IMPALA launched its new Friends of IMPALA programme at MIDEM today to link up the whole music sector from radio to retail, digital to finance, legal to PR.
Following national successes such as AIM’s scheme, the idea is to create new pan-European links. The programme will be run by former IMPALA Board member and former UFI Vice President Yann Padron.
Yann Padron said: “I’m delighted to be working on this for IMPALA. This programme will bring together the most creative brains in the sector to develop new business opportunities.
Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien offered a five-minute video address at MidemNet today, in which he slammed industry management for their lack of creative vision, saying in the last 10-15 years, “the money-men are running the record companies” (as opposed to the creatives -he cited Chris Blackwell as an example.) Read the rest of this entry »
AccuRadio is a streaming music application for the iPhone and iPod touch.
It offers access to hundreds of internet radio stations, with customisable features that users can employ to tweak the mix of artists they’ll hear on specific channels.
The network sold 50,000 units of the Apple device in its first day on sale on 14 January (presumably including the 25,000 units despatched to customers pre-ordering the device before launch), and in eight days has sold another 50,000.
“The demand from both consumer and business customers has been phenomenal. They want an outstanding phone on an outstanding network and we’re delivering that,” claimed Vodafone UKCEO Guy Laurence.
Just goes to show the pent-up demand for the device among business-focused users once the iPhone is made available on a strong, reliable network.
He tells us Spotify is paying Universal Music Group a royalty per user in only two of its territories: the UK and Spain. In Sweden, Norway, Finland and France, Spotify pays the record labels from the money generated by subscriptions and advertising and not on a per user basis.
Oh look – Gorillaz are back, with the first few tracks from the act “leaking” online and animated popstar Murdoc “hijacking” Yahoo! LAUNCHcast to talk about it all (hear it here).
OK – it’s all about digital marketing, but we’re still kind of interested in the antics from the conceptiliseneers who make up these musical (chart-topping) mavericks.
Plastic Beach the new album from Gorillaz, will be released by Parlophone on 8 March, 2010. It’s led by new single Stylo (featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack, video link above – embedding disabled on account of some sheer lunacy at the label) which will be available for download from January 26th.
The page is a search box with the slogan, “Find>Mix>Watch”. All you need to do is enter an artist name, hit ‘Disco’ and off you go – music videos everywhere.
(We assume one day this will be boosted by an ads-funded streaming cum a la carte music purchase product, as Google’s battle with Apple gows more overt. We’re interested to see just how overt once Apple intros iTunes.com later this year.)
Right at the bottom of the Wall Street Journal’s in-depth report on the Apple Tablet we learn that Apple may launch its cloud-based iTunes replacement called iTunes.com as soon as this June, according to “sources familiar with the matter”.
Part of Apple’s strategy in moving iTunes online would be to make it so that third-party sites could easily implement one-click purchases of iTunes content, presumably through some iTunes APIs.
These moves are just the latest in a series of moves on the part of the company as it attempts to combat the upcoming Apple tablet.
“Will Kindle pricing trump Apple sex appeal? Isn’t that the question, really?” said Richard Charkin, executive director of Bloomsbury Publishing in London, who has been watching developments in e-book sales with keen interest. “I haven’t the faintest idea. All I would say is, great. The more people that are out there marketing books in digital or any other format, the better.”
“We’ve heard from lots of developers over the past two years who are excited to build on top of Kindle,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “The Kindle Development Kit opens many possibilities–we look forward to being surprised by what developers invent.”
YouTube will begin testing a video rental service in the US this Friday, opening what some regard as yet another page in Google’s fast-developing rivalry with Apple.
IMPALA launched its new Friends of IMPALA programme at MIDEM today to link up the whole music sector from radio to retail, digital to finance, legal to PR.
