Ask your Representative to cosponsor the Internet Radio Equality Act!

The Internet Radio Equality Act (HR 2060) has been introduced in Congress by Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA). A simple phone call to your Representative to ask for their support on this Bill will go a long way toward ensuring your right to diversity and choice in web radio. Better yet, please write and fax to show how serious you are. They need to know how much we all care about the niche genres and unique content!

 

Click here for the number of your Representative. Call NOW!
 

 

MPAA Calls For Interoperability

MPAA head, Dan Glickman, speaks about the need for DRM interoperability…One of the most interesting items was the fact that Glickman said publicly that the industry supports "managed copying," a policy that allows users to take films “off a DVD” and watch it on a PC or portable device. That's pretty progressive thinking compared to the RIAA....

"Our goal is a diverse, high-quality, hassle-free consumer experience," he said, "one that makes the most effective case possible not merely for the legitimate consumer marketplace, but its vast superiority (over piracy)."

"My philosophy is that we can make interoperability and DRM work if all parties truly want to make it work," he said. "With this much brainpower at our disposal, it's a question of collective will far more than technological capacity."

Speech

Article

New Online Digital Music Store = [Circuit City + Napster]

Online music retailer Napster Inc. said Friday its teaming up with electronics retail chain Circuit City Stores to launch a new digital music service called Circuit City + Napster, which will offer some exclusive tracks on a weekly basis that are not available to regular Napster users. Unlimited access to the Co-Branded service will still cost $14.95 a month, but new subscribers will receive the first month of access free and five free song downloads (most likely with DRM). Individual song downloads can still be purchased for $.99 cents each. Prepaid download cards will also be available in-store and online in bundles of 15, 25 or 60 tracks. Signup for the service begins April 29.

“At least for now, the new service won't be tied to any specific digital music player sold at Circuit City, said Napster spokeswoman Becky Farina.”

This is all pretty predictable really, but it would be good to know how many co-branded Rhapsody players Sandisk actually sold as a result of their BestBuy deal…

http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=2985941&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.6.1

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/20/circuit-city-napster-team-up-for-subscription-based-music-servi/

The Nail In The Coffin For Internet Radio

Click HERE to read the 5 page U.S. Copyright Royalty Board order denying motions for rehearing. This is a sad day indeed and in a nutshell, this is the death of internet radio as we know it….(Apparently, admitting mistakes is hard even for judges J)

The Music Bundle We've All Been Waiting For

http://anywherecd.com/

Michael Robertson has done it again. Apparently, he’s convinced some major labels and artists (i.e. Madonna, Prince, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Bloc Party, The Shins, and thousands more) to offer free mp3’s (encoded at 192kbps) with the purchase of a regular CD. Talk about added value! This is something I was actually pushing for back in 2003, but the dynamics of the industry would not allow it to happen at that time. Amazon was rumored to be working on it, but apparently their talks with the major labels never went anywhere. While I haven’t tried out the new service/store, I can only imagine that the album selection will grow quickly as the word spreads. The strategy is to sell the mp3 as an album and then charge roughly a $3 premium for the CD also….Finally, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, for the music industry to adapt a dying business model that can deliver more of what consumers truly want…..

Is Verizon's Unlimited Data Plan Really Unlimited?

NO!  According to a recent Wired Blog, the small print in the TOS for Verizon's unlimited EVDO Wireless Data Service:  "A person engaged in prohibited uses, continuously for one hour, could typically use 100 to 200 MB’s, or, if engaged in prohibited uses for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, could use more than 5 GB’s in a month...Anyone using more than 5 GB per line in a given month is presumed to be using the service in a manner prohibited above, and we reserve the right to immediately terminate the service of any such person without notice."

 

So what does that mean to the average mobile user and traveler?  Basically, you can send email, you can browse the web -  but listening to internet radio, streaming video to a laptop, and downloading large files is not allowed - rendering the service much less useful than advertised with a 5GB maximum.  Therefore, “unlimited usage” is not what it seems….

 

 

Apple to credit song purchases towards full album sales?

Apparently, Apple is finally working out a new type of deal with the major labels to allow for the purchase of single songs on iTunes to act as “credit” towards the purchase of the full album - at least within a limited time frame of the original download. This type of deal has been rumored before in the past, but the news comes from the New York Times, citing "people involved in the negotiations.” Still not sure what kind of time period Apple has in mind or how many labels it has on board, but this makes a lot of sense to me!
[Via Ars Technica]

EMI Moves Into Online Video?

Gotuit is among scores of new sites that are being compared to YouTube - the big difference is that it serves up mainstream music videos, news and sports, and does not include any user-generated content. They also don’t allow external embedding on sites like MySpace, hi5, Friendster and blogs. Gotuit is supported by 15 second ads between clips, and no doubt EMI is getting a good cut of that revenue. They have some social features too, like sharing a link via email and creating a list of favorites, but in reality the social aspect is much less apparent than on the YouTube contenders - Metacafe, iFilm and the rest. Copyright holders probably love the fact that Gotuit is so locked down, but for the users, it’s not such a good deal.

