Music Business Times Financial News Feed Digesthttp://app.feed.informer.com/digest3/J12S3LPXHM.html Respective post owners and feed distributors http://feed.informer.com/ Boosey + Hawkes, the classical-music publisher that controls the rights to works by Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff, has emerged as a contender to buy the Rodgers and Hammerstein collection of music and shows including Annie Get Your Gun and South Pacific. The back catalogue of more than 3,000 songs, such as... http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article4926640.ece Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article4926640.ece? Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:29 GMT Channel 4 in the UK is pulling the plug on its DAB radio stations. The reason being that it is an unaffordable enterprise for them. Pull the other one!! It could be more to do with the fact that it tends not to work well in cars, or on the move in general. The units that are available for cars have to keep switching to FM... http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10009508o-2000578623b,00.htm Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10009508o-2000578623b,00.htm? Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:23 GMT Davis might be building his own A+R staff and could be working on new albums from Billy Joel and Harry Connick Jr. Meanwhile, over at rival label Universal Music Group, CEO Doug Morris has signed a new long term deal and as recruited ex-Warner Nusic Group protoge Jason Flom... http://www.businesssheet.com/2008/10/clive-davis-doug-morris-trying-to-save-the-music-industry Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.businesssheet.com/2008/10/clive-davis-doug-morris-trying-to-save-the-music-industry? Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:19 GMT Here's a look at the top record labels, their artists and their U.S. market share as of Oct. 9: Universal Music Group: 35.12% market share in U.S. Labels include: Geffen Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Motown Records, Verve Music Group, Decca Music Group. Artists include http://townhall.com/news/sci-tech/2008/10/10/top_record_labels_artists,_market_share Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://townhall.com/news/sci-tech/2008/10/10/top_record_labels_artists,_market_share? Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:52 GMT Now that Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG have broken off their troubled relationship, known as Sony BMG, the Japanese company hopes to harmonize its consumer electronics and its music, a duo that was badly out of sync. The music business combination four years ago made Sony BMG the world's No. 2 record label, generating... http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g5fcM5YPitehtlBrWk3d7TK9iwlQD93NLRTO0 Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g5fcM5YPitehtlBrWk3d7TK9iwlQD93NLRTO0? Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:42 GMT In early February 2007, Stephanie Lenz's 13-month-old son started dancing. Pushing a walker across her kitchen floor, Holden Lenz started moving to the distinctive beat of a song by Prince, 'Let's Go Crazy.' He had heard the song before. The beat had obviously stuck. So when Holden heard the song again, he did what... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122367645363324303.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122367645363324303.html?mod=googlenews_wsj? Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:29 GMT An Ipsos quarterly study of released Wednesday shows significant gains in the court of public opinion for Amazon and Rhapsody, with more consumers identifying them as the best online music option. Among Americans who were aware of more than one online music store, 9 percent said Amazon was best -- the first year... http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/10/report-amazon-r.html Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/10/report-amazon-r.html? Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:40 GMT 'ReverbNation’s comprehensive marketing platform makes it simple for musicians to communicate with fans wherever they are on the Internet,' said Tony Bifano of ETF Venture Funds. 'Over 250,000 artists have already selected ReverbNation as their marketing partner to promote their music and generate royalty... http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20081007006710&newsLang=en Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20081007006710&newsLang=en? Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:03 GMT Believe Digital, a France-based provider of digital music distribution and marketing services, has acquired German independent digital music distributor MTunes, and also raised a $6.5 million second round of financing, PaidContent reported. Financial terms of the MTunes acquisition were not disclosed. Founded i http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/10/08/france%2526%2523039%3Bs-believe-digital-buys-mtunes%3B-raises-%246.5-million Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/10/08/france%2526%2523039%3Bs-believe-digital-buys-mtunes%3B-raises-%246.5-million? Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:01 GMT With only five days left for President Bush to decide whether to sign into law a controversial copyright bill, business lobbyists and even the AFL-CIO are pushing for it to become law. Most bills to expand copyright law are bipartisan--one aimed at file-swappers and prerelease movies in 2005 comes to mind--and the s http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10061942-38.html Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10061942-38.html? Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:50 GMT With the likes of Amy Winehouse and Eminem on its books, Universal Music has made the most unexpected addition to its roster of artists: the Salvation Army, snapped up in a three-album deal worth more than $175 million... http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article4902958.ece Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article4902958.ece? Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:31 GMT The Google-owned business is taking the first steps toward building an e-commerce service through which it will sell music, films, TV shows, video games, books, concert tickets and other media-related products featured on the millions of videos on YouTube. Visitors to YouTube.com can buy songs from music videos they watch on the site by clicking on buttons that take them either to Amazon.com Inc's MP3 store or Apple Inc's iTunes store. YouTube users will also be able to buy video games, such as Electronic Arts Inc's sci-fi game "Spore" through the Amazon link. http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i05c8198f5eab4cda7e951fc08fcdb784 Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i05c8198f5eab4cda7e951fc08fcdb784? Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:27 GMT The joint venture was created when News Corporation acquired controlling interest in VeriSign's wholly-owned Jamba subsidiary in 2007 and combined it with the Fox Mobile Entertainment unit. 'This sale is an important step in our effort to focus on our core businesses in Internet infrastructure,' said Jim Bidzos... http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/081007/0440648.html Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/081007/0440648.html? Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:10 GMT Seven years after Apple's appearance, and with global markets once again in turmoil, the industry may have found a way to square these conflicting demands: hiding the cost of a music subscription inside something else. The best example is Nokia's Comes With Music (CWM) model. Buy a CWM handset... http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=12341817 Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=12341817? Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:57 GMT The CRB’s decision to keep mechanical royalties for downloads at 9.1 cents keeps Apple’s iTunes store online (the idea that Apple would shut down the key to its iPod empire was just corporate bluff) but they also set a rate on ringtones at 24 cents. That rate... http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4073 Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4073? Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:12 GMT Online photography licensing service Getty Images has launched a new online music licensing service that will offer tracks to producers and advertisers for use in their productions, Billboard reports. The Premium Playlist service at launch includes over 1,000 songs, from artists including Norah Jones and Barenaked Lad http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/10/06/getty-images-introduces-new-music-licensing-service Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/10/06/getty-images-introduces-new-music-licensing-service? Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:35 GMT Melodis, a developer of music search and sound recognition technology, announced on Monday that it has raised $7 million in its second round of financing, led by TransLink Capital. JAIC America, and previous investor Global Catalyst Partners also participated in the round, which will be used to monetize and distribute... http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/10/06/melodis-raises-%247-million-midomi-music-search-technology Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/10/06/melodis-raises-%247-million-midomi-music-search-technology? Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:32 GMT Ding. Ding. The digital music war just heated up with News Corp. and CBS in opposite corners. Last month's winner based on buzz: News Corp. with its launch of MySpace Music. The site was cast as a maverick new competitor jointly owned by major labels EMI Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group. Yet true originality is rare, and this month CBS rival Last.fm punches back. The site has been pursuing a similar advertising-based music strategy since launching in 2002. Through various distribution methods, Last.fm claims some 20 million users worldwide. Someone must be listening: CBS bought it in 2007 for $280 million. http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/10/06/lastfm-music-internet-biz-media-cx_jea_1006lastfm.html Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/10/06/lastfm-music-internet-biz-media-cx_jea_1006lastfm.html? Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:17 GMT Henry Ford saw price as the key to big growth and lowered the selling price of the Model T through mass production efficiencies. In 1908, the Model T cost $850; by 1923 the price had dropped way down to $250. The lower price made Ford richer. Ford sold 1,831,128 cars in 1923, compared to just 323,182 cars for number two, Chevrolet. Prices on pay digital media need to be lowered dramatically to truly succeed. The Model T is the example held up to school children for decades as a basic lesson in economics. Price low for mass consumption and volume will generate both greater revenues and profits. http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/8002/mechanicals.htm Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/8002/mechanicals.htm? Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:45 GMT I looked at my schedule for the upcoming Popkomm conference in Berlin and noticed it is still strangely open. Either I am becoming less popular or the companies I normally catch up with at this conference are not attending this year. The latter seems to be the case: lots of emails from people saying that they will not... http://www.heutepopmorgen.com/?p=87 Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.heutepopmorgen.com/?p=87? Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:43 GMT 'Future of Music Coalition is encouraged that the parties involved in the proceedings seem pleased with the decision, and looks forward to reading the entire CRB decision when it is made public. Harry Fox Agency president and CEO Gary Churgin: 'For more than 80 years, HFA has evolved with every rate and music delivery format in the history of the U.S. recording industry, and we have already issued millions of licenses for online music services. With this decision from the Copyright Royalty Judges, we're very pleased to finally... http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i2db03fb29d573ec55fceb58a5772851bhttp://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i2db03fb29d573ec55fceb58a5772851bhttp://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i2db03fb29d573ec55fceb58a5772851b Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i2db03fb29d573ec55fceb58a5772851bhttp://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i2db03fb29d573ec55fceb58a5772851bhttp://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i2db03fb29d573ec55fceb58a5772851b? Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:37 GMT The decision by the Copyright Royalty Board on Thursday on payments to songwriters shows some of the advantages and disadvantages to having music royalties set by the government. The big news from the proceeding is that royalties paid to composers when a song is downloaded from an online store (as well as purchased on a CD) will remain at 9.1 cents. The music publishers, who represent composers, had asked for the rate to be raised to 15 cents. Apple and other online stores complained that a 6- http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/government-price-fixing-may-not-fix-the-music-biz/ Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/government-price-fixing-may-not-fix-the-music-biz/? Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:31 GMT Suppose you download thousands of MP3s over filesharing networks, and then, one day, you get nailed with the threat of a lawsuit from the RIAA. The RIAA then asks you to pay a fee to settle it now, so that you don’t face huge infringement costs. You agree to do so, using your credit card, over the phone with an anonym http://fredbenenson.com/blog/2008/10/03/the-riaa-has-already-implemented-collective-licensing/ Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://fredbenenson.com/blog/2008/10/03/the-riaa-has-already-implemented-collective-licensing/? Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:25 GMT The EFF has a long and comprehensive look into the RIAA's five year (and running) legal campaign against file sharing. It's a great overview that not only brings you up to speed if you haven't been following the whole thing, but also puts the entire campaign in perspective. The summary? Almost every move the RIAA has... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081003/0945452446.shtml Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081003/0945452446.shtml? Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:23 GMT Record companies are realising that their efforts to get young music fans to pay up are not working. So something new is needed. Nokia, for its part, wants to move beyond hardware, and considers music a way to kick-start... http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12341747&fsrc=rss Delicious/mbtimes/mticker http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12341747&fsrc=rss? Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:48 GMT