Just about one year after Google had originally planned to unveil Google Music, a service that spent much of the last two years changing in concept and approach, and of course engaging in numerous negotiations with record labels, the (almost) fully-fledged music service was revealed yesterday. Three of the four (soon to be two of the three) major labels are onboard, with music available from Universal, Sony and EMI, while Warner Music is expected to be joining sometime soon. So how does it work? Basically it’s similar to how Google Music Beta worked, with a locker where users can upload up to 20,000 songs for free, regardless of where they originated, but now Google has its own digital music store tied to the Android market as well, where users can purchase music that automatically goes to their lockers. There’s also a tie-up with T-Mobile that allows customers of the carrier to download music and have it included with their monthly billing. And that “twist,” which was teased recently, is indeed a sharing feature. Users can share songs or albums with anyone on Google+, who can then listen to the song or album once in its entirety for free. Additionally there is an Artist Hub feature, a much more interesting twist for independent artists, who can create their own page within the Google Music marketplace, and sell directly to customers without a middleman and collect their 70% cut of each sale… Much of the discussion following the release of the new service has been approached in the Google Music vs. iTunes manner – Apple finally launched iTunes Match last week with less fanfare – but as some observers are astutely pointing out, it isn’t about an iTunes-killer for Google, at least not right now. There are differences – Apple has the ’scan and match’ feature which bypasses the lengthy upload process, but Google Music offers almost the same amount of cloud storage for free – Apple has almost a decade-long head start, but Google is putting links into YouTube music videos that go directly to the song in their music store. But what’s important to each user varies, and more importantly it has to do with what kind of device someone owns. Android-based smartphones hold over 50% of the market currently, and what Google really did, is fill the huge mobile music void on the platform… And when it comes to how all the new subscription music players fit in with the overall discourse, as Evolver.fm points out, they’re two different animals all together. The Spotify’s, MOG’s, Rdio’s, etc of the world put a plethora of music at your fingertips, but they don’t allow users to ‘own’ their music, which is still a problem for many people. However, they’re great discovery or sampling tools, because you don’t have to commit to buying something (or heading to the torrents) before being able to make it accessible across multiple devices. Will something new that is the best of both worlds come along? Time will tell.

Universal Music Group and Sony Music continue to dominate the music biz storylines this year with the unpredictable conclusion of the EMI auction, which saw the two industry leaders beating out the long-expected winning bidders in Warner Music and BMG Rights Management.  It might be too soon to call it the era of the ‘big three,’ with the regulatory process expected to last well into 2012 after Citigroup’s auction split EMI into two – the recorded music going to UMG while EMI Music Publishing is set to fall under the ownership of an investment consortium including Sony Music, the estate of Michael Jackson, music mogul David Geffen and others – but however you slice it, the trend of contraction continues. And for all the growth and ‘turning point’ talk, including from the CEO of UMG parent company Vivendi, in the wake of an increase in music sales over last year, the revenue from those sales is still in decline due to the lowering of prices, as pointed out in a Bloomberg article this week… So where do things go from here?

Independent music company coalition IMPALA began saber rattling prior to the announcement of the EMI auction winners, and were quick to make public their intentions to block the acquisitions by both groups following the announcements on Friday. Industry insiders however are questioning the association’s ability to ultimately triumph in stopping the completion of either deal. Universal Music is expected to dispose of a certain amount of assets, particularly in European territories where they would now hold a market share well over 50%, and their key argument for approval will be that the music industry is in a much different place even from just a few years ago, and that they like others are at the mercy of technology companies like Apple in this new digital age. How well that justification will fare remains to be seen, as there are seemingly plenty of holes. One could easily look to how long it took Spotify to launch in the U.S. due to the process of acquiring licenses from the four major label groups, and further, that they negotiated equity stakes in the service in order to allow a launch in America… It will also be interesting to see how well Google does with the launch of a new music store, expected to be this week, with only two major labels onboard, Universal and EMI (coincidence?)… And while iTunes Match is expected to succeed, it’s clear that Apple feels comfortable with their current position and power in the music space, as they continue to expand their sites in new areas of media and content domination… And as far as the EMI publishing spoils go, many see the creation of the investment entity, of which Sony only holds a minority stake, as making the approval process easier.

