Metue.com

MySpace began, in part, with the notion of building a bridge between music fans.  Two years ago, the News Corp company made plans for the logical extension: a full service digital music store.  Now, a lawsuit and a long wait later, the 30million plus music listening members (that’s 30m that listen to music on the site) out of their 110 million subscribers will get just that.

This morning, MySpace announced the formation of a standalone joint venture officially called MySpace Music.  In the words of CEO Chris De Wolfe it will be “the marriage of the world’s biggest collection of music to the world’s most popular music community.”

Click to Read More

In the world of Web 2.0 and social networking “open” is the new black; it’s the “it” trend.  On the same day that Yahoo shook hands with Google and MySpace to join their Open Social programming specification, and the same day Microsoft announced a broad data portability pact with 5 other social networks, digital music network iMeem announced they were launching an open platform of their own.

The iMeem service, dubbed a “Media Platform” aims to go further than other offerings.  Click to Read More

Spring is in the air.  It’s “March Madness,” the time for college basketball’s big tournament. Predicting the outcome has the odds-makers busy.  If they can find some time, they might be equally challenged forecasting another unpredictable event that’s generating March Madness of its own: the digital licensing of the Beatles’ song catalog.

For more than a year the Beatles arrival at iTunes has been an imminent (and recurring) headline grabber.  The prophesies began in January 2007 when Lovely Rita played during the announcement of the iPhone.   They gained credibility when the trademark suit between the two Apples (Apple Inc. and Apple Records) was settled in February.  In June, the speculation surfaced again with the phone’s launch.  Again with new iPods introduced in September.  Then in January, like Punxsutawney Phil it popped up for Mac World only to see its shadow and disappear anew.

Last week, the conclusion of Sir Paul McCartney’s tabloid-fodder divorce fueled a new round of rampant speculation.   Several reports citing sources close to Sir Paul claimed a deal, possibly worth hundreds of millions, was imminent.  Apple summarily dismissed the claims.  "This is not news nor is it a scoop," said their spokesman.

Now there’s a new rumor, a new twist, and this one is much more plausible than the tabloid’s absurd suggestions Sir Paul was driving a deal to seek cash for the divorce settlement.  Click to Read More

Over the course of a week there are always a few news items that don’t warrant front page attention but still merit a mention; things like new hires or deals that finally closed after being widely reported when first announced.  This week with Electronic Arts hiring a COO,the New York Times proxy settlement and deal closings from Clear Channel and Amazon, there have been a handful that fell into that category. Here’s the roundup in one dose:

Click to Read More

S.W.O.T and Cost-Benefit analysis are nothing new to consultants. They’re tools of the trade.  They’re also part of the vernacular of turnaround specialists looking to right the sinking ship of a company in crisis.  When such an executive walks into a troubled corporation one of the first things asked is what is returning value and what isn’t.  “Where is the pain?” the saying goes.  Under-performing sectors that aren’t part of the strategic vision end up on a short list to be euphemistically cut.

Last year, private equity firm Terra Firma entered the fray of the struggling music industry and privatized “Big 4” label EMI.   Quickly, they went looking for the trouble areas and one of the first areas to be called out was the music industry trade groups like the RIAA and the IFPI (the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry).  At a reported cost to the label of nearly $130m a year, there were serious questions whether these assorted lobbying groups were returning enough value to justify the expense. 

Click to Read More

Warner Music Group has made some recent staff changes at the roles marching them into the digital age.  They’re also expanding their list of distribution partners with a deal struck between UK digital media shop 7Digital and Warner’s International division.

Effective starting today the entire Warner Music Catalog including music from Jackson Browne to James Blunt to the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be available without Digital Rights Management encryption in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Germany.

Click to Read More

Statistics and comparative numbers hit the airwaves and headlines of business news every day.  “The price represents a 39% premium over the prior day’s close.” “Total U.S. gaming sales were up 18% over the same period in the prior year”  EBITDA. Market Share.  Off. On.  Positive. Negative.   Today’s grabber was an announcement from retail tracking firm NPD that Apple surpassed Best Buy to become the number two music retailer (offline and on) in the U.S.

Boiled down, it seems there is a number to tell any story, or as often, support any argument.   But what might these digits look like in perspective?   Outside the microcosm of tech, or media tech, what do some of the statistics translate to?

Click to Read More