Digital Music Digest For May 3

Opponents Of UMG-EMI Merger Ask For Senate Review   Parties opposed to Universal Music Group's $1.9 billion acquisition of EMI's record labels last week asked the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust issues to examine the deal, raising the possibility of Senate hearings. According to the New York Times, digital rights group Public Knowledge and the Consumer Federation of America jointly sent a letter to Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Michael S. Lee (R-UT), outlining objections to the deal. UMG, already the largest music company with about 30% of the global recordings market, would have more than 40% if the deal is completed. The letter compares the UMG-EMI merger to the Justice Department's recent lawsuit charging Apple and five major publishers with collusion in setting the price of e-books, contending that "if five companies with a market share of less than 50% pose a threat to nascent competition from digital distribution models, does one company with a market share above 40% pose a similar threat?" UMG's response: "The e-books case is about an alleged illegal price-fixing conspiracy...[while] the law governing mergers is totally different. Most mergers, like this one, are ultimately found to be beneficial to competition and consumers." [Full story: New York Times] Microsoft Reportedly Set To Launch Woodstock Music Service In June   Microsoft reportedly is set to unveil its new digital music service for Xbox, Windows Phones, and Windows 8 PCs at the E3 expo in June. The service, known as Woodstock, is a Spotify-like platform that will be integrated at a fundamental level with Facebook, letting linked friends share songs and playlists, and also will offer a service similar to iTunes Match that will let users "scan and match" their libraries of digital music, automatically identifying those songs in their Woodstock accounts. As reported by Digital Trends, Microsoft isn't commenting about Woodstock, but these latest reports on the service parallel Microsoft's media strategy in recent years. The company has expanded its various entertainment options on the Xbox, with a focus on television offerings with HBO Go, Major League Baseball, and Comcast's Xfinity on demand service. In fact, Xbox marketing and strategy head Yusuf Mehdi revealed in March that Xbox owners spend an average of 150 hours per month watching television and just 84 hours per month playing games. [Full service: Digital Trends] Mel Karmazin: Sirius XM To Offer Personalized Radio Later this Year   Sirius XM this week announced it is developing a personalized radio service designed to compete with Pandora and Clear Channel's iHeartRadio. In an earnings call on Tuesday (May 1), CEO Mel Karmazin announced that "late this year we plan to debut a Sirius XM version of personalized music online, allowing subscribers to tailor their favorite Sirius XM music channels to their tastes. [These] stations will not have commercials and will be free to subscribers who have Internet listening included in their Sirius XM subscription plans." Karmazin did not reveal specifics of the new service, but since satellite radio broadcasts are not interactive, it could be surmised that the personalized features will be accessed only on web-enabled devices. "Free and 'freemium' competitors online will have a tough time matching the commercial-free aspect of Sirius XM-branded music combined with the unique sports and talk content we offer," Karmazin noted. Sirius XM's entry into personalized online radio indicates that the platform not only is highly competitive, but also suggests why the satellite radio firm recently filed suit against SoundExchange, which collects performance fees paid by U.S. satellite radio companies (Sirius XM being the only one) and online radio services. [Full story: Billboard.biz] Spotify Plans To Launch Internet Radio Service In U.S.   Sirius XM is not the only company developing a personalized radio service designed to compete head-to-head with Pandora [see story, above]. Business sources recently told Bloomberg News that Spotify is building an Internet radio platform designed to promote Spotify's strategy of offering free, ad-supported services to users who eventually can be converted into paying subscribers. As reported by Music Week, a Pandora-like radio service would give Spotify users access to artists who currently prevent their music from being used because of a perceived threat to music sales. While Pandora users can't select specific songs, they can access any artist whose music has been published because the service operates under federal statutes rather than negotiated licenses. Graham James, a spokesman for Spotify, commented, "We have no announcements to share at this time." The Spotify radio service reportedly is set to launch in the U.S. later this year. [Full story: Music Week]     Apple Fights To Keep Depositions Sealed In "Eminem Case"   As the ongoing lawsuit between F.B.T. Productions and Aftermath Records moves into the damages phase, Apple Inc. has filed a motion to prevent depositions from late Chairman Steve Jobs [right] and other company executives from being made public. As reported previously, the focus of the lawsuit is whether digital tracks downloaded from iTunes and other sites count as "sales" or "licenses," and this debate makes the Apple execs' testimonies particularly valuable, since agreements forged between the company and the major record labels could reveal specific answers to that question. During the discovery phase of the original trial, many depositions taken from Apple employees were done so in secret, while that of Jobs was played in a closed courtroom with the transcript sealed on completion of playback. The company now is trying to block attempts by plaintiffs to find out what was said, insisting that the depositions, as well as other documents related to Apple's business relationships with Aftermath parent company Universal Music Group and other record labels, contain "highly confidential and proprietary trade secrets." [Full story: Hollywood Reporter] ReDigi May Lack Funds To Defend Itself In EMI Lawsuit   ReDigi, the controversial online music service that ostensibly allows music fans to sell "used" MP3s to third parties, may not have enough cash in its coffers to afford its legal battle with EMI. Lawyers working for the digital start-up last week filed a motion to withdraw from the case and hand it over to another law firm, fueling speculation that financial resources were slim to none. ReDigi contends reselling MP3s is no different than reselling CDs, a practice protected under American copyright law by the so called 'first sale doctrine.' By contrast, EMI argues that the 'first sale doctrine' does not apply, because when a CD is exchanged no actual copying takes place, whereas a digital exchange requires new mechanical copies to be made without a license. The judge hearing the case previously ruled that the issues involved are too complicated for a judgment to be made without a full trial, and noted that the dispute at the heart of this case was a "fascinating issue" that "raises a lot of technological and statutory" points. Which may be why the recorded music industry would like to see the case simply disappear. [Full story: Complete Music Update] SoundExchange's Huppe: We're #2 Revenue Stream For Record Labels   "SoundExchange is currently the Number Two digital revenue source behind iTunes for most record labels in the U.S." That's the word from Michael Huppe, president of the digital rights organization that distributes payments to music companies and recording artists, and it comes as no surprise to such Internet radio companies as Pandora and Spotify that pay a majority of their gross revenue in performance fees. "What we do is increasingly being relied on as a revenue stream for performers and record labels alike," Huppe told Huffington Post in an interview. "SoundExchange checks have become a very real source of income, and it's exciting to hear from those who are grateful for what we do." While conceding that the organization has had "squabbles" with the service providers - including Sirius XM, which in March filed a lawsuit against it for anti-competitive practices - he said, "We view ourselves as partners that enable music services to do what they do best: creating new ways to listen and discover music. In the long run, we want them to succeed. It's in their best interest, our best interest, and the best interest of the consumer to have a very full and vibrant webcasting market. We want them to create new business models, new ways of listening to music and we feel that SoundExchange enables all of that." [Full story: Huffington Post] Al Bell Presents American Soul Music ... And American Soul TV If you're into classic and contemporary Soul, R&B, Blues, Gospel, Jazz, Hip-Hop Soul, Rap Soul, and Neo-Soul, we invite you to listen to Al Bell Presents American Soul Music. Former Stax Records owner and Motown Records Group President Al Bell personally has programmed this awesome radio station online, presenting your favorites from the 1960s and '70s [and some '80s], a lot of the best new music that's being released today, and some real gems you haven't heard in a long, long time. Come to www.AlBellPresents.Com  and hear it for yourself!