The record industry is putting all of their eggs in the Google basket, some labels believing that the search engine giant’s music service will deliver them from ruin, as well as the grips of Apple, and restore them back to health. They’re looking at the Google deal as a monster payday, with one label...
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Tags: Android, Andy Rubin, Apple, Digital Media, digital music service, EMI, Google, iTunes, Michael Robertson, MP3.com, MP3tunes
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You’ve probably heard by now that Apple plans to charge fees on any subscription services purchased through their platform. Publishers and service providers are apoplectic over it. Simply put, Apple is insisting that any subscription service, like Netflix for instance, that generates cash from IOS4 apps must give Apple a 30% cut. Users can...
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Tags: Apple, iTunes, Lucien Grainge, Mog, Rdio, Rhapsody, Rob Wells, Spotify, Steve Jobs, UMG
Posted in Digital Media, Music Biz | 2 Comments »
On Tuesday morning the Warner Music Group reported disappointing earnings for the quarter ended December 31, 2010. Revenues dropped again, this time 14%. Losses amounted to $18 million, or 12 cents per share, on revenue of $789 million. Analysts forecast a loss of 19 cents per share on revenue of $798 million. During the...
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Tags: digital music service, Edgar Bronfman Jr., Spotify, Warner Music
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Everyone by now has prognosticated on what the new Google music service will look like. It was going to be a subscription service, then it wasn’t, instead looking to acquire a service like Spotify, but that never was in the cards. It was going to allow users to share playlists. They supposedly want users...
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Tags: Android, Apple, Google, music, Spotify
Posted in Digital Media, Music Biz | 3 Comments »
The clouds parted earlier today and the hand of Jesus came down and touched the head of Junior Bronfman, resulting in a religious conversion not seen since Katie Holmes converted to Scientology to marry Tom Cruise. On an earnings call today in which he discussed WMG’s widening losses for the quarter, Junior said that...
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Tags: Edgar Bronfman Jr., Spotify, Warner Music
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About a year ago a couple of start-ups announced their intentions to take the US by storm with a completely new take on ad-supported free mp3 downloads. Free All Music of Atlanta, Ga. claimed that they were going to give users free MP3’s by just viewing a little 15 second commercial before each download....
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Tags: ad supported, digital music service, free all music, mob, mp3, napster, qtrax, Rdio, ruckus, spiralfrog, spottily
Posted in Digital Media, Stupid Marketing Ideas | 2 Comments »
Are major label record execs waking up in the morning finding horse heads in their beds? If not, then maybe there’s more going on than meets the eye. A couple of weeks ago CNET’s Greg Sandoval broke a story about Apple’s intention to launch a subscription service and, in their negotiations with the major...
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Tags: Apple, digital music, EMI, iTunes, Sony Music, Spotify, Universal Music, Warner Music
Posted in Digital Media, Music Biz | 2 Comments »
John Lennon would have been 70 years old this week. It got me thinking about one of his most famous lyrics, a line from “God”: “The dream is over.” Lennon may have been reflecting on the demise of the Beatles, but it seems to also apply to the once enthusiastic promise of digital music...
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Tags: Amazon, Apple, digital music, digital music service, Google
Posted in Digital Media, Music Biz | 2 Comments »
Last year database giant Oracle filed for and won a $2 million default judgment against industry laughing stock Qtrax. If you’ll recall, Qtrax bounced a $1.8 million check to Oracle. In a classic “the dog ate my homework” defense, Qtrax argues a litany of excuses as to why the judgment against them should be...
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Tags: Allan Klepfisz, digital music service, Oracle, qtrax, US Federal Court
Posted in Digital Media, Music Biz | 1 Comment »