Remaining Three Majors Drop DRM at iTunes, and Why It Matters
"Apple has come to an agreement with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music that will give iTunes their songs in MP3 format. The majors get a three-tiered pricing structure (not dynamic pricing, and only slightly variable pricing) that finally gives them the ability to price according to demand. There is also word that iPhone users will be able to download from iTunes through their cellular carrier.
The news has been covered widely, and there has been some interesting opinion out there. One blogger thinks there is no reason to ever shop at anywhere but iTunes (I wholeheartedly disagree, compatibility with the iPod is only one reason to shop there). Another believes allowing iPhone users to download via cellular carriers could lead to explosive mobile music sales (if that happens they will probably just replace normal downloads and result in a wash). No, the important effects of this news are further under the surface." [Coolfer]
Changes Coming to the iTunes Store
"Apple today announced several changes to the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com/uk). Beginning today, all four major music labels — Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels, are now offering their music in iTunes Plus, Apple’s DRM-free format with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings. iTunes customers can also choose to download their favourite songs from the world’s largest music catalogue directly onto their iPhone™ 3G over their 3G network just as they do with Wi-Fi today, for the same price as downloading to their computer. And beginning in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available at one of three price points: 59 pence, 79 pence and 99 pence, with most albums still priced at £7.99." [RecordOfTheDay]
Apple vendra sur iTunes sans dispositif anticopie
"Le groupe informatique a annoncé qu’il allait supprimer d’ici à la fin mars les dispositifs anticopie de la musique qu’il vend sur sa plateforme. Les maisons de disque ont longuement milité pour que les internautes ne puissent pas acheter de chansons ou d’albums sans ces dispositifs qui lient le fichier à un seul utilisateur.
Apple vendra sur iTunes sans dispositif anticopie
L’annonce a été faite lors du salon Macworld Expo à San Francisco (Californie, ouest des Etats-Unis) à l’occasion de la présentation par le vice-président du marketing d’Apple, Phil Schiller, du nouveau modèle de l’ordinateur MacBook Pro et d’améliorations aux logiciels qui équipent la gamme Macintosh." [LeSoir]
Showing posts with label Warner Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warner Music. Show all posts
12/23/08
Music News Bulletin - 23/12/08
Amazon MP3 fuels indie gloom: Not exactly retail therapy
"Do you remember when the internet was supposed to "empower" new businesses, sweep away cartels and monopolies, and give a voice to the little guy? Well, unless you view increasing concentrations of power as a good thing, this week has been a bad one for the music economy.
Amazon finally launched its MP3 download service in the
Amazon launches music downloads: The online bookseller has branched out into digital music sales
"Online retail website Amazon has launched a
Rumor: Music labels want to create Hulu for music videos
The idea would be to create a single destination where be able to find music videos from popular artists. There's some reason to think the site could work. After all, Hulu has become one of the top destination for online video by providing full length, ad-supported streaming episodes of TV shows and movies with the cooperation of several major networks and studios." [DownloadSquad]
12/15/08
Music News Bulletin - 15/12/08
Chrysalis Halts Takeover Talks
“British music company Chrysalis Plc has terminated all talks related to a possible offer for the company, but says it continues to evaluate other opportunities. Shares of the company were down 12% or 7.75 pence (11.6 cents) at 57.25 pence (85.6 cents) this afternoon.
