today. EMI is not expected to be onboard at this time, and Sony BMG's status remains questionable. Draft versions of a press release announcing the service are in the review stage, with only a few minor details, and a distribution date, left to finalize.
Simply called MySpace Music, the service is expected to be a one-stop destination for all things music, including DRM-free full-song downloads, ad-supported free full-song streaming, concert tickets, merchandise and ringtones. There may even be a mobile storefront that will include some or all of these services as well.
How Long Until People Start Worrying About The Decline Of The MP3 Player Market?
We've been pointing out for a while that analysts who try to measure "the PDA market" are wasting everybody's time. The addition of personal organizer functionality to mobile phones (or we could just as easily say, the addition of wireless telephony features to PDAs) meant that phones and PDAs were now part of one big "mobile communications device" market. The next step in that trend, already underway, is the gradual merging of the smart phone and MP3 player markets. An analyst is predicting that half of all cell phones will double as MP3 players by 2011. The cell phone market is getting close to saturation in the developed world, which means that manufacturers have to keep adding new features in order to convince customers to upgrade. I really hope this doesn't mean we'll have to spend the next five years debunking silly stories about the decline of "the MP3 player market."
Scott Moore shakes up Yahoo Media Group, music chief leaves
Scott Moore, the former Microsoftie now running Yahoo's media businesses, has reorganized his group, which runs Yahoo's original-content websites. Out the door: Ian Rogers, the outspoken head of Yahoo Music, who had loudly criticized the music industry for insisting on copy protection. Rogers says on his blog that he's joining Topspin Media, a music startup, as CEO. Rogers also oversaw some of Yahoo's video efforts, which Moore now says he'll run personally. The reorg comes in advance of two days of all-hands meetings in Sunnyvale and Santa Monica in two weeks.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
snapshot 4/1/08
Orchard Losses Jump Even As Revenue Doubles
The Orchard posted a 99% jump over previous year revenue in the 4th quarter of 2007, but losses also grew from $1.4M to $2.4M as gross profit margins fell 34% to 25%. The merger with publicly traded Digital Music Group factored into all results.
Radiohead sells 'Nude' deconstruction on iTunes
British rock act Radiohead has taken a different approach with its latest single, the band has announced. Rather than commission a series of professional remixes for "Nude," any musician can now buy the song's underlying elements on iTunes (link), and remix them into a new track. Available "stems" include the voice, bass, guitar, drum, and string/FX layers; while shoppers have to buy before April 8th to get free GarageBand project files, the layers can be edited using many other programs, such as Logic.
Completed remixes can then be uploaded to a special Radiohead website, where people can vote on their favorite mixes until May 1st, the best of which will be heard by the band. MySpace and Facebook widgets can be used to simplify voting by friends and strangers.
Firefox reaches 18 percent of corporate desktops
Mozilla Firefox's share of the enterprise desktop market has reached 18 percent, according to a new Forrester report noted by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley.
Mozilla's share of the browser market rose steadily throughout 2007, only slowing for the quarter directly following the release of Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) in late 2006. Adoption in the enterprise nearly doubled to 18 percent by the end of 2007, but large-scale, companywide deployments are not yet typical. Mozilla continues to expend little energy on wooing IT managers to formally adopt Firefox....
Universal Goes Green With Greenchoice Packaging
The insert in more than 20 Universal Music Group titles being introduced as a part of Wal-Mart's "Earth Month" promotion contain a paper insert imbeded with wildflower seeds. Its all part of a growing movement to green the music industry with environmentally friendly packaging and messages.
The albums will be sold in the new REPAK CD package, an all paperboard option containing third-party certified, renewable recycled paper. The REPAK's design features a recessed cavity to hold the disc in place, eliminating the need for a plastic hub or tray and is part of Shorewood Packaging's "greenchoice" program. The new packaging will replace the jewel box version of each title. Those albums (see list below) will also include the wildflower insert offering three free digital downloads from the UMG catalog.
Stuck In First Gear? Growth Questions Surround Mobile Content, Music
The mobile industry has one of the most explosive growth curves in history. Over the past two decades, industrialized nations have shifted from niche usage to super-saturation, and less-developed nations have leapfrogged nonexistent landline infrastructures. Current estimates peg the total number of active mobile subscriptions at roughly 3 billion, and recently-released data counted 500 million music-enabled phone shipments last year alone.
But flattening voice revenues are shifting the attention towards content, and not everyone is pleased with early-stage adoption levels. In Las Vegas on Monday, a certain level of frustration was palpable at Billboard Mobile Entertainment Live, a pre-CTIA symposium. Across various forms of mobile entertainment, executives widely agreed that mobile content evolution remains in its earliest stages. But carriers, manufacturers, content owners, and investors struggled through internal disagreements and disappointing adoption levels.
Who's Number Two? Three? Researcher Starts Counting Benjamins...
So who's right? "From our perspective, money is what counts," said Mark Kirstein, a former analyst at In-Stat and iSuppli, and currently head of MultiMedia Intelligence. Kirstein compiled a ranking based on annual revenues, and found both Amazon and Spiralfrog in the basement. "Amazon may be coming up now, but they certainly weren't in the running in 2007," Kirstein told Digital Music News. "And Spiralfrog's claimed registered user base of roughly 850,000 isn't substantially monetized."
But who are the top players? Kirstein estimated annual music revenues of $1.8 billion at iTunes, $125 million at Napster, and $42 million at eMusic. Others, including Rhapsody, Zune Marketplace, and Musicload are all "sub-$40 million" according to the data.