Some of the other big questions being asked by observers this week include, what is the fate of EMI Group CEO Roger Faxon? A role within Universal Music on the recording side seems unlikely, and while EMI’s pubco is expected to remain its own entity with Sony/ATV in a management and administration role, will there be room for Faxon to reunite with his former EMI publishing co-CEO Marty Bandier, and more importantly would he take a reduced-role? How does this play for current Sony Pub players Jody Gerson and Danny Strick? Will Warner Music be first in line to snatch up EMI recorded assets in European territories from Universal, particularly in light of their recognized weakness abroad and the shake-up among its international management structure announced by Lyor Cohen just last week? Will Edgar Bronfman Jr. now exit WMG completely as expected? Contrary to public comments from BMG Rights Management CEO Hartwig Masuch today that the EMI publishing purchase was not “necessary” for the company, those in the know believe that it was indeed a crucial acquisition for the KKR and Bertelsmann backed venture, and having failed to secure it, are wondering if KKR will now get out? Insiders share that the Germans are considering buying out KKR’s stake. And having purchased most of the mid-level music publishing business over the last couple years, including Bug Music during the EMI auction, will BMG now shift focus to unifying its management structure and operation?

Plenty more action to come…

Going beyond beta

Back as a hot topic in the music + tech arena this week is Google Music, which follows the company’s halfhearted initial step into the cloud-music sector earlier this year with Music Beta. Now it appears that Google will be launching a digital music store in the coming weeks, but with a “twist,” as it is being reported, following Android chief Andy Rubin’s appearance at the AsiaD conference this week. Cnet reports that the twist will likely be social features, which will enable sharing capabilities among users – social enhancements are being touted as a big driver behind Spotify and similar services recent rapid growth. According to multiple reports, the only major label close to an agreement with Google right now for the new music service is EMI, while a number of independent labels are apparently already onboard. Other bits concerning the new Google Music talk include whether or not it will have a ‘mirroring’ component or ’scan and match’ that finds music already on a users’ computer – a feature that Apple’s upcoming new iCloud music offering will feature. Or as noted by Evolver.fm – if Google follows up their digital store by offering their own streaming-music subscription service, it could achieve the same outcome. Currently users of Music Beta have to upload their music to Google’s cloud-based music locker. While seemingly late to the game in all this, some observers are noting what a huge advantage and launching pad Google-owned YouTube will be for any new music service they bring, as the video site continues to reign as the largest free music site around… Following the recent acquisition of Napster, veteran music-subscription service Rhapsody continues on the publicity trail, with executives recently interviewed by Business Insider among others and speaking at this week’s CMJ Music Marathon conference. The biggest question has been about sustainability and relevance in light of all the new similar services, mainly Spotify, and how they plan to compete. But Rhapsody maintains that their business is healthy, they received a boost from all the press surrounding the aforementioned European startup’s launch in the U.S., and with the new Napster customer-base and planned wireless and cable provider deals, they’re doing just fine, and without a free offering to entice new users, for now… And how much of all the optimistic talk surrounding the bourgeoning on-demand and streaming music territory is hype vs. substance? A new report from the NPD Group, studying music listening habits, does show that in America at least, newer ways of accessing music are gaining real ground on traditional radio and CD listeners, with possibly the most revelatory statement being that “a tipping point is approaching when vehicles and portable devices move from a tethered connection to a more integrated one” – read more in the press release… In other quick items… Pandora has named its first chief marketing office in Simon Fleming-Wood… New music service Beyond Oblivion Inc., also known as Boinc and partially owned by News Corp., is reportedly close to finalizing licensing agreements with the four major label groups… Jimmy Iovine isn’t the only Universal Music exec with a penchant for high-end audio, as music industry veteran and co-CEO of Sanctuary 5B Artist Management, Carl Stubner, has been named to the advisory board of high-definition audio company Max Sound… And the popular music curating and aggregating site The Hype Machine has reached 1 million users.