What’s not clear is whether this rules out a deal with YouTube - could EMI partner with both video sites, or have they already made their move into online video?

Here’s the press release.

Questionable Statistics For mp3 Players & Mac Marketshare

While a bit long, both of these articles are well written and make some pretty valid points.

MARKET SHARE MYTHS:

Market Share vs Installed Base: iPod vs Zune

Market Share Myth 2007: iPod vs Zune and Mac vs PC

Sony Introduces New Online Mastering Services

Sony Music Studios recently announced a new audio mastering service that is only available online. Any audio track that you upload is quickly mastered by award winning Sony engineers and returned digitally in 2 business days for only $99 a song; physical deliverables are also available for an additional cost.. (According to the website, the service is still in beta...)

It seems to me that they're trying to tap into the exploding social networking market because their FAQ section states, "SIM is designed to be a smooth, efficient, and affordable service for any artist using online services like MySpace or PureVolume" and as a result - only allows 4 songs per project...

IFPI publishes Digital Music Report 2007

RESOURCES - IFPI publishes Digital Music Report 2007

Digital sales now account for around 10% of the music market as record companies experiment and innovate with an array of business models and digital music products, involving hundreds of licensing partners.

SUMMARY:

- Digital music sales estimated to double to around US $2 billion in 2006
- Single track downloads estimated up 89% at 795 million
- Available tracks double to four million, via 500 online services in over 40 countries worldwide
- Portable music players help drive digital music consumption
- New revenue streams and business models emerge
- Lawsuits impact illegal file-sharing, but "gatekeeper" ISPs must act to curb digital piracy

Favorite Quote of The Week

...In the digital realm, the differences between performances and distributions,downloads and streams, push and pull, they all begin to blur into one immutable fact: The digits that constitute a phonorecord have been transmitted from one point to another. Period.

What differences exist -- intentions and results-oriented, after-the-fact analyses of whether or not the content was buffered along the way, how many times, and for what reasons -- are not easily measured or monitored for purposes of public policy. The digital delivery of art is inherently anarchistic, and itis hard to argue for or against any one hand reaching into the pool for compensation...."

Jim Griffin - Pho List

52 Million wireless multimedia-capable devices to sell by 2010

52 mln wireless multimedia-capable devices to sell by 2010 by ZDNet's ZDNet Research -- Industry adoption of next-generation specifications will provide a substantial boost to the market for wireless multimedia networking, prompting growth in excess of 50 mln wireless network devices by 2010. Parks Associates predicts that annual sales and shipments of wireless multimedia-capable devices, including home networking gears, personal computers, and fixed and mobile consumer electronics, will grow [...]

More 2006 Nielsen Music Stats...

Major Record Label Market Share:

- Universal Music Group remained No. 1 with 31.6%
- Sony BMG Music Entertainment came in at 27.4%
- Warner Music Group had 18.1%
- EMI held onto 10.2%

(That's great to know, but let's also not forget to report on the Indie digital market share, with last cumulative accounting of physical and digital at approximately 28% of the global music market and growing...)

Digital albums represent 5.5% of all albums sold. Warner Music continued to build on its digital market share, rising 1.72% to 23.29% of the digital album universe. UMG is at 27.4% of all digital album sales, Sony BMG 24% and EMI 10%.

Year's data from Nielsen SoundScan revealed that customers are not going to record stores like they used to. (Uhhhh....really....Is that becasue they're all in bankruptcy!) Chain stores saw just 41% of tall sales, down from 48% two years ago. Indie music stores account for 6% of all sales, down from 7% last year and 9% in '04.

Mass merchant outlets like Wal-Mart and Target accounted for 40% of all sales, (but don't forget that Amazon sells more physical CD's than anyone!)

As has been the case for the last two years, 20% of all sales occurred during the last six weeks of the year. (When will the major labels ever learn that this strategy helps no one in the long run....?)

Online Music Services That Help You Find New Music

From USA Today, here's a list of 6 music recommendation/discovery services that are pretty easy to use and mostly free...To be honest, I'd never heard of Goombah, but MusicIP is my personal favorite...although Pandora is pretty compelling too...Try them out and see which one is your favorite! I guarantee they'll bring an added dimension to your listening pleasure :-)

• MusicIP Mixer: Generates instant mixes inside your iTunes collection
  
• Goombah: Matches you with folks with similar tastes after analyzing your iTunes collection. Free downloads
  
• Soundflavor DJ: Playlist generator for iTunes can point you to concerts and recommended music
  
• iLike: Lets you compare the music you are listening to with friends and get downloads from GarageBand.com
  
• Pandora: Builds customized radio stations based on songs or artists you enter
  
• Last.fm: Compiles vast reservoir of listening data from members to provide recommendations