Label:Life

Napster creator Sean Fanning made news when he announced that he was working on a new software project under a new brand name Snocap which would enable making it easier for music bands to sell music online.

The company has now started testing this new service, which aims at enabling the bands to sell music through popular online websites like the MySpace.com network.

Their Linx service has been developed keeping in mind the needs of online retailers who wants to sell music on the net.

They have already signed on deals with music industry groups including Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI Group and Warner Music.

They already have one band named The Format using their services to sell music in unencrypted MP3 format through MySpace.com service.

[from we’ve seen this actually might just shift the bias form the labels to the artists… – ED]

Source:techwhack

There’s something noteworthy about the digital download version of “A Public Affair,” the latest single from pop star Jessica Simpson.

No, it’s not that the song can be personalized: Simpson and her backup singers recorded 500 first names, from Adriana to Zachary, that Yahoo Music will electronically insert at a dramatic moment in the music for $1.99 a pop.

Far more significant is another feature of the song: it is being distributed as a standard MP3 file, with no digital rights management (DRM) technology. And this comes from none other than Sony BMG, the record label that has taken the most extreme measures to keep customers from making digital copies of its songs (see “Inside the Spyware Scandal”).

Until now, essentially all of the legally purchased and downloaded music from the four major record labels—Sony BMG, EMI, Warner, and Universal—has been offered in formats designed to make copying and sharing difficult. Apple’s iTunes Music Store—the source of more than 70 percent of all commercial music downloads—limits customers to playing its songs on their iPods or up to five “authorized” computers.

But because it’s being released in the most universal audio format, Simpson’s song, which debuted on July 19 at Yahoo Music and goes on sale at other digital music retailers this week, can be copied and played on an unlimited number of devices, including the iPod. (Posting such digital files on file-sharing networks for anyone to copy is still illegal.)

[I actually think that I’m hallucinating, I think they might just be starting to get it, odds are good for them sellling a lot of these – ED]

More@technologyreview

Lots of people would download music to their phones, if they could find something other than Gnarls Barkley, according to one mobile download infrastructure firm.

The proof of this comes from The Long Tail theory, which in the case of music downloads states that a few songs, like Barkley`s ‘Crazy,’ will have a very high download rate, while classics like the Beatles and more obscure bands like The Go! Team are likely to only have a few downloads each, the chief executive officer of Targetize, Avichai Levy, explained.

Cellular operators can`t afford to keep less popular songs on their limited portals. However, if users had access to unlimited numbers of songs, the collective download rate of songs like those by Beatles or The Go! Team would dwarf the songs currently in the Top 10, Levy told UPI.

More@monstersandcritics

LOOKING to beat the heat? Visit a record store — the aisles are apparently both chilly and empty these days, at least if you use the Nielsen SoundScan album sales chart as a thermometer.

Only one CD sold more than 100,000 copies in the U.S. last week — “Now That’s What I Call Music!, Vol. 22,” which sold 207,000 copies. Even that had a tinge of disappointment to it; it marked a 48% tumble from the previous week, when “Now” debuted at No. 1 on the chart. Billboard.com reported Wednesday that the malaise was one for the record books. The site said that overall music sales last week hit the lowest total since 1994, and that last low-point came in January of that year, a month when retail is expected to bottom-out after the holiday splurges.

More@latimes

UK music group EMI has aborted plans to buy its smaller rival Warner Music amid fears the $1.35bn deal would not get regulatory approval.

It follows a European court ruling which overturned a 2004 decision to permit Sony and BMG to merge, creating the world’s second-largest music firm.

EMI, whose stable of artists include Coldplay and Robbie Williams, said the tie-up was off “for the time being”.

Warner boasts The Rolling Stones and Red Hot Chili Peppers among its stars.

EMI has twice made offers to buy Warner in 2006, which in turn launched counter proposals to buy EMI. Both parties rejected all offers.

More@bbc

National Geographic is known for bringing the world alive through images and stories. Now it has expanded its representation of global cultures by creating a music exploration and purchasing site, enhanced with content from its National Geographic Channel and elsewhere.

National Geographic World Music blends a music store, powered by Calabash Music, with extensive context provided by videos, maps, photos and features from National Geographic magazines, the National Geographic Channel and other editorial activities of the National Geographic Society.

“World Music is a natural extension of NationalGeographic.com`s rich multimedia experience that entertains, informs and engages consumers who are as passionate about the world`s cultures and the environment as we are,” National Geographic vice president content operations Betsy Scolnik said. “World Music fans around the world will be able to listen and learn in one digital experience.”

More@monstersandcritics

German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG does not expect the auction of its music publishing arm to be affected by a European court ruling that annulled merger approval for Sony Music and BMG.

The company said on Tuesday that both strategic and financial bidders would participate in a second round of bidding, which begins this week, after industry executives speculated that the legal decision might prevent a rival music company from buying BMG Music Publishing.

There remained disagreement in the legal community with Bertelsmann’s assessment, however, with suggestions that some bidders might find themselves blocked now by regulators.

Fifteen prospective buyers have been sent information about BMG Music Publishing, which owns thousands of copyrights to songs by Coldplay, Nelly and other artists.

More@reuters

Attention attention-seekers! The Great Web Mother has seen fit to cast one of her millions of eyes approvingly in your direction, and she has spawned a number of sites designed to make it even easier for you to debase yourself for the attention you’re not getting from those closest to you. YouTube, Google Video and related sites have revived vaudeville, then stabbed it in the neck with the razor-sharp shards of a torn can of energy drink, kicked it in the ribs, and left it onstage to writhe for the amusement of millions. And you can be part of it!

More@wired

Children who attend independent schools in England are six times more likely to be taught music than those in the state sector, research suggests.

The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music found half of all pupils had received tuition in the 101 private schools it surveyed. Government statistics showed the proportion in state schools was 8.4%.

The board wants more spending on music. The government says it wants all pupils to be able to learn an instrument.

More@bbc

EMI Music is restructuring its adult pop, jazz and classics labels under the new rubric of the Blue Note Label Group.

The entity, known in its previous incarnation as EMI Jazz & Classics, encompasses such acts as Norah Jones, Sarah Brightman, Anita Baker, Wynton Marsalis, Dianne Reeves and Cassandra Wilson.

The Blue Note Label Group will incorporate the Narada Label Group, whose acts include Alejandro Escovedo, Bird York, Lila Downs, Charlie Sexton, the Subdudes, Ramsey Lewis and Jeff Lorber. Previously based in Milwaukee, Narada will relocate to New York and be combined with the Manhattan label.

Source:reuters