3.4.3 Canais de streaming

MOG, um serviço de música e social networking...

«Welcome to MOG, your personalized gateway for music discovery. With MOG, you can find, share, and talk about the music you’re into, from Abba to Zappa. Whether you’re a die-hard music junkie, or just looking for inspiration for your latest party playlist, MOG is your essential online music source. Created by a passionate community of music lovers and powered by cutting edge music discovery technology, MOG makes it ridiculously easy to find new music, watch music videos, and read news and reviews that match your personal taste in music. (...)Completely free, anyone can create a MOG page and browse posts, MP3s and videos by visiting www.mog.com.  One of the first online communities built exclusively for music lovers, MOG was founded in June 2005 by CEO David Hyman. David is a veteran entrepreneur, digital music pioneer, and self-proclaimed music freak, who has held key executive positions at Gracenote, MTV, and Addicted to Noise. MOG has been funded to date by Angel investors and is headquartered in Berkeley, CA»

http://mog.com/about

 

Pandora: a maior rádio do mundo...

«"We want to be the greatest radio all around the world, broadcast or online," he said. "We think eventually that Clear Channel's ownership is going to be ours. We believe we can be there."

«The Daily: Do you worry that the end of traditional radio could also bring the end of the radio DJ personality?

TW: Yeah, but I would like to find a way to bring them into Pandora, frankly. I think those people are really important as well, and we're certainly not helping their cause.

The Daily: Does every single artist featured on Pandora get paid when their song pops up on someone's station?

TW: Yes, it's a percent of the revenue. We pay a fraction of a penny per song for publishing and performance, to the songwriters and the performers. And once our revenue grows enough, we will be paying artists whichever is higher - a certain minimum or a percent of the revenue.

The Daily: Right now Pandora is illegal to use outside of the U.S. What stands in the way of Pandora being legal everywhere?

TW: Licensing, licensing. We operate in the U.S. under a statutory law, and that is not available in any other country. So no other country has actually put that one-stop licensing in place. So as soon as they do that, we are going to be able to jump right in, hopefully this year.»

Justiça obriga canais de música a pagar mais direitos

«There's no mistaking who benefited from a federal-court decision to set licensing fees that three top Web services must pay songwriters and publishers for the right to stream their music. But the question left unanswered is whether the losers also include consumers. AOL, RealNetworks, and Yahoo may end up paying the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) $100 million as a result of a decision by a U.S. district judge to set the licensing fee for streaming music at 2.5 percent of adjusted music-use revenue. "(The court's decision) is a victory for songwriters, composers, and publishers, and something they have been looking forward to for a long period," said John LoFrumento, ASCAP's chief executive. "In the past, we've settled with (Internet companies) at low rates. We wanted to encourage the growth of these businesses, but these businesses have matured...they have been using our members' music to attract people to their Web sites...it's time to compensate (our members)." »

A diferença entre serviços de música streamin e a rádio musical

«I’m not a typical listener: nor a typical music fan. Listen to my music choice (that’s my music collection in one big playlist), while looking at my most-played tracks of the last 3 months, and you’ll see that my most played track in that three months is The Divine Comedy’s “Absent Friends”, which I’ve played just four times. A typical commercial radio station will play their top tracks eight times a day - once every three hours. Assuming I listen to music for a total of two hours a day (in commutes and desk-bound working), commercial radio would have had me listen to that track 60 times in three months.Indeed, over the last week, my 210 different artists, and a total of 323 tracks means that, in just 18 hours, I’ve listened to more tracks than many commercial radio stations play per week. I’m singling out commercial radio here, by the way, not because of a misplaced loyalty to my employer, but that commercial radio’s music choice is, by and large, far more tightly musically formatted - and that, for whatever reason, only commercial radio runs nonstop music services.»

is all about music, James Cridland, 4/05/08)

Uma forma de comercializar o Pandora

«For those with even more free time between now and May 8, pandora.com is running two VW radio stations called, not surprisingly: ‘Music for the People.’ Listeners can vote for which artists they want to hear and Pandora will collate all requests into a democratic playlist. Selling cars used to be so much simpler.» fonte: VW polls the people 28/04/08 LA TIMes

Consumidores querem musica (sem pagar)

