New Music Business Briefing
>>> Just ahead of the iPhone launch Sony Ericsson has added a 9GB Walkman like music phone to its line.
>>> In a sign of just how tough it is to compete with the iPod, portable player manufacturer Creative’s stock is being de-listed from NASDAQ.
>>> Year two of the Bandwidth digital music conference will be held in SF on 8/17-18. (press release)
>>> Top classical music distributor Naxos has opened NaxosDirect, an online store and blog to service fans of the genre and its labels. Amazingly the store offers CD and DVD’s but not downloads. (press release)
>>> Court confirms Congress can outlaw bootlegs.
>>> The EU is asking for comments on loosening copyright laws. The goal is to end the confusion of dealing with individual counties laws and rules for digital content.
>>> RAIN Publisher and webcatser Kurt Hanson and attorney and SoundExchange board member Jay Rosenthal debate the pending internet radio royalty hike in the LA Times.
Thanks for including mention of NaxosDirect in your New Music Business Briefing.
I wanted to first make a clarification: the distributor responsible for NaxosDirect is actually Naxos of America, which distributes the Hong Kong-based classical music label Naxos, in addition to a number of other CD and DVD labels.
It’s important to keep in mind that CDs still account for 75%-80% of music sales. People are buying these discs online–Billboard recently reported that “nontraditional” outlets were the only retail category to gain a percentage of buyers in the first quarter of 2007.
I’ve been blogging about the move of classical consumers online at The Naxos Blog at Sequenza21: http://www.sequenza21.com/naxos . Feel free to take a look and leave a comment.
I’m really interested in live streaming concerts – is this for real? Is the demand growing? Who can tell me the real deal?