Ad-Supported Music Central

A New Project

2009-09-06T16:34:00.000-05:00

I have begun a new project called 33centmp3s.com. I am building a webstore that will sell legal mp3s for 33 cents each. How can I do this you ask? By taking advantage of the rights given to me and you in the copyright laws. All of the tracks in the store will be covers. As many of you know there is a statutory grant in the copyright law enabling anyone to cover released music. All you have

Spotify v illegal downloads

2009-08-25T07:49:00.000-05:00

Good article from the Economist magazine. I like the quote from Steve Purdham that "nobody is making money" from ad-supported music. He is right, very little money will be made from ad-supported streaming music. The money is in ad-supported downloads.I also agree with Paul Brown of Spotify that the future of the recorded music industry lies in the movement to multiple revenue streams.Free but

UK Music Study of Digital Music Behavior

2009-08-19T05:50:00.000-05:00

The second annual study of digital music usage in the United Kingdom has been published and should be read by all.To me the study is a ringing endorsement of ad-supported downloaded music. To wit I cite these findings."Music remains the most valued form of entertainment" - Evidence of the value of TSL"Ownership of music is hugely important" - Evidence of the value of downloaded music"61% said

NYT Piece: Swan Song for Music Industry

2009-08-13T13:17:00.000-05:00

Last week The New York Times published a great op-ed piece by Charles Blow entitled Swan Song, which I am reposting below.A couple of points regarding the piece: Blow writes that teens are moving to an "access model" rather than an "ownership model". I think he misperceives what is happening, teens are continuing to move toward a free model rather than a paid model.Second I find it very

last.fm Doesn't Understand the Power of TSL

2009-08-10T06:27:00.000-05:00

last.fm doesn't get that they are sitting on a treasure trove of TSL data (as is iTunes).When a user suggests in their forum that reporting TSL would be a way to improve the service, the last.fm rep responds:Russ said: What I'm saying is that it's impractical to do at this time. It'll take a lot of effort for very little gain. But we are considering it, and I'd like to do it at some point, but

Spotify Scores $50 million

2009-08-06T05:09:00.002-05:00

Spotify is the latest darling, likely "iTunes Killer" in the digital music space. The Financial Times reports that the company is closing a $50 million investment valuing the company at $250 million.I don't see it. What is really different about Spotify from imeem, Pandora, last.fm or a dozen others? It is streaming music supported by audio ads inserted between tracks. As I wrote last week,

Really? Ad-Supported Downloaded Music Has a Future?

2009-08-03T18:00:00.000-05:00

DUH!!New York, NY, June 29, 2009 — Excerpts from Ipsos’ TEMPO Digital Music Discovery &Purchase Process study show that ad-supported models provide an important channel oflegitimacy for many US Downloaders, are already helping to stave off filesharing, and havethe potential to do so even more in the future.Those still outside the fee-based market unwilling to pay, but not necessarily lost causesA

Its Still Radio

2009-07-30T05:32:00.000-05:00

The New York Times, (which has very good coverage of ad-supported music) published an article this weekend entitled The Music Streams That Soothe an Industry.The thesis of the article is that the future of the music industry is in ad-supported streaming services. I call that radio.July 26, 2009SLIPSTREAMThe Music Streams That Soothe an IndustryBy BRAD STONELIKE many teenagers, Josh Wilson, the

Free TV Still Dominates Media Time

2009-04-22T06:44:00.000-05:00

Lots of new media and screens, but 1930's technology still dominates people's media time - free TV.This survey represents another data point in the gorilla-sized database supporting the proposition that people prefer their media - including music - to be free and they accept the advertising that makes their free media possible.GROUND-BREAKING STUDY OF VIDEO VIEWING FINDS YOUNGER BOOMERS CONSUME

Developing Audio Ads at imeem

2009-04-20T06:34:00.000-05:00

I have written a number of times that audio is the proper and natural ad format for advertising supported downloaded music. Below is a re-post of a piece that Sachin Rekhi, wrote for the blog http://andrewchenblog.com/. Sachin was a founder of anywhere.fm and then worked at imeem after it acquired anywhere.I agree with everything in Sachin's piece. However, it just scratches the surface of what

Music as Mood Moderator and Targeting Variable

2009-04-17T07:21:00.003-05:00

This MTV survey (via Ypulse) provides more evidence of the strong connection between emotional state and music choice and consumption. There is a lot of scholarly research on music choice as a mood moderator.This connection has yet to be exploited as an advertising targeting and receptivity variable.The Top 12 Ways Young People Relieve StressPosted by anastasia on 04-08-2009 The folks over at

Qtrax, Yet Again

2009-04-15T07:11:00.000-05:00

This is such a poorly managed company this "relaunch" means nothing. The company will be gone for good soon.Qtrax Relaunches In The U.S. April 10, 2009 - Digital and Mobile By Antony Bruno, DenverQtrax, the ad-supported P2P music download service, has finally relaunched in the U.S., more than a year after it originally proposed to go live. The subsidiary of Brilliant Technologies originally

