Music News Bulletin - 19/09/08

Legal digital music is commercial suicide
"Opinion Lala, for those who don't know, is a free streaming music venture. Invested in by Warner Music group to the tune of $20m it streams about five million songs, but also offers 89 cent MP3 sales, and song rentals for 10 cents each. But why is almost nobody using their well-designed, expansive, free streaming service?" [TheRegister]

Best Buy snaffles Napster 15/09/08
"Napster's board has unanimously accepted a takeover bid from US retail behemoth Best Buy, worth $120m. Thus ends a bumpy four-year ride as an independent company. Like Frankenstein's monster, the reanimated Napster was constructed from the parts of formerly deceased music companies. Software vendor Roxio acquired the assets of the bankrupt rebel P2P outfit for just $5m in late 2002, and acquired the remains of Sony's unsuccessful music service PressPlay six months later. After the injection of electricity, and $20m, Napster went live five years ago this month." [TheRegister]

China's nonstop music machine: Baidu versus business
"Exclusive Baidu is renowned as China's glittering internet success story, and as the start-up that gave Google a bloody nose. It dominates the web in the world's second biggest economy with 70 per cent market share, and on Wall Street carries a market cap of almost $12bn. But Baidu's success comes at a price, for the legitimate music business, for the development of China and of its intellectual property (IP) law, and for any internet company wishing to do business in China." [TheRegister]

12th century thinking haunts digital music: On serfs, fanbois and bandits 17/09/08
"British digital music company 7Digital claimed a coup yesterday by becoming the first online music store to carry DRM-free catalog from the "Big Four" major record labels. Calling it a coup is misleading, however. It's really further confirmation that the top of the music business is run along feudal lines: closer to the 12th century than the 21st." [TheRegister]

Media standard backers attempt Apple-less solo run: 'We don't need no stinkin' iTunes' 17/09/08
"Computer and entertainment companies have announced a plan to standardise video and music files so that they play on any device. The ambitious plan has not been backed by the dominant force in digital downloads, Apple." [TheRegister]

Yahoo Search Adds Free Streaming 18/09/08
"As a part of its "play the web" mission, Yahoo has partnered with Rhapsody to offer free audio streams to Yahoo search results (read press release). Search results for some artists -- 10,00 at the time, reports Alley Insider -- will have an artist short cut at the top of the page. There are also links to lyrics (Yahoo has licensed lyrics from GraceNote), videos and albums." [Coolfer]

Research on Student Piracy Confirms Market Research and Anecdotes 17/09/08
"Now it's even more official. A professor at the University of Idaho has for years studied students and piracy. His findings echo what everybody else says. According to Woolley, who has been analyzing piracy among university students for several years, students aren’t even ashamed to admit illegally downloading music off the Internet. More than 95 percent of respondents in his research freely admitted to illegally downloading music, and some 63 percent admitted to copying a CD. Students indicate that they expect the trend to continue after they graduate and move into the workplace." [Coolfer]

MySpace Music Already Faces Legal Challenge 19/09/08
"MySpace Music hasn't even launched yet, but already it is facing anti-trust allegations from independent record labels. MySpace Music has the backing of its parent company, News Corp., as well as three of the four major labels, and the joint venture is being billed as the biggest music retail launch of the year. Together, the three major labels involved - Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony BMG - account for 70 percent of the U.S. recorded music business. Meanwhile, smaller independent labels feel that they are being frozen out of selling their music on the site, which expects to become the MTV of the Internet. This has the indies crying foul." [FMQB]

A Conversation With Tunecore's Jeff Price
"Tunecore In this exclusive Hypebot interview, Ethan Bauley sits down with Jeff Price for a wide ranging conversation between two creative thinkers who know the industry. Price ran successfull indie label spinArt (Pixies, Apples In Stereo) before founding TuneCore which is democratizing digital distribution with its low cost flat fee model. Ethan Bauley is a musician and Director of Social Media Strategy at M80, a WPP agency. M80's sister company, m80 Music, is Dengue Fever's record label." Part One [HypeBot] Part Two [HypeBot] Part Three [HypeBot]