My iMusic - iPod Experience. And further rambling on the music business & entertainment.

2004-04-01T00:55:00.000-08:00

Interesting article by Harvard Law Professor surrounding the legalities (says its legal) to share files with your friends privately without $$ gain. . .

kc.

2004-03-31T10:29:00.000-08:00

Door slammed on Cdn music industry's bid to obtain names of file sharers

Music industry takes on file sharers outside U.S.
Wed Mar 31, 8:03 AM ET Add Technology - MacCentral to My Yahoo!

By Joris Evers, IDG News Service MacCentral

Stepping up its campaign against online music sharing, the recording industry on Tuesday said 247 individuals in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Canada face legal action for allegedly making copyright-protected music available on file-swapping services.

Harvard business school study on affect of file sharing. It seems the Australian Piracy Prevention governmental body is upset about the fact the study fails to mention anything about the theft of property they feel is inherent in file sharing. . .

Captivating article in USA Today about kids listening to their parents' music collection - the Whole, Beatles, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith; all that stuff.

Kids are listening to their parents Their parents' music, that is Tue Mar 30, 7:29 AM ET Add Entertainment - USATODAY.com to My Yahoo!

Jamie Horton, 14, considers himself a fairly savvy music-loving teen. The Los Angeles ninth-grader trawls the Internet for rock discoveries and totes an iPod packed with 3,000 tunes.

2004-03-29T01:54:00.000-08:00

The Baltimore sun reports a shakeout with BestBuy and others deciding not to enter the download market "at this time" due to potentially massive competition.

NYTimes ran a nice piece about webradio, in particular AOl and Yahoo will allow their radio audience to be added together and sold as one to radio advertisers. Certainly makes for more potential choice.

Old school pirate ring busted in NYCity this week. Apparently, capable of making up to 5,000 cds per hour.

MSNBC reports that the concert business is the healthiest part of the music business currently with an average concert seat selling for ~$51.

2004-03-28T19:25:00.000-08:00

CDs in soda lids. Yes, you read that right.

A Web Refugee Turns to Music and Says, 'The Sky's the Lid'
By BERNARD WEINRAUB

About 16 months ago, Mr. Arnold, a co-founder and former chief executive of the WebMD Corporation, was visiting Los Angeles when a colleague showed him a lid for a 34-ounce plastic soda cup. Tucked inside a transparent pocket were several coupons offered to customers at a convenience store. Mr. Arnold said he was dumbfounded.

* * *

But if you're huge you don't need no stinkin' record cos. really. Read about Prince here.
Interestingly enough, they point out what's absolutely true, Prince could sell 1/10th of his recordings on his site, and make the same as selling 10x those records on iTunes due to the income stream split. . . fascinating shaping up going on.

2004-03-27T15:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a good blog about the network effect in the race for DRM cache.

Lengthy treatise on the issues around DRM (~50 pages).

2004-03-27T02:34:00.000-08:00

potential source for underground rock music from detroit.

One of the better "pro-RIAA" (OK, actually pro copyright) discussions I've seen in a long while.

2004-03-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

Interesting article about indie label owner (large one with white stripes) who says napster may have been the best thing ever -- and also says the future of art and music is with the indies, not the majors.

I concur.

2004-03-25T16:48:00.000-08:00

Here's a story about sony gearing up for the online content war.

Apple selling out of its mini-ipods so they are delaying worldwide launch of the device.

Microsoft intends to open their own online music store in the fall.

2004-03-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

Motorola makes phones as both video and audio downloads. . .

Here's the SonyConnect press release.

A decent review of personal stereos, i.e., mp3 players, ipods, mini-disk players, etc.

MSN Sets Plan for Online Music Store

Digital Music: Apple Shouldn't Sing Solo
As Rivals Multiply, Jobs & Co. Will Make More Money From Its Music Site And IPods If All The Industry's Rival Players Can Share Its Software Standards

Subscribe to BusinessWeek
With 50 million songs sold as of mid-March, 2004, Apple's iTunes Music Store (iTMS) owns more than half of the music-download business. Apple (AAPL) execs note proudly that the iPod now rakes in more than 50% of the total revenues in the digital-music-player sector. Macheads offer these numbers as proof that the music battle is over -- and that Steve Jobs has won.

2004-03-24T01:33:00.000-08:00

interesting article with bowie being quoted as saying copyright will die in 10 years. . . can't seem to find the original article though. . .

The New York Times, September 14, 2003

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

September 14, 2003, Sunday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section 4; Page 1; Column 1; Week in Review Desk

LENGTH: 1199 words

HEADLINE: Ideas & Trends: The Sharing Society;
In the Age of the Internet, Whatever Will Be Will Be Free

BYLINE: By STEVE LOHR

BODY:
THE recording industry's long-running battle against online music piracy has come to resemble one of those whack-a-mole arcade games, where the player hammers one rubber rodent's head with a mallet only to see another pop up nearby. Conk one, and up pops another, and so on.