Consumers Accept Ads for Free Music

2009-04-13T06:55:00.000-05:00

People will accept ads in exchange for free music. This recent study is consistent with past research.UK consumers do not mind online adsBy Maija Palmer, technology correspondentPublished: April 5 2009 22:49 Last updated: April 5 2009 22:49Brits are happy to watch advertising on the internet or their mobile phones if this means they will get videos, music or other content for free, a survey has

Ad-Supported Music, Moral Hazard and Buggy Whips

2009-04-09T03:57:00.000-05:00

The article below is a re-post from billboard.biz. I am not sure that it says much that is new but I am bringing it to your attention because it has strong undertones of my buggy whip posts, especially the last paragraph.Analysis: Ad-Supported Music And Moral Hazard March 31, 2009 - Digital and Mobile By Glenn Peoples, NashvilleAs ad-supported music services increase in popularity and falter

NPD Report Shows Teens Want Free Music

2009-04-07T06:12:00.001-05:00

More data showing that teens want their music free. They are consuming free music through streaming because they have lots of good options in that space - eg. imeem and pandora - which is not the case for free downloaded music.The NPD Group: Always a Bellwether for the Music Industry, Teens Are Changing How They Interact With MusicU.S. Teens Listening to More Music in More Formats, but Buying and

RIP Spiralfrog, Not Ad-Supported Music

2009-03-24T14:15:00.008-05:00

I haven't put up a new post since the end of last year. Been busy with some other stuff. I am anxious to start writing again although I won't be able to post as frequently as I have in the past. Still, I hope to post at least weekly.So a good topic to start back up on is the death of Spiralfrog. No surprise here, I predicted it over a year ago.To those who ask if this heralds the end of the

LA Times Gets TSL

2008-12-29T06:18:00.000-06:00

Sounds a lot like the LA Times is endorsing selling the TSL to recorded music...From the Los Angeles TimesEditorialLet music lead the way Playlist services could be an enormous boon to record labels, if they could figure out how to use them in their business.December 26, 2008It's been a roller-coaster month for Project Playlist, a popular local start-up that lets users create playlists of songs

Alternative Revenue Does Not Capture TSL Value

2008-12-22T05:44:00.002-06:00

Read this report on music purchasing and downloading from the NPD group. The annual declines in CD purchasing continue at really mind boggling rates. CD sales will be completely gone in a few years.The CD used to be a proxy for TSL to recorded music since it was, for all intents and purposes, the only way to access recorded music. The health of the music industry depends on monetizing TSL to

Music Start-Ups Going Nowhere

2008-12-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

Interesting list of 200 music "start ups" in 2008 compiled by Music Ally.Few if any could become significant businesses. Evidence of the profound lack of business creativity in a creative business.

Measuring the Audience for a Track

2008-12-17T05:57:00.000-06:00

New recorded music business models will require a new audience measurement metric. The approach described in the MediaPost article below isn't it.Measuring TSL is (also a lot simpler).Networked Insights' Music Chart Challenges Traditional Gavin O'Malley, Nov 19, 2008 08:00 AM Last month, Networked Insights released a study challenging the Nielsen Co.'s ratings system by measuring what content is

Lots of TSL to TSELL to TEENS

2008-12-15T05:29:00.001-06:00

From a recent study by the Consumer Electronics Association:When asked how they spend their day, nearly half of teen's activities were driven by technology. Four of their five top activities were technology driven, with listening to music as the most popular activity among teens. Purchasing (58 percent), borrowing (56 percent) or receiving a CD (52 percent) as a gift are still the primary sources

Free Music

2008-12-11T05:42:00.000-06:00

On his personal Music Industry Blog, Jupiter analyst Mark Mulligan has a post entitled 2008: The Year of Free Music.Mark writes:2008 was the year in which the music industry accepted the fact that the only way to fight free is with free. That the only way to engage young digital consumers that have grown up with file sharing is to offer them something genuinely comparable in experience and price

More TSL Growth Data

2008-11-26T05:56:00.000-06:00

As you read the Marketing Week article below keep our blog motto - Don't Sell the Music, Sell the Time Spent Listening to the Music - in mind.Talkin' 'bout i-generation13-Nov-08Richard FeroAs the bar keeps getting raised as to what marketers have to do to get consumers to listen, many brands are using music as a means of engaging

Value of Music on P2P

2008-11-24T05:32:00.002-06:00

This report values the music traded on P2P networks in the US at $69 billion. This seems high to me, but the value of music consumed is several times greater than recorded music sales.Michael Arrington at TechCrunch believes that this statistic proves that the industry should give away the music and earn their money off 360 degree contracts. He is wrong.The only way to capture this value is to