Exclusive: Details Revealed of Music Industry Plan to OK P2P
Details are beginning to emerge of a controversial plan to charge internet users an extra fee through their ISPs to freely download music on P2P networks. = Spearheaded by Warner Music Group, which has hired industry consultant Jim Griffin to implement a plan to turn peer-to-peer downloads into cash, the scheme would give P2P users a get-out-of-jail-free card for file sharing activity. BigChampagne, a company that measures digital-media consumption, would be one of several sources supplying the necessary data to track file sharing activity and divvy up the cash among rights holders.
Court Backs Majors On File-Sharing Question
Major labels today prevailed in a federal District Court in New York on a controversial legal question over unauthorized sharing of music files. In denying a motion to dismiss the labels' complaint, the court provided specific language for the labels to use when suing a file-sharer for simply making an unauthorized music file available in a Kazaa "shared folder."
The Orchard posted a 99% jump over previous year revenue in the 4th quarter of 2007, but losses also grew from $1.4M to $2.4M as gross profit margins fell 34% to 25%. The merger with publicly traded Digital Music Group factored into all results.
Radiohead sells 'Nude' deconstruction on iTunes
British rock act Radiohead has taken a different approach with its latest single, the band has announced. Rather than commission a series of professional remixes for "Nude," any musician can now buy the song's underlying elements on iTunes (link), and remix them into a new track. Available "stems" include the voice, bass, guitar, drum, and string/FX layers; while shoppers have to buy before April 8th to get free GarageBand project files, the layers can be edited using many other programs, such as Logic.
Completed remixes can then be uploaded to a special Radiohead website, where people can vote on their favorite mixes until May 1st, the best of which will be heard by the band. MySpace and Facebook widgets can be used to simplify voting by friends and strangers.
Firefox reaches 18 percent of corporate desktops
Mozilla Firefox's share of the enterprise desktop market has reached 18 percent, according to a new Forrester report noted by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley.
Mozilla's share of the browser market rose steadily throughout 2007, only slowing for the quarter directly following the release of Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) in late 2006. Adoption in the enterprise nearly doubled to 18 percent by the end of 2007, but large-scale, companywide deployments are not yet typical. Mozilla continues to expend little energy on wooing IT managers to formally adopt Firefox....
Universal Goes Green With Greenchoice Packaging
The insert in more than 20 Universal Music Group titles being introduced as a part of Wal-Mart's "Earth Month" promotion contain a paper insert imbeded with wildflower seeds. Its all part of a growing movement to green the music industry with environmentally friendly packaging and messages.
The albums will be sold in the new REPAK CD package, an all paperboard option containing third-party certified, renewable recycled paper. The REPAK's design features a recessed cavity to hold the disc in place, eliminating the need for a plastic hub or tray and is part of Shorewood Packaging's "greenchoice" program. The new packaging will replace the jewel box version of each title. Those albums (see list below) will also include the wildflower insert offering three free digital downloads from the UMG catalog.
Stuck In First Gear? Growth Questions Surround Mobile Content, Music
The mobile industry has one of the most explosive growth curves in history. Over the past two decades, industrialized nations have shifted from niche usage to super-saturation, and less-developed nations have leapfrogged nonexistent landline infrastructures. Current estimates peg the total number of active mobile subscriptions at roughly 3 billion, and recently-released data counted 500 million music-enabled phone shipments last year alone.
But flattening voice revenues are shifting the attention towards content, and not everyone is pleased with early-stage adoption levels. In Las Vegas on Monday, a certain level of frustration was palpable at Billboard Mobile Entertainment Live, a pre-CTIA symposium. Across various forms of mobile entertainment, executives widely agreed that mobile content evolution remains in its earliest stages. But carriers, manufacturers, content owners, and investors struggled through internal disagreements and disappointing adoption levels.
Who's Number Two? Three? Researcher Starts Counting Benjamins...
So who's right? "From our perspective, money is what counts," said Mark Kirstein, a former analyst at In-Stat and iSuppli, and currently head of MultiMedia Intelligence. Kirstein compiled a ranking based on annual revenues, and found both Amazon and Spiralfrog in the basement. "Amazon may be coming up now, but they certainly weren't in the running in 2007," Kirstein told Digital Music News. "And Spiralfrog's claimed registered user base of roughly 850,000 isn't substantially monetized."
But who are the top players? Kirstein estimated annual music revenues of $1.8 billion at iTunes, $125 million at Napster, and $42 million at eMusic. Others, including Rhapsody, Zune Marketplace, and Musicload are all "sub-$40 million" according to the data.
Exclusive: Details Revealed of Music Industry Plan to OK P2P
Details are beginning to emerge of a controversial plan to charge internet users an extra fee through their ISPs to freely download music on P2P networks. = Spearheaded by Warner Music Group, which has hired industry consultant Jim Griffin to implement a plan to turn peer-to-peer downloads into cash, the scheme would give P2P users a get-out-of-jail-free card for file sharing activity. BigChampagne, a company that measures digital-media consumption, would be one of several sources supplying the necessary data to track file sharing activity and divvy up the cash among rights holders.
Court Backs Majors On File-Sharing Question
Major labels today prevailed in a federal District Court in New York on a controversial legal question over unauthorized sharing of music files. In denying a motion to dismiss the labels' complaint, the court provided specific language for the labels to use when suing a file-sharer for simply making an unauthorized music file available in a Kazaa "shared folder."
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