Amazon sent customers a discount offer today on books in its Music > Business category. Included, Terry McBride‘s autobiography due on June 24, entitled Nettwerk: 25 Years of Music. In anticpation of its release, Terry blogs from Helsinki: “John Wiley and Sons are releasing a book on Nettwerk with lots of funny and engaging stories about the making (and breaking) of music careers and the transformation of Nettwerk from its humble origins,” and adds that he needs help in creating the ultimate digital version for the iPad… Anyone out there?
The futurist, music mogul and manager to Sarah McLachlan earlier blogged about the iPad: “It’s all about the applications that can be built for this hardware. It’s really that simple. I was reading some music industry media about the iPad and it’s amazing how they look at it with an old school approach. The iPad could finally bring “augmented reality” applications to the music space.
“For example, get two iPads, and turn each into a virtual turntable and mix away. While you’re doing that, digitally record your set to send as a playlist to friends. Or imagine that the iPad, when rotated or tilted, gives you a 3D image that moves. This would not only change the virtual experience, but also change how set design and album design are approached.”
Streaming services including Pandora, Rhapsody and Spotify continue to gain traction among millions of listeners but, according to a report from Forrester Research, 58% of adults in the U.S. who used the Internet in 2009 still maintain a digital music collection. With their numbers rising from 54% in 2008 and with a mean average of 1,200 songs in their collections, those consumers have amplified their say in the future of cloud-based music content, in which songs are provided to computers and other devices on-demand. But expanding music collections aren’t translating into increased sales. Forrester reports that 52% of personal libraries comprise music ripped from compact discs and only 17% purchased online. Full report available online @ Forrester Research.
Among the names being bandied about to appear on Quebecor’s proposed Fox North news channel are former Canwest correspondent David Akin and Brian Lilley, former Ottawa bureau chief for Astral Media Radio, Canada’s largest private radio broadcaster. Recently departed CBC reporter Krista Erickson has also been touted as a possible recruit. And pundit David Frum is sure to be a regular guest, if not a show host.
SIRIUS will broadcast two nights of live music from NXNE featuring K-OS, Sloan, Huron, Said The Whale, Library Voices, Hannah Georgas, Bruce Peninsula and Attack in Black. The concerts on June 18th and 19th will be broadcast live on SIRIUS’ Iceberg 85 and CBC Radio 3 channel 86. The sattelite radio firm offers 120 channels of commercial-free music, premium sports, news, talk and entertainment programming from studios in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and New York.
Francois Marchand in the Vancouver Sun writes “If Metric’s top billing on the soundtrack for the third chapter in the Twilight movie series came as a surprise, there’s no denying how Canadian indie artists have become the darlings of the film and TV industry when it comes to musical components.
“Many artists who often have little or no support from major labels have found their way into the ears of vast audiences in the process, and the trend doesn’t seem to be abating” and she goes on to offer readers a few examples.
Among the most anticipated albums of 2010, Thank Me Later, by Canadian singer-rapper-actor Drake, drops June 15, with all the critical attention and media hoopla of a major superstar release. The 23-year-old has been on his first headlining tour since April, selling out arenas — an unheard-of feat for an emerging artist. His first two singles, “Over” and “Find Your Love,” have risen near the top of the pop and urban charts.
Through it all, however, the soft-spoken Drake remains focused and unfazed. “If I have anything to prove it’s that I am unafraid,” he tells Daily Variety backstage at a show held at Syracuse University. “I feel that when you care about your music, taking risks is something you should do to keep things exciting.”
Paul McCartney has sold less than 10 million albums in the United States since 1991. – Source: Nielsen Soundscan
Adults 50 and older buy 16% of all albums and singles but buy 28% of all the physical music sold – Source: NPD Group
Both fixed and mobile broadband markets will continue growing in revenues, but operators face some hard decisions about future business models, according to the Telco 2.0 Initiative’s Strategy Report “Mobile, Fixed and Wholesale Broadband Business Models: Best Practice Innovation, ‘Telco 2.0′ Opportunities, Forecasts and Future Scenariosâ€. The report finds that telecom operators can benefit from both new types of broadband wholesale and more sophisticated direct-to-consumer retail propositions and tariffs. Recent moves to introduce tiered and capped wireless Internet data plans is early evidence of this trend.
Summary Points
- The global broadband access market is forecast to increase from $274bn in 2010, to $416bn in 2020, an increase of 52% in revenue terms.
- More than half the revenue growth will come from wholesale and “two-sided†fees for improved access capacity and quality.
- By 2020, mobile broadband will be worth $138bn, or 32% of the total broadband industry revenues.
- Three new revenue streams are identified: “Bulk Wholesaleâ€, “Comes with dataâ€, “Slice and Diceâ€.
- New ‘upstream’ customers are forecast to generate over $90 billion in broadband revenues globally by 2020
Full details of the report can be found here
UK supermarket giant Tesco is preparing for the launch of a digital locker service for music and films before the end of the year. TechRadar reports that Blueprint Digital CEO Richard Bron, who is working on the Tesco project, said, “The way it would work practically is that when you buy a disc in store or online, that title would be put up into your Digital Locker which would immediately be accessible from devices registered to that locker.”
The number of compatible devices could total 12 and include PCs, smartphones and other connected devices. The digital locker or cloud resourcing for music in North America has yet to receive approval from IP owners. Apple is reported to have shopped the concept to the major record labels and so far has been unsuccessful in winning approval. Google Music is based on cloud storage and plans to launch the new service this fall.
The addition of an HD Radio receiver to future handheld devices from Apple could allow users the ability to scan and search through live radio content without having to channel flip.
A new patent application from Apple this week centers around HD Radio, a trademarked wireless radio format owned by iBiquity, which allows both AM and FM radio stations to simulcast digital and analog audio within the same channel. The application suggests that future handsets from Apple, such as the iPod or iPhone, could emb