P and G Blows Smoke on Facebook

2008-11-21T05:00:00.000-06:00

Great description of media that are appropriate for carrying advertising in this AdAge article from Ted McConnell, general manager-interactive marketing and innovation at Procter & Gamble Co. His description applies to downloaded music.P&G Digital Guru Not Sure Marketers Belong on FacebookAdvertisers Shouldn't 'Hijack' Conversations, but Applications Hold PromiseBy Jack NeffPublished: November

Ad-Supported Music at Piper Jaffray Global Internet Summit

2008-11-19T04:36:00.001-06:00

Article below reprinted from MediaPost. My comments in blue.Long Live Ad-Supported Digital Music Modelsby Laurie Sullivan, Thursday, Nov 13, 2008 7:32 AM ETOnline music moguls took the stage at the Piper Jaffray Global Internet Summit 2008 in Laguna Beach, Calif. to debate business models for digital content. All agreed that an ad-supported free music model makes the most sense, Correct but the

I Want My Pizza Hut Download With Ads

2008-11-17T05:51:00.000-06:00

Pizza Hut is offering 75 free downloads from emusic with any order placed online.There is nothing new about this type of promotion, Pepsi and iTunes have done it before and on a bigger scale. I like this type of promotion but I still believe that the free tracks should include a short "brought to you by Pizza Hut" audio lead-in.This turns the tracks into ad specialties (the term for all the free

We7 On Streaming Suicide Watch

2008-11-14T04:12:00.001-06:00

You need to read this interview with We7 CEO Steve Purdham at Music Ally. Good comments on ad-supported streaming music. I believe more than ever that a blow-out in this space is on the horizon. Too many players and not enough substance to the offering to allow for real differentiation. Now that they have dropped their focus on ad-supported downloads, We7 will die in this storm. Predicted

Datz Music Lounge

2008-11-12T05:29:00.000-06:00

I am a little late on this one. A couple of weeks ago Datz Music Lounge announced that it would be offering unlimited permanenet downloads in the UK for 99 GBP per year (approximately $155). Read more about the service here.Datz offers a tremendous value proposition but it will never take off - just like subscription services will never be more than niche. The problem is a misunderstanding of

360 Deals Are Giving Up Not Growth

2008-11-10T05:51:00.000-06:00

The influential blogger Michael Arrington wrote a post yesterday in support of Edgar Bronfman's edict that all new Warner artists sign 360 deals.Bronfman also said that 360 deals give labels the ability to give away music for promotional purposes to spur event and merchandise sales. And that, for me, is the key. Bronfman, an outsider to the music world until recently, sees the writing on the wall

Ten Cents Will Buy Everything I Like About lala

2008-10-24T03:56:00.000-05:00

Even in its nth iteration I still believe that lala.com is LaLa. However, I do like one thing in this current version of the service - the 10 cent price.Your dime only buys you the right to stream the song from lala forever - or until lala goes belly up (so the right won't last too long).Still this represents agreement from the labels to sell something at what is close to a reasonable price in

Radio TSL Growing? Look at the Data

2008-10-22T07:58:00.001-05:00

From the AdAge article reposted yesterday:NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Radio has been right behind newspapers as the old-school medium most adversely affected by digital developments. New research, however, shows that radio is actually gaining audience, even in spite of its closest competitor, the iPod.A recent online study from Paragon Research polling more than 400 14- to 24-year-olds about their

Radio vs. iPod For Ad Dollars

2008-10-21T07:40:00.000-05:00

Interesting article but soon radio will be competing with the iPod for ad dollars.By the way - the conclusion that radio TSL is growing is wrong. See tomorrow's post.Published: October 20, 2008 NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Radio has been right behind newspapers as the old-school medium most adversely affected by digital developments. New research, however, shows that radio is actually gaining audience

Music How We7 Wants It

2008-10-14T07:25:00.000-05:00

We7 is essentially abandoning ad-supported downloads. According to the company's blog:Thirdly, as we shift the focus to free streaming rather than free downloading (at least for now), adverts on downloads will no longer be removable after 28 days. Also, outside the UK, we will be suspending the ability to download free tracks with adverts. There are many reasons as to why we have taken these

Late Take on Comes With Music

2008-10-06T06:10:00.001-05:00

I am a bit late on this: Nokia announced details of the Comes With Music service last week. Lots of commentary on the service is available on the Internet.I am interested in only aspect of the service - it's price. No other aspect will be as determinative of success.According to Jon Healy at the LA Times, the unbundled cost of the service is about $90. In an era where 99 cents is too much for

DRM'd If You Do and DRM'd If You Don't

2008-09-29T09:02:00.000-05:00

Late last year I posted the graphic above and made this prediciton about 2008:Here is my first new year's prediction and it comes in two parts:Part 1 -In 2008 all digital music will be available as DRM free downloads.Part 2 - This will have no impact on music sales.Well, it looks like I was right. Read this post from Peter Kafka at Silicon Alley Insider, which contains the following passage:But

My Take on myspace music

2008-09-25T12:55:00.002-05:00

myspace music has launched. Reviews of the service are available from hundreds of sources.I have used the service. I like it. It needs some polish, which it will certainly receive. It will probably become my first source for free streaming music. Still, my pre-launch reservations over its business model remain.As I listen myspace will incur royalty liabilities that it will have to pay.