'chairman of the bored'

Today came the announcement that Edgar Bronfman Jr. will be exiting his role as CEO of Warner Music, a post he has held since 2004. He’ll remain on as chairman of the board at Warner Music Group, while Stephen Cooper will take up the reins as new CEO. Cooper’s track record, primarily as an interim CEO with a focus on turning around troubled companies, includes stints at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Enron, among others. It’s expected that Bronfman’s focus will transition to the current bid for EMI Group, continuing his long-desired goal of combining the two companies. If merger efforts fail, his continued involvement at Warners is questionable…  Research In Motion is reportedly working on a new music service that will utilize the popular BlackBerry Messenger service, with some major labels supposedly already onboard, though it’s unclear exactly which ones. The service as it’s being described, though not by RIM, would be far from robust, but it’s being characterized as possible positive note for the struggling smartphone maker… A legal fray that has the Village People’s original lead-singer attempting to regain copyright control over his share of a number of works including “Y.M.C.A.” may prove to be telling in the coming battle over “termination rights,” that will pit many big-name artists against labels – a storyline that hit the mainstream media this week… Music and imagery from The Beatles are featured in a new anti-piracy video as a part of the UK-based Why Music Matters campaign. There’s a bit of irony here, as pointed out by Peter Kafka on AllThingsD, in that the Fab-Four’s music is still only (legally) accessible digitally in one place, that being iTunes, where it was first made exclusively available 10 months ago. With a plethora of other new digital music services out there, one can wonder how long it will be before the group’s music will be more widely available… Elsewhere, Music Ally has obtained a report that provides insight into Spotify’s subscriber numbers, particularly for the period following new restrictions on free accounts that were in acted earlier this year. Get the details HERE, but essentially with the changes, the number of free user accounts dropped by over 1.5 million, while the paying user base increased by roughly 1/3 of that amount. The conversion of users from free to paying isn’t insignificant, and that’s good news for Spotify, who has to pay royatlies regardless of whether a user pays for the service or not, but losing over 1 million potential listeners is not exactly good news for artists… And a group music publishers who joined a class-action lawsuit against YouTube-owner Google in 2007, came to a settlement this week, a resolution that in part will see pubcos given the opportunity to enter into a licensing agreement to receive royalties for musical works included in videos on the site. According to at least one person familiar with the situation, artists should expect to start receiving accounting for YouTube royalties from publishers right around the time they start receiving it from the record labels.

CBS to relaunch site

An article on the New York Times Media Decoder blog yesterday claims that Apple now has agreements in place with Universal Music Publishing and Sony/ATV for its cloud service, while a report in the New York Post this morning has Apple with deals now in place with “all labels and their publishing units,” which would include EMI Music Publishing and Warner/Chappell Music as well. The Post story, citing sources, also pegs advance payments of between $25 and $50 million going to each label, which it points out, would likely mean that Google will have to pay even higher upfront fees going back to the bargaining table. Multiple reports have the iCloud service probably being free at first to customers purchasing music from the iTunes store, with a subscription price later being tacked on, presumably when the service is expanded beyond just music purchased from iTunes. While all the talk has centered around negotiations with the major music groups, in what appears to be the first public comment from independent labels, today Billboard has an editorial piece from Merlin CEO Charles Caldas addressing indies being once again left out of the conversation… Meanwhile, CBS is planning on relaunching MP3.com this summer, which it acquired as part of its purchase of Cnet Group… Pandora has set its IPO price at between $7 and $9, a public offering that would end up valuing the company at over $1 billion…  And Interscope Records has announced a new label endeavor with producer Alex Da Kid called KIDinaKORNER. Da Kid’s recent hits include Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie” and B.O.B’s “Airplanes”… Those in the know expect to see more hit-producer helmed labels soon being launched from the top music groups, as they continue to be reshaped after recent executive shake-ups…

