Metue.com

As part of an apparent strategy to get its musical catalog as much retail exposure as possible, Big 4 record label EMI has been signing licensing deals with, seemingly, any distributor interested.

Today, EMI will add another distributor to its slate.  EMI is expected to announce a deal with music licensing/distribution company Snocap similar to a deal it struck recently with business to business music sales company PassAlong Networks.

In the Snocap deal, Snocap will sell EMI’s music through it’s MyStores online shops which can be added to various Internet sites. Click to Read More

With a day and a few hours until the iPhone launch, added bits of information are trickling out that may add more credibility to speculation about a Beatles announcement being revealed alongside the iPhone – as was first theorized here on Metue (The full text of the Metue article from two days ago is here)

In addition to all the previously noted information.  Add the following two pieces, with a heavy weighting for the first:

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The world is sitting in wait for the impending iPhone release.  Gadget lust is running full throttle.  I’ve got it (gadget lust that is, not the iphone).  I won’t be waiting in line, and I won’t be switching my cell phone service – but I wouldn’t mind having the phone to play with.  That’s not going to happen, not unless someone with better connections is feeling generous, but it’s nice to dream.

Of similar dreams, I’ve speculated as far back as early May about a possible roll out of the Beatles music alongside the iPhone launch.  The most coveted online music catalog released alongside the most anticipated consumer product of the decade is just the kind of three-ring circus marketing Steve Jobs and his Apple cohorts love to put together.  Click to Read More

Late last night fans gathered in Fairbanks Alaska for the 102nd annual Midnight Sun baseball game. There, under the near all-day sun of the summer solstice, baseball rang in the start of summer. Summer brings baseball, and with baseball comes statistics. It’s a sport that records and tracks everything. In the same spirit, though unrelated to baseball, here are a few interesting recent stats from the media and entertainment world:

    Apple is now the 3rd largest retailer of music in the United States. The Top 3 according to NPD Group are: Wal-Mart (15.8%), Best Buy (13.8%), Apple (10%), Amazon (6.7%)

    72% of US online adults now listen to audio on their home computers according to a CEA survey.  But only 9% of the same survey respondents connect their PC to home audio systems.

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Getty Images is expanding its focus from images to other forms of licensed content, today adding Music. The Seattle photo agency announced it was acquiring Pump Audio, a specialist licensing agency for independent musicians, for $42m.

Pump Audio was founded in 2001 as a form of agent for independent musicians. The New York based company allows musicians to upload tracks which are then made searchable for potential licensing. If an Ad Exec, for example, is looking for a soundtrack to run behind a new Television commercial, the Pump platform, allows the Ad Exec to find and work with Independent musicians who otherwise may not have been on their radar. Pump maintains a catalog of more than 100,000 songs many of which might have been recorded explicitly for advertising. Pump licenses all the music in its archive for a flat fee. Last year, Pump reported approximately 80,000 placements. Click to Read More

Following on the heels of licensing DRM-Free music for sale through Amazon’s music store and Apple’s iTunes, music label EMI this week extended a similar offering to lesser known music retailer Passalong Networks.

320kb DRM-Free downloads will be available for all EMI tracks sold through Passalong’s Storeblock’s music platform.  Storeblock, is a  technology and music sales and distribution platform widely licensed to businesses to power their own private-label online  music stores.

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How many people regularly watch music videos? I wonder. It’s hard for me to believe it’s a gigantic number, but the recent volume of activity to provide music video content online suggests my imagination must be way off.

Just a few weeks ago, Warner Music announced it was joining with Premium TV to offer its own video collection on a private label Warner site. At the same time EMI announced that it had struck a deal with YouTube to provide EMI music video content for display through the YouTube site.

Today, movie download service CinemaNow announced it too was climbing on the music video train. It announced plans to resuscitate a prior effort to sell music videos too. The Watchmusichere.com site is relaunching today with videos from Warner Music Group available for sale and viewing on portable devices.

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