Invisible Listening

2008-09-23T13:00:00.004-05:00

I came across an interesting study from Coleman Insights that was presented at the National Association of Broadcasters Radio Show last week.The study makes the distinction between intentional radio listening and incidental, or invisible, radio listening. From the study press release:Coleman Insights defines Intentional listening as when people are aware of a station and intend to listen to it.

slotMusic - Gimme A Break!

2008-09-22T15:40:00.004-05:00

slotMusic. Wow, where do I start?I guess I'll start by saying that SD is a superior format to CD - but that is completely irrelevant. Since the introduction of the CD no new physical format for storing music has ever gained even a toehold. And this new format is being introduced at a time when physical music formats are going the way of the Dodo bird.What are SanDisk and the labels thinking?

Yahoo! Music Search Service - Get It While It Lasts

2008-09-19T10:52:00.002-05:00

Yahoo! introduced a new music search service the other day. Here is how Staci at paidcontent.org describes it:Yahoo Music and Rhapsody Networks are live with the latest example of their partnership: full tracks served up with Yahoo U.S. search results. For instance, search for Bruce Springsteen and the top unsponsored result is a search box with links to five tracks; pick one and the FoxyTunes

New Report on Teens, Cellphones and Music

2008-09-17T13:44:00.000-05:00

Harris Interactive just published a study on teens and cellphones.Their data support at least two points that I have made repeatedly in this blog:Cellphones are an ideal device for ad-supported music.Teens and tweens are the ideal target market for ad-supported music.

Growing The Pie

2008-09-16T14:47:00.004-05:00

I am waiting to write about myspace music until it launches. However, I couldn't resist putting up this quote reported in a New York Times article about myspace music:Greg Scholl, chief executive of the Orchard, the largest distributor of digital music from independent labels, says a music business based on advertising “could well dwarf today’s $30 billion global recorded music industry.”Amen

Napster and Best Buy: Doomed Love

2008-09-15T12:32:00.005-05:00

So Best Buy has purchased Napster. Stephen Colbert could do another AT&T thing on this one:In 2004 Circuit City purchased MusicNow; the next year AOL bought MusicNow from Circuit City; in 2007 AOL shut down MusicNow and Napster acquired its subscribers. Now Circuit City competitor Best Buy is acquiring Napster.This acquisition will not work for Best Buy. Best Buy customers are not subscription

Hitting The Wall In Music Innovation

2008-09-10T10:15:00.000-05:00

Kevin Maney has a great post on Portfolio.com regarding Apple's iPod/iTunes announcements yesterday entitled: Has Apple Hit the Wall In Music Innovation? Go ahead and read it. I'll wait for you.I will extend Maney's thesis and argue that the entire industry has hit the wall in music innovation. Artists continue to create great music but the business and technology people in the industry don't

MS Falls Into The Music Discovery Trap

2008-09-09T15:12:00.003-05:00

Here is the headline on the just issued Zune press release: Zune Takes Music Discovery to the Next Level With New Ways to Find and Access Digital Music.It seems like every new digital music offering is hyping discovery. Why? Is it because consumers are dissatisfied with current sources of music discovery? No. It is because discovery is one of the few music applications companies can think of

Music Preference Tips Personality Traits

2008-09-08T12:10:00.000-05:00

In July I wrote this in a post: Kudos to last.fm for the ad targeting initiative described in the Financial Times article below. Basically, the site is using the music that is being played as a means of selecting the ads to present. I believe that a detailed and accurate psychographic and demographic profile can be built from an individual's music selections alone (I did a lot of reasearch in

More on Comes With Music

2008-09-03T11:33:00.005-05:00

On Monday I posted about Nokia's announcement of the Comes With Music launch in the UK. Yesterday, Music Ally posted some details from Carphone Warehouse about the service. From this I learned a few things worth commenting on:The service will initially be available only to pre-paid customers. This is smart. I can't put my finger on the cite right now but I have seen data that show pre-paid

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-09-03T11:17:00.005-05:00

Forget Apple - Lets Speculate About the Microsoft Zune - Selected quote from thusly titiled New York Times article: “I have a wobbly table. The Zune fits perfectly under the broken leg,” said Richard Doherty, a consumer electronics industry market researcher with Envisioneering.In other Zune news, MS is apparently coming out with a 120GB model. This has to be targeted at video users.We7 Gets EMI

Comes With Music Launch Announcement

2008-09-02T11:04:00.003-05:00

So Nokia has announced the first availability of it's Comes With Music service in Europe. Nothing definitive on price but it seems from the Forbes piece below that the service will entail a significant up-front charge.So let me get this straight - consumers don't want to pay for music yet Nokia thinks that the way around this is to ask them to pay a big sum upfront? I understand it is for all you