Jobs set to unveil iCloud

Apple has announced that Steve Jobs will participate in the company’s WWDC developers conference next week, and that his presentation will indeed include iCloud, Apple’s new cloud service offering. While music will only be a part of the new iCloud features, in music and tech circles the streaming-music component has been receiving a lot of attention recently with the reports of Apple securing licensing deals with three of the four major labels, leaving agreements with Universal Music and major music publishers as the final pieces to the puzzle.  While unlikely, it’s possible that music could be left out of the presentation, or abbreviated, if the remaining deals aren’t reached in time, but a bigger question on industry minds is how much of a ‘game changer’ an iTunes cloud component will be. While exciting to those watching the space over the last few years, the reality is that at least initially, the offering may be less exciting when actually unveiled. The so-called ’scan and match’ component is a fait-accompli at this point, but will the ability to access one’s music from the cloud be limited to music purchased from the iTunes store, and how will users be able to include past purchases if that’s the case? Given that Google was reportedly offering the labels as much as $100 million to get licenses in place for their music service, and still came to an impasse over piracy, it’s not hard to imagine that Apple’s new service will come with some sizable limitations. This again will leave those taking a wider view of the changing industry landscape to soon be reiterating the slow process of evolving, and that along the way there will be benchmarks, but not any one watershed moment…  Amazon, who released their new Cloud Drive service without label deals in place, gave a two-day digital offering last week of Lady Gaga’s new release for $0.99, which helped boost consumer recognition for the music service as well as make Born This Way the first million-plus selling debut in quite some time.  While a variety of aspects to (and results of) the promotion have been debated, what might get the most attention is the artist’s own admission that she believes 99-cents is a worthy price and value for a digital album…. Elsewhere, Disney Music chairman Bob Cavallo has announced that he will retire in January of next year, with Ken Bunt tapped to takeover the reins upon Cavallo’s departure… And Coachella Festival founder Paul Tollett expounded upon the decision by Goldenvoice to offer back-to-back festival weekends in 2012, in an interview with Billboard, saying, “We feel that there will be even more that want to go, so we’re trying to create more room for them. The options would be to sell more tickets on one weekend or have two weekends, and [the latter] is the option we went with.” Event producers are attempting to offer identical lineups for both weekends.

Apple reaches agreement with EMI for cloud-music service

The news of Apple inking a cloud-music deal with EMI Music was first reported late yesterday on CNET, and according to the industry sources the report is based on, the company is close to reaching similar agreements with both Sony Music and Universal Music Group – a deal with Warner Music was reported to have been reached last month. By now having licensing agreements with two of the four major label groups, the implications are numerous, but mainly it’s that Apple will likely once again be the driving force behind the latest shift in the digital music arena, and that Amazon and Google jumped too soon by releasing services without label deals in place… While lately the tech and music industries have been hot on the cloud-music future and closely watching developments unfold, it remains to be seen how much consumer demand there is, and on a large scale, what are people willing to pay. A new survey from Nielsen that targeted people with ‘connected devices’ (smartphones, iPads, etc), asked how much they would be willing to pay for a monthly subscription for various types of content (music, TV, movies, news, etc), and the average seems to come in right around $10/month. That falls in line with some current services that are available, and isn’t a bad number, but of course that is all in theory, and an important point to keep in mind is that an overwhelming majority of people still do not use smartphones or other high-priced ‘connected’ devices… Some attention has also turned to Apple’s patent-pending pre-buffering technology that is supposed to make its streaming experience better than other current services, though as Evolver.fm points out, Pandora and Spotify have been using similar technology for some time already… And in related news, which is receiving less excitment than the Apple-EMI deal, is that EMI Music has now also reached an agreement with digital music subscription service eMusic.