Three years ago, the music industry sued Napster, the first popular music file-sharing network on the Internet. That sent Napster reeling, but other networks for trading copyrighted music -- KaZaA, Grokster, Morpheus and others -- sprang up. Last week, in the latest swing of the hammer, the Recording Industry Association of America filed 261 lawsuits against individual file sharers, which will surely make some of their estimated 60 million compatriots think twice -- for now. Earth Station Five, a company based in the West Bank, surfaced recently with claims of being at war with the industry association. It promises the latest in anonymous Internet file sharing. Its motto: "Resistance is futile."

Since Gutenberg's printing press, new technologies for creating, copying and distributing information have eroded the power of the people, or industries, in control of various media. In the last century, the pattern held true, for example, when recorded music became popular in the early 1900's, radio in the 1920's and cable television in recent years.

But the heritage and design of the Internet present a particularly disruptive technology. Today's global network had its origins in the research culture of academia with its ethos of freely sharing information. And by design, the Internet turns every user in every living room into a mass distributor of just about anything that can be digitized, including film, photography, the written word and, of course, music. Already, Hollywood is trying to curb the next frontier, film swapping. The inevitable advance of technology will make reading on digital tablets more convenient than reading on paper, so the publishers of books, magazines and newspapers have their worries as well. "Nobody is immune," observed Michael J. Wolf, managing partner in charge of the media practice at McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm.

"The cultural and technical principle embedded in today's Internet is that it is neutral in the sense that the people who use it have the power to determine its use, not corporations or the network operators," said Jonathan Zittrain, a co-director of the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School. "The plan for the Internet was to have no plan."

The Net's free-range design, combined with the global proliferation of personal computing and low-cost communications networks, laid the foundation for the surge of innovation and new uses that became so evident by the late 1990's. The World Wide Web is the overarching example, but others include instant messaging, online gaming and peer-to-peer file sharing. And while companies are free to build proprietary products and services in cyberspace, the basic software and communications technology of the Internet lies in the public domain -- open for all to use.

It was inevitable, then, that the Internet would eventually force a radical rethinking of intellectual property rights, and the music industry's current travails represent a particularly dramatic example of the mutating rules -- though not the only one. Consider, for example, the rise of so-called open-source software. The poster child of open-source projects is GNU Linux, an operating system whose computer code is distributed freely over the Internet and is maintained and debugged by a loose-knit global community of programmers. Linux has become a genuine challenge to Microsoft because programmers around the world can see and modify the underlying source code -- instead of jealously guarding it as a trade secret.

That concept of open-source is inseparable from the Internet, because it provides the vehicle for free exchange and widespread distribution -- the same idea that is at the heart of file sharing and one that is spreading well beyond the techies. A group, led by Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law School, has established a "creative commons" project for collecting and putting creative works including music, film, photography and literature in the public domain, inspired by the open-source software model.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is posting the content of 500 of its courses online this fall, a project called OpenCourseWare. In Britain, a small group of artists and editors has set up a Web site for Jenny Everywhere, an increasingly popular open-source cartoon. Its only requirement is that any "Jenny" cartoon include its license, which states "others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed."

What all this means for the future of intellectual property, and some businesses, is as unpredictable as the open-source revolution itself. In the music business, it seems remarkable that only a few believe the technology cannot be held in check.

One of those few is David Bowie. "I'm fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in 10 years, and authorship and intellectual property is in for such a bashing," Mr. Bowie said in an interview last year. The future of the music industry, he suggests, is that songs are essentially advertisements and artists will have to make a living by performing on tour.

Others fear that, as the futility of technological fixes becomes clearer, the response may be onerous legal restrictions on the Internet and how people use it. "You don't want to break the kneecaps of the Internet to protect one relatively small industry, the recording business," Mr. Lessig, the Stanford professor, said.

William Fisher, a Harvard law professor, offers a solution for the recording industry's Internet challenge, and one that borrows from the past. When radio became popular in the 1920's and 1930's and began broadcasting copyrighted songs, the record companies, singers and bands protested. The answer was to have the radio stations pay the copyright holders and set up a measuring system so the largest payments went for the most popular songs.

In a book to be published next year, Mr. Fisher recommends placing a 15 percent tax on Internet access and a 15 percent tax on devices used for storing and copying music and movies like CD-burners, MP3 players and blank CD's.

The funds raised, he estimates, would be about $2.5 billion in 2004, roughly the projected amount the recording industry and Hollywood would lose to online piracy. The music business and Hollywood would get refunds based on what works were the most popular downloads.

"It's not perfect," Mr. Fisher admitted.

Still, it does represent what is not much in evidence today -- some sort of middle ground that would compensate rights holders but also move with the march of technology and consumer behavior instead of merely trying to fight it.