«CONSUMERS WANT MUSIC, NOT SUBSCRIPTIONS: Music subscriptions services aren’t catching on with consumers, according to figures released by the RIAA. Subscriptions to services like Rhapsody and Napster grew from 1.7 million subscribers in 2006 to just 1.8 million in 2007 — an increase well under 1%. Revenues actually fell 2.6% over this same time span (from $206.2 million to $200.9 million). As Digital Music News reports, there are fewer companies competing in the space. Rhapsody has taken over MTV’s Urge, and RealNetworks (Rhapsody’s parent) is assuming control of Yahoo Music.» (fonte: CONSUMERS WANT MUSIC, NOT SUBSCRIPTIONS, Apr 29, 11:46 AM by: Paul Maloney»

«Projecto Playlist processado»

«Major labels are now suing Project Playlist, a company that involves former MySpace executive Shawn Gold.  The suit, filed in Manhattan District Court, alleges "massive infringement" and involves majors Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, and EMI.  Project Playlist (at playlist.com) allows users to assemble and distribute personalized playlists using content hosted across the internet.
Project Playlist does not host the content within the playlists - instead, it cobbles together content from the vast storehouse of user-stored material.  That loosely resembles a model offered by Seeqpod, which allows users to search, stream and virtually assemble playlists using online-available content.  Seeqpod is currently being sued by Warner Music Group.  Project Playlist executives declined to comment on the suit.» Project Playlist Hauled Into Court; Majors Allege Massive Infringement  Digital Music News, 28/04/08

 «Project Playlist is free to users and shows advertising to pay the bills. It looks like other free streaming sites (like Last.fm, for instance) that offer similar functionality and ad-supported streaming, but in this case the labels don't see any cash. Project Playlist insists that it pays royalties to the three big US performing rights organizations, BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC. These groups represent songwriters and music publishers, but they don't cover the labels that own the copyrights in the actual sound recordings. While terrestrial radio in the US only has to pay songwriters in order to play music, other services like satellite radio and webcasters pay royalties to both groups.» (aqui)

A dificuldade da rádio em competir com os canais de streaming musical

[como reagir? como fazer melhor? como dar mais informação do que aquela que já é dada pelos canais de streaming?] «consumers, most of whom are accustomed to accessing information they want from the Internet, will expect much more from online radio stations than just audio music services.» (Evans/Smethers, 2001: 18)

Consumidores querem conteúdos personalizáveis

O estudo RadioNext (abril 2008) mostra, para consumidores dos EUA, que «Services that allow users to customize their channels generate large, loyal audiences» (LAUNCHcast is way out front as #1service —while #3 Pandora converts most of its past year listeners (14%) to “favorites” (9%)» (slide 22); « Though streaming AM/FM signals helps to extend reach in the short run, the online audio programming that is most likely to succeed over the long term will not sound or work like AM or FM radio. As popular online services such as LAUNCHcast and Pandora demonstrate, the online audio consumer is looking for programming that realizes the possibilities offered by the Internet for personalized, customizable content.» (29) (RadioNext, 2008)

O pandora ou lastfm no iPhone

«These services are coming to mobile phones, probably in the next year we’ll all be listening to pandora or last.fm in the gym on our phone instead of our limited library on our iPod. That’s when this new form of listening is going to explode. And that’s when Apple is going to wish it had thought more about streaming and less about file based music. But you can’t feel too badly about Apple because a good number of people will be listening to pandora or last.fm on their iPhones."»

MySpace lança-se na música

«Social networking giant MySpace has made agreements with three of the four major label groups -- Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony BMG -- to form MySpace Music, spinning off the existing MySpace Music site into a separate joint venture. The service will offer free, ad-supported audio and video streaming, sales of digital-rights-management-free downloads, and a Jamba-powered storefront for mobile music. (...) "Today represents the beginning of a new chapter in the story of modern music," said MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe. "We're proud to announce the marriage of the world's biggest collection of music content to the world's most popular music community. Millions of diehard music fans and artists already call MySpace Music home. By partnering with these industry leaders, our vision for MySpace Music as the definitive platform for unlimited artistic expression and unrestricted user experience is finally being realized."MySpace, Labels To Launch New Music Service, radio ink, 3/04/08

«MySpace is slow, burdensome and full of advertising -- the wrong environment for the demanding and tech savvy next generation. (...)4. The labels and MySpace (owned by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp) will split revenue from downloads, merchandise, concert tickets, advertising, etc. Such a deal -- for them. Nothing special for the consumer but pennies off an iTunes download and millions of songs they can listen to (but not own for free) on their computers. Sounds like the record industry version of win-win to me.»

