hypebot

Starbucks Pushes Music To Back Burner

A year ago Starbucks moved more aggressively into music with releases by Paul McCartney and others that many saw as hopeful signs for a struggling industry. Now SVP Entertainment Ken Lombard is out and day to day control of the Hear Music label is moving to partner the Concord Music Group. The changes are  part of a company effort to re-focus on the core coffee business.

Chris Bruzzo, chief technology officer, has been promoted to senior vice president and will assume the leadership helm of the Entertainment category as part of his responsibilities.

Starbucks will continue its relationship with the William Morris Agency to identify book projects as well as the Apple and AT&T strategic relationships designed "to enhance the customer experience through the use of wi-fi and other in-store technology".

MySpace Launches 1000 Outside Apps

The MySpace Application Gallery has now officially launched. Since the beta launch in March, MySpace has added more than 1,000 approved outside apps. The apps come in a variety of categories including music, politics and causes, quizzes and polls, and video and have been installed 2.1M times.    

All approved applications have their own profile page similar to MySpace user pages and the Application Gallery will be accessible to all international users in their native language.        

Developers can access the MySpace Developer Platform Site.

(press release)
   

The Social Networking Wars

A funny but true take on shaking the social networking addiction.

A Big Month For Music 2.0

It has been a month of major announcements, changes and acquisitions for the new music industry and in this guest post, Scott Perry of the always informative NewMusicTipSheet.com does a great job of chronicling them:

I haven't seen a land-grab like this since 1999. Call it a land-grab, call it an explosion of innovation, but the steady trickle of new developments in online music consumption and communication has turned into a flood as of late.

Let's pull out our dance card, folks: in the past month alone, Pitchfork and Stereogum have both launched video destinations, and PluggedIn went public with their music-based HD video community site. Universal has made strategic investments i n PluggedIn (which is also partially funded by Welk Music Group founder Kevin Welk), online distributor InGrooves, and music-based social net Buzznet. Buzznet has purchased the music blogs Stereogum and Idolator, which raised question by other blogs about their future unbiased-ness. Tommy Hilfiger has launched a video destination via SonyBMG, SonyBMG's myplay is growing as an ad-monetized social net, all the labels continue to monetize their sites' traffic with ads, and Music.com has quietly transformed...

Friday's Music 2.0 Briefing: PirateBay Hits 12M, UK Secondary Ticketing & More

HYPEBOT FEATURES -

• Starbuck pushes music to the back burner. Concord takes over HEAR
• MySpace launches 1000+ outside apps
• A look back at a big month for Music 2.0
• Despite the economy Live Nation plans a huge summer of concerts
• Some fun video: Breaking social networking addiction
• Help Wanted: Orchard Seeks Royalty Data Ass't
  

> File sharing hub PirateBay now claims to serve 12 million users (TorrentFreak)

> Live Nation schedules conference call for Thursday, May 8th at 5PM EST details here.

> The UK has decided not to further regulate the growing secondary ticketing business. (Celebrity Access)

> Reciva net radios are adding access to MP3Tunes lockers. (press release)

> Czech police have shuttered a major server offering up pre-release tracks. (IFPI)

> Agenda announced for LA Games conference. (press release)

Help Wanted: Orchard Seeks Royalties Database Assistant

As a service to the industry, Hypebot publishes free job openings and internships. Email yours here and see more opportunities on our free music industry job board.

Digital distributor The Orchard is seeking job candidates for Royalties Database Assistant with MySQL experience. Responsibilities include:

• Assist in converting statements sent in multiple formats into a common format for uploading into our database.
• Research missing song metadata in our internal databases.
• Organize statements received by email and FTP into our file system.
• Prepare lists of data updates for our partners.
• Assist other departments as needed during downtime and royalty runs.

Candidate should have:

Live Nation Plans Ambitous Summer Despite Slowing Economy

Despite a weakening economy, Live Nation today announced an ambitious slate of summer tours and performances.  “This summer we are staging concerts in more than 30 countries around the world,” said Michael Rapino, head of Live Nation. “We expect a very strong season as our global platform will be fully utilized by an anticipated 7,500 shows during our busiest season."

That means that from May 1st until the end of September, Live Nation will produce an average of nearly 50 shows per day. By the end of the summer, they anticipate that they will have sold more than 27 million concert tickets worldwide. In the United States and Canada, Live Nation will produce the following tours:

Will Music Become A "Modest Niche Business"?

