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XM and Universal settle Inno lawsuit, Warner next?
The labels and XM have been fighting it out over XM + MP3 players for a while now, but it looks like Universal Music Group is finally backing down, signing a multi-year settlement agreement covering recording-capable XM radios like Pioneer's Inno. Terms of the agreement weren't released, but everyone sounds happy, with XM CEO Nate Davis calling the settlement "a win for everyone involved, especially for consumers." Of course, that means XM is now in a suit with just most of the RIAA instead of all of it, but the outlook's not all bad: Reuters is reporting that Warner and XM are close to settlement as well. No word on when that might go down, but Reuters says it'll be "soon." Now if only the other labels would get it together, no?Read - XM and Universal settlement press releaseRead - Reuters blurb about XM and Warner settling
Nokia's "free" Comes with Music... and DRM and hidden fees
If mama taught us one thing about free offers, it's read the fine print. Unfortunately, it was missing from Nokia's unusually tight-lipped "Comes with Music" announcement yesterday. Fortunately, Ars Technica unearthed the dirty details for us. Nokia's service is actually a first to fit under Universal's Total Music plan whereby carriers or device manufacturers tithe Universal a fee of about $5 per month for each device sold. While it appears free to end users, the cost is baked into the handset and/or data plans from your friendly neighborhood carriers. Oh, and it's slathered in DRM -- PlaysForSure DRM in fact making your tracks incompatible with both Zunes and iPods. Burning a CD will require an "upgrade purchase" for the tracks you received for free. Look, we don't mind paying for tracks, in fact, we expect to. But all this underhanded sneakiness is just silly. This is not the future (at least we hope not).
Nokia's "Comes with Music" free subscription service -- cancel, keep the music
So here's the deal. Nokia just launched a "Comes with Music" program. No, not software, but a deal which allows you to buy a Nokia device with a year of unlimited, subscription access to "millions of tracks." Once the year is complete however, customers can keep all their downloaded music -- it doesn't disappear just because the subscription is over. What's the catch? Don't know yet. We know it's limited to Universal Music Group tracks for the time being but there's no mention of any fees, DRM, advertising, or other restrictions. We'll update you as soon as we get more.Update: It's free for one year! All the Universal Music tracks you can download for 12 months can be yours. The offer doesn't begin until mid 2008, just as long as the deal doesn't fall apart by then.
Universal fixing to start a music subscription service?
Universal has made its problems with iTunes well known in the past, and it now looks like it might be set to take things to the next level, with BusinessWeek reporting that the company is trying to enlist the support of other record labels in order to launch their own music subscription service. Apparently, Sony BMG Music has already expressed interest in being a "potential partner," and Universal is now trying to convince Warner Music Group to come on board as well. What's more, it seems that this potential service, currently dubbed "Total Music," would be quite a bit different than your usual subscription model, with the groups' current thinking apparently focused on a $5-per-month subscription fee that hardware makers or cell carriers would absorb, making the music itself "essentially free" for consumers. That, of course, would still add up in one form or another, with some "industry insiders" speculating that it could add as much as $90 to each player -- based on the assumption that users hang on to their players for 18 months on average. [Via Yahoo News/IDGNS]
SpiralFrog's "free" music download service goes live
SpiralFrog, the badly named, ad-supported music and video download portal has gone live today after months of beta testing, or so we're told. The site allows users to legally and freely download media from a catalogue of over 800,000 songs and 3,500 videos (most provided by Apple ship-jumper Universal Music Group, as mentioned way back in August 2006), and requires only that users register on the site and log in once a month (otherwise the DRM'd files go belly up). It's not all lollipops and rainbows, however, as just mentioned, the files are full of nasty, fun-murdering DRM which prevents your new tunes from being burned onto a CD. In other gloomy news, SpiralFrog's content won't work on your Mac or your iPod, and can only be placed on two media players or phones at a time. "We believe it will be a very powerful alternative to the pirate sites," said company chairman Joe Mohen, adding, "With SpiralFrog you know what you're getting." Yes Joe, and we know what we're not getting, too.