«-- downloads will be DRM-free; video and audio streaming will be ad-supported

-- e-commerce will include merchandise and ticketing

-- the mobile storefront will be powered by News Corp-Verisign JV Jamba, think ringtones,. 

-- Roll out will take place over months

-- As expected, Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) are on board.»

«Only problem is, the MySpace generation also intersects with another club -- the iPod generation -- and going against Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) won't be a simple task for Rupert Murdoch and his social-networking empire. (...) Taking the crown from Apple isn't feasible, but I'll assume News Corp. isn't really gunning for Apple so much as it is attempting to ensure that MySpace remains a major player in social networking» MySpace wants to tune in to music profits Posted Apr 4th 2008

À procura de um modelo de negócio

«the large record companies are also seeking to turn the Internet to their advantage by exploring links with new companies that are trying to exploit a niche in the on-line market. These are subscription-based companies, and include firms such as Listen.com, Fullaudio, OD2, DX3 and Rhapsody. Their business models vary: some permit downloading and burning, while some are merely streaming or jukebox type services. All these companies are reliant upon signing licensing deals with the major companies to ensure that they have content to offer in exchange for their monthly subscription fee. Global Records has signed numerous deals with such subscription companies, and is adopting a wait-and-see strategy to determine which business model proves most effective» (Leishon, 2005: 191)

 In August 2003, Listen.com became a subsidiary of RealNetworks, Inc., the global leader in digital media services and software for consumers and businesses

O que poderá acontecer às rádios da CBS com a compra da Last.fm?

A proposito da compra pela CBS da Last.FM, uma pergunta feita por Marc Fisher no WP:

«Last.fm's great promise may lie down a path the company is not yet traveling. Will CBS use its $280 million acquisition to change some of its 140-plus AM and FM radio stations, putting listeners in charge of what music gets played?»

Ou seja, até que ponto a industria classica, passiva e secundária, estará interessada em interagir , em receber os ensinamentos, as experiencias da LastFm, que resultam directamente as experiencias dos utilizadores; o que é a LastFm depende em muito daquilo que os seus milhões de utilizadores fizeram, escolheram; a compra da Last Fm foi a primeira experiencia da industria junto dos novos operadores de streaming - simbolicamente é tambem muito importante.

Fornecedor de tv cabo (EUA) oferece serviços de música (as barreiras esbatem-se)

«Cox Communications [The third-largest cable television company in the United States, Cox offers an array of advanced digital video, high-speed Internet and telephony services over its own nationwide IP network, as well as integrated wireless services.] has launched the Cox Rhapsody music service to customers throughout Northern Virginia. Cox Rhapsody allows Cox High Speed Internet customers to access millions of songs for about the price of one CD per month. "Our customers have expressed that music is a big part of their lives, and Cox Rhapsody allows us to make their favorite songs even more accessible," stated Mark Snow, vice president of marketing for Cox Northern Virginia. "Cox Rhapsody provides our customers unlimited access to their music anywhere -- at home, work or while traveling."

    Customers can choose from a variety of Cox Rhapsody packages:

    Cox Rhapsody Free
    -- Price: FREE trial service
    -- Listen to 25 ad-free, high-quality streaming radio stations from
       RealNetworks on your computer
    -- Access the Rhapsody Unlimited catalog and play up to 25 on-demand songs
       per month on your computer

    Cox Rhapsody Radio
    -- Price: $4.99/month
    -- Listen to more than 80 ad-free, high-quality streaming radio stations
       from RealNetworks on your computer
       -- Includes ability to "skip" tracks and create personalized radio
          stations based on artist preference
    -- Access the Rhapsody Unlimited catalog and play up to 25 on-demand songs
       per month on your computer

    Cox Rhapsody Unlimited
    -- Price:  $12.99/month
    -- Includes all the features of Cox Rhapsody Radio
    -- Includes unlimited on-demand access to the entire Rhapsody catalog of
       millions of tracks you can listen to on your computer

    Cox Rhapsody To Go
    -- Price:  $14.99/month
    -- Includes all the features of Cox Rhapsody Unlimited
    -- Includes the ability to transfer music onto any supported portable
       music player at no extra charge (as long as the monthly subscription is
       maintained and the player is synchronized with the Rhapsody To Go
       account at least once a month)
fonte: «Cox Communications Launches Cox Rhapsody Music Service for High Speed Internet Customers», 27/03/08

iTunes, eMusic e AMazon (por esta ordem?)

