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Beatles' catalog coming online at long last?
Word on the street (and by street, we mean mostly British tabloids) is that Paul McCartney's deal to sell the Beatles back-catalog is done, and the Greatest Works of Musical Art Ever Recorded will be appearing on the iTunes store "within months." Of course, we've been hearing whispers about this for what seems like a million years, and since both Apple Corps and Apple are delivering "no comment" and "rumor and speculation" responses on the topic, we won't get too excited. Still, there does seem to be some serious movement on this front, with everyone and their mother saying the lot is to be sold any day now for around $400 million -- which is no small sum. We will, of course, keep you abreast of any developments which will lead to you stocking your music players with the Fab Four's work.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Qtrax announces deals with EMI and Sony / ATV, still can't distribute content
Man, Qtrax just can't stop over-hyping and under-delivering, can it? The company's trumpeting new deals today with EMI Publishing, Sony / ATV Music Publishing, and TVT Records, but of the three deals, only TVT will actually have music available for download. The deals with EMI and Sony / ATV are for publishing rights only, and since publishing companies only represent songwriters, and don't actually own the rights to the song recordings, Qtrax still can't offer songs to consumers. It's confusing, but Qtrax needs both types of deals to make things work. Still, considering that the EMI and Sony agreements are extensions of existing agreements, it's a little strange for Qtrax to hype them up -- if you're keeping score at home, this is essentially the same sort of half-truth Qtrax launched under, so it's pretty ballsy of the company to try and pull it again. On the other hand, getting TVT on board is no small feat -- TVT artists include Lil Jon, Ambulance LTD, Dude 'N Em, The Polyphonic Spree, and The Cinematics, so it looks like Qtrax might be getting better at this whole "signing actual deals with labels" thing. Update: We had said in an earlier version of this post that several major labels had denied having deals in place with Qtrax -- while that's still true, the information was a few weeks old. The deals announced today are for real, but until Qtrax sorts out actual content-distribution rights, nothing's really changed.[Via Tech Digest]
Sony BMG will reportedly offer DRM-free music
In a move that could finally sound the death knoll for the universally-hated digital leech known as DRM, Sony BMG Music will reportedly become the last of the top four major labels to offer unprotected tracks for download. Citing people familiar with the arrangement, BusinessWeek.com reports that full details of the label's plan will be released "in the coming weeks," although at least part of its catalog will supposedly be available without DRM sometime this quarter. If this does indeed pan out, Sony would follow EMI, Vivendi Universal, and Warner in moving towards a much more consumer-friendly music distribution model.[Thanks, Mack S.]
Universal, Warner, and EMI to sell music on flash drives
The major record labels' ongoing fixation with physical media continues on, as Universal, EMI, and Warner have each announced plans to sell music preloaded on flash drives. Universal says the move is "aimed at the younger, 12 to 24 year olds, who no longer believe that the CD is as cool as it used to be," but that "people still want to own a physical product." Yeah, too bad that physical product is a DAP. Predictably, the $10 flash drives will cost twice as much as normal CD singles but contain additional content -- just like that ridiculous "ringle" concept we just heard about, only with more plastic and manufacturing involved. There's no word on what format the music will be in or what the DRM will be, but it's not like it really matters, since no one is going to buy these anyway. No word on when we'll see this Stateside, but UK teenagers can expect to be patronized by the record labels sometime in the next few months.[Via Pocket-lint]
Amazon launches DRM-free "Amazon MP3" music downloads
If you're into DRM-free music, you have a reason to get pretty excited today. As speculated, Amazon has launched the public beta of its new digital music portal called Amazon MP3, which will feature two million songs from 180,000 artists and 20,000 labels, all without the painful and annoying restrictions of DRM. The press release claims that the site, which will include EMI and Universal tracks (take that, Jobs), will make separate songs available for $.89 or $.99, and boasts that all of the "top 100" tracks will be priced at the former, lower amount. Albums will range in cost from $5.99 to $9.99, with the best selling albums coming in at $8.99. Of course, since there's no DRM, users are free to throw the 256Kbps MP3s on any player they like, as well as burn CDs, copy to MiniDisc, and dump to 8-track.
Slacker inks deals with major, indie labels
It's been a tick since we've heard any peeps from Slacker, but today it announced that it not only inked a deal with a few "top indie labels," but it managed to sign up the likes of EMI, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, too. Additionally, "as part of the agreement, Slacker listeners can transfer their personalized stations to Slacker Portable Players with a single click and automatically refresh them via WiFi or USB." On the independent front, IODA, The Orchard, Beggars Group and Matador Records, IRIS, Ubiquity Records and Sanctuary Group PLC are all signed on, further broadening the amount of content available to, well, Slackers. So if your ears are in need of some variety, head on over to the firm's website to try out the (freshly expanded) Slacker Personal Radio beta.Read - Slacker Finalizes Deals With Major Labels Read - Slacker Inks Deals with Top Indie Labels
Wal-mart begins selling DRM-free MP3s
The DRM dominos continue to fall with Wal-mart joining the DRM-free for all. Their new MP3 catalog (no AAC player limitations here, folks) includes "thousands of albums and songs" from both EMI and Universal Music Group (presumably, as a trial) at $0.94 per track or $9.22 per album. The new MP3s are encoded at 256kbps versus their usual 128kbps WMA "protected" downloads. So what's the matter Sony BMG and Warner Music, don't you like parties?