On Sept. 17, Chrysalis said it had received very tentative approaches from a number of parties "suggesting a variety of collaborative transactions, including a possible offer for the company". The company now confirmed it was no longer deemed to be in an "offer period."” [BillBoard]
Warner expand Northern Europe Indie Distribution
“And now news of expansion in the distribution sector - because it does happen on occasion. Warner Music's independent label distribution division, the Alternative Distribution Alliance, has launched a new Nordic operation providing digital and physical distribution services for indie labels in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
The new division will be run by Jesper Thorsson, formerly of Swedish indie the Bonnier Amigo Music Group, who told reporters: "ADA Nordic has been created specifically to offer the best service and support to the region's diverse, dynamic community of indie labels. We will provide our partners and their outstanding artists with a host of new opportunities via our powerful distribution footprint, strong sales philosophy and commitment to assist in long-term artist development".” [CMUDaily]
[PIAS] UK DVD extends service
“[PIAS] UK DVD will refine its service from January 2009 to enable its labels to benefit from an improved product management, marketing and sales offering.[PIAS] UK DVD will continue to represent all labels currently on its roster, but will also offer an enhanced label management and marketing service. In addition, Lace Digital Media Sales (LDMS), the DVD sales specialists, will be employed as the sales agency for [PIAS] UK DVD distributed releases.” [RecordOfTheDay]
Music sales defy the crunch
“The doom and gloom surrounding the economy was given short shrift by record buyers last week, with sales topping the equivalent 2007 levels for the second week in a row and Take That’s new album, The Circus making a huge debut. Overcoming the fact that - like many of last week’s new releases - it isn’t available in Woolworths, The Circus by Take That nevertheless scorches to sensational first week sales of 432,490 to earn the Mancunian quartet its fifth number one, while simultaneously eclipsing the band’s own previous best first-week sales and setting a new 2008 benchmark.
Selling for as little as £5.88 on CD (Asda) and £3 as a download (Amazon) – both the lowest prices ever for a number one album in those formats - The Circus was released two years to the week after Take That’s comeback album Beautiful World, which opened at number one on sales of 168,954. Beautiful World subsequently sold 443,070 copies on its fourth week in the chart to secure the second highest one week sale by any act in the 21st century, behind the 464,471 copies that Coldplay’s X&Y sold on its first week in 2003.” [MusicWeek]
Rumor: Apple's iTunes going DRM-free starting Tuesday
“Apple is believed to be on the verge of an end-of-year push that would start by finally offering unprotected iTunes Store music from all major labels and would switch a special post-holiday campaign giving away music and videos to Europeans.
A report from last week brought to AppleInsider's attention by French technology site ElectronLibre asserts that it's now "clear" Apple will spark new interest in its music store by removing DRM from tracks published by Sony, Universal and Warner on December 9th.” [AppleInsider]
“British music company Chrysalis Plc has terminated all talks related to a possible offer for the company, but says it continues to evaluate other opportunities. Shares of the company were down 12% or 7.75 pence (11.6 cents) at 57.25 pence (85.6 cents) this afternoon.
On Sept. 17, Chrysalis said it had received very tentative approaches from a number of parties "suggesting a variety of collaborative transactions, including a possible offer for the company". The company now confirmed it was no longer deemed to be in an "offer period."” [BillBoard]
Warner expand Northern Europe Indie Distribution
“And now news of expansion in the distribution sector - because it does happen on occasion. Warner Music's independent label distribution division, the Alternative Distribution Alliance, has launched a new Nordic operation providing digital and physical distribution services for indie labels in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
The new division will be run by Jesper Thorsson, formerly of Swedish indie the Bonnier Amigo Music Group, who told reporters: "ADA Nordic has been created specifically to offer the best service and support to the region's diverse, dynamic community of indie labels. We will provide our partners and their outstanding artists with a host of new opportunities via our powerful distribution footprint, strong sales philosophy and commitment to assist in long-term artist development".” [CMUDaily]
[PIAS] UK DVD extends service
“[PIAS] UK DVD will refine its service from January 2009 to enable its labels to benefit from an improved product management, marketing and sales offering.[PIAS] UK DVD will continue to represent all labels currently on its roster, but will also offer an enhanced label management and marketing service. In addition, Lace Digital Media Sales (LDMS), the DVD sales specialists, will be employed as the sales agency for [PIAS] UK DVD distributed releases.” [RecordOfTheDay]
Music sales defy the crunch
“The doom and gloom surrounding the economy was given short shrift by record buyers last week, with sales topping the equivalent 2007 levels for the second week in a row and Take That’s new album, The Circus making a huge debut. Overcoming the fact that - like many of last week’s new releases - it isn’t available in Woolworths, The Circus by Take That nevertheless scorches to sensational first week sales of 432,490 to earn the Mancunian quartet its fifth number one, while simultaneously eclipsing the band’s own previous best first-week sales and setting a new 2008 benchmark.
