Spotify Launches Pandora-Like Streaming Radio App For iOS Devices
London-based Spotify this week announced the addition of a free radio feature to its iPhone and iPad apps, giving U.S. users access to an unlimited amount of ad-sponsored music. Self-dubbed a potential "Pandora-killer" (hype is free, of course), the new service lets listeners create an unlimited number of radio stations based on songs, albums, and artists; additionally, users can "like" songs to save them to their Spotify playlists for later listening. Currently available only on Apple iOS devices, free access brings listeners an ad-supported stream featuring spots from such "launch sponsors" as Chevrolet, Heineken, McDonald's, and Verizon. Customers who subscribe to the Spotify Premium service can listen to radio streams without ads. So does Spotify's expansion into internet radio place it in direct competition with Pandora? Not necessarily, says Rich Tullo, an analyst with Albert Fried & Co. "Spotify is probably doing this not to generate ad revenue - which is Pandora's business model - but to generate subscribers for their other services," he told CNN. "At the end of the day, internet radio is a fast-growing business, and we don't really look at it as a business that's going to be dominated by just one player." [Full story: CNN]
| Songza Aims To Be The "Mood Ring" Of Online Music Just as Spotify announced it was introducing a new Pandora-like music app for the iPhone, along comes Songza, the "mood ring" of online radio services whose streaming music app almost instantly became the Number One iTunes download at iTunes. With over 2 million downloads in just one week, Songza's key marketing feature is that it streams playlists built around specific listener moods. Additionally, the service has no "mood-killing ads." generating revenue instead from standard banners as well as "custom advertising opportunities in a variety of media." In fact, the company plays up this difference between it and Pandora, whose intrusive ads have led to numerous listener complaints. "We have playlists for getting lucky," says CEO and co-founder Elias Roman, 28. "If you're getting lucky and you're hearing a toothbrush ad in it, that's not a lifestyle enhancement. That's embarrassing for everybody." While 2 milliion app downloads is a drop in the bucket compared with Pandora's 100 million registered users, Songza now enters a heated battle to be competitive and faces a struggle to survive in a business saddled with high performance royalty rates (see stories, below). [Full story: CIO Billboard.biz] |
| Advocacy Groups Ready To Fight Proposed UMG-EMI Merger Consumer advocacy groups are ratcheting up their opposition to the proposed merger of Universal Music Group and EMI Group's recorded music business in advance of today's scheduled Senate hearing on the deal. The Consumer Federation of America and Public Knowledge jointly filed a report with the Federal Trade Commission last week urging the agency to either block the proposal or impose conditions on the deal, which the organizations claim is a threat to competition. "The result of the transaction will be a highly concentrated market in the digital distribution of music, which will harm consumers, and makes the case that the Federal Trade Commission needs to act to prevent those results from occurring," Jodie Griffin, a staff attorney for Public Knowledge, observed. By contrast, UMG contends the merger will strengthen opportunities for new players in the digital music business. "This is the same song sung to a different melody," a Universal spokesperson told Politico. "There's little new here as CFA's analysis continues to vastly overstate market concentration. The music industry is intensely competitive, and barriers to entry have evaporated in today's digital environment. Labels cannot dictate the price in a marketplace where a handful of major retailers account for the majority of music sales. We welcome the opportunity to address the facts and do away with any myths." [Full story: Politico] |
| Blog Creates Uproar Over Confession To Not Paying For 11,000 Songs A candid - and perhaps naïve - post on NPR's "All Songs Considered" blog has created a minor tsunami of criticism from the music industry over the attitude of young, "digital native" music fans toward artists and record labels. In the blog post, a 20-year-old intern named Emily White wrote that, despite being an avid music listener, concertgoer, and college radio D.J., with an iTunes library of 11,000 songs, she has bought only 15 CDs in her life. She went on to describe some typical Generation Y behaviors that included ripping CDs, copying friends' song files, and even being given 15 gigabytes of music by a prom date. "As monumental a role as musicians and albums have played in my life, I've never invested money in them aside from concert tickets and T-shirts," she wrote. Wham! The post has now drawn over 500 comments, many of them chastising Ms. White and her generation for the lack of moral integrity in failing to pay for the music one enjoys listening to while paying for the technology used to acquire and listen to it. Specifically, musician David Lowery, of the bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker, noted that "recorded music apparently now exists in a nether world between commerce and charity, dependent entirely on the ethics of strangers." [Full story: New York Times] |
| Longevity Will Save Pandora From Spotify And Xbox...For Now Music critics and industry analysts alike have praised Spotify for offering more artists, more songs, and greater flexibility than Pandora. Apple fans were ecstatic when they heard that iTunes Match will offer full music streaming this fall, letting iOS 6 users play their favorite songs without having to actually download them. And earlier this month, Microsoft announced it is entering the music streaming market with Xbox Music, which already has amassed a library of over 30 million songs. With these heavy-hitters presenting such strong competition, can Pandora maintain its dominance in the streaming music universe? The fact is, as Benzinga's Louis Bedigian points out, Pandora has one clear advantage: it's been around for roughly 12 years and has acquired 100 million users. The service continues to be the first website people think of when searching for internet radio and, while there may be better services from which to choose, Pandora's top of mind awareness is strong. "This gives Pandora some time to improve its service, to improve its share price, and to milk the millions of users it has already obtained," he writes. [Full story: NASDAQ] |
| SoundExchange Hails $1 Billion Performance Fee Milestone Just one week after online music executives told Congressional lawmakers that digital performance royalties are egregiously steep, SoundExchange announced that it has distributed $1 billion in digital royalty payments to recording artists and record labels since its inception in 2000. The organization, which collects royalties from satellite radio, Internet radio, cable radio, and similar services, said it distributed more than $108 million in royalties in the first quarter of 2012 - the first time its distributions exceeded $100 million in a quarter. "This milestone reflects the fact that the digital music industry is evolving and will continue to grow," Michael Huppe, president of SoundExchange, said in a statement. "We're optimistic about where the music industry is headed and see opportunity for SoundExchange to help both creators and digital music services thrive." Online music executives are less optimistic, however, with Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren telling the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, "It is time for Congress to level the playing field and to approach radio royalties in a technology neutral manner." [Full story: CNET] |
| Will The Clear Channel-Big Machine Deal Force SoundExchange To "Play Fair"? As SoundExchange this week announced it had paid a total of $1 billion in digital royalties to record labels and artists (see story, above), a growing number of online music streaming services were eagerly looking at the recent Clear Channel-Big Machine deal for signs that a performance rights battle may be brewing. As noted this week by Digital Music News (no relation to this publication), "Clear Channel couldn't care less if a label gets paid, but they've decided to take a lead in challenging the steep fees demanded by the Copyright Royalty Board and SoundExchange. And most likely, they'll win." Without going into specifics (or a history lesson), the current royalty fee ostensibly is set on the premise of a "willing buyer, willing seller" transaction, although most digital streaming services were anything but willing to accept the CRB's fee structure. But the Clear Channel-Big Machine deal evidently carries an altogether different agreement between a "buyer" and a "seller," which may significantly affect rates the next time the issue officially is up for negotiations...and that is set for 2014. [Full story: Digital Music News] |
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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