"With music file sharing, you have a cultural norm that is being established by what is technologically possible," said Daniel Weitzner, a director at the World Wide Web Consortium. "That is very hard to resist."

2004-03-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

ACTS TRAVEL ROAD TO RECOVERY
Sun Mar 21, 7:00 PM ET
PHIL GALLO

(Variety) With record sales dipping every year and film box office flat in 2003, one area of entertainment is showing a boffo rise: North American concert revenue shot up 20% to $2.5 billion.

Record Industry Sues 532 More U.S. File-Sharers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. music industry on Tuesday forged ahead with its legal effort to stamp out online piracy by suing over 500 people for online copyright infringement, including 89 individuals using college networks.

Music industry Web site downed by virus
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - The Web site for the recording industry's anti-piracy lobby has been inaccessible for several days, possibly the victim of a computer virus specifically targeting the site.

Piracy-fighting startup's technology is making its mark in music industry

Bowie may be the most astute musician ever. He sold his career via bonds based upon future revenue for recording royalties. But what happens if the revenue royalty streams dry up?

David Bowie's bonds hit low note

Bowie first issued the bonds in 1997
Bonds issued by rock star David Bowie, which earned him millions of dollars linked to future royalties, have been downgraded by US finance experts.

Music industry surfs the tide of change
MATT JOYCE

Associated Press

AUSTIN - Music industry insiders don't hesitate to throw around weighty phrases like "paradigm shift" and "irrevocable change" when they discuss the current state of affairs in the American music business.

Editor Comment: Seems to me right now (or in very near future) we could certainly see jukebox like devices that will burn a CD for you and spit it out like a cup of coffee. Why couldn't this sort of device be brought into the 7-11s of the world? Surely in a few years, these devices (essentially a computer station) will have access to the vast majority of the world's catalogue as well. . .

2004-03-23T01:36:00.000-08:00

good article (sort of article - more like newsgroup post) on darknets.

article on a darknet manager in Boston.

2004-03-22T23:43:00.000-08:00

creative commons, interesting site which seems to cover sxsw pretty completely.

2004-03-22T23:42:00.000-08:00

Interesting recording co. giving 50% of royalties to artist, distributing on the net.

2004-03-22T23:27:00.000-08:00

Rumors of a new iPod (50 gigs and color screen).

2004-03-22T23:19:00.000-08:00

Interesting post about voluntary licensing of p2p networks. I'm getting more and more convinced.

2004-03-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

Another great post on the state of the music industry and whether it's too late. . .

HEre's a nice story from reasononline.com which talks about how we continue to have more and more access to more and more songs.

2004-03-22T21:51:00.000-08:00

Post followed by a good comment on morality of downloading vs. economic realities.

2004-03-22T21:26:00.000-08:00

INTERESTNG VIEW ON BRITNEY AND MADONNA

Essentially, Britney's royalties pay Madonna's bills. He's right, btw.

2004-03-22T20:42:00.000-08:00

Another great article on how technology could be used to gain more profit for the music industry. Specifically, an idea I already proposed (and love the thought of), is a hard drive which would contain ALL music ever offered for sale. . . then charge for the tools to access it; or a subscription fee.

2004-03-22T20:20:00.000-08:00

Another fantastic post by Clay Shirkin about how music has lost control of 2/3rds of the pie, but the "filter" remains its sole function. And I'd argue the transformation currently taking place is simply the loss of the second, distribution, monopoly. And then there was one: A&R/Promotion.

2004-03-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

Hot Band Music Industry Math Here.

2004-03-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

An interesting article about independent music business going through the roof in the Christian Science Monitor.

2004-03-22T18:05:00.000-08:00

Here's an excellent post on the economics of the music industry.

The New Economics of Music:
File-Sharing and Double Moral Hazard

Part 1: Why the Music Industry is (Really) Broken

‘The whole point of digital music is the risk-free grazing’ – Cory Doctorow

Every major label 's setting up an iTunes these days. They're all, in the immortal words of Johnny Cash, 'born to lose, and destined to fail'. Why? The music industry doesn't understand the microeconomics of it's own business. If it did, it would see that it's business model is not just misguided, but broken- because, DRM or not, the implicit contract it signs with listeners is being broken in both directions.

2004-03-22T17:52:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of Starbucks Hear Music Store in Santa Monica, CA. Seems odd to me that Starbucks doesn't have their own pictures up. I'd like to get some pics and post them and maybe even burn a CD and report back on the experience. . .

