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Usually market experiments run for a few months; enough time to draw data to evaluate. Penguin Audio books decided not to wait.  Just the opposite, they pulled the ripcord on an audio book market experiment with eMusic after just a month’s time.

eMusic is the number two seller of digital music behind iTunes. They made their market by selling unencrypted DRM-Free music.  Last month, they expanded into audio books following the same recipe: selling books without digital copyright encryption.  Penguin was one of five founding participants in eMusic’s digital books initiative.   They offered 150 titles that they were simultaneously selling with copyright protections on iTunes.

Earlier this week Penguin decided to go  DRM or bust.   They’ll stick with iTunes but are dropping eMusic.

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It’s game time for MySpace.  Already solidly established as a music and video destination for their users, the social networking giant announced Tuesday they will add casual games to the mix.

Through a deal with New York based game maker and publisher Oberon, MySpace will launch a game destination on their site in January.  The section will be host to as many as hundreds of easy to play, easy to learn games. Puzzles and word games, variations on standbys like chess and checkers, should figure prominently. The idea is similar to Yahoo Games, Pogo and other sites, but will also include social networking functionality.

Casual games aren’t usually big money earners.  They account for a small fraction of overall gaming industry income but the games are increasingly popular with web hosts as ways to keep their audiences entertained with quick burst of activity.  Click to Read More

A week ahead of launching a beta for Hulu , their Internet video joint venture with News Corp (Fox), NBC is circling the wagons and gathering up their content.

In a move reportedly confirmed by an NBC spokesperson, the company has pulled all its video clips from YouTube.  Notice for the takedown was sent Friday.

The move is intended to maximize Hulu’s exclusivity and give it the best chance for drawing audience.  Having the same content available elsewhere would have undermined the launch.

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If someone provides a service that can be used by their patrons to break laws, there are legal questions of responsibility that get asked.  With user-generated content, and the websites that act as repositories for it, these issues center on copyright liability.  It’s a question of how much responsibility a site that acts as a forum should take. 

Is a service like YouTube responsible for policing their site and actively looking for infringement?  Or is it enough to remove an offending article (video/etc) when notified it’s a copyright violation (via a formal  DMCA “Take Down Notice”) ?  The experts aren’t in agreement.  The Digital Millennium Copyright laws provide guidance but in many cases the legislation falls short and interpretation is being sent the courts.  As of now, there’s already a billion dollar case on dockets with more likely to follow.

So, rather than wait for court or Congress, Thursday a group of broadcasters and web power houses,  a mix of content owners and distributors,  announced they would take the responsibility themselves. Click to Read More

Last quarter Google shocked the world – not with their success, but with a failure.  Much to the surprise of analysts and others’ they stumbled and failed to meet second quarter earnings expectations in July.  The numbers were good, just not as high as the stratospheric expectations being asked of them.   It was only the second time since going public in 2004 they’d come up short.    So Thursday, rebuked for aiming too high last time (Google doesn’t give sales or earnings guidance) analysts were watching carefully to see if their picks were better when Google announced this quarters results. 

Was last quarter a fluke of mismanagement? A rogue wave to an otherwise steady ship?  Were analyst’s just too optimistic?   Investors who bid up the stock 19% during the last month haven’t thought so.  They’ve expected a windfall. Today, they all got their answer: all’s well in Mountain View.

Despite occasional criticism for being a “one trick pony” and deriving most of their revenue from one advertising strength, Google proved that pony still has plenty of speed and strength.  Click to Read More

Yahoo’s earnings are out.  After the close of markets Tuesday, Yahoo launched this quarter’s wave of tech earnings announcements (along with Intel and IBM which also reported).   One headline reads “earnings slip again” another says earnings “encourage investors.”  That’s about right.  With the first 100 days of CEO Jerry Yang’s new tenure now finished, watchers aren’t’ yet sure what to make of Yahoo’s present state… or future prospects.  Some are still concerned while others are seeing the glass half full; maybe even getting fuller.

To the numbers: the trend was positive and analyst consensus expectations were beaten. 

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With music licensing partner Snocap on its deathbed, MySpace is wasting no time lining up new music partners. Today, the social network announced they’d signed a significant licensing agreement with Big 4 music label Sony BMG.

Under the terms of the deal, which was likely in the works for some time, Sony will use the MySpace site and platform to promote its artists with individual artist pages.  They will also license a selection of music, music videos and other content for distribution around the MySpace site.  MySpace, in turn, will share revenue from advertising and sponsorships.

In many ways the deal is merely formalization of a relationship that’s already been in place.  Click to Read More