«(...) we wondered, that USA Today came to name Amazon No. 2? After talking to USA Today, we learned that:

1) USA Today called representatives of the four major labels, who declared Amazon to be only behind iTunes in sales.

2) USA Today believed that our subscription model was not relevant to the story they wanted to tell.

I’d like to address both of these points. First, allow me to point out that no sales or market share figures were cited in the USA Today piece. In fact, the article states that Amazon “won’t say how many songs Amazon has sold but will say that consumers love the experience.” Is that enough for USA Today to make such a bold pronouncement, particularly when there is plenty of widely available evidence to the contrary? While Amazon isn’t willing to make sales data available, we are more than happy to: eMusic sells more than 7,000,000 songs a month. Seven million tracks of independent music covering everything from Cat Power to Miles Davis. Since Amazon opened its MP3 store on September 25, 2007, eMusic has sold 40,000,000 tracks. Since November of 2003, we have sold almost 200,000,000 songs. These are huge numbers, and firmly back our claims to be the #1 site for independent music and the #2 digital music service after iTunes. Those declarations have not previously been disputed.»

We7: «música gratuita com publicidade»

«A partir de Abril, músicas de Bruce Springsteen, Leona Lewis e outros artistas da Sony BMG estarão disponíveis gratuitamente no site We7, fundado pelo também músico Peter Gabriel e que será pago unicamente por publicidade. A Sony BMG é a primeira grande editora a disponibilizar música gratuita neste site, que até agora apenas tinha como parceiros editoras independentes e artistas sem editora. As músicas disponibilizadas pela Sony BMG serão antecedidas por um pequeno anúncio publicitário. (...) Segundo Peter Gabriel, a We7 «é um modelo que oferece música gratuita aos consumidores e, mesmo assim, assegura uma fatia importante de receitas para os músicos e os donos dos direitos de autor».

Subscrever ou comprar a música?

«At the 2008 Macworld expo in January, Steve Jobs quieted iTunes subscription service rumours by proclaiming that people don't want to rent music, they want to own it (unlike movies, which are available for rent through iTunes in the USA). Jobs' logic is that because people listen to a favourite song hundreds of times throughout their life, a file that might expire doesn't make sense. For companies like Rhapsody and Napster, the million dollar question is, "Is he right?" The answer is more complicated than you'd think. I would never be so bold as to call Mr. Jobs a liar, but I think his Macworld statement is misleading.

The subscription vs. purchased music debate presents a false choice -- a black and white view of a world without accounting for all the mess in between. While it's true that most music consumers do just fine purchasing music a la carte through services like iTunes, Destra or eMusic, the idea of a coexisting "celestial jukebox" isn't any less potent. It's like saying the iPod and FM radio can't coexist. The concept of DRM protection for purchased music is clearly dumb (and still practiced by iTunes, by the way), but the real reason iTunes will be the last service to adopt a subscription music model is because it doesn't have to. Apple's existing music retail store is already enjoying a charmed existence without a subscription music option rocking the boat. Why the hell would Apple open up an all-you-can-eat buffet in a restaurant already raking it in on overpriced entrees?» The future of subscription music By Donald Bell on 25 March 2008

«I'm coming around to the notion that an iTunes subscription model, alongside Apple's existing system, could work quite well, especially if it's sold in conjunction with a network-ready piece of hardware. Lesser players in the digital music business such as RealNetworks (RNWK), Napster (NAPS), and Microsoft's (MSFT) Zune marketplace have embraced subscriptions. I used Rhapsody for the better part of a year and was for the most part pleased with it. For $12.99 a month, I could play music on my Mac or PC without paying for an album I ended up not liking. I could take music I was curious about for an extended test-drive. If I liked it, I'd go over to iTunes, buy it, and keep it forever. Rather than trying to compete directly with Apple, Rhapsody has gone a different route, getting itself embedded into standalone audio hardware—notably the Sonos Sound System, TiVo (TIVO) boxes, and some high-end audio gear from Denon. It is in conjunction with audio hardware that I think the subscription model makes a lot of sense. The idea is that the user buys a piece of equipment with a ready connection to an online music store and then pays a monthly subscription fee for unlimited access to many or all of the songs. Apple wouldn't be the first to try to make this work, but it could possibly do it better.» (How iTunes Subscriptions Could Succeed by Arik Hesseldahl Business Week, 28/03/08

