iLounge

“Hip-hip duo OutKast took top honors on Wednesday as the recording industry handed out its first awards for music sold through Internet-music services like Apple Computer Inc.‘s iTunes.

The flamboyant Atlanta duo’s “Hey Ya!” collected a multi-platinum award for downloads of at least 400,000, while “The Way You Move” and “Roses” won platinum awards for sales of more than 200,000 each.”

“The piracy-battered music industry will for the first time sue British, French and Austrian music fans, including a French school teacher, as it intensifies its legal crackdown on Internet song-swappers. [...]

Trade group the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said on Thursday it filed 459 criminal and civil lawsuits against some of the most prolific users of Internet file-sharing networks in the UK, France and Austria. The number includes a second wave of suits in Germany, Italy and Denmark.”

“‘Podcasting’ is a term that is probably unfamiliar to most people, but it represents a real potential change in the radio landscape. A small group of enthusiasts has begun cobbling together a way to easily share homemade radio shows, eventually allowing people to reach large numbers of listeners by completely bypassing the current structure of radio. [...]

But Podcasting—like blogging—seems to combine the best of the Internet with the best of traditional media. It’s a way for someone to create and distribute a show to 40 people. And it also would allow a media company to distribute audio content to millions.”

“Instead the music industry should embrace file-sharers, said technology journalist and author Andrew Orlowski in a keynote speech at the Interactive In The City conference being held in Manchester. [...]

The inclusion of a small surcharge on monthly internet subscription fees that was given to record labels to pay artists could solve the problem, he said.”

“Internet company Yahoo Inc. said on Tuesday it will buy privately held music software company Musicmatch Inc. for about $160 million in a bid to bolster its online music services.

San Diego-based Musicmatch offers software that lets users manage digital music collection and listen to online radio stations. Customers also download songs from its music store.”

“Catchy singles reach radio as much as eight weeks before the full-length CDs they are on land in the stores, but customers willing to pay for legal downloads online have had to wait, sometimes until just before the CD’s release date.

Music companies had feared that issuing the songs any earlier could fuel piracy, upset traditional marketing plans and anger brick-and-mortar retailers. But in the past six months, recording companies have had a change of heart.

Songs are now routinely released for sale by download through iTunes, Napster, RealRhapsody and other services on the same day those tracks hit radio.”

“A U.S. music industry group said Monday it had sued 493 more people for copyright infringement as part of its campaign to stop consumers from copying music over the Internet.

The Recording Industry Association of America has now sued nearly 3,000 individuals since last September in an attempt to discourage people from copying songs through “peer to peer” networks like Kazaa and LimeWire.”

“The popularity of digital music players, legal and illegal music downloads on the Internet and the practice of making burn-your-own CDs have helped push 1,000 record stores out of of business in the past two years, according to the Recording Industry Association of America in Washington D.C., a trade group for biggest record labels. [...]

Others say piracy is only one factor in the decline of music sales. Growing competition from large national retailers and digital music sites such as Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes Music Store.”

“Online technology company CNET Networks on Monday launched a free digital music service, allowing people to search and download what it said were thousands of songs contributed by independent and unsigned artists. [...]

CNET said it plans to add new technology and community features to its download service, which it intends to be the largest free-music download platform, over the course of the year.”

“An estimated 6 million people have stopped downloading copyrighted music from the Internet over fears that they may sued by the recording industry, but the overall number of Americans who download music is rising with the popularity of iTunes, Napster and other legitimate online music services, according to a survey released today by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Approximately 23 million people are active downloaders of music, based on a phone survey of 1,371 adult Internet users conducted in February. That compares to 18 million estimated downloaders in November and December 2003.”

“‘It’s kind of a Soviet model,’ said Glaser, referring to Apple’s closed environment in a remark that drew laugher from the audience at the annual National Association of Broadcasters conference here. ‘Taking secure music off the PC is a morass of incompatibility. This is not going to fly in the mainstream market.’ [...]

The company had approached Apple CEO Steve Jobs with a proposal to create a technical alliance that would allow customers of RealNetworks’ music service to play songs on the iPod, to no avail. That could now force RealNetworks into a deeper relationship with archenemy Microsoft, which has won support for its technology on dozens of players and plans a major upgrade later this summer.”

“All five of the major music companies are discussing ways to boost the price of single-song downloads on hot releases - to anywhere from $1.25 to as much as $2.49. It isn’t clear how or when such a price hike would take place, and it could still be months away. Sales of such singles - prices have remained at 99 cents - still account for the majority of online music sales.

The industry is also mulling other ways to charge more for online singles. One option under consideration is bundling hit songs with less-desirable tracks. Another possibility is charging more for a single track if it is available online before the broader release of the entire album from which it is taken. There is also talk of lowering the price on some individual tracks from older albums.”