Case dismissed for AllofMP3 founder Kvasov
It looks like AllofMP3 founder Denis Kvasov will be evading any time in the gulag, at least for the moment. If you'll recall, EMI, Universal, and Warner Music filed suits against the highly dubious MP3-portal's founder after launching a whirlwind attack resulting in Mastercard and Visa pulling their services for the Russian-based site, and the eventual collapse of the pretty-much-illegal download service. The suit sought damages from the "entrepreneur" to the tune of 15 million rubles (about $590,700 US), but according to reports, a Cheryomushky District Court judge threw out the case against Kvasov, stating that a legal loophole allowing AllofMP3's particular kind of online music distribution continued through 2006 -- one year after Kvasov left the company. Of course, two more cases are pending against the mogul, so it seems likely we'll be hearing a lot more on this in the coming days and weeks.
AllofMP3's Denis Kvasov facing jail time
Here's a message for all the young ones out there: crime doesn't pay, not even for Russian semi-legal music semi-pirates. Or at least that's the way things are looking for Denis Kvasov, former owner of AllofMP3.com. Though the site was shut down earlier this month, Kvasov is still on the hook damages to EMI, Warner and Universal, to the tune of 15 million rubles ($590,715 US), and could face three years in jail as well. The amount seems a bit light, considering the RIAA's $750 to $30,000 per song demands here in the States, but legality of the AllofMP3 service is still in question, since under Russian law the site was ostensibly playing by the rules and paying "copyright fees" to all the right organizations. Of course, consumers don't have to look far to find Alltunes and MP3Sparks, virtual clones of AllofMP3, and Alltunes recently won a court case against a Russian agent of Visa that had cut off payments for the online store, so record labels have to be asking themselves how much progress they've really made in fighting this gray market hydra.
MusicNet and EMI to offer 1 million DRM-free tunes
Hot on the heels of EMI / Apple's iTunes Plus offerings, and Amazon's DRM-free music store, comes news that the industry media-providing MusicNet service will be making a 1-million-song outlay of EMI and indie tracks to its waiting corporate partners, sans DRM. So what does this mean for us? Well, clearly the DRM-bucking trends that have been put into play are causing some serious ripple effects throughout the industry, and since MusicNet provides content to places like Yahoo! Music Unlimited, HMV Digital, and URGE -- not exactly small potatoes -- it's likely we'll start seeing free-er music popping up all over the place. Don't get too comfortable though, the RIAA will still find ways to make your life hell.[Via TG Daily]
Analysts: games industry to overtake music industry
In its annual report covering various entertainment industries, consulting group PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts the video game spending to overtake music spending as early as this year.The report, covering 2007 through 2011, predicts the video game industry will grow globally at an annual rate of 9.1 percent, from $37.5 billion this year to $48.9 billion in 2011. While the analysis speaks well for the games industry, it also highlights the decline in the music industry. As Ars Technica points out, should EMI's sales from their DRM-free iTunes catalog outpaces their losses in CD sales, the rest of the industry could follow suit.In-game advertising will grow at an enormous rate, according to the report, predicting a jump from $80 million in 2006 to $950 million in 2011.
EMI: Initial DRM-free sales results "good"
Ok Fair Use advocates, listen up. EMI senior VP Lauren Berkowitz has just given her initial sales report following their much ballyhooed DRM-free launch on iTunes Plus last month. The results? Well, "good" is the word she used to summarize sales. During the first week of availability, sales of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon were up 350 percent. Even now, after all the initial excitement, sales remain 272 percent higher. To a lesser degree, other EMI artists are also riding the DRM-free, download bump; even while their respective CD sales have tailed off. For example, downloads for Norah Jones' Come Away with Me are up some 24 percent while CD sales have dropped 33 percent. Still, the DRM-free tracks were launched only three weeks ago which is far too early for any kind of proper trend analysis. We also don't have any correlating data to demonstrate an increase (or decrease) in piracy -- something the record labels will likely weigh in equal importance. Things do look promising though, eh?[Via Ars Technica]
EMI sees boost in sales thanks to iTunes Plus
Macworld UK reports that EMI is seeing an uptick in purchases from iTunes since iTunes Plus was introduced. For instance, sales of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon [iTunes Link] have increased 350% (we all know hippies don't like DRM. I kid, I kid).The real question is whether the uptick in purchases can be attributed to the lack of DRM or the higher bit rate encoding? Either way, this is good news for those of us who welcome a world without DRM.