2004-03-22T16:40:00.000-08:00

PR Newswire (U.S.)
Copyright © 2004 PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

The Orchard Becomes First Independent Distributor to Hit One Million Paid
Downloads and Streams World's Leading Supplier of Independent Music
Experiencing Growth of 100% Per Month

PR Newswire (U.S.)
Copyright © 2004 PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

The Orchard Becomes First Independent Distributor to Hit One Million Paid
Downloads and Streams World's Leading Supplier of Independent Music
Experiencing Growth of 100% Per Month

NEW YORK, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Orchard, the world's leading supplier of
independent music, today announced its unmatched achievement of one million
combined paid downloads and streams. The company is experiencing explosive
growth, increasing its sales by 100% per month. "Doubling our sales month over
month signals an inflection point in the online music business," says Daniel C.
Stein, CEO of Dimensional Associates, Inc., the private equity firm that owns
the Orchard.

The Orchard has become the world's largest distributor of non-major label
music, with a catalog of 130,000 tracks from 2,500 labels representing music
from more than 48 countries. It is the only company to have successfully
secured licensing deals with all of the leading digital music services in the
US and Europe, including iTunes, Rhapsody/Real Networks, Napster/Pressplay,
Music Net/AOL, Music Match and BuyMusic. Currently, the Orchard's full catalog
is available and for sale through all of these Digital Music Services, with new
titles quickly becoming available as they enter The Orchard's distribution
system. More than 80% of the albums in this vast catalog generate revenue
through the digital services, bearing out the premise that the digital
revolution benefits independent artists and labels and allows for effective
distribution outside traditional channels. In the first month alone of 2004,
The Orchard generated digital revenue equal to the prior 12 months combined.

"Having achieved an unmatched one million combined paid downloads and streams
proves that independent artists and labels can get their music distributed to a
world audience, and that music fans are hungry for access to this cutting-edge
content," said Greg Scholl, CEO of The Orchard. "The Orchard will continue to
lead the way for independent artists and labels and, working with our retail
partners, we will ensure that artists have a paying audience, and music fans
have access to the best music in the world -- which, as everyone knows, is not
exclusively Top-40 radio."

The influential New York-based alt-rock label French Kiss recently joined The
Orchard for digital distribution, and four weeks later, their entire catalog
was available on iTunes and the other major digital music services. "The
Orchard has solved the logistical riddle of digital distribution for us," said
Label Manager, Aaron Roman. "I can't tell you how simple it is to have all the
various sites accounted for on one statement, not to mention the fact that they
have been able to get our product on to sites like iTunes that we would not
have the leverage to do so on our own. Basically, as a small record company, we
wouldn't be able to get this much done on our own."

Other artists who have benefited greatly from The Orchard's service offering
include The Raveonettes, Elysian Fields, The Features, The Hong Kong, Ozark
Mountain Daredevils, Jon Auer (Posies, Big Star) and The Hold Steady.

About The Orchard

The Orchard ( http://www.theorchard.com/), based in New York and London, is
the largest distributor of non-major label music in the world. The Orchard
currently represents more than 130,000 tracks spanning a multitude of musical
genres, including Blues and R&B, Country, Classical, Children's, Christian,
Electronic, Folk, Hip Hop/Rap, Jazz, Latin, Metal, New Age, Pop, Punk, Rock,
Seasonal and World Music. The songs were supplied to The Orchard by over 2,500
record labels and thousands of artists from 48 countries.

About Dimensional Associates, Inc.

Dimensional Associates, Inc., is the Rye, New York-based private equity arm of
JDS Capital Management, Inc. Its portfolio companies include eMusic, The
Orchard and Digital Club Network (now eMusicLive).

Web site: http://www.theorchard.com/

2004-03-22T16:35:00.000-08:00

MOBILE ONLINE DOWNLOAD

Chrysalis to roll-out service to download ringtone melodies from songs on the radio; then later transform into downloading direct to a phone (which could then transfer the song elsewhere).

sounds like a terrific idea to me.

2004-03-22T16:05:00.000-08:00

Another company, Britain's Mean Fiddler (Reading and Leeds Festival promoters), enters the online music distribution industry. It has signed deals with Warner and BMG.

Evidently Sony and McDonald's will team up to co-promote Sony's digital download service.

Here's a chunk of the article:

McDonald's, Sony Said to Be in Music Pact; The fast-food chain would help
market the launch of a new service to download tunes, sources say.

Jeff Leeds
Times Staff Writer

Hungry for a taste of the online music business, Sony Corp. is aiming to line
up McDonald's Corp. to market the Japanese conglomerate's new download service,
according to people familiar with the deal. The two companies have been
hammering out the details of a pact in which McDonald's would provide fast-food
diners with free songs from Sony's online music store, Sony Connect, these
people said. The deal is expected to be announced this week.

Representatives from Sony and McDonald's declined to comment.

The sources said McDonald's was expected to commit about $30 million to
advertise the program in the U.S. and beef up the launch of Sony Connect, which
will charge 99 cents per song when it starts up this spring.

In exchange, sources said, McDonald's will be able to buy some tunes from Sony
Connect at unspecified discounts. The fast-food giant plans to give customers
free songs when they buy certain menu items; customers will receive codes they
can redeem online for downloads.