Crying In The Wilderness

2008-08-29T11:54:00.009-05:00

I hope that somebody out there has noticed that I haven't blogged much this week. Yes, I have been busy but it is really ennui over the state of the music industry, brought on by a spate of bad news this week, that has given me blog freeze.Wal-Mart and Borders are reducing floor space devoted to CD sales. Album sales, digital or physical, continue to tank. Nobody wants to buy Napster, even for

Youth Cheap With Money Not With Time

2008-08-25T08:28:00.005-05:00

Last week the Ypulse blog put up a post from Larry Weintraub, the CEO of Fanscape. In the post Weintraub recaps a panel he moderated on young people's music consumption at the Bandwidth Conference.You should read the entire post, but here are some highlights:Youth Still Aren't Paying For Music...Concerts Are Cool, When They're CheapBut understand this, they love music. They consume more music

Unlike an MP3, You Can't Pirate Time

2008-08-21T09:28:00.005-05:00

Eliot Van Buskirk writes the Listening Post blog for Wired. Yesterday he put up a post, including a video clip, about an interview with Jon Simson the head of Soundexchange, the online music royalty organization.Two things from the post that I want to comment on. First, Simson says that Pandora should run audio ads in order to earn sufficient revenue to pay royalties. Of course I agree that

Android MP3 Player?

2008-08-18T15:45:00.001-05:00

Last month I wrote a blog post calling for an open source MP3 player (How About An Open-Source MP3 Player?).Now I read in this article from VentureBeat that: "Industry sources tell us that although Android will indeed start as a mobile OS, Google intends to expand it to be a sort of universal operating system that will span set-top boxes for televisions, mp3 players and other communication and

More On The Power of Audio

2008-08-14T20:37:00.004-05:00

The findings below are from a just released study by the Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab.With these features advertisements in ad-supported music can be even more effective than ads on radio.Executive SummaryThis report is a follow-up to the Radio Ad Lab’s report, Engagement, Emotions, andthe Power of Radio. After our original evaluation of 16 different real ad campaigns within actual programming, we

Coke One-Ups We7

2008-08-13T19:15:00.002-05:00

Free music from We7 and We8 - WeIRD!

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-08-12T08:21:00.000-05:00

Network DVRs - Last week the Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision and legalized Cablevision's use of DVRs located in the cable system rather than the viewer's home. AdAge reports that by lowering barriers to use, network DVRs will significantly increase use of this technology therby also increasing ad-skipping. I have to believe that any decrease in the effectiveness of TV

UFC Presents MySpace v. imeem

2008-08-11T08:32:00.004-05:00

Fortune published an excellent article about the upcoming competition between imeem and soon-to-be-launched MySpace music. I have reprinted the article below.The piece contains some good information regarding CPM rates at the online ad-supported music services. The author points out the dilemma well known to those in the field - that these rates are quite low.Ad-supported music will not escape

Lazy Sunday Every Day It Seems

2008-08-08T10:11:00.003-05:00

I have been lazy in posting since returning from the Minnesota wilderness. I will get back up to speed next week - I hope.In the meantime read this post by Erick Schonfeld on the Ajax Blog about the UMG backed Total Music plan.

trueAnthem Gets A Lot Right

2008-08-05T09:48:00.000-05:00

I learned about a new ad-supported recorded music company called trueAnthem from this story. I really like what this company is doing.Like most ad-supported music start-ups trueAnthem is launching with a catalog of indie musicians. There are, however, a few features that, together, seperate trueAnthem from the others.First, the company distributes its downloadable tracks through freely available

Into The Wild

2008-07-28T01:56:00.000-05:00

I'll be in the Minnesota wilderness with my son this week - far from the digital world.

Cellphones and Music In The News

2008-07-25T11:40:00.003-05:00

Several mobile music items in the news recently that are worth noting. Cellphones and music are surely a marriage made in heaven - a marriage that will soon spawn lots of ad-supported babies:The Pandora ad-supported app is the 4th most popular iPhone application and users are spending an hour listening to it. Mobile commerce in Japan exceeds $100 billion. "Of six content categories defined by the

New iLike Advertising Sidebar

2008-07-24T14:47:00.000-05:00

iLike has introduced a new advertising platform that I like a lot.Ads are delivered to listeners by means of a sidebar to iTunes or Windows Media Player. The sidebar displays concert information and music purchase links, which are related to the music that is running on the player. The ads change when the music changes.The chief reason that I like this approach is because it uses music played

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-07-21T20:37:00.006-05:00

Another Way To Fight Piracy - Paul Westerberg just released an album entitled 49, which is "a 44-minute single MP3 file of a dozen-plus songs." I don't think he went with this format to make it more difficult to pirate the music but I think it does. Sure someone can use torrents, but bigger files take longer to download and that extra time may dissuade the less than determined pirate.Good Article