Selling for as little as £5.88 on CD (Asda) and £3 as a download (Amazon) – both the lowest prices ever for a number one album in those formats - The Circus was released two years to the week after Take That’s comeback album Beautiful World, which opened at number one on sales of 168,954. Beautiful World subsequently sold 443,070 copies on its fourth week in the chart to secure the second highest one week sale by any act in the 21st century, behind the 464,471 copies that Coldplay’s X&Y sold on its first week in 2003.” [MusicWeek]
Rumor: Apple's iTunes going DRM-free starting Tuesday
“Apple is believed to be on the verge of an end-of-year push that would start by finally offering unprotected iTunes Store music from all major labels and would switch a special post-holiday campaign giving away music and videos to Europeans.
A report from last week brought to AppleInsider's attention by French technology site ElectronLibre asserts that it's now "clear" Apple will spark new interest in its music store by removing DRM from tracks published by Sony, Universal and Warner on December 9th.” [AppleInsider]
11/26/08
Music News Bulletin - 26/11/08
EMI announces restructuring plans: The troubled music giant is to reveal major restructuring plans, including splitting its business into three distinct global units 7 Nov 2008
"Troubled music giant EMI will today announce major restructuring plans.
Warner Music avoids Q4 blues: Company reports profit increase of 20% Nov 25, 2008
Behind the music: Small is beautiful
Independent labels don't have a lot of advantages when competing with the big hitters, but their passion will ensure their survival
11/7/08
Music News Bulletin - 07/11/08
MySpace, MTV Test Piracy-Profit Plan
"A new technology that essentially allows content owners to profit from piracy will get a high-profile test this month from MySpace and MTV Networks.
Instead of triggering the usual take-down notices, copyright-infringing footage of select MTV Networks programing uploaded by MySpace subscribers would be automatically redistributed with advertisements that would generate revenue for the companies. MTV Networks is the parent company of such channels as MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Spike and Nickelodeon." [Billboard]
EMI, Warner Sign Up To Unlimited MP3 Package
"EMI Music and Warner Music have signed up to an all-you-can-eat download service run by Datz.com, which will provide access to unlimited music in MP3 format for £99.99 ($164.45) a year. The service will allow fans to keep the music when the year is up.
Beggars Group and The Orchard have also signed up to the Datz Music Lounge and more are set to join in the coming weeks. " [Billboard]
Can The Major Labels Handle Their Debt?
"The expanding crisis engulfing the international financial system has music industry executives worried that rising credit costs could eventually affect term loans, interest payments and revolving credit facilities at record labels.
"There is a lack of confidence out there so that regardless of credit worthiness, investors are shunning risk," says Thomas Carroll, senior VP/managing director of SunTrust's Sports and Entertainment Specialty Group."" [Billboard]
Free vs. Fee Content in a Recession
"An article at eMarketer (see http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006660 ) brings up a topic that is worth discussing in the music business: Will free lose out to paid content in an economic downturn? The article debates whether or not creators will increasingly scoff at giving away their content and turn to sites that pay for their content." [Coolfer]
EMI, one of the world's largest record companies, is considering turning over its distribution, sales and marketing operations in the United States to a rival in an attempt to cut its extensive losses, music industry sources said Friday.
"Three industry sources told Fortune that the storied British company - whose catalog includes the Beatles, the Beach Boys and Coldplay - is talking to Warner Music, SonyBMG and Universal Music Group about assuming these functions in the U.S. Those companies declined to comment." [CNNMoney]
"A new technology that essentially allows content owners to profit from piracy will get a high-profile test this month from MySpace and MTV Networks.
Instead of triggering the usual take-down notices, copyright-infringing footage of select MTV Networks programing uploaded by MySpace subscribers would be automatically redistributed with advertisements that would generate revenue for the companies. MTV Networks is the parent company of such channels as MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Spike and Nickelodeon." [Billboard]
EMI, Warner Sign Up To Unlimited MP3 Package
"EMI Music and Warner Music have signed up to an all-you-can-eat download service run by Datz.com, which will provide access to unlimited music in MP3 format for £99.99 ($164.45) a year. The service will allow fans to keep the music when the year is up.
Beggars Group and The Orchard have also signed up to the Datz Music Lounge and more are set to join in the coming weeks. " [Billboard]
Can The Major Labels Handle Their Debt?