The pact would underscore a central strategy of would-be players in the online
music world: find major advertisers with the marketing clout to sell
alternatives to the illegal downloading of music on unauthorized file-sharing
networks such as Kazaa and LimeWire.

Sony has already announced a deal with UAL Corp.'s United Airlines in which
travelers, once the Connect service starts, will be able to trade in frequent
flier miles for free songs. And Apple Computer Inc. has teamed with PepsiCo
Inc. to award buyers of soft drinks downloads from the iTunes Music Store if
they find special codes under bottle caps.

Pepsi pledged to give away up to 100 million songs in the bottle-cap contest.
But Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said recently that the redemptions had
fallen short of expectations.

One person familiar with the McDonald's deal said the fast-food company would
probably give away more than 100 million Sony Connect songs in the U.S.

McDonald's had been in talks to launch a similar marketing effort with Apple,
but switched plans after a last-minute pitch from Sony, sources said.

The McDonald's deal comes as Sony is racing to build a presence on the online
landscape and drive sales of its own line of portable music devices. Sony,
which introduced music lovers to portability with the Walkman, has lagged
behind such rivals as Apple, which dominates the field with its iTunes service
and has seized market share with the iPod music player.

Now, Sony not only has to catch up to Apple, but it also has to confront other
online players, including Microsoft Corp., which is developing its own Internet
music store.

For McDonald's, the aim is to build a hipper image among young consumers.

McDonald's, which has hired pop singer Justin Timberlake to appear in its
commercials, has been laying large bets on the marketing power of music.

The McDonald's-Sony alliance is expected to focus on Sony's music service, but
the sources said it might be extended to market Sony video games and other
products.

2004-03-22T11:36:00.000-08:00

Interesting site trying to act as a filter for underground rock music.

Here's a blog which does exactly what I hope every true music fan will do: post their pick of unknown artists that deserve attention.

2004-03-21T17:40:00.000-08:00

A few really old David Allen posts are still worth reading -- especially given new changes.

2004-03-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

This person seems to think Dell is going to beat apple's iPod and go onto dominate the consumer electronics industry.

I doubt it. But, I'm a Sony guy to start with. . .

2004-03-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

Interesting article by David Ticol about potential compulsory licensing in Canada for music.

And a second interesting article from Canada about file sharing and proposals for compulsory licensing.

2004-03-21T05:33:00.000-08:00

blog lists of people who recommend new music.

2004-03-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

Interesting post on "filter" concept of distributing music using a viral methodology. . . could easily be converted into a web based/blog system.

2004-03-21T05:13:00.000-08:00

Kazaa offices in Australia gets raided and the CEO gets pissed. Here's the original article from Wired.

2004-03-21T05:05:00.000-08:00

VOLUNTARY COLLECTIVE LICENSING

EFF submits a proposal for voluntary collective licensing for P2P networks.

Followed by another attempt to licensing P2P, involving watermarks. Read the lampoon of the system here.

2004-03-21T05:01:00.000-08:00

Steel Kaleidoscope thinks the ability to insert software to stop a copyrighted transfer will stop file sharing. I doubt it.

2004-03-21T04:59:00.000-08:00

any computer into a tivo system -- and a further note about inability to charge for content especially music.

2004-03-21T03:40:00.000-08:00

George Michael to give his record away via the net.

2004-03-21T02:58:00.000-08:00

Sony's bringing music catalog online (in Europe) in June. Unfortunately, wrapping it in all sorts of ugly Digital Rights Management caveats.

2004-03-21T02:37:00.000-08:00

Apparently Canada's p2p network will be difficult to shut down because the solution was decided before: Tax the media devices.

2004-03-21T01:30:00.000-08:00

Clay Shirky's excellent article on file sharing and how the RIAA's attempt to kill-off file sharing may well lead to a more robust, yet underground social network.

2004-03-21T00:30:00.000-08:00

THE CIVIL WAR INSIDE SONY.

A moderately interesting story of Sony's music division vs. the hardware guys.

2004-03-20T23:34:00.000-08:00

Henley talks about payola at a senate hearing.

2004-03-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

Arguably the best article I've read on why P2P is what it is and should stay that way.

This spawned, apparently in part, this post.

And then this post.

Another interesting view using RIAA's numbers against them.

And yet another article questioning the RIAA's own statistics. . .

2004-03-20T22:37:00.000-08:00

Nice thoughts on the future of the music industry - purchase of live CDs after show in Clearchannel deal in test market - Boston.

2004-03-20T22:12:00.000-08:00

Kevin Kelly wrote a great piece for the NYTimes magazine in 1993. Here it is.

And then Kevin and Kevin had an email discussion which was truncated and edited here.

2004-03-20T21:25:00.000-08:00

Interesting thoughts on the economics of the old and new music business models.