Using Music Choice As A Targeting Variable

2008-07-18T09:37:00.004-05:00

Kudos to last.fm for the ad targeting initiative described in the Financial Times article below. Basically, the site is using the music that is being played as a means of selecting the ads to present. I believe that a detailed and accurate psychographic and demographic profile can be built from an individual's music selections alone (I did a lot of reasearch in this area and will blog about it

My Eyeballs (And Eardrums) For Your Content

2008-07-17T13:29:00.000-05:00

People understand the basic value proposition of free content for exposure to advertising. This is the case for video. Why would music be any different? Most Say Ads a 'Reasonable' Cost of Free Online VideoSurvey: Viewers Most Amenable to Ads in TV Shows, Movies But Not Amateur VideoBy Megan McilroyPublished: July 17, 2008 NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Good news for the growing number of

P&G Launches Label

2008-07-16T13:09:00.007-05:00

I totally missed the announcement of TAG Records, which occured in April, and was brought to my attention by this post indicating that Q will be the first artist signed to the label.According to AdAge: Jermaine Dupri has partnered with the Procter & Gamble-owned Tag Body Spray to form TAG records, which is part of the Tag brand's initiative to cultivate relationships with the urban community

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-07-15T13:20:00.001-05:00

Devices Used to Listen to Music - I don't really understand the how people are using TV to listen to music (music videos, the music only channels on cable?) still this is interesting data from Parks Associates. Fallacy of the Concert Savior Revisited - Pollstar magazine reports that: "...the combined gross from the top 100 tours during the first six months of this year held steady at $1.05

Another New Ad Medium Without A Value Proposition

2008-07-14T16:56:00.004-05:00

As a proponent of a new advertising medium I am interested in other new advertising media. Advertising in video games has attracted a lot of attention and money (namely Microsoft's purchase of Massive). However, I am not confident of the long-term viability of this medium because I don't see the benefit to the player. So far at least, ads in video games don't offer the traditional ad-supported

Ad-Supported Pandora iPhone App

2008-07-11T11:33:00.000-05:00

The iPhone app store launched yesterday. One of the applications in the store is an ad-supported mobile version of Pandora. Wired's Listening Post blog has this description of how the advertising will work:"The App itself will be free, listening will be free, it will be supported through audio advertising like radio has been for time immemorial," said Conrad. However, don't expect thunderous ads

Ad-Supported Streaming Music

2008-07-10T11:51:00.006-05:00

Today's assignment is to read the post (and comments) by Lucas Gonze on Silicon Alley Insider entitled: Why Ad-Supported Music Won't Work: Blame The Labels.Gonze limits his discussion to ad-supported streaming music. As a reader of this blog you know that I am not big on ad-supported streaming music. I believe the future lies in ad-supported downloaded music.

How About An Open Source MP3 Player?

2008-07-09T11:31:00.001-05:00

Google's Android is an open source cellphone OS. Nokia is taking over Symbian, the smartphone OS, and plans to make it open source. Apple even offers an iPhone SDK to independent developers. (BTW - Silicon Alley Insider is reporting today that some iPhone apps may be ad-supported.)Where is the iPod SDK? The Zune SDK? Or even better; a completely open source portable MP3 player.There is rockbox,

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-07-08T08:03:00.007-05:00

EMI Chooses Physical Goods Marketer To Sell Digital Music - Everyone must know by now that Guy Hands has chosen "Elio Leoni-Sceti, 42, who was executive vice president of Reckitt Benckiser, maker of skin care product Clearasil, French's mustard, Nurofen pain reliever..." to run EMI's recorded music division. I applaud Hands's effort to look outside the music industry for new ideas. However, as

Metamorphosis

2008-07-02T09:21:00.001-05:00

A basic tenet of this blog is that the recorded music industry must metamorphose from a consumer paid business into an ad-supported business.Last year AOL evolved from it's caterpillar subscription business to a butterfly like ad-supported business. I came accross this post by AOL Sr. Vice President, Mike Rich on RBR, which discusses lessons learned from the change.Can somebody send this to Guy

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-07-01T11:20:00.000-05:00

Rhapsody Offers DRM-Free Downloads - Big news so far this week is that Rhapsody is offering its full catalog as DRM-free downloads. Big deal. DRM is a non-issue in growing recorded music revenues. Recent evidence seems to support this. Verizon Vanity - Verizon is working with Rhapsody on the DRM-free downloads and their subscription service. For the privilige of downloading a DRM-free track

Lessons From Taking TV To The Net

2008-06-27T15:24:00.004-05:00

AdAge has a great article today about ABC's efforts to include ads in their online streams of network shows. Several of the issues discussed in the article are especially relevant to ad-supported recorded music:Consumers understand that the value proposition of "free content in exchange for exposure to advertising" applies even in new media"ABC has made programs such as "Ugly Betty" and "Grey's

Big Mac Chant-Off

2008-06-26T10:30:00.001-05:00

The other morning I was thinking that short jingle driven ads would be a really effective ad format for ad-supported recorded music.Later that day I learned about McDonald's new Big Mac Chant-Off promotion.This promotion works great on the Internet but it would also be great, and complementary, on MP3 players. I can imagine lots of creative and effective implementations.