"The expanding crisis engulfing the international financial system has music industry executives worried that rising credit costs could eventually affect term loans, interest payments and revolving credit facilities at record labels.
"There is a lack of confidence out there so that regardless of credit worthiness, investors are shunning risk," says Thomas Carroll, senior VP/managing director of SunTrust's Sports and Entertainment Specialty Group."" [Billboard]
Free vs. Fee Content in a Recession
"An article at eMarketer (see http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006660 ) brings up a topic that is worth discussing in the music business: Will free lose out to paid content in an economic downturn? The article debates whether or not creators will increasingly scoff at giving away their content and turn to sites that pay for their content." [Coolfer]
EMI, one of the world's largest record companies, is considering turning over its distribution, sales and marketing operations in the United States to a rival in an attempt to cut its extensive losses, music industry sources said Friday.
"Three industry sources told Fortune that the storied British company - whose catalog includes the Beatles, the Beach Boys and Coldplay - is talking to Warner Music, SonyBMG and Universal Music Group about assuming these functions in the U.S. Those companies declined to comment." [CNNMoney]
11/3/08
Music News Bulletin - 03/11/08
Warners wants it all
"Edgar Bronfman, the man who is - let's say - in charge of Warners Music Group, has announced that in future they'll only be interested in signing 360 degree deals with artists.
You can see why this might be appealing to Warners - after all, their core business, the one in which they have expertise, isn't doing as well nowadays. But where would be the value for an artist, when looking for a 360 degree deal, in signing with a company whose expertise lays in the bit that isn't doing as well nowadays?" [XRRF]
LaLa tries again, October 21, 2008
"Remember La La? No, not the one who hung out with Dipsy and Po, the CD-swapping service? It's not a CD-swapping service any more: it's reinvented itself as, erm, something else.
Now, you can copy your music to an online locker, and it will stream you songs that are a bit like the ones you already own. For free, unless you listen more than once. But if you do listen more than once, the ten cents you pay for each play can be set against the price of buying an mp3 file if you decide to keep it. Or something like that. But only one ten cent." [XRRF]
SFR launches all-you-can-eat MP3 download service, November 3rd, 2008
"French mobile operator SFR is the latest company to launch an all-you-can-eat music subscription service, and this one’s DRM-free.
However, you’d be hard-pressed to describe it as `unlimited’, as its catalogue only contains a few thousand tracks from Universal Music Group artists in three genres, and only 60,000 people will be allowed to sign up.
The cost will be bundled into mobile tariffs, with the cheapest costing €22.90 a month. It’s dual-download - users get AACs for their phone, and MP3s for their computer. “This is a way for us to see how consumers react to DRM-free offers,” says a spokesperson. “We are not giving away Universal’s catalog.”" [MusicAlly]
"Edgar Bronfman, the man who is - let's say - in charge of Warners Music Group, has announced that in future they'll only be interested in signing 360 degree deals with artists.
You can see why this might be appealing to Warners - after all, their core business, the one in which they have expertise, isn't doing as well nowadays. But where would be the value for an artist, when looking for a 360 degree deal, in signing with a company whose expertise lays in the bit that isn't doing as well nowadays?" [XRRF]
LaLa tries again, October 21, 2008
"Remember La La? No, not the one who hung out with Dipsy and Po, the CD-swapping service? It's not a CD-swapping service any more: it's reinvented itself as, erm, something else.
Now, you can copy your music to an online locker, and it will stream you songs that are a bit like the ones you already own. For free, unless you listen more than once. But if you do listen more than once, the ten cents you pay for each play can be set against the price of buying an mp3 file if you decide to keep it. Or something like that. But only one ten cent." [XRRF]
SFR launches all-you-can-eat MP3 download service, November 3rd, 2008
"French mobile operator SFR is the latest company to launch an all-you-can-eat music subscription service, and this one’s DRM-free.
However, you’d be hard-pressed to describe it as `unlimited’, as its catalogue only contains a few thousand tracks from Universal Music Group artists in three genres, and only 60,000 people will be allowed to sign up.