FORGET ABOUT STOCK OPTIONS & IPO RICHES

Earlier this week Silicon Alley Insider reviewed a survey showing distrust of record labels, took a quick look at the state of the industry and declared that music was fast becoming a "modest niche business".

Even if SVI is right, there is still money to be able in the niches. (Remember the Long Tail?) So they asked readers what opportunities they saw to make a buck on music.

"....the artists will win...There's only one party that has any coherent vision, and it's the artists. Radiohead may be the first, but they won't be the last."

" label-type entities, unburdened with legacy cost structures, that can increase the likelihood of scoring popular acts by signing multiple acts - but without large advances and perhaps sharing a bit more of the upside"

Looking at the ideas, two venture capitalist said most ideas designed to make real money in music are D.O.A.  Music's inability to deliver the 3X return that VC's look for as well as legal battles that haunt many music startups are to blame. (Music discovery was one bright spot where VC's see potential according to Digital Music News.)

TWO THOUGHTS:

1. Who cares? One of the great things about 2.0 is that you don't need VC cash to start a business or to create, distribute and market content?
2. What's so bad about a bigger and broader artistic middle class alongside entrepreneurs to service and support it?

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Is there money to be made in Music 2.0?  Or do you even care about the money?

Big Changes At EMI's Capital & Virgin

Down-sized:

• Virgin VP Promo Dave Reynolds
• Virgin DR of Promo Operations Jordan Rosenblatt
• Virgin Boston Regional Promo James MacDonald
• Capitol Chicago Regional Promo Amy Kaplan
• Capitol Florida Pegional Promo Ric Austin
• Several assistants in LA including Jen Kelly

Promoted:

• Greg Thompson, EVP of Promo. He will oversee a consolidated promo staff that will work all Capital Music Group label releases except Christian

More: FMQB, Billboard

Thursday's Music 2.0 Briefing: Microsoft Defends MSN Shut Down, GetBack.com & More

HYPEBOT FEATURES:

• Is music becoming a "modest niche business". Should we care?
• Big changes at EMI's Capital and Virgin
• eMusic adds classical labels. Says free samplers sell music.
• EMI Publishing promotes two execs

> Microsoft's Rob Bennett defends the decision to shut down MSN Music's licensing servers. "...Every time there is an OS upgrade, the DRM equation gets complex very quickly...Every time, you saw support issues. People would call in because they couldn't download licenses. We had to write new code, new configurations each time...We really believe that, going forward, the best thing to do is focus exclusively on Zune." (cNet) Best thing for who?

> Nokia adds several music smartphones to compete with the iPhone. (TechWeb)

> New nostalgia music, film and TV site Getback.com has launched. Shawn Amos and some execs from Shout! Factory are part of the team.

> Warner Music to hold an earnings conference call on Thursday, May 8th. Details here.

> Little Big Town has signed with Capitol Nashville. Capitol will also acquire the band's two previous records released on Equity Records - the 1.3 million selling Road To Here and A Place To Land released in November.

> A look at NYC indie store Other Music's successful move into digital. (BusinessWeek)

EMI Publishing Promotes Two Execs

EMI Music Publishing has promoted two insiders to new roles within its NY based licensing division.

Kristin Durie is now VP of Music Services & Licensing. See will manage EMI Publishing’s relationship with the major TV networks, and work with the company’s Film & Soundtrack unit in LA.

Jovanka Ciares has been promoted to Senior Director of Music Services & Licensing, with overall responsibility for EMI Publishing’s activities in merchandising and its relationships with key US advertising agencies.

eMusic Adds Classical Labels

SAYS FREE SAMPLERS DRIVE SALES

eMusic announced a number of larger ndependent classical label signings including UK-based Chandos Records, Telarc, and Harmonia Mundi. Other classical labels recently added include Naïve, Vox, Lyrita, Hungaraton, Supraphon, and CSO Resound, the Chicago Symphony’s in-house recording label. These additions will be available on the website both in the US and worldwide.

eMusic says that more than half of its subscribers who downloaded one of two recent free classical music samplers went on to purchase additional classical music. Of those, nearly one third had never downloaded a classical track before.

Microsoft Reminds Us Why DRM Sucks

I'll let the evil corporate giant do the talking:

"As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers. You will need to obtain a license key for each of your songs downloaded from MSN Music on any new computer, and you must do so before August 31, 2008. If you attempt to transfer your songs to additional computers after August 31, 2008, those songs will not successfully play."

In simple terms, if you get a new computer next year; all the tunes you bought from MSN Music won't play in it. "We will no longer be able to support..." sounds like "screw the consumer" to me.

