SoundExchange Asks Judge To Dismiss Sirius XM Lawsuit SoundExchange has asked a federal judge to dismiss the antitrust lawsuit filed against it in March by Sirius XM Radio, denying any wrongdoing and accusing the satellite radio company of misusing the courts. The case stems from a dispute that began last year when Sirius XM attempted to negotiate performance fees with record companies directly, bypassing the collection arm of SoundExchange, which administers statutory licenses for satellite radio and online streams. Sirius XM sued SoundExchange and the American Association of Independent Music, a music industry trade group, alleging that there was "an industry-wide conspiracy" to obstruct what the satcaster said were perfectly legal discussions. "SiriusXM's claims are entirely false and the litigation is simply an impermissible tactic to derail the rate-setting proceeding that is now underway," SoundExchange said in a statement. "We view this as nothing more than an attempt by Sirius XM to pay less for the music at the core of its service, even as its revenues soar." [Full story: New York Times] |
iPad Lawsuit Vs. Apple Achieves Class Action Status Apple customers who purchased an iPod between September 12, 2006 and March 31, 2009 are being informed via email that they are being included in a class-action lawsuit. According to Mac Rumors, that lawsuit - filed against Apple in 2004 - was granted class-action status by the courts last year, and stems from a complaint filed by a customer who said Apple's digital music tracks were encoded with "FairPlay," preventing users from playing music purchased from the iTunes Store on other music devices and, likewise, other music stores' digital downloads from being played on iPods. Specifically, Apple's efforts to stop RealNetworks' reverse engineering of "FairPlay" and use its own "Harmony" technology served as the impetus for the lawsuit. Three customers who bought iPods sued Apple seeking to recover money for themselves and other people who bought iPods, claiming that Apple violated federal and state laws by issuing software updates in 2006 for its iPod that prevented them from playing songs not purchased on iTunes. Apple no longer sells digital rights management (DRM)-encoded music through the iTunes Store, but the lawsuit argues that Apple sought to build monopolies in the digital music and portable music player markets, and that software updates caused iPod prices to be higher than they otherwise would have been. [Full story: Mac Rumors] |
TargetSpot: 42% Of U.S. Households Listen To Online Radio Two out of five (42%) of U.S. adult broadband households now engage in some form of online radio listenership, an increase of 8% vs. the same point in 2011. This is the key finding from TargetSpot's annual "Digital Audio Benchmark" study, which also indicates a growing role of connected devices in facilitating listening, the increase in social interactions while listening, and gains in advertising recall and response rates among digital audio consumers. According to the study, digital audio listeners also are highly engaged, as 80% listen 1 to 3 hours per day and 40% listen 1 to 2 hours per session. Additionally, most listeners change stations multiple times a day to remain connected to their content. In fact, not only do 75% of listeners change stations on the same Internet radio service at least once a day, but nearly two-thirds move to different Internet radio websites at least once a day. "The study provides extremely valuable insight into consumers' interaction with a medium that is growing at an explosive rate and one which is increasingly important to marketers," commented Interactive Advertising Bureau VP Michael Theodore. "These listeners are highly engaged, increasingly social, connected at home, at the gym, in car, and they respond to advertising." [Full story: BusinessWire] |
Spotify Releases iPad App In Quest To Become "OS Of Music" Spotify this week launched it's long-awaited iPad app in a move that some analysts believe is an overt attempt to further erode Apple's dominance in digital music by piggybacking on its own devices. The new app is available only to listeners who pay the premium monthly $9.99 fee, but Spotify is offering a free 48-hour trial, which can be extended to 30 days - if the user is willing to provide the company some personal data. Spotify's goal, according to one of the company's executives, is to be "the OS of music," and the iPad app is seen as one way to achieve that goal. A built-in search function allows access to the service's entire music catalog and, as with its desktop app, users can build, adjust, and share playlists with friends and followers. They also can plug it into a home stereo system and access the service's library instantly. Sound quality is reported to be good (256 kbps) and the stream is clean and relatively seamless. Oddly, many of Spotify's add-ons and plug-ins that functioned on the iPhone app don't work with the iPad version, an issue that has left some subscribers disappointed. [Full story: Los Angeles Times] |
Clear Channel Makes Major Update To iHeartRadio iPad App Clear Channel Media this week released an update to its iHeartRadio iPad App that features "redesigned functionality" and a customizable digital listening platform designed to deliver new features. These include: 1) Pandora-like custom stations, allowing users to create their own personalized channels by simply entering an artist or song, after which iHeartRadio will then create a station of similar music; 2) Greater control that allows users to tune their custom stations to play familiar songs, or adjust the tuner to "discovery mode" to play a wider variety of artists and songs; 3) A music intelligence system that merges "sophisticated technology solution" with ongoing consumer music research to give users the best custom radio experience available; 4) Commercial-free custom stations; 5) Support for the "retina display" on the new iPad, providing high-end visual clarity; and 6) Deeper Facebook integration, letting users share listening activity with friends via their timelines and tap into each other's musical tastes by listening to songs and stations that they like. [Full story: company statement] |
Facebook Deliberately Cuts Cord With Grooveshark This past weekend Facebook disabled the app and "single sign-on" service for the online music streaming service Grooveshark because of a copyright infringement complaint the social media giant received. Grooveshark initially claimed in a blog post that the service had been disabled by accident, butDigital Music News (no connection with this newsletter) confirmed that Facebook actually cut the cord. Because of this action users can not sign into Grooveshark with a Facebook username and password, or post tracks on Facebook via the Grooveshark Facebook app. Grooveshark has been the target of many copyright infringement complaints because the company allows users to upload their own music and share it with others, and insists it takes down tracks in response to Digital Copyright Miillennium Act (DCMA) infringement notices. But that policy hasn't stopped the service from getting into trouble with the four major record labels (Universal, Sony, EMI, and Warner) earlier this year. [Full story: Ars Technica] |
Samsung Acquires mSpot To Expand Digital Music Services In a deal estimated to be worth $8.8 million, Samsung has acquired cloud services firm mSpot in an effort to increase the breadth of music, video, and radio content available across its devices. The mSpot platform includes branded streaming music and movie services optimized for a range of mobile devices and operating systems, including Apple's iOS and Google's Android. The acquisition, announced in conjunction with the new Galaxy S III smartphone, comes one week after Samsung expanded its Music Hub streaming service to include a scan-and-match feature enabling consumers to access their digital music library across multiple platforms and devices. Music Hub closely resembles Apple's iTunes Match, which reflects music library files with a 256 kbps AAC DRM-free version culled from the iTunes Store. The free mSpot app for Android enables users to upload their digital music library to a personal cloud locker to stream songs on the go or cache favorites for offline listening; it also features lyrics, live album art, and an audio equalizer. Samsung said it intends to integrate mSpot services directly into future smartphones and tablet devices. [Full story: Fierce Mobile Content] |
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! |
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