iTunes Plus DRM-free, not free of annoying glitches
iTunes updates always seem to come with some growing pains, and yesterday's release of iTunes Plus and iTunes 7.2 doesn't look like it's any exception. We're hearing reports that the new iTunes Plus "Upgrade My Library" feature doesn't work as expected (when it works at all), that Plus downloads are incredibly slow and frequently time out, and that the preference to always see iTunes Plus tracks when they're available occasionally resets itself. On top of all that, the intrepid Apple sleuths over at TUAW have discovered that while iTunes Plus tracks might be DRM-free, they still contain your name and account information -- which seems like a fair piracy-prevention compromise to us, but has apparently rubbed a few people the wrong way. We're not sure if the various iTunes Plus problems are in iTunes 7.2 itself or just the result of pent-up demand for DRM-free EMI tracks overwhelming Apple's servers, but you can bet that Steve's minions are busy getting iTunes 7.2.1 ready as we speak.
iTunes Plus Challenge
Wow. After all that fuss, it turns out that I don't own a single upgradable EMI track. My cost for bringing my library out of the dark ages and into the brave new DRM-free world? Nothing. At least that's nothing until I go out and buy a $1.29 track later this morning so I can play with the data file and see whether it will play back on my, you know, Zune. Curiously enough I do own EMI plus-worthy tracks (for example, David Bowie's "Life on Mars") but I have not been offered an option to upgrade them.So here's the challenge: Who of you out there in reader land has the biggest collection of upgradable tracks and how much is iTunes asking you to fork over to pay for those upgrades? Let us know in the comments. The winner gets bragging rights ands we will issue him or her a virtual TUAW huzzah (try saying that three times fast.)
iTunes Plus and EMI's DRM-free music hands-on
It's been a long time coming. So how could we resist giving the new higher quality, DRM free iTunes Plus music service a whirl? After all, we're geeks, and loaded with all kinds of audio devices (not just iPods or Macs and PCs running iTunes) which we'd like to make use of with our purchased media. Certainly you've heard of the Zune, Xbox 360, PS3, Vista Media Center, Walkman W880, Slingbox, PSP, or even the VLC media player right? Ok, then you understand our angst. So off we go, into the land of Fair Use lollipops and DRM-free candy canes. Click-on to see how it all goes down as we upgrade our iTunes music library.
iTunes 7.2 Gallery
%Gallery-3526% If you're stuck at work and can't get away to take a peek at the new iTunes 7.2 update, we've put together this handy gallery of screen shots showing you the new 7.2 features. In iTunes 7.2, you'll find a new link to iTunes Plus in the iTunes Quick Links. Select it and iTunes will prompt you to update preferences (whether to use iTunes plus for your albums whenever possible) and your licensing agreement--that's another agreement on top of the one you had to agree to just to install the program. TUAW's 7.2 gallery is a work in progress. Expect updates throughout the day as the new features come on line.
iTunes Plus debuts DRM-free music
At TUAW we've been following the DRM-free EMI track deal for some time. We're delighted to announce that these tracks will finally available for sale over at the iTunes Store later today (Apple announced they are available, but not in my copy of iTunes at the moment). DRM-free tracks will cost you $1.29 each rather than the normal $0.99 per track you normally pay. The extra money buys you more audio quality than the standard DRM'ed tracks (256 kbps AAC versus 128 kbs AAC). Expect larger data downloads as your audio files expand to accommodate those extra bits. iTunes Plus requires iTunes 7.2.
iTunes Plus DRM-free music now official(er)
We knew it was imminent after this morning's iTunes software update. Now, after all our collective bitching and moaning, they're here: DRM-free tracks on Apple's iTunes Plus store. Sure, there are plenty of other on-line music stores offering similar 256kbps AAC quality music, DRM-free for less than a $1.29 iTunes Plus cost per track ($0.30 upgrade for each song already downloaded or about $3.00 for "most albums"). Ok, still no Beatles tracks and we're only talking about EMI music for now, but this is iTunes kids -- the big download daddy of on-line music. Now put down that BitTorrent client and get out there and support Fair Use kids, the future is yours.
DRM-free EMI music hitting iTunes today?
It was promised for May, now Apple is busy rolling out iTunes updates to "preview and purchase iTunes Plus music -- new higher-quality, DRM-free music downloads from participating music labels." Hmmm, "labels" huh? That's plural which means Stevie boy might have more than EMI up his sleeve when he goes on stage for All Things D later today. Mind you, you still can't purchase any DRM-free music on iTunes but that should be corrected in time for some heavy grandstanding.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
