All posts in Reading Recap

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

April 2, 2010

Chrysalis acquires over 45K copyrights in First State Media Group deal

All eyes were on EMI this week with the end of the quarter looming and no clear indication as to what kind of licensing deal, if any, would be struck at the last minute.  At the end of day no deal was made, and the new default deadline for the beleaguered music company and its parent Terra Firma appears to be June… Chatter that American Idol owner CKX, Inc. is in discussions to sell the company was confirmed on Monday… As we alluded to last week, Chrysalis has announced its acquisition of First State Media Group, whose S1 Songs and State One Music trade names control over 45,000 copyrights including the former Dreamworks catalog and Wind-Up catalog…  MP3.com founder Michael Robertson is preparing to take on internet radio with the rollout of his new service BYO.fm… Australian music start up Guvera launched a public beta in the U.S. on Tuesday… And Roadrunner Records will be releasing Korn‘s upcoming Ross Robinson-produced album Korn III – Remember Who You Are sometime this summer…

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

March 26, 2010

Acquires Cherry Lane Publishing - Eyeing EMI

One of the latest wrinkles in the unfolding tale of Terra Firma and EMI comes this week with a report that the struggling music company is in talks with competing major labels to license portions of its catalogue…  Universal Music followed up with a denial that it was speaking with the music company, while as rumored here, Bertelsmann and KKR‘s BMG Rights Management expressed that it is indeed interested in EMI’s assets. In related news, the newly launched publishing company made its largest acquisition to-date by purchasing Cherry Lane Publishing… In what could be interpreted as another step toward ISP bundled music subscriptions, AT&T announced a new music “experience” that will combine song downloads, streaming radio, lyrics and more in a single mobile application for subscribers… Next Big Sound compiled social media data to find the fastest rising bands at the SXSW music festival last week, and it was announced that online radio WOXY.com would be closing its doors.

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

March 12, 2010

Zimbalam enters U.S. market - What will it mean for Tunecore?

The New York Times‘ recent profile on Pandora examines how the internet radio company avoided the start-up graveyard, became profitable and whether an IPO is imminent…  A report commissioned by trade group BPI on behalf of Universal Music Group says that bundled digital music services could earn U.K. ISP’s roughly $155 million in extra earnings… New IFPI report breaks down the cost to record label’s for investing in music talent; total reaches roughly $5 billion annually – $1 million is the average price-tag to “break” a new artist… EMI Music CEO Elio Leoni-Sceti is out as of March 31st. Charles Allen, the former CEO of British broadcaster ITV, is set to take over the position… Europe’s Zimbalam, a flat fee digital distribution service backed by Believe Digital, is entering the U.S. market and will use upcoming SXSW for promotional offer.

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

March 5, 2010

Apple Sets Sights on Amazon Daily Deal Promotion

Unlike the recent hoopla over Abbey Road, no public outcry surrounding EMI‘s recent sale of Olympic Sound Studios, birthplace of classic recordings from The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Who and Queen… Apple is starting to flex its iTunes market share muscle with labels over their use of Amazon‘s Daily Deal promotion that features deeply discounted albums for new artist releases… Music start ups MOG and Spotify to go toe-to-toe at SXSW, MOG to announce new mobile app… Time Magazine profiled soon to be Universal Music Group head Lucian Grainge…And Peter Gabriel‘s The Filter has announced a new deal with video site Dailymotion…

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

February 26, 2010

Sellaband Gets New Owners

A lot of talk recently about Sellaband, the music startup that allows fans to fund projects, first with the revelation that Public Enemy had fallen severely short of their proposed $250K goal for their next album and was even losing fan investors. That was quickly followed by speculation that Sellaband itself was out of cash and on the brink of bankruptcy, which was soon confirmed, but quickly reversed as German investors stepped in to buy the company… At the Digital Music Forum East, an analyst with the NPD group said “We’re eating our young” – claiming that services like Spotify don’t generate music sales while a company like Pandora does. Spotify was quick to respond stating there is evidence that proves the opposite… Music video site Vevo continues to show strong numbers, a quarter of them apparently owed just to Lady Gaga… The BBC announced that among a broad range of changes, it was closing alternative music station 6 Music, though it looks like Absolute Radio (formerly Virgin Radio) will make a bid on the station… Elsewhere Music Mastermind the virtual music creation startup co-founded by Matt Serletic announced $4.85-million in Series A funding… And The Agency Group agent Dave Shapiro in partnership with Rise Records has launched his own label Velocity Records…

