Browsing all posts in December, 2008.
Wal*Mart’s iPhone
Wal*Mart has begun selling the iPhone for a $2 discount ($197 for the 8-gig, $297 for the 16-gig). Bloggers predicted a much lower price (some said $99 for the 8-gig), so these prices come as a little bit of a shock. And even more so when compared to Best Buy’s further discount to $189 for [...]
Et tu Facebook?
And you too, Facebook? Last Friday, MySpace removed the Project Playlist service from their website after receiving pressure from the major labels and the RIAA. Project Playlist allows users to assemble music playlists of their favorite songs. Turns out, these songs are not licensed and are just assembled from around the internet. So, the artists [...]
China Mobile
Last Friday, I blogged about the fact that 1 billion digital tracks had been purchased online in the USA for 2008. China has already caught up to that, and just on mobile phones. China Mobile, China’s biggest mobile phone carrier, just released numbers for Jan – Nov of 2008 and there have been an astonishing [...]
More Int’l Partnerships
This morning, I blogged about a deal between Universal and a Malaysian company. Now there is another deal to report between Warner Music and SBS Broadcasting. This partnership will provide Warner with direct access to music talent winners in the ‘Popstars’ show put on by SBS in the Netherlands. Warner Music will sign 360 deals [...]
Localization
One of the major criticisms of the consolidation of radio is that radio began to lose its local flavor. Local shock jocks were replaced by syndicated, proven shows from NYC or LA. Music playlists were also changed to what was popular nationwide as opposed to what was hot locally. But, with all of the popularity [...]
Universal Malaysia
Kokopelli Times has recently covered a number of deals that Universal Music has been initiating. Many of these deals are for the purpose of expanding their international operations and reach. So while EMI & Warner are making agreements to distribute for one another in different areas of the world, it seems as though Universal is [...]
Project Playlist Turnaround
What a difference a day can make. Yesterday, I blogged about Project Playlist’s expulsion from MySpace Music, which was brought upon by pressure from the major labels. Today, it has been announced that one of these major labels, Sony Music, has now signed a licensing deal with Project Playlist to provide their entire library for [...]
MySpace’s Mistake
MySpace recently made a strategic move by starting MySpace Music. This upgrade of MySpace now allows users to access free streams of music by all the major labels and most of the independent labels. To obtain the music from the major labels, MySpace had to sign deals with the labels, giving them roughly 40% ownership [...]
RIAA’s Reversal
The beloved RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) which has pursued legal proceedings against 35,000 music fans since 2003, is going to start changing it’s modus operandi. Instead of targeting mass lawsuits to individuals, the RIAA will begin working closely with ISP’s (internet service providers). If the RIAA discovers customers of the ISP uploading illegal [...]
Digital Sales
As iTunes alone nears the sale of 6 billion cumulative downloads over its history, numbers for this year show that over 1 billion digital tracks will be sold during 2008. This is up a full 28% over last year. A full 17% of the tracks were from sales of top-200 songs. I will continue to [...]
