A Danish court has declared Pirate Bay illegal and ordered its ISP's to block it. (IFPI) Watch for a big launch on Monday from (RED), Bono's new vehicle for raising funds to fight HIV in Africa and its (RED)wire music subscription service. (Hypebot, Billboard) More DRM free tracks from the majors are finding there way onto iTunes. (Listening Post) "Jarvis Cocker has devised a new show to celebrate the indie record label Rough Trade's 30th birthday.FT) Radio is headed for its worst year financially since 1954. (FMQB) "Cadillac Ranch" tells the story of Chess Records. Covers of blues songs...
Nokia’s new touchscreen phone, the XpressMusic 5800, is being pitched as an affordable music and video centric phone — it’s the third handset to support the company’s all-you-can-eat music subscription service, Comes With Music — rather than being an outright iPhone killer (it isn’t). On that note, after playing with the device for a few weeks — see my first impressions — here’s a hands-on video I shot walking through the 5800’s media playback features. ---Related Articles at last100:I’ve been playing with Nokia’s new touchscreen phone - the 5800 XpressMusic (aka the Tube)Nokia launches 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone (formally known...
Will the music subscription business ever grow beyond its current niche? It looks increasingly doubtful. Today, eMusic announced that since it launched its current music subscription service in 2003, customers have downloaded 250 million songs. Apple’s iTunes, by comparison, has sold more than 5 billion songs since it opened the iTunes Store in April, 2003. That makes eMusic one twentieth the size of iTunes. Read more…...
Will the music subscription business ever grow beyond its current niche? It looks increasingly doubtful. Today, eMusic announced that since it launched its current music subscription service in 2003, customers have downloaded 250 million songs. Apple’s iTunes, by comparison, has sold more than 5 billion songs since it opened the iTunes Store in April, 2003. That makes eMusic one twentieth the size of iTunes. The way eMusic works is you pay a subscription of between $12 and $20 a month and then you can download 30 to 75 songs a month and keep them. You can also purchase songs...
Microsoft shifted gears with its Zune Pass music subscription service and is now letting users keep ten songs a month. Subscribers will be able to choose from DRM-free MP3 tracks from Universal Music and Sony BMG, along with copy protected songs from several other labels...
No one is immune to the econalypse. Not even “Specialty Retailer of the Decade” Best Buy (BBY). The company today joined the sad conga line of retailers lamenting the recent turmoil in the financial markets.Citing continued weakness in consumer spending, the company slashed its fiscal 2009 profit forecast. Best Buy had been expecting earnings for the year to be between $3.25 to $3.40 based on a same-store sales increase of 2 to 3 percent for the year. It now expects them to be between $2.30 and $2.90 a share on sales of between $43.7 billion and $45.5 billion. And here...
Last month Walmart gave consumers the number 1 reason why DRM isn't the answer when they announced that they would be shutting down their DRM server come October 9th. Since then, Walmart relaunched it's online music store on Tuesday. The new music store offers the latest hits at only $.79 per song, while standard songs are offered at $.94. With competitive pricing options Walmart could give iTunes stiff competition. We'd like your help in predicting the following: Will iTunes change its pricing from $.99 a song or go to a subscription music site by the end of 2008? Sponsor...
ere’s the latest action: Cleantech has another record quarter — A total of $1.6 billion went into cleantech during the most recent quarter. However, much of the money came in a few massive later-stage rounds, so the sector shouldn’t breathe easy in the face of recession. US economy contracts most in seven years — Analysts expect a massive 2.5 percent drop in GDP growth next year. More detail at Reuters. MTV exec may head MySpace Music — MTV vice president Courtney Holt may be offered the vacant top position at the new MySpace Music, according to CNET. Imeem adds global...
Yet another digital company is cutting back: eMusic, the digital music subscription service, is firing “about 10 percent” of its 100-person staff, the company says. eMusic explains the cut by offering what has become a stock answer: Things aren’t terrible, but the company is bracing for a slowdown and is cutting now so it can avoid doing it later. But eMusic chair Danny Stein, who runs the firm’s parent company, JDS Capital Management, offers some additional color: The specific problem the company is seeing is with its 2,000 retail partners–either chains like Best Buy (BBY) or electronics companies that were...
At long last, Nokia has taken the wraps off its much anticipated entrance into the touchscreen smartphone space, post-iPhone of course. The new device - dubbed 5800 XpressMusic - is, as the name suggests, being pitched as a music (and video) centric phone, and is to be the second handset to support the company’s all-you-can-eat music subscription service, Comes With Music, which also officially launched today. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nokia is also emphasizing the 5800’s media production and sharing capabilities, two areas where the company feels it competes strongly against Apple, especially since the iPhone lacks video recording functionality. On that...
Over the years, the reports of Napster's death have been greatly exaggerated. But electronics retailer Best Buy may just manage to put a stake in its heart. Best Buy is buying the online music-subscription service for $121 million — $54 million, really, after setting aside the cash in Napster's bank account. A great return on investment, considering Napster's assets last sold for $5 million out of bankruptcy in 2002, right? Wrong. Roxio, a CD-burning software company, snapped up the Napster name and the technical assets of Shawn Fanning's file-sharing startup on the cheap. But sometimes you get what you pay...