Universal to sell DRM free songs, but not on iTunes
It is safe to say that most folks aren't big fans of DRM, though Apple's flavor of DRM (FairPlay) is flexible enough that most will never run afoul of it. You might remember Steve's letter to the music industry in which he extolled the virtues of DRM free music. EMI has been the only major record label to adopt this DRM free stance, and much of its catalog is available via iTunes Plus for $1.29 a song (you can still get the DRMed versions for $.99). EMI is about to have some company in the DRM free music biz, pretty soon.The New York Times is reporting that the Universal Music Group is going to be selling part of its catalog sans DRM for the next few months to gauge consumer interest. This is great, but the only catch is that these DRM free songs won't be available via iTunes. Universal, in an effort to lessen Apple's dominance of the digital music market, will be offering up the DRM free music via Amazon, Google, RealNetworks, and Wal-Mart for $.99 a song (a price many accredit Apple to pioneering).You might recall that Universal recently decided not to renew their contract with Apple to sell music in iTunes, and switched their commitment to a month by month basis. What does all this mean? I am betting that this experiment will succeed, and that Universal will reverse their decision and sell DRM free tracks via iTunes, why not sell your wares on the top online music store?
Apple denies Universal departure rumors
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Apple is denying recent reports that the Universal Music Group isn't planning to renew its contract to sell music through iTunes, stating "We are still negotiating with Universal". Sources (such as the New York Times, Wall St. Journal, etc.) had said previously that Universal planned to end its contract with Apple, continue selling music via iTunes only as they saw fit, and exercise the option to grant exclusive rights to other online retailers. Now it looks as though the chips aren't off the table, and there may be some reconciliation between the two companies -- or least a few bags of money changing hands.[Via TGDaily]
Drudge: Universal Music will not renew iTunes contract
The Drudge Report has posted a newsflash claiming that Universal Music Group will not renew its annual iTunes contract. So what's going on? Hard negotiations? The recent EMI/iTunes Plus deal? Or maybe UMG just doesn't like earning a ton of money through iTunes? I'm not all that familiar with the Drudge Report and since no sources are cited I suspect this "flash" should be taken with a rather large grain of salt. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.Update: Pretty much confirmed by WSJ--Thanks Charles
Universal and Sony prohibit Zune sharing for certain artists
It's official: record companies don't like you. After all that griping about signing up for the Zune music store -- and keep in mind that these record companies receive monies for selling songs here -- that resulted in Universal Music Group getting some sort of fat royalty check from Microsoft for Zune sales, not to mention whatever negotiations went on behind closed doors to come up with that ridiculously minimal "three days or three plays" sharing scheme, a couple of labels have once again gone out of their way to make life hard on you. It appears Sony Music and Universal Music Group are marking certain artists of theirs as "prohibited" for sharing, meaning that just because you've paid for a song, and even managed to find another Zune user on the planet Earth, doesn't mean you'll necessarily get to beam that JoJo track to another Zune via WiFi magics. In a non-scientific sampling of popular artists by Zunerama and Zune Thoughts, it looks like it's roughly 40-50 percent of artist that fall under this prohibited banner, and the worst news is that there's no warning that a song might be unsharable until you actually try to send it and fail. Oh well, maybe you can just hum a few bars or something -- just make sure the labels don't hear you![Via ClicZune]Read - ZuneramaRead - Zune Thoughts
UMG Doug "You are all Pirates" Morris eyes iPod
Remember Doug Morris? The Universal Music Group chief who claimed that iPods are repositories for stolen music? The guy who negotiated the dollar-per-Zune piracy-insurance scheme? According to Australian IT, he's working on putting together an iPod royalty fee similar to the Zune fee during the next round of negotiations with Apple. "It would be a nice idea. We have a negotiation coming up not too far. I don't see why we wouldn't do that... but maybe not in the same way," he reportedly told Reuters.
Universal Music CEO says iPods are "repositories for stolen music"
Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris is the latest tech exec to call iPod users thieves. Ballmer started it. Then came Glaser - who also dared call His Steveness "pigheaded." The comment was made in the context of the UMG boss stumping for Zune and applauding Microsoft's agreement to pay protection money extortion royalties to the bag man Universal with every Zune sold. About the iPod, Morris said "These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it,. So it's time to get paid for it."Gee, Doug, you're not still bitter about Apple rebuffing trying to buy your company, are you? Never mind. That was a rhetorical question.
Universal Music Group going to free downloads with SpiralFrog
Alright everybody, witness the latest trend to sweep the out of touch music industry: free ad-supported music downloads. And one company planning to offer such a gig, SpiralFrog, has found itself a pretty big taker in the Universal Music Group, whose catalogue of artists (some of which include Eminem, U2, Kanye, Bon Jovi, etc.) will be online and freely downloadable to those willing to sit through "non-intrusive, contextually-relevant, targeted advertising," according to SpiralFrog. It's a step in the right direction, but what do you think the odds are that Universal is still going to require DRM even on free downloads? Now, DRM-free costless downloads with ads, that's fine, but when is someone just going to offer what we really want: straight up DRM-free media downloads? We're willing to freaking pay for it, you know? And we're sure a lot of other people out there are willing to, as well.[Via Reuters, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
