Dick Cheney's Got A Gun!

No matter which political party you may or may not belong to, this video is worth a click or two...(thanks for the link Bob!) A big shout out and "thumbs up" to the production crew who may just win an award for their efforts :-)

http://www.toonedin.com/cheney.html

Top 10 U.S. Online Music Destinations

What's most interesting to me with respect to the Center for Media Research's latest market intelligence ending 1/06 is that AOL is more popular than iTunes...So, I'm wondering, does that mean listeners to free streaming radio are skewing the numbers or is AOL really that big of a player in the paid music model (i.e., subscription and downloads)? I can't remember off the top of my head any earth shattering music sales statistics released from the entertainment behemoth...Also noteworthy is the fact that the 45+ age group had a commanding lead and overall - men and women were equal in their consumption. Lastly, $50k-$75k was the highest ranking household family income. (Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView)

Another Interview with Phil Leigh

I recently had the opportunity to be interviewed again by Inside Digital Media's Phil Leigh, where we discussed among other things, the future of the music industry and marketing strategies for record labels. The impromptu discussion about my current activities consulting for Goin' Native Records is about a half hour long and can be streamed HERE using Real Player or downloaded as an MP3 HERE to play in any portable or PC based media player. Phil's show consistently hosts some of the brightest and most innovative people in the digital media industry, so I was honored to make my 3rd guest appearance on his show...

Claiming Blog with Technorati...

Technorati Profile

The Future of Automotive Multimedia

According to Strategy Analytics latest report by Joanne Blight , "There is a strong emerging trend towards the adoption of multifeatured systems including compressable format CD players, digital radio and navigation, a market that is being currently led by the Japanese automotive infotainment system suppliers, most notably Alpine, Kenwood, Panasonic, and Pioneer. By the end of 2012 the market for in-vehicle audio infotainment systems will be worth US$36B, in terms of OE and aftermarket systems sales across North America, Europe and Japan, increasing from US$24B in 2005. The demand for multifeatured systems will increase from 76M units in 2005 to 97M units in 2012, representing a CAGR of 3% p.a. over the forecast period.

Over the next 2-3 years, the market for in-vehicle infotainment systems will be most significantly impacted by: new digital audio products that play ‘soft’ music files; digital broadcast technologies; connectivity to digital music players and stored files; and emerging display based entertainment systems. These forecast data tables for the first time introduce forecasts for connectivity for removable storage cards, portable music players, and portable navigation devices."

Fraunhofer Fights Music Piracy With Watermarking

Fraunhofer makes tool to fight music piracy using digital watermarking technology - According to Michael Kip, a spokesman for the institute, "the Fraunhofer approach is an alternative to DRM (digital rightsmanagement) systems, which require special players and are prone to hacking...While watermarking technology isn't new per se, this is the first time it has been used in a system to automatically track pirating in P2P networks." The institute will demonstrate the technology next month at the CeBit trade show in Germany...

Yahoo! Updates Music Engine...

"The new version 1.1 includes a number of features which simplify theprocess of creating, sharing and finding playlists and allows membersof the unlimited subscription service to stream music to any supported music device connected to their home network - and enables them to drag and drop tracks directly from the service onto their portabledevices..."Sounds Sweet !! The *minimal* install option was only 8 megs and tookabout 2 minutes with my DSL connection. However, I did have sometrouble using my office machine behind our firewall...

Related Links:

http://ymusicblog.com/blog/2006/02/07/new-yahoo-music-engine-you-asked-we-listened
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6036414.html