The cost will be bundled into mobile tariffs, with the cheapest costing €22.90 a month. It’s dual-download - users get AACs for their phone, and MP3s for their computer. “This is a way for us to see how consumers react to DRM-free offers,” says a spokesperson. “We are not giving away Universal’s catalog.”" [MusicAlly]
10/24/08
Music News Bulletin: 24/10/08
UMG Bundles Tunes With Dell
"Universal Music Group is teaming with Dell to give customers the option of adding pre-loaded MP3s from the label's catalog to new computers purchased from the company.The deal does not provide access to the full UMG catalog, but rather a collection of curated playlists organized by various themes - No. 1 songs, Rock Titans, Blues Masters, etc. - as well as music featured in films that Dell also offers as bundled content. A 50-song playlist for $25, and a 100-song playlist for $50, which works out to about half the cost per-track from music purchased online. All files will be DRM-free.
The pre-installed music bundles will be organized under a "Music" icon in Dell's system, which customer can then move to their preferred music management software as they like. UMG says it plans to expand the number and themes of the playlists, as well as update the songs added to each, on a regular basis." [Billboard]
Microsoft celebrates antipiracy day
"Microsoft plans on Tuesday to announce "Global Anti-Piracy Day," an effort to gain attention for the steps the company undertakes in order to thwart those who would profit from illegitimate software. As part of the event, Microsoft is highlighting recent antipiracy efforts in 49 countries, ranging from the filing of lawsuits in the U.S. to a seminar for journalists in Pakistan.
It's the kind of thing that Microsoft does all the time, although the company is aiming for some added ink by grouping together so many actions at once.
"One of the things we want to illustrate with this announcement is the diverse nature of the work," associate general counsel David Finn said in an interview from Singapore" [CNet]
Baidu launches legitimate music channel
"BEIJING - Baidu has partnered with seven record companies to launch a music-streaming channel in an attempt to better combat illegal downloading.
According to Chinese reports, the channel, called New Song Debut, legally pairs Baidu with labels including EMI Music, Emperor Entertainment Group and Rock Records & Tapes to offer albums from nine Chinese artists for streaming.
This comes nearly a year after Beijing courts ruled that Baidu’s music search - which linked to sites that allowed users to illegally download music - was not classified as copyright infringement.
The ruling cleared the Chinese search engine of lawsuits issued in 2005 by seven international record labels, including EMI and Warner Music." [BrandRepublic]
MySpace Music adds more indies
"MySpace Music has signed a deal with leading indie distributor IODA, adding more than 1m tracks from independent labels to the service. The deal, announced this morning, adds labels such as Cooking Vinyl, Demon Music Group, Fat Cat Records and Cherry Red to MySpace Music, which already has content from all four major labels and aggregator The Orchard.
However, Merlin, which represents leading indie players such as Beggars Group and Domino, has still yet to agree a deal with MySpace after a very public war of words, and the announcement is likely to put more pressure on its CEO Charles Caldas MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe re-affirms the company’s commitment to indie music, saying, “The independent music community has been a cornerstone of MySpace Music. We remain fully committed to building an economy for artists and providing them with the necessary tools to further their careers and better connect with music fans everywhere." [MusicWeek]
MySpace Music Adds IODA
"MySpace Music added thousands of independent labels to its service today (Oct. 23) through a new deal with independent digital distributor IODA. Details of the agreement were not disclosed. MySpace Music has drawn criticism from some in the indie community for striking equity deals with major labels while not offering the same terms to indies.
The service opened Sept. 25 as a joint venture partially owned by the four major record labels, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing. The partners in the joint venture will profit not only from a cut of the same ad and sales revenue, but also in the underlying revenue the venture receives, even from content contributed by other labels.
The service has deals in place with indie digital distributor the Orchard, as well as the indie distribution arms of the four major labels. Merlin, the indie global rights organization that spoke out publicly about what they perceived as unfair treatment by MySpace Music, still has not signed a deal. Merlin says its represents labels that have a 9% share of the U.S. digital recorded music market." [Billboard]
TuneCore, iLike Bundle Indie Services
"TuneCore and iLike have teamed up to offer independent and unsigned artists a package deal on both distributing and promoting their music. The partnership is more of a bundled product than it is a new service, as both companies offer their core services independently. But together, the two hope to present a more complete message than they could marketing their services separately.