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

February 19, 2010

London's Abbey Road Studios up on the block

More EMI headlines this week, as it was reported that company is trying to sell the legendary Abbey Road studios in London. An anonymous source told the AP that the search for a buyer has actually been going on for several months. After the news broke, stories appeared naming The National Trust and Andrew Lloyd Webber as both interested in buying… A face-off in the cloud may be brewing between Apple and Google, with reports that the latter is in talks with cloud media start-up Catch Media. Initial chatter of a possible showdown began at the end of last year with Apple’s high profile purchase of music service Lala… Ad-supported music service Guvera has announced their U.S. launch will be on March 30th. The Australian-based company also announced new licensing deals with BMI, SESAC, Harry Fox Agency and INgrooves, those following previous deals with Universal Music Group, EMI and IODA.  Advertising in Guvera is less intrusive than similar services says LA Times writer Jon Healey, who recently took the new service for a test-drive…

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

February 12, 2010

Changes Happening at Universal Music Group

More news out of MySpace this week with the departure of CEO Owen Van Natta after less than one year in the position; situation at the social networking company being described by some as a “hot mess”… Vivendi announced on Wednesday that Lucian Grainge would in fact become the next CEO of Universal Music Group in 2011. It took no time for the Brit to make comments to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal regarding the future of CD’s and his favor for anti-piracy laws. Naturally this caused a torrent of commentary, though nothing of a ’07 Doug Morris Wired Magazine proportion… Veoh has announced it will be shutting down as a result of a “financially draining and distracting” legal bout with UMG, even though the video site was victorious in the precedent setting case; a closer look finds other possible factors involved with its bankruptcy… Elsewhere, Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr made comments that rekindled talk of the company’s interest in EMI… Google is receiving a lot of flak for shutting down a handful of music blogs over DMCA complaints, though some are raising questions about where the blame should be put… And Universal Music Publishing CEO David Renzer explains why he thinks 2010 might be the most challenging time yet for publishers.

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

February 5, 2010

Interactive Grammy Show Sees Big Ratings

The 52nd annual Grammy Awards show on Sunday night reached its highest ratings since 2004, surely do in part to the show being more interactive than ever before thanks to staff and attendees use of Twitter, Facebook and other crowdsourcing features setup for fans… Terra Firma is back in the news and reportedly looking for its investors to pump additional millions into troubled EMI… In a recent LA Times Q&A with Tim Leiweke, the AEG chief executive  discusses how he sees a place for AEG to compete in the concert business even with the newly approved Ticketmaster – Live Nation merger…  And a new Billboard analysis looks at the potential benefits for ISP companies if they were to offer a music service to customers.

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap Tags: , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

January 29, 2010

Apple's New Game-Changer?

No question about it, this week saw two stories dominate the headlines and bloglines and pretty much anywhere that covers music and media, and it wasn’t the Grammy’s… First was the announcement that the DOJ had approved the Ticketmaster – Live Nation merger, much quicker than most anticipated, with the result being the formation of Live Nation Entertainment.  As to be expected the reactions were plentiful and varied, including a thumbs up from influential artist manager Jim Guerinot, while Spaceland Productions founder Mitchell Frank and other indie promoters see reason for concern – both stories appearing this week in the L.A. Times music blog Pop & Hiss… The other widely reported and debated news this week was the unveiling of Apple’s new iPad. The announcement of the one-of-a-kind device was greeted with praise and skepticism, as most new Apple products do, including estimations as to what the iPad will mean for the music industry, how it will take down the Kindle, why a rebuilt iTunes is more important and Bob Lefsetz explains why he won’t be buying one.

