Music | Internet Marketing Blog

RIAA plots royalty fee hikes

Royalty rates for music played via internet radio services could be set to triple, if the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) gets its way.

The US Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has endorsed a plan by the RIAA to retroactively raise the fees Internet radio broadcasters must pay to stream music.

by Graham Charlton 07 March 2007 15:00pm 1 comment

Podvertising to grow despite few listeners

In-podcast advertising is set to grow to over five times its current value by 2011, according to a new report.

An eMarketer study forecast US advertising spend targeted toward podcasts will reach $240m by 2008 and $400m by 2011. That is despite pessimism over the popularity of podcasts amongst audiences.

by Robert Andrews 23 February 2007 08:25am 3 comments

Podcast suite Odeo goes up for sale

Web-based podcasting application Odeo has been put up for sale, just months after founder Evan Williams led a management buy-out of the project from investors.

Williams wrote: "We've put too much into Odeo to want to see it fade away. And it still has tons of potential. But we're not improving it fast enough."

by Robert Andrews 20 February 2007 09:00am 0 comments

BT inks on-demand deal with Universal Music

BT has struck a deal with Universal Music Group for the group's music videos to be made available on BT Vision's on demand service.

This follows recent content deals with companies like Sony BMG and Warner Brothers, which have helped BT to build up a catalogue of music, film and TV programming for its new TV service.

by Graham Charlton 15 February 2007 15:23pm 0 comments

Labels may be split on DRM in wake of Jobs memo

Music industry representatives have thumbed their noses at Apple CEO Steve Jobs' call this week for DRM to be dropped from digital downloads.

Referring to Jobs' suggestion of licensing Apple's FairPlay DRM technology far and wide, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) CEO Mitch Bainwol tol the AP: "We have no doubt that a technology company as sophisticated and smart as Apple could work with the music community to make that happen."

by Robert Andrews 09 February 2007 12:37pm 0 comments

Virgin Media launches, response mixed

Virgin Media was today unveiled as the new name for ntl and Telewest, with the new entity aiming to shake up UK consumer telephony, entertainment and communications provision with a quad-play offering.

The cable company last year completed the £962m acquisition of Virgin Mobile, making Richard Branson a 10.7% shareholder in the firm, which celebrated today by firing a volley of press releases.

by Robert Andrews 08 February 2007 13:58pm 124 comments

'Not guilty', says Apple on music DRM

Amid growing consumer demand for platform-neutral digital music without cumbersome copy protection, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has fired the digital rights management (DRM) ball firmly into the record labels' court.

In a surprise open letter, titled "Thoughts on Music" and published on apple.com last night, Jobs wrote:-

"The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players.

by Robert Andrews 07 February 2007 15:19pm 0 comments

Last.fm signs deal with Warner Music

Last.fm has teamed up with Warner Music Group in its first deal with a major music company.

The agreement will see Warner's music catalogue made available to the Last.fm's listeners. It will initially roll out in the US, with Europe to follow shortly after.

by Graham Charlton 07 February 2007 13:06pm 0 comments

Apple vs Apple: Jobs and McCartney bury hatchet

All they needed was love. Now Apple and The Beatles have kissed and made up - and it could see The Fab Four's catalogue added to iTunes.

The band's Apple Corps. label last year lost a High Court lawsuit in which it had claimed Steve Jobs' computer company had reneged on a prior agreement not to confuse matters by entering the music business using the "Apple" name.

by Robert Andrews 06 February 2007 11:30am 0 comments