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-06-24T11:40:00.001-05:00

Amazon Lowers Album Prices - Amazon is the smartest and, therefore, the most successful retailer on the Internet. Reflective of this position they have started an innovative program of significantly discounting certain albums. They know that the only way to sell music now is to lower prices.Another Reason to Ignore Projections - PriceWaterhouseCoopers released its Entertainment and Media Outlook

Ad-Supported Music IS NOT Internet Advertising

2008-06-23T12:21:00.001-05:00

Important people in the music business continue to get ad-supported recorded music wrong. Here is the latest example, which came out of the London Calling music conference last week:Scott Cohen, co-founder and international VP of digital distributor The Orchard (NSDQ: ORCD), called ad-funded models more “meat than hype” noting that an 8 percent cut—which is what copyright holders get from digital

Done With Qtrax

2008-06-20T13:51:00.004-05:00

Qtrax finally "launched" on Wednesday. I was able to register and download the player. I think I downloaded several Amy Winehouse tracks but I have not been able to get them to play. Even after installing Windows Media 11 I get a pop-up window directing me to a Microsoft page every time I try to play one of the tracks.I understand that Qtrax is in beta and technical problems are expected.

Still More On Why Teens Are Ideal Target

2008-06-19T10:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I wrote (again) that teens and tweens should be the target demographic for companies launching ad-supported recorded music services.I have also written (numerous times) that the cellphone is the ideal platform for ad-supported music.This quote from a piece in the LA Times nicely marries these two beliefs:It may all seem a little bothersome, but teens don't mind receiving messages about

More On Why Teens Are Ideal Target Audience

2008-06-18T16:01:00.000-05:00

A survey was just released on the digital music habits of young people in Britain. Here are some of the charts that I find interesting.I believe these data support my assertion that ad-supported recorded music should start by targeting teens and tweens. Sites like SpiralFrog and We7 have target demographics that are way too broad.Reach:Frequency:Can't pay for as much music as they want:Because

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-06-17T15:38:00.001-05:00

NYT Article on EMI and Guy Hands - Yesterday The New York Times published an article about the current state of EMI under Guy Hands. If it isn't crystal clear to you yet that Hands will fail miserably in running EMI it will after reading this article.TBS Pause Ads - Have you seen the ads that TBS has been running on Family Guy and other shows that pause the action for a bottom of the screen promo

mediadefender Defends Through Advertising

2008-06-16T13:40:00.004-05:00

I got this story from mashable. mediadefender, the company that protects content by flooding P2P networks with bad files, is considering releasing tracks of music embedded with ads into the file-sharing networks.Interesting idea but I can't imagine first-class advertisers wanting to participate. P2P users don't expect ads in music obtained from file-sharing networks and so will resent the

Songs For Soap

2008-06-13T09:48:00.003-05:00

Advertising Age has launched a new blog called Songs For Soap. The site reports music business related stories with a particular focus on marketing efforts between consumer goods companies and artists. Check it out and subscribe. Here is a recent post:Come for Natasha Bedingfield, Stay for the Continental BreakfastW Hotels, MasterCard and Sony BMG Form New Music PartnershipPosted by Mike

MP3 Player TSL Eclipses Radio Among Teens

2008-06-11T16:28:00.003-05:00

Read the following report and then tell me why radio companies are not working their butts off to get into ad-supported downloaded music:Computers, iPods and MP3 Players Eclipse Radio Usage for the First Time RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., June 5, 2008 – Coleman Insights has found that teenagers’ use of computers, iPods and MP3 players for music consumption has reached a tipping point in the last

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-06-10T19:49:00.001-05:00

Wal-Mart Knows Low Prices - On the heels of the announcement that AC/DC will sell its new album exclusively at Wal-Mart, the New York Times has an article about the power Wal-Mart wields in the recorded music business. Wal-Mart achieved this power because it understands what it takes to sell product much better than the record labels do.Says Gary Severson, Wal-Mart’s head of home entertainment:

Mobile Music at Microsoft: More Unsolicited Advice

2008-06-09T11:36:00.000-05:00

It was recently reported that Andy Lees, senior VP of Microsoft's Mobile Business Communication, said that Microsoft will focus on improving the music features on its Windows Mobile operating system for smartphones. I suggest Microsoft do the same thing with music on mobile phones that I have suggested they do with the Zune: Differentiate Microsoft by focusing the platform on free ad-supported

U2 Manager's Ad Induced Vertigo

2008-06-06T13:47:00.006-05:00

Paul McGuinness is the manager for U2. Earlier this year he got some action in the blogoshpere for advocating that ISPs should be required to police illegal downloading. I agreed with his argument. However, he and I must now part ways.John Timmer writes this for Ars Technica about McGuinness's keynote earlier in the week at Music Matters 2008 in Hong Kong:But even as he wants to see more payment