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap Tags: , , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap – Extended Remix Edition

January 22, 2010

Linkin Park charity releases digital compilation to benefit Haiti

A lot to stay on top of over this short week, so enjoy this special extended edition of our weekly recap…

More chatter about a possible new iTunes streaming service from Apple continued, fueled by Michael Robertson’s prediction that the service will come in the form of a version update allowing users to access their iTunes media library from anywhere via the proverbial “cloud”… The lineup for Coachella 2010 was announced, and headliners include Jay-Z, Muse, Gorillaz and Thom Yorke… Ad-supported download service Free All Music announced a deal with EMI, who joins Universal Music as the first major music companies to strike agreements with the start-up… Elsewhere, Sony and Warner Music appear to be engaged in an eMusic pricing battle… YouTube launched a new music discovery and playlist experiment… Comcast appears to be taking steps toward an a la carte music streaming service for internet and cable customers… Other ISP news includes a report that Virgin Media‘s long delayed “unlimited” subscription service might be called MusicFish, it might not be unlimited and could be arriving this summer… It looks like Live Nation is putting its venues on the block in an effort to ease regulatory concerns over the Ticketmaster merger… And Prince revealed a new song “Purple and Gold” that he penned for his beloved Vikings - sorry Purple One, we’ll be rooting for the Saints…

** If you haven’t yet, make sure to visit www.musicforrelief.org, where Linkin Park took the “pay what you want” model to their charity’s digital album that benefits the crisis in Haiti. The band quickly assembled a compilation of unreleased songs from Peter Gabriel, Alanis Morissette, All-American Rejects and many others.  The effort saw a quick and impressive collaboration of artists, labels and publishers who all granted full gratis rights for the compilation, and over a holiday weekend no less.

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

January 8, 2010

Does Voyeurism have a taste?

Not So Fast > An article on Thedeal.com revealed that U.S. regulators were prepared to approve the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, but other sources quickly dispelled the report saying both sides are prepared for litigation… (Reuters)

Sleeping Giant > New court documents reveal that after nearly 3 years Viacom’s $1 Billion copyright lawsuit against Google may soon see a conclusion… (CNET)

New Diggs > Style Section L.A. takes a tour of Dangerbird Records new Barbara Bestor-designed compound… (StyleSection)

Status Update> VitaminWater will soon be releasing a Facebook inspired new flavor called “Connect”… (TechCrunch)

On the Block > Philadelphia’s longtime bar and music venue the Khyber is up for sale… (PW)

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

December 23, 2009

Twitter Announces Deals with Google & Microsoft

Three Letter Circus > It was reported on Sunday that Citigroup was “lining up” buyers (including WMG) for EMI in an attempt to pressure owner Terra Firma into selling the music company (Guardian)… However the next day a statement to the contrary was released by the bank claiming that they were not seeking buyers, implying they couldn’t do so being a debt holder not an equity owner (Reuters)…

Tweet Deal > Twitter‘s seeming indifference to being labeled “profitable” ends with the micro-blogging service’s announcement of two content-search deals with Google and Microsoft (specifically Bing). The deals, worth a combined $25 million, will allow tweets to appear in both service’s search engine results (BW)…

It’s All Good > UK regulators approved the proposed merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, an about-face for the Competition Commission who previously expressed serious concerns over the deal (NYTimes)…

Freedom of Choice > Hulu makes further inroads in the music video arena by adding content from Warner Music Group, who is also the only major music group yet to make a deal with the label-backed video service Vevo. A similar arrangement between Hulu and EMI was announced last month (MediaMemo)…

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

December 11, 2009

Apple buys streaming-music service Lala

A week ago today the news broke that Apple was buying music service, and new Google Music search partner, Lala, lighting up the tech and music world (cnet). How much Apple actually paid to acquire the streaming-music service has been a matter for continued speculation (TechCrunch)… EMI made an 11th hour content licensing deal with the new major label-backed video site Vevo, which officially launched on Tuesday (Epicenter). True to industry form there was a celebrity-filled gala to commemorate the occasion (Billboard)…  MySpace formally acknowledged it has bought struggling Imeem and promptly shuttered the streaming service (VentureBeat)… And as expected, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and a handful of other Nielsen Media publications were officially sold to a consortium of investors (LATimes).

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap

December 4, 2009

MOG launches All Access

This week saw the launch of MOG‘s new All Access $5/month music service, see an overview and some initial reactions here… Tunecore announced a new campaign with radio promotion company Unleashed Music to provide a to-be-selected unknown artist with a 6-week commercial radio campaign… The Sunset Strip’s Key Club has closed its doors, but hopes to reopen early in the new year… And SideoneDummy recording artist Audra Mae was featured on MTV.com discussing the song she wrote, “Who I Was Born to Be,” the only original tune on Susan Boyle‘s chart-topping album I Dreamed a Dream…

Comments: 0 Posted by: Categories: Reading Recap Tags: , , , , ,
Load More