TuneCore brings to the table a wide digital distribution platform, which can post clients' music to all the major digital retailers and subscriptions services. Once the music is available, iLike then lets users promote it through full-song streaming applications on social networks like Facebook, Bebo and other channels. Each time their music is played, artists get a royalty from the corresponding service hosting the file.
The partnership between the two firms lets artists sign up for both services at the same time, rather than requiring separate agreements." [Billboard]
Facebook Music Redux
"Facebook doesn't seem ready to give up its music-service aspirations just yet. After first approaching the major labels with the idea back in March of this year, the company is now reportedly reaching out to existing streaming services as part of an outsourcing strategy.
The New York Post, citing unnamed sources, reports that Rhapsody, Imeem, iLike and Lala are all potential targets.
Tapping an existing provider to turnkey its music strategy would allow Facebook to avoid striking its own licensing deals with labels, not to mention give the winning service a huge marketing boost by promoting it via the massive Facebook platform." [Billboard]
Click here to read more from the Music News Bulletin
"Universal Music Group is teaming with Dell to give customers the option of adding pre-loaded MP3s from the label's catalog to new computers purchased from the company.The deal does not provide access to the full UMG catalog, but rather a collection of curated playlists organized by various themes - No. 1 songs, Rock Titans, Blues Masters, etc. - as well as music featured in films that Dell also offers as bundled content. A 50-song playlist for $25, and a 100-song playlist for $50, which works out to about half the cost per-track from music purchased online. All files will be DRM-free.
The pre-installed music bundles will be organized under a "Music" icon in Dell's system, which customer can then move to their preferred music management software as they like. UMG says it plans to expand the number and themes of the playlists, as well as update the songs added to each, on a regular basis." [Billboard]
Microsoft celebrates antipiracy day
"Microsoft plans on Tuesday to announce "Global Anti-Piracy Day," an effort to gain attention for the steps the company undertakes in order to thwart those who would profit from illegitimate software. As part of the event, Microsoft is highlighting recent antipiracy efforts in 49 countries, ranging from the filing of lawsuits in the U.S. to a seminar for journalists in Pakistan.
It's the kind of thing that Microsoft does all the time, although the company is aiming for some added ink by grouping together so many actions at once.
"One of the things we want to illustrate with this announcement is the diverse nature of the work," associate general counsel David Finn said in an interview from Singapore" [CNet]
Baidu launches legitimate music channel
"BEIJING - Baidu has partnered with seven record companies to launch a music-streaming channel in an attempt to better combat illegal downloading.
According to Chinese reports, the channel, called New Song Debut, legally pairs Baidu with labels including EMI Music, Emperor Entertainment Group and Rock Records & Tapes to offer albums from nine Chinese artists for streaming.
This comes nearly a year after Beijing courts ruled that Baidu’s music search - which linked to sites that allowed users to illegally download music - was not classified as copyright infringement.
The ruling cleared the Chinese search engine of lawsuits issued in 2005 by seven international record labels, including EMI and Warner Music." [BrandRepublic]
MySpace Music adds more indies
"MySpace Music has signed a deal with leading indie distributor IODA, adding more than 1m tracks from independent labels to the service. The deal, announced this morning, adds labels such as Cooking Vinyl, Demon Music Group, Fat Cat Records and Cherry Red to MySpace Music, which already has content from all four major labels and aggregator The Orchard.
However, Merlin, which represents leading indie players such as Beggars Group and Domino, has still yet to agree a deal with MySpace after a very public war of words, and the announcement is likely to put more pressure on its CEO Charles Caldas MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe re-affirms the company’s commitment to indie music, saying, “The independent music community has been a cornerstone of MySpace Music. We remain fully committed to building an economy for artists and providing them with the necessary tools to further their careers and better connect with music fans everywhere." [MusicWeek]
MySpace Music Adds IODA
"MySpace Music added thousands of independent labels to its service today (Oct. 23) through a new deal with independent digital distributor IODA. Details of the agreement were not disclosed. MySpace Music has drawn criticism from some in the indie community for striking equity deals with major labels while not offering the same terms to indies.