2004-03-20T01:41:00.001-08:00

PAYPAL TO JOIN WITH ONLINE MUSIC RETAILERS

Currently iTunes pays ~$0.25 per transaction for processing; paypal aims to reduce it to ~$0.11.

2004-03-20T01:41:00.000-08:00

PAYPAL TO JOIN WITH ONLINE MUSIC RETAILERS

2004-03-19T16:02:00.000-08:00

Wired news story about tivo for radio.

2004-03-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

interesting tivo for the radio device system here.

2004-03-18T23:05:00.000-08:00

MUSICIAN'S ARTICLE

Article in Newsweek or msnbc.com about the naughty record cos and their 30% drop in sales since ~2000.

2004-03-18T22:53:00.000-08:00

A RABID ANTI-RIAA PRO FILESHARING SITE

Seems to have opened "doors" recently. Go here.

2004-03-16T23:23:00.000-08:00

Great post about ticketmaster auctioning seats to rock concerts.

2004-03-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

another well thought out series of posts by what appears to be a recording engineer.

2004-03-16T17:59:00.000-08:00

Seth Goldin is fascinated by the music business like me. . .

kc.

2004-03-16T16:58:00.000-08:00

RECORDING COSTS
AND WHAT THE RIAA DOES FOR MUSICIANS

Here's an article which exams the dramatic decrease in the cost to record a "professional" album coupled with the ubiquity of distribution. . .

kc.

2004-03-16T16:36:00.000-08:00

STARBUCKS MUSIC STORE

Here's the report from opening day as to Starbucks foray into the digital music biz.

Here's a second story about Starbucks.

2004-03-16T16:26:00.000-08:00

LESSIG'S BLOG
Consumer rights via Wal-Mart Page

Lawrence Lessig posts an interesting article about Wal-Mart's music page and its restrictive licensing issues.

kc.

2004-03-16T16:10:00.000-08:00

VIRGIN STORE DETAILS and
VIRG DEVICE DETAILS (sort of)

Interesting details emerge for Virgin's nascent plans to sell digital music.
Recent article in the Guardian, says the following:

These will be available both on a pay-per-track basis and through a monthly payment option that will allow subscribers to download as much music as they want, burn it to CDs and copy it to portable players.

Virgin has 700,000 songs ready for download.

Now, if I have huge selection and I can get unlimited tracks in one month, I think I'm going to take month of June off and buy every record I've ever wanted from Virgin. . .

Also, virgin is putting out a wireless device on 3G networks to download tunes (I don't think America is 3G compatible though. . . someone correct me).

we'll see.

kc.

2004-03-16T16:06:00.000-08:00

2004

Interesting blog entry on what will be in the year of 2004 and beyond.

2004-03-16T00:03:00.000-08:00

BBC ARTICLE ABOUT ONLINE SCRAMBLE TO GET TUNES ONLINE

REad it here.

2004-03-15T23:45:00.000-08:00

CANADIAN P2P FILE SHARING LEGALITIES
(AUTHOR SAYS IT'S LEGAL)

Read the post about how the Canucks tax the media and distribute profits, in exchange, they're able to legally make copies for personal use. Argues even if all US super-node file sharers were shut down, CAnadians would be able to take up the slack.

Maybe.

kc.

2004-03-15T23:40:00.000-08:00

WASTE SOFTWARE P2P ENCRYPTED SMALL INVITED NETWORKS

Here's an article on WASTE a method of sharing files with small entrusted networked groups.

2004-03-15T23:11:00.000-08:00

COPYRIGHT DURATION

An interesting post on copyright duration. A frequent topic of discussion between a buddy and myself. My view seems to keep changing on the topic.

kc.

2004-03-15T23:09:00.000-08:00

MICROPAYMENTS

Another dicussion about micropayments here. Particularly focused on cost of micropayments and the cost of selling songs for near-free and how he doesn't think an economic model will support it.

kc.

2004-03-15T22:59:00.000-08:00

DOMESTIC DISPUTE OVER ERASED IPOD ENDS IN DEATH

I must say I understand the frustration. Probably knock it down to manslaughter instead of murder because of the compelling mitigating factors.

Read it here.

2004-03-15T22:52:00.000-08:00

Interesting article on micropayments. Author believes they'll never work, because free is better and hard to beat :-)

2004-03-15T22:16:00.000-08:00

Here's the article from the Sony CEO.

2004-03-15T22:11:00.000-08:00

A short blurb from: http://radio.weblogs.com/0113297/categories/contentIssues/2003/03/09.html

about micropayments.