«So who's right?  "From our perspective, money is what counts," said Mark Kirstein, a former analyst at In-Stat and iSuppli, and currently head of MultiMedia Intelligence.  Kirstein compiled a ranking based on  annual revenues, and found both Amazon and Spiralfrog in the basement.  "Amazon may be coming up now, but they certainly weren't in the running in 2007," Kirstein told Digital Music News.  "And Spiralfrog's claimed registered user base of roughly 850,000 isn't substantially monetized." But who are the top players?  Kirstein estimated annual music revenues of $1.8 billion at iTunes, $125 million at Napster, and $42 million at eMusic.  Others, including Rhapsody, Zune Marketplace,  and Musicload are all "sub-$40 million" according to the data.»

 

iLike

«R.E.M. this week lets fans listen to the new album, Accelerate, on the iLike social network a week before it goes on sale. "We hope it will get a lot of exposure, and people will recommend it to their friends, and hopefully some of them will go out and buy the record as well," says band manager Bertis Downs.

For artists and labels, building word of mouth about an album or tour is paramount. And they're tapping into the growing music-based social networking scene to spread the word. Magazine covers and TV and radio interviews don't carry the weight of the Web, and as features evolve, R.E.M.'s website and MySpace page were not enough, Downs says. Since its beginnings in summer 2006 as a social network for finding and recommending music, iLike.com has grown to 23 million members, says CEO Ali Partovi. As the community grew, iLike added features for artists to post videos and news; meanwhile, Partovi began approaching artists and labels about providing content to iLike.

One mid-November discussion Partovi had with Bono turned into a video interview in which the U2 frontman sang a just-finished song, Wave of Sorrow. Once posted, it was viewed and forwarded by more than 1 million within a week. Then Keith Urban signed on to post weekly videos and to offer tour ticket presales and fan events.

"The Internet basically empowers consumers to get exactly what they want and artists to put out exactly what they want," Partovi says.»

fonte: «Music scene finds latest hot spots on social sites», Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 24/03/08

Social FM

«Other sites are always fighting for this lucrative market, each offering similar but slightly different services. There are many that work on a monthly-fee basis rather than billing by track. And a new and slightly different concept is mercora (www.mercora.com). Here you pay a small monthly fee and share tracks - you broadcast your tracks (you can make like a DJ if you want) whilst you record the tracks broadcast by others. Mercora pays a fee for broadcast rights which makes it within the law.» 

«How do I add music to Social·fm Desktop? Please select File > Add Music Files; or Please select File > Add Music Folder. You may add individual music files or folders. Simply browse your PC for the desired music file or folder, then double-click to add to Social·fm Desktop. To view all music files in Social·fm Desktop, select 'My Library' on the left-hand column of Social·fm Desktop.»

«Social·fm complies fully with non-interactive webcasting license restrictions as per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). If you'd like more information, our legal policy is located here: Social·fm has a statutory license from SoundExchange® (the independent non-profit organization that represents over 500 music labels) for the non-interactive webcasting of digital audio as per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. ¤ 114 (requires Adobe Acrobat plug-in). Social·fm has musical composition performance rights through licenses with ASCAP, BMI and SESAC» (aqui)

Opções que se abrem à CBS (rádio, EUA) com o LastFM

«Last.fm's choices tend to be less logical and linear than Pandora's. There are more surprises, but I've consistently found that Last.fm provides less apt and effective suggestions. Last.fm's great promise may lie down a path the company is not yet traveling. Will CBS use its $280 million acquisition to change some of its 140-plus AM and FM radio stations, putting listeners in charge of what music gets played? Or is that really no answer to radio's woes? Does online crowd-sourcing really produce dramatically different playlists from the traditional market research that radio stations engage in and that listeners love to whine about?

fonte: Name That Tune-In: Who Will Emerge as The Future of Radio? Marc Fisher Washington Post Staff Writer March 23, 2008