The service opened Sept. 25 as a joint venture partially owned by the four major record labels, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing. The partners in the joint venture will profit not only from a cut of the same ad and sales revenue, but also in the underlying revenue the venture receives, even from content contributed by other labels.
The service has deals in place with indie digital distributor the Orchard, as well as the indie distribution arms of the four major labels. Merlin, the indie global rights organization that spoke out publicly about what they perceived as unfair treatment by MySpace Music, still has not signed a deal. Merlin says its represents labels that have a 9% share of the U.S. digital recorded music market." [Billboard]
TuneCore, iLike Bundle Indie Services
"TuneCore and iLike have teamed up to offer independent and unsigned artists a package deal on both distributing and promoting their music. The partnership is more of a bundled product than it is a new service, as both companies offer their core services independently. But together, the two hope to present a more complete message than they could marketing their services separately.
TuneCore brings to the table a wide digital distribution platform, which can post clients' music to all the major digital retailers and subscriptions services. Once the music is available, iLike then lets users promote it through full-song streaming applications on social networks like Facebook, Bebo and other channels. Each time their music is played, artists get a royalty from the corresponding service hosting the file.
The partnership between the two firms lets artists sign up for both services at the same time, rather than requiring separate agreements." [Billboard]
Facebook Music Redux
"Facebook doesn't seem ready to give up its music-service aspirations just yet. After first approaching the major labels with the idea back in March of this year, the company is now reportedly reaching out to existing streaming services as part of an outsourcing strategy.
The New York Post, citing unnamed sources, reports that Rhapsody, Imeem, iLike and Lala are all potential targets.
Tapping an existing provider to turnkey its music strategy would allow Facebook to avoid striking its own licensing deals with labels, not to mention give the winning service a huge marketing boost by promoting it via the massive Facebook platform." [Billboard]
Click here to read more from the Music News Bulletin
9/24/08
Music News Bulletin - 24/09/08
MySpace Music set to launch tonight, with all four majors on board September 24, 2008
"The MySpace Music joint venture intends to go live tomorrow with a new Web site that will give users free access to a massive catalog of songs from all four major labels as well as independents. The last holdout, EMI Group plc, has agreed to be part of the service, and has received equity in the joint venture alongside Warner Music Group Corp. [WMG], Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, and MySpace Inc. itself, a division of News Corp. [NWS] Independent content will be supplied by key distributor The Orchard Enterprises Inc. [ORCD], and Sony/ATV Music Publishing has also agreed to be part of the venture." [TheDeal]
Anticipating MySpace Music launch, Imeem plans outreach September 24, 2008
"As the launch date nears for MySpace Inc.'s joint venture with three major record labels, its many rivals have begun to anticipate a new competitive landscape. Apple Inc. [AAPL], whose iTunes music store already faces off with rumored MySpace partner Amazon.com Inc.'s [AMZN] download store, will see redoubled competition from the new operation. Social network operator Facebook Inc. continues to gain strength from the proliferation of third-party applications on its platform, including music tools such as iLike Inc. And on-demand streaming music provider Imeem Inc., itself a social network as well, has taken steps to differentiate itself from MySpace Music, which will likely be its largest competitor yet." [TheDeal]
Could MyTunes beat Apple at its own game?
"A few months ago News Corporation announced that it was taking on Apple in the music downloads marketplace.
Chris DeWolfe, the CEO of MySpace, said it would be starting up a one-stop music shop by spinning out the existing MySpace Music service to become an independent joint venture." [Mark8]
With SlotMusic, SanDisk gambles that physical music isn't dead yet September 22, 2008
"SanDisk Corp. is baffling observers with its introduction of a new physical format for music retailers, intended to replace CDs on shelves in big-box retail stores. Why in the world would the company expect people to buy music in a new, unfamiliar physical form when so many listeners are moving toward paid downloads with no physical media, not to mention various free models?" [TheDeal]
ImTheMusic: Whose musical taste is it, anyway?