Here's the quote:

Sony CEO on micro-payments and music industry
Part 1 of Tony Perkins interview with the CEO of Sony over at Always On Network.
[via Werblog]

Interesting interview overall, but I found this choice quote:
"They have to change their mindset away from selling albums, and think about selling singles over the Internet for as cheap as possible—even 20 cents or 10 cents—and encourage file-sharing so they can also get micro-payments for these files."
I've been thinking about paid content a lot lately, and the issue of micro-payments as an approach. It's certainly true that the value of digital assets (often) approaches zero, but that the available volume and cost of distribution is radically larger. Micro-payments for secured digital content seems to make sense, but hasn't worked for a variety of reasons. Would you pay 25 cents for a music file? $2 for a copy of a video? What else would you pay less than $5 or $10 for (the cost which becomes uneconomical for credit-card and other payment systems to handle because the 2% clearing fee doesn't cover their transactions costs)?

2004-03-15T22:07:00.000-08:00

TOUGH TACTICS FOR MUSIC FAN AND HIS DAUGHTER

This guy paid his $4,000 fine for copyright infringement. Poor bastard.

Most interesting aspect of story is this quote:

Industry watchers expect song prices to drop further, though for now, profit margins are squeezed by the average 25-cent credit card transaction fee per song.

I wonder whether the paypal's of the world are watching this. I wonder whether the online push will finally end up with a preferred small terms vendor to transfer cash. After all, MC, Visa and Amex (and discover) have such a lock on this market. . . but seems like smaller market for mini-payments should be out there. . .

kc.

2004-03-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

APPLE'S TRADEMARK

Apple (of Beatles fame) settled with Apple (computing fame) in 1991. Apple got music, while other apple got computer. Well, Apple iPod (and related products) has landed Apple Computing back in court in London. See the story.

2004-03-15T21:58:00.000-08:00

The french tax (ok, attempt to tax) the iPod's hard drive.

2004-03-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

MP3.COM

Interesting that mp3.com "closed down" with a whimper that hardly anyone noticed.

For me, it's important to realize that without a filter (ostensibly a human filter seperating into good/bad piles) a website full of artists is mostly white noise. And that's said from an artist who had tunes up on mp3.com.

kc.

2004-03-15T21:47:00.000-08:00

MICRODRIVES

Turns out the microdrives were actually created by IBM then licensed to Hitachi and then Hitachi licensed Apple. (And apple locked up exclusive license for the larger drives).

Read the whole sordid mess here.

2004-03-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

HISTORICAL POST FROM 2003

Here's an interesting historical post from 2003, by Richard Menta, of mp3newswire.net, looking to see whether Apple will be able to make iTunes a success. It appears they have. . .

kc.

2004-03-15T21:33:00.000-08:00

COOL ACCESSORIES

Here are some cool iPod accessories, and replacement part services for worn-out batteries.

2004-03-15T21:10:00.000-08:00

Person's take on Branson v. Jobbs. I'm with Remy (Davison) -- since Virgin's tunes will be incompatible with the iPOD and the iPod is the dominant mp3 player currently, who's going to buy the music?

hmmm.

2004-03-15T21:03:00.000-08:00

BLOG TELLING HOW TO WIN AT PEPSI ITUNES PROMOTION

You win everytime by glancing up into the bottle at 25 degree angle. Check here for details.

kc.

2004-03-15T20:56:00.000-08:00

VIRGIN GOES ONLINE

Here's an article about the upcoming fight between Branson and Jobbs (sp?).

And then a follow-up article where Bill Palmer of iPod Garage fame takes Alex Salkever to task for his business week article mentioned above. I tend to agree with Bill. To me, the absolute, most critical point, is the fact that Virgin won't support the AAC standard. You've now excluded ALL of the iPODs which is the dominant device. Seems pretty dumb to me. . .

ps - Evidently iPod garage repairs iPods (no battery ipods presumably) for ~$28 bucks. May want to check it out.

2004-03-15T20:48:00.001-08:00

TURNS OUT APPLE DOESN'T LIKE PEOPLE COPYING _THEIR_ PRODUCTS

Read about the pPod a device that seemingly mimics the iPod in a pocket PC format.

kc.

2004-03-15T20:48:00.000-08:00

TURNS OUT APPLE DOESN'T LIKE PEOPLE COPYING _THEIR_ PRODUCTS

Read about the pPod a device that seemingly mimics the iPod in a pocket PC format.

kc.

2004-03-15T20:46:00.001-08:00

APPLE HAS SOLD 50 MILLION SONGS

Here's the yahoo news story.

2004-03-15T20:46:00.000-08:00

APPLE HAS SOLD 50 MILLION SONGS

2004-03-14T00:28:00.000-08:00

Andrew Raff is a second year law student at Brooklyn Law School, and a musician interested in pursuing a "digital rights" (maybe music?) law career.

He has some interesting thoughts on the eBay sales scheme below.

2004-03-14T00:13:00.000-08:00

Selling iTunes Song on eBay

eBay dropped this guys expiremental auction for a song on eBay. I think it's a fascinating point to be made about the future of digital "rights" vs. ownership. I'd hazard to guess, given all of the marketing on "ownership" he probably does own it, and can transfer all of it (so long as he doesn't retain it).