Economy Begins To Effect Entertainment Spending

The weak economy is beginning to have an effect on the entertainment industry. 37% of Americans believe they will spend less on entertainment products and devices in 2008 versus 2007, compared to just 18% who anticipate spending more according to a new NPD Group study.

46% of respondents to NPD’s survey thought they would spend about the same amount in 2008 as in the prior year. Teens were the only age group where spending tipped positive; 30% believed they would spend more than last year, versus 25% who thought they would spend less.

Mix in more indie releases than ever, an increasingly confusing and fractured media landscape and a summer touring season dominated by aging superstars demanding high priced tickets and the short term industry outlook appears bleak. 

Sony Buys Gracenote For $260M

Sony Corporation of America has signed a merger agreement with Gracenote. Sony will pay approximately $260 million "plus other contingent considerations". Gracenote's existing business will continue to operate separately and the senior management team will remain with the company.

"Gracenote is a global leader in technology and services for digital media identification, enrichment, and recommendation, and these capabilities will be essential to the next wave of innovation...

Fontana Signs "360" Pulse Recordings

Fontana, the independent distribution arm of UMG, has signed an exclusive distribution deal with Pulse Recordings, the label controlled by 360 music startup Pulse. Pulse was founded by Josh Abraham, Jason Bernard and CFO Scott Adair as a multifaceted entertainment company including management, record label and a recording studio. Recently, industry veteran Marc Pollack and longtime manager David Surnow joined the team.

Upcoming releases include the new album from multi-platinum selling rockers Filter. Entitled 'Anthems for the Damned' (produced by Abraham). This will be followed by releases from The Outline, Ima Robot and Lukas Haas and others.

Sonicbids Names Phoenix Media's Kingston VP Business Development

Sonicbids has hired 19-year broadcast industry veteran Andy Kingston for the newly created position of Vice President of New Business Development. Andy joins Sonicbids from Boston-based Phoenix Media/Communications Group where was SVP of  the company's 10 New England radio, print and web properties.

Kingston’s priority will be to generate new revenue streams including online advertising and sponsorships team in addition to building national/international marketing partnerships.

Sonicbids has enjoyed tremendous growth in recent years, expanding internationally into over 100 countries, while growing its membership to over 150,000 bands...

Wednesday's Music 2.0 Briefing: Mobile Forecast, "Comes With" Details & More

HYPEBOT FEATURES:

• Microsoft turns off MSN track authorization reminding us why DRM sucks
• Weak economy starts to hit entertainment
• Sony buys Gracenote for $260M
• Sonicbds hires a VP
• Fontana grabs new 360 company Pulse for distribution

> U.S. mobile media revenue will more than double over the next five years, but the strongest growth will not occur until after 2010 when the technical and market environment improves according to a new report from Analysys. (press release)

> Some details emerge as Sony BMG joins Nokia's Comes With Music.  Users will be able to keep all the songs they download within the first 12 months according to Reuters.

> UK musicians got only five percent of their performance royalties from online and mobile in the first three months of the year. (PaidContent UK)

> Online music placement service Crucial Music is grabbing some strong placements for international repetoire. (press release)

> CBS has named former Microsoft Xbox brand manager Orlena Yeung as Last.fm's first marketing VP. (PaidContent)

SXSW 2009 Dates

Mark your calendars!

SXSW 2009 will be taking place March 13-22.

• Interactive and Film: March 13-17
• Music: March 18-22

Sonific Goes Dark. Blames Major Labels.

Sonific, creators of the SongSpot widget that enabled bloggers and others to embed a single song player anywhere with ease is going offline May 1st. Co-founded by music futurist Gerd Leonhard, Sonific sited unreasonable label demands as a primary reason for the shut down.

"When we approached the major record label decision makers in order to obtain licenses...we have routinely faced demands for very large cash advances and fixed per-stream minimum payments, pressure to give them 'free' company equity, and requirements of utterly bizarre usage restrictions.  It seems that the industry's major stakeholders still prefer this turf to remain unlicensed rather than to allow real-life, workable and market-based solutions to emerge..."

Expect others to follow Sonific offline unless major labels shift to the strategy already adopted by most indies - spreading music virally leads to sales.  Even deeper pocket startups from imeem to SpiralFrog will be unable to sustain unrealistic financial demands forever.

Op-Ed: Jon Webster, CEO Music Managers Forum

IN SUPPORT OF A UK I-POD TAX

Music Manager Forum CEO Jon Webster responds to my commentary last week critical of a proposed UK tax on manufacturers whose devices  enable  format shifting - tracks copied from one device to another including for personal use.

