music - Internet Marketing News and Blogs

The New York Post recently reported that Facebook, perhaps spurred on by the launch of MySpace Music, is now serious about pursuing a music service of its own.

The unveiling of MySpace Music last week was eagerly anticipated and was notable because the site managed to launch with all four major record labels as joint venture partners.

But as a product, does MySpace Music live up to its promise? I decided to give it a test drive to find out.

Deezer, based in France, is an on-demand music streaming service, which offers an impressive range of tracks from a mix of major labels and independents.

It recently launched in the UK (see our review of the site), and we have been talking to UK Manager Paul Ricard to find out more...

MySpace has teamed up with three of the four major record labels, Sony BMG, Warner Music and Universal, to make their catalogues available via MySpace Music.

Radiohead’s recent experiment with selling music directly to consumers wasn’t exactly a massive success.

So it was with great interest that I read Greg Sandoval’s recent News.com piece, “Don't miss lessons Radiohead, Trent Reznor offer.”

Online music radio / recommendation service Pandora was recently forced to block UK users from tuning in as a result of a rise in royalty rates, backed by the record industry.

The move is a very short-sighted decision from the music execs, represented by the MCPS/PRS, which collects royalties on behalf of composers and publishers.

It will threaten other online broadcasters, which will affect the way music is consumed and distributed online. And it should ultimately affect the record labels too...

Global CD sales fell sharply in 2006 and, though downloads of music are on the increase, overall music sales declined.

Figures from the IFBI, the global music industry association show that total music sales fell 5% from $20.7bn (£10.25bn) in 2005 to $19.6bn (£9.73bn) last year.

BT has struck a deal with Universal Music Group for the group's music videos to be made available on BT Vision's on demand service.

This follows recent content deals with companies like Sony BMG and Warner Brothers, which have helped BT to build up a catalogue of music, film and TV programming for its new TV service.

Last.fm has teamed up with Warner Music Group in its first deal with a major music company.

The agreement will see Warner's music catalogue made available to the Last.fm's listeners. It will initially roll out in the US, with Europe to follow shortly after. 

Revenues from online creative content across Europe will reach €8.3 billion (£5.5 billion) by 2010, according to an EU study. The spread of broadband, mobile and the adoption of digital gadgets will drive the growth.

The research, titled 'Interactive Content and Convergence: Implications for the information Society' assessed the outlook for the online content market, identifying growth areas and potential 'roadblocks' for the market.