I feel an article coming on. . .

kc.

2004-03-13T02:26:00.000-08:00

Here is a music label with a business plan to readily give away unencumbered licenses (for ~$5/record). Evidently the one man show signs approximate 15 of 200 records.

This is precisely the sort of filter I think could be useful.

kc.

2004-03-13T02:22:00.000-08:00

Different tastes -
Pepsi and Coke jump into digital download market

Check out the article here.

2004-03-13T02:16:00.000-08:00

An article that screams the sky will crash by 2008.

CDs will fail and so too will the digital music business. Or so they say.

Albeit, I do imagine, the rush to online music won't be that dissimilar to the rush to provide dial up service, only to see it flock back to the kids, due to incredible price pressures due to distribution costs / server / infrastructure costs. .

We'll see.

kc.

2004-03-12T03:54:00.000-08:00

As I predicted not more than a few weeks ago, Hitachi announces the new release of its 400 gig drive. Evidently, used in a DVR, like TiVO, it will save up to ~400 hours of video and approximately 45 hours of hi-def TV performances.

Now, it seems to me, we're growing into a much wider market for quicker download speeds (i.e., 10-100x faster than DSL) capacity. I'd begin to think about paying more for quicker last mile transmission speeds. . . I suppose, especially, if I could join a mini-group in my apartment complex, that paid for it to be brought to the complex, and then split the cost to deliver from roof to my apartment. . . we'll see -- it's already my prediction, that DSL will be too slow in 6 months, and pent-up consumer demand will drive a faster solution for download speeds within 1-2 years. . .

kc.

2004-03-12T03:51:00.000-08:00

discussion and debate about technology cos. vs. movie studios.

2004-03-12T03:47:00.000-08:00

Interesting story about brick and mortar stores. Some have banded together to create "Echo" a company that will assist in creating digital download on demand (similar to Starbucks below).

Also, tells the story of woe of retailers who are feeling a huge crunch already.

2004-03-12T03:31:00.000-08:00

Starbucks is opening up a record store. Sort of. Apparently offering digital downloads in Starbucks stores nationwide, beginning 03-16-04.

Here's an excerpt:

"The time it takes you to order a latte, you could have any CD burned on demand for you,'' says Don MacKinnon, vice-president for music and entertainment for Starbucks. "That's truly transformative and unlocks for so many people a need that's not being served -- making it easier to learn about music, easier to get it, and easier to create your own compilations.''

* * *

HEARING AN ECHO. Based on his experience with HearMusic, MacKinnon believes people want a place they trust to help them discover and choose new music. With partner Hewlett-Packard supplying the high-powered CD burners, the special printers for the CD covers, the tablet PCs, the digital storage, and the army of servers, Starbucks figures it is taking the best of the digital world into the coffee shop. Says MacKinnon: "This is training wheels for digital.''

2004-03-12T03:29:00.000-08:00

Signal to Noise seems to have a real "pulse gathering" ability for digital music discussions.

2004-03-12T03:28:00.000-08:00

Interesting article in Wired by Lawrence Lessig about the historical account of constant piracy within creative realms and how the new music piracy is actually nothing new.

kc.

2004-03-12T03:20:00.000-08:00

Yale law school student, Mr. Miller, seems to believe the subscription model is the only workable model for digital music. Noting, in particular, a 40 gig iPod costs $400 while the software (songs) to fill it cost ~$10,000. Maybe.

BTW, I already own ~1,000 CDs. It seems to me, the frequent fliers, like myself, want to own lots of CDs and we make up a disproportionate number of CD purchases. . .

kc.

2004-03-12T02:40:00.000-08:00

Eve and I seem to have similar musical tastes (though she's much more "indie" than I. . . it's not a criticism, she's just more schooled than I). . .

2004-03-12T02:37:00.000-08:00

A very funny article on a reporter sitting his parent's down to listen to songs from 2003 and get their reviews.

A few gem quotes from it:

OutKast
“Hey Ya”
Dad: This sounds like something out of the '60s to me, like the Beatles.

Mom: Yeah, my first reaction was that I could hear the Beatles' influence. I liked the little xylophone they played. There's a classical musician named Anton Bruckner, and he writes things that start great and you think they're going somewhere, but then they never deliver. I felt like these guys didn't really go anywhere.

Dallas Observer: I'm noticing a trend. You keep saying these songs are repetitive, but pop songs are repetitive by nature. I worry that you might be imposing a classical standard.

Mom: I don't want them to be classical. In my day, the songs repeated. There was verse one, two and three. I'm just looking for something to hold onto.

Dad: I'm just looking for anything to say.

read on. . .

2004-03-12T02:11:00.000-08:00

ARTICLE ON RADIO
Web Blogs perhaps new radio format?

Interesting blog piece by Gary Robinson, who seems to believe a possible new duplicate radio version could be via a blog. I agree.