I am one of the members of the UK Music Business Group that proposed licensing device manufacturers who benefit from format shifting.

The music industry contains as well as the major record companies, other labels big and small, self releasing artists, songwriters (with and without publishers), artists, paid session musicians, music producers, studio technicians, collecting societies etc etc.

We, as constituent parts of the music industry, seldom agree but when we do as on licensing and the payment for format shifting it should carry some weight. We effectively are representing everyone in the value chain. And that is our point.

SpiralFrog Hires Russ Rieger As VP

SpiralFrog, the free ad-supported music service, has appointed industry veteran and former Maverick and Pipeline GM Russ Rieger to the newly created position of vice president of strategic initiatives.

Rieger will be responsible for securing and maintaining strategic partnerships within the music, media and advertising industries. (press release)

Tuesday's Music 2.0 Briefing: EMI Restructure Stalls, Summer Tour Glut & Much More, IAJE Shuts & Much More

> EMI's restructuring is facing contractual obstacles including key man clauses. (Reuters UK)

> SonyBMG is joining Universal on Nokia's Comes With Music bandwagon. (Engadget) We want details!

> LG Mobile Phones launches Rally For Music social network and talent contest. (press release)

> Its going to be one of the busiest touring seasons in recent memory with lots of superstar tours (Billboard) and more festivals than ever. With a weak economy, this may be too much of a good thing.

> Another music game: THQ releases "Battle of the Bands" for Nintendo Wii (DMW)

> The International Association Of Jazz Educators (IAJE) is going out of business and canceling its 2008 convention which drew 7-8000 and has been at the center of the business of jazz for decades. (Seattle Times)

Earth Day '08 - Be Part Of The Solution

We spend hours each day worrying about the minutia of the music industry, but today is a day when we need to look beyond our selfish selves and think about the future of our planet.

Speakers will speak and bands will play around the world today in honor of Earth Day.  We are at a true crossroads with global warming, over population, foot shortages, high energy prices and more all threatening our way of life.  The way forward may be confusing and difficult, but one thing is crystal clear; we must all be a part of the solution.

Music Magazine Ad Revenue Drops 28%

ARE MUSIC MAGAZINES DOOMED?

As the fans move online, ad revenue at the top three music magazines slid 28% in the first quarter of 2008.

• Blender $11 million (down 9% from first quarter 2007); 110 pages (down 20%)
• Rolling Stone $31 million (down 27%); 195 (down 33%)
• Spin $8 million (up 27% from 2007); 146 (up 22%)
• Vibe $18 million down 19% from 2007); 185 (down 22%)

Publishers Information Bureau via Crains.

Only 42% Of Music Consumed In US Is Paid

NPD Group via NY Times

Nokia Denies High Payments To Labels

Last week it was widely reported that Nokia was paying Universal in the $35 range for use of its catalog in the cell phone giant's proposed Comes With Music service, and that other labels would receive proportionate payouts.  Nokia now says that figure is incorrect.

"That is not true. We are not paying that amount to any record label," a Nokia spokeswoman told PC World. But the actual details remain murky with the company siting ongoing negotiations. Whatever the payments to labels; how funds trickle down to artists, payments to indie labels and DRM restrictions all remain concerns.

Are Your Ready For The Global Shift?

We're in the midst of huge global demographic and economic shifts. Are you and you're company ready?

Monday's Music 2.0 Briefing:

UPDATED

HYPEBOT FEATURES:

• Make sure you didn't miss anything important with Hypebot's Music 2.0 Week In Review
• Nokia denies high payments to labels for Comes With Music
• Are you ready for the coming global economic and demographic shifts?
• Only 42% of the music consumed in the US is paid for.

> MTV's Rock Band video game is adding full album downloads to its successful offering. (PaidContent)

> Nokia is about to debut an online music store in Australia. Nokia also has stores in the UK, Ireland and Netherlands. (Billboard)

> Microsoft is adding a limited edition Zune featuring Joy Division artwork. (Pitchfork)

> The RIAA spent $2 million lobbying for tougher US ISP laws in 2007. (ars) The RIAA also avoided court sanctions by dropping a case against a homeless man. And this helps save the industry...how?

> David Byrne and Brian Eno have reunited for a new album and possible tour. (Daily Swarm)

>  Indie artists are finding ways to sell their music via the Second Life virtual world. (Listening Post)