Sample Music Ally Bulletin

Every day I write a bulletin for music industry consultancy Music Ally, which is sent out by email to their paying subscribers. It's a digest of the latest news in digital music and related areas, which is in people's inboxes by 9.30am every morning.

Since it's not archived online, I've reproduced a recent one below, so you can see what it's like. You can sign up for the Music Ally service here (it also includes a fortnightly report that goes into more depth). The sample bulletin is from Friday 1st August 2008, although the real thing is more nicely formatted in HTML.

NEWS

MCPS-PRS explains why In Rainbows was pirated so much

The MCPS-PRS Alliance has been doing some number-crunching on how Radiohead's `In Rainbows' was shared on BitTorrent, in partnership with analysis firm BigChampagne. The topline finding is that despite being heavily pirated - 2.3 million BitTorrent downloads in its first 24 days on sale - the band still cashed in, with the album topping the charts in the UK and US, and a sellout global tour. However, the report's most interesting conclusion is that even when albums are effectively offered for free legitimately, users are still unlikely to break the habit of using BitTorrent. "Frequently, music industry professionals suggest that an increase in legitimate sales must necessarily coincide with a commensurate reduction in piracy, as if this were a fact," says the report. Apparently not.

Source: Listening Post - http://tinyurl.com/5aqo5k

BPI angered British government with late grandstanding before ISP deal

It's emerged that the BPI was rapped by UK government minister Baroness Vadera on the day its recent memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the government and various labels, ISPs and film industry bodies. Why? For sending a hardline letter to Vadera and the six ISPs reminding them that it didn't see the agreement as an "exhaustive solution", and might still sue the ISPs for the actions of their users anyway. Vadera's response was clipped, to say the least: "I was disappointed at the timing, tone as well as content of the attached letter from you yesterday," she wrote to BPI CEO Geoff Taylor. "I am glad I was able to ensure that the MoU got signed despite it."

Source: Guardian - http://tinyurl.com/6rygjl

RealNetworks revenues rise, but so do losses

RealNetworks has reported revenues of $136.2 million for the second quarter of this year, a 12% rise from Q2 last year. However, the company posted a loss for the quarter of $1.3 million, compared to a $1.3 million profit in the corresponding period last year. It seems music is suffering particularly - Real saw revenues from games and media services rise 40% and 15% respectively, music revenues only increased by 1% year-on-year. The company's music subscriber figure also remained flat, sticking at just under 2.7 million. The company is hoping that its new joint venture with MTV, Rhapsody America, will turn things round - during Q2 Real spent $9.2 million on advertising the service.

Source: PaidContent - http://tinyurl.com/69ftbk

Source: PaidContent - http://tinyurl.com/6kvus7

U2 drops DRM for Rhapsody MP3 store

It feels like we're writing a new story about UMG sanctioning sales of DRM-free MP3s by its artists every day at the moment. Today's is a biggie too: U2's entire back catalogue has been made available on Rhapsody's MP3 store for $10 an album, or $20 for double-length albums with extra tracks. It's also notable for being another example of a major label rolling out its DRM-free catalogue on digital stores other than iTunes - although it's not been announced whether this Rhapsody / U2 deal is an exclusive, and if so, for how long.

Source: Listening Post - http://tinyurl.com/5zqmsn

EMI promotes Piibe to global head of digital biz dev

EMI has appointed Mark Piibe as its new global head of digital business development, reporting to digital president Douglas Merrill. It's a promotion - Piibe was most recently VP of business affairs for EMI Music North America. Before that he worked for various digital startups, including MusicGremlin and the original Napster.

Source: Billboard - http://tinyurl.com/56uchk

Wanted: EVP of global digital business. Salary: $700k

EMI might have filled that digital biz dev role internally, but it seems Sony BMG is having trouble filling a similar role externally. At least that's what Silicon valley blog Valleywag claims, publishing the full (confidential) job spec for executive VP of global digital business at Sony BMG - a role it says has remained unfilled for eight months, despite offering a salary of $700,000. So if you fancy overseeing global deals, piloting Sony BMG's involvement in Total Music, and building its stakes in startups like DADA and MOG, fire your CV over now. You do need `change management' experience, mind...

Source: Valleywag - http://tinyurl.com/56767r

STARTUPS / APPS / WIDGETS

Tap Tap Revenge iPhone game due to pass 1m users

iPhone music game Tap Tap Revenge is reportedly on course to pass the million download mark this weekend - making it the second iPhone app to publicly pass this milestone (the first was Facebook). That would mean both apps have been downloaded by around 20% of iPhone owners - an impressive stat. Meanwhile, 2.5 million songs have been downloaded to play in the game, most from independent and unsigned artists. Publisher Tapulous says it's in talks with various labels about releasing a premium edition of the game (it's currently free) featuring songs from established artists. They're clearly hoping it's the new Guitar Hero, in other words.

Source: TechCrunch - http://tinyurl.com/5uqe96

GADGETS

Dell scotches rumours of new MP3 player. Kind of.

Remember that rumour that Dell is planning to launch a new MP3 player and digital music store? Well, the company has come out to stress that... it's just a rumour. "We have not announced that we are going to be selling an MP3 player," a spokesperson tells Information Week. "We are looking into the possibility of coming up with different content avenues that can be shared across multiple devices built by Dell." Although a fairly tame denial, it does hint that Dell is setting its sights wider than just a single device. Last year, the company bought Zing Systems, which makes technology allowing consumers to access their music, videos and photos from a range of devices. So its plans could be focused on that.

Source: Information Week - http://tinyurl.com/5nqyfk

WMG surprised by Sidekick visitors to Paramore WAP site

If you're building mobile internet sites to promote your artists in the US, make sure you test them on a Sidekick mobile handset. Why? It seems music fans are using these in disproportionately high numbers. Warner Music Group found this when it launched a mobile site for Paramore last year. "One of the surprising things we've seen so far is in the devices," says WMG director of analytics Carmen Sutter. "The T-Mobile Sidekick is the most popular device. We think it's due to the fans and that the band uses the Sidekick as well. We had expected a more even distribution between devices." The wider message is that any label or artist launching a mobile site should be using analytics tools to gauge what phones their visitors are using.

Source: SearchCRM - http://tinyurl.com/6d7e6c

WIDE ANGLE

SEC to allow companies to blog financial information

According to TechCrunch, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is on the verge of allowing public companies to disclose financial information through their corporate blogs, rather than a traditional press release. What this means is that corporations of all types (including music) won't have to neuter their blogs for fear of getting into trouble with the financial regulators. TechCrunch suggests it means the death of the press release too. "Picture a blog post that announced corporate data... but now, along with a custom video hosted from YouTube, supporting graphs and exec images funnelled from Flickr, pre-recorded audio podcasts/conferences piped in from iTunes, packaged market data sourced from Docstoc, related company and landscape stories and public commentary linked from Delicious..." 

Source: TechCrunch - http://tinyurl.com/64yx96

Comments

[UK Dissertation Writing]

Whenever i see the post like your's i feel that there are still helpful people who share information for the help of others, it must be helpful for other's. thanx and good job.

http://www.mastersdissertation.co.uk/