"As an abundance of user-generated content continues to appear on the Web, mechanisms for separating wheat and chaff increase in importance. Influential companies such as Digg Inc. may point the way to the future of democratically filtered content, but thus far, the thumbs-up-or-thumbs-down functions of most Web 2.0 sites are largely underused and ineffective. As one VC said to me recently, "What's more depressing than the comments section of a YouTube video?"" [TheDeal]
"The MySpace Music joint venture intends to go live tomorrow with a new Web site that will give users free access to a massive catalog of songs from all four major labels as well as independents. The last holdout, EMI Group plc, has agreed to be part of the service, and has received equity in the joint venture alongside Warner Music Group Corp. [WMG], Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, and MySpace Inc. itself, a division of News Corp. [NWS] Independent content will be supplied by key distributor The Orchard Enterprises Inc. [ORCD], and Sony/ATV Music Publishing has also agreed to be part of the venture." [TheDeal]
Anticipating MySpace Music launch, Imeem plans outreach September 24, 2008
"As the launch date nears for MySpace Inc.'s joint venture with three major record labels, its many rivals have begun to anticipate a new competitive landscape. Apple Inc. [AAPL], whose iTunes music store already faces off with rumored MySpace partner Amazon.com Inc.'s [AMZN] download store, will see redoubled competition from the new operation. Social network operator Facebook Inc. continues to gain strength from the proliferation of third-party applications on its platform, including music tools such as iLike Inc. And on-demand streaming music provider Imeem Inc., itself a social network as well, has taken steps to differentiate itself from MySpace Music, which will likely be its largest competitor yet." [TheDeal]
Could MyTunes beat Apple at its own game?
"A few months ago News Corporation announced that it was taking on Apple in the music downloads marketplace.
Chris DeWolfe, the CEO of MySpace, said it would be starting up a one-stop music shop by spinning out the existing MySpace Music service to become an independent joint venture." [Mark8]
With SlotMusic, SanDisk gambles that physical music isn't dead yet September 22, 2008
"SanDisk Corp. is baffling observers with its introduction of a new physical format for music retailers, intended to replace CDs on shelves in big-box retail stores. Why in the world would the company expect people to buy music in a new, unfamiliar physical form when so many listeners are moving toward paid downloads with no physical media, not to mention various free models?" [TheDeal]
ImTheMusic: Whose musical taste is it, anyway?
"As an abundance of user-generated content continues to appear on the Web, mechanisms for separating wheat and chaff increase in importance. Influential companies such as Digg Inc. may point the way to the future of democratically filtered content, but thus far, the thumbs-up-or-thumbs-down functions of most Web 2.0 sites are largely underused and ineffective. As one VC said to me recently, "What's more depressing than the comments section of a YouTube video?"" [TheDeal]
8/24/08
EU Public Affairs Monitor - 24/08/08
IFPI: "Three strikes" efforts hit worldwide home run 19/08/08
"The music business doesn't actually enjoy suing its fans, nor does it like being the worldwide target of scorn, wrath, calumny, disdain, rancor, and ridicule (did I miss any?). No, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI -- the global music recording trade group -- the industry would much rather solve the P2P file-sharing problem through ISP partnerships rather than lawsuits.
We reported yesterday on Jim Griffin's work with Warner to make a voluntary blanket music license a possibility by partnering with ISPs and college networks. That's the "carrot" approach, but the music business wants some effective "sticks," too, and IFPI now believes it has found a good one: graduated response, also known as "three strikes" rules, which are being trotted out of regulatory dugouts around the world." [ArsTechnica]
"The Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy held a roundtable on the economic impact on small business (every artist) of the orphan works legislation at the Salmagundi Club in
The roundtable participants included a broad cross-section of the creative community all of whom objected to, and many outright opposed, the orphan works legislation." [MusicTechPolicy]
8/7/08
Music News Bulletin - 07/08/08
Warner Music Complains That Rock Band And Guitar Hero Need To Pay More For Music
And here they go again. Despite the fact that the games Guitar Hero and Rock Band have breathed new life into various musical acts and helped pump up sales of certain artists, the recording industry is starting to complain. It seems unable to recognize how something that promotes its music or makes that music more valuable is beneficial -- instead freaking out that it's somehow being ripped off. Proving, once again, that they overvalue content and undervalue the service that makes that content valuable, Warner Music's Edgar Bronfman is bitching and complaining that Rock Band and Guitar Hero aren't paying enough for music. [TechDirt]
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