Pandora Is Too Afraid Of Advertising To Succeed

2008-06-05T10:15:00.001-05:00

Pandora has released a beta desktop application. As you can see from the graphic above the desktop player is nearly identical to the Internet player. This has fueled much crticisim on the blogosphere.Copying the UI of the Internet player to the desktop player is a smart way to maintain brand integrity. However, the desktop player also copies the large size of the Internet player.Here is how Tim

Deperate Measures: EMI Licenses Qtrax and Spiralfrog

2008-06-04T12:48:00.006-05:00

Yesterday it was revealed that EMI had reached licensing agreements with both Qtrax and Spiralfrog.I am glad that these services are adding to their catalog of majors. However, these deals have nothing to do with the success of the services because they aren't successful (or launched) and won't be successful.Behind these deals is growing concern at the Guy Hands led EMI and Terra Firma. The

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-06-03T12:45:00.001-05:00

More Ridiculous Business Models from LaLa - LaLa.com likes business models. The stupider the better. Some they have tried and shed: facilitating CD swapping for a fee, on-demand ad-supported streaming, and a music locker service. Now they have unveiled unlimited streams at 10-cents per song. Perhaps the only people more wrong about the music business than LaLa management are the company's

Short Ads

2008-06-02T10:28:00.003-05:00

Those of you who use immem have surely noticed that they have started inserting audio ads between playlist tracks. Bravo immem! Audio ads are the only format that works with audio content.This morning I heard two ads on imeem; one for the Zune and one for T-Mobile. The Zune ad was about three seconds and the T-Mobile ad about 10 seconds.With these short ads I believe imeem is using the right

Saving the Zune

2008-05-29T10:57:00.005-05:00

Another Zune post. Besides the guys at Microsoft, I must be the only person obsessed with this device. Below is a column that just appeared on last100.com by Michael Pinto, the Creative Director of Very Memorable, Inc. a design firm that specializes in the youth market and interactive media. Micheal makes some good suggestions but nothing that will build a big, or profitable enough business for

Newsflash to Nokia

2008-05-28T11:25:00.000-05:00

Regular readers of this blog know that I believe the cellphone is the ideal platform ad-supported recorded music. RCR Wireless News is a publication that provides good coverage of the cellular phone industry. I read it and if you are interested in this industry you should too.Last week the print issue of RCR had two articles, which formed an interesting juxtaposition to me: The first article,

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-05-27T10:32:00.002-05:00

GameStop Stops Selling Zunes: I posted several times about the Zune last week, following up on Microsoft's demonstration of their concept for advertising on the device. In more Zune news from last week, GameStop announced that they would no longer sell the Zune. By itself I don't think this is big news. I can't believe that GameStop sold many Zunes or that people would even think to shop there

Advertising On The Zune, Last Post - This Week

2008-05-23T10:18:00.001-05:00

In my first post on Microsoft's Zune advertising concept, I linked to a Seattle PI blog post by Todd Bishop but didn't say anything about it. The topic of Bishop's post is MS's Entertainment and Devices advertising business group and Mark Kroese it's general manager. This is apparently the group that devised the Zune advertising concept.I believe the concept is way too complex and will not work

Blogoshpere Reaction to Zune Advertising Demo

2008-05-22T17:01:00.000-05:00

Some reaction in the blogoshpere to the "advertising on a Zune concept" that Microsoft demoed earlier this week. Overall the comments display a lack of understanding of what it will take to make ad-supported recorded music work (read properly done audio ads):From engadget: Microsoft turned a few heads at its Advance '08 advertising conference by announcing a type of ads for its Zune platform, in

Microsoft's Plan for Advertising on the Zune

2008-05-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

My post on Monday was my latest exhortation to Microsoft to bring advertising to the Zune. Yesterday, MS unfortunately announced a plan to do just that.Why do I say 'unfortunately' to a move that I support? Because the proposed implementation is so complicated, kludgey and ultimately useless that it can only be called, well; Microsoftian. The plan was demoed yesterday at MS's advertising

Tuesday Tidbits

2008-05-20T11:20:00.000-05:00

Can The Music Industry Save Itself? - hypebot has a nice post outlining a five point plan for the music industry based on the research of two UK consulting firms. Read the post for the whole plan but I want to highlight two of the five points:"3. Free doesn’t mean no money: The music industry should not fear free. It needs to... embrace it. The culture of the net is free or at least feeling free

Some More Advice to Microsoft

2008-05-19T16:09:00.001-05:00

I have been reading quite a bit of negative press about Microsoft in the last few days. Much of it arose from the failed Yahoo! takeover bid and the pall that event casts on Microsoft's advertising efforts.This week Microsoft will hold advance 08, its annual advertising conference. The Wall Street Journal doesn't expect much from the conference or Microsoft's current Internet advertising