Sony Music
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Record labels sue Charter over copyright infringement claims
Charter Communications has been sued by a group of major record labels who claim it has failed to address "flagrant and serial" music copyright infringement.
Roblox deal with Sony will create (legal) in-game music experiences
Roblox has struck a deal with Sony Music to create official music experiences in the game platform — and possibly thwart a lawsuit in the process.
Sony Music buys UK podcast network Somethin’ Else
Sony's Music Entertainment division has bought one of the largest independent podcast networks in the UK.
Facebook Watch could soon play music videos
Facebook may soon bring music videos to Watch. The company is reportedly negotiating new licensing deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group. According to Bloomberg, it's asking each label for rights to music videos.
Sony is using AI to replace drummers, one beat at a time
Sony is the latest company to dip its toes into AI-powered music. The company revealed this week that its researchers have created a machine learning model that can create kick-drum tracking. According to Sony, the artificial intelligence is capable of building "musically plausible" drum patterns based on existing instruments being used on the song.
Daily Update for June 7, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS I
AllThingsD: All three music labels on board for Apple
In the music industry, there are three major labels: Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music. According to Peter Kafka at All Things D, Apple has now signed agreements with all three labels, opening the way to a possible Apple announcement of the iRadio streaming service during the WWDC 2013 Keynote on Monday. "iRadio" may not be the actual name of the service, but has caught on as speculation has grown about Apple's music streaming plans. Apple still has to sign up Sony/ATV, the music publishing part of Sony, but is apparently quite close in negotiations. Kafka expects that Apple won't actually launch iRadio on Monday, but will tell developers -- and the rest of us -- about the service. The service is expected to be free and supported by audio iAds, providing more control over what songs you wish to listen to than standard Web radio stations. If it's announced on Monday, iRadio -- or whatever it's going to be called -- will be a win-win for Apple fans and the major record labels.
Amazon rumored clinching major labels for cloud music rights, iTunes Match feels the heat
When we last checked in, Amazon was thought to finally be pushing for full music rights in its Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services. It might be a smooth operator at the negotiating table: subsequent tips to CNET maintain that the top four major labels (a currently-independent EMI as well as Sony, Universal and Warner) have all signed deals that will let Amazon offer the same scan-and-match music downloads and streaming as Apple's iTunes Match. The pacts would let Amazon offer access to every song a listener owns without having to directly upload each track that wasn't bought directly from Amazon MP3. Aside from closing a conspicuous gap, the deal could end a whole lot of acrimony from labels who were upset that Amazon preferred a free-but-limited service over having to charge anything. The online shop hasn't said anything official yet (if at all), but any signatures on the dotted line will leave Google Music as the odd man out.
What crisis? Sony Music buys EMI's back catalogue for $2.2 billion
While its parent company goes through a dramatic reinvention, Sony Music's scraped together $2.2 billion to lead a consortium that's just bought EMI's music publishing business. While it'll sell off the three Virgin and Famous Music labels to avoid competition concerns, the company will gain access to three million songs from artists like Frank Sinatra, Jay-Z and Adele. It won't affect the day-to-day running of EMI's record label, which is a separate entity, but it will make Sony the biggest music publisher in the world. It's hard not to envisage a future in which the company's influence in the way we buy and listen to music becomes even greater -- especially given that EMI led the charge in abandoning DRM all those years ago.
Sony Music Unlimited bringing its own streaming flair to iOS soon
We heard back in December that Sony's fledgling Music Unlimited service would eventually be spreading its wings to cover even more operating systems, and here at CES 2012, we've learned that it's Apple's own iOS on the docket. Tim Schaaff, head of Sony Entertainment Network noted this week that the company will offer a gratis iPhone and iPad app for Music Unlimited "at some point this quarter." It's bruited that the iOS edition will offer offline caching for subscribers to its service (at least the premium ones), enabling 'em to save playlists for listening even when away from a network connection. Naturally, Sony's got some stiff competition in the world of iOS tunage, but it's hoping that at least a few million of those iOS users grow its Music Unlimited user base from a million to... well, more than a million. We're assuming that the pricing will remain the same, with $4 per month grabbing you a basic subscription and $10 per month netting you a premo level of service. So, you downloading on day one, or what?
Sony's Music Unlimited cloud service comes to limited non-cloud Walkmans
Sony's connected Music Unlimited offering is already available online, on gaming devices, on Android phones and tablets, so nice to see it's finally available on its, you know, Walkman music players. In what feels somewhat like an afterthought, "compatible Walkman devices" (currently just the NWZ-E465) can play your favorite channels and playlists on the move -- no connection required. Only those paying the $9.99 premium, however, get to add songs from the actual Unlimited music catalogue. Plug-in at home, sync the music, and listen at your leisure offline via the dedicated app, but with so many other competing ways of enjoying your music from the cloud, on a plethora of connected devices, it really is surprising this wasn't already possible. Still, if you own an NWZ-E465, and subscribe to the Music Unlimited, you can feel all gooey knowing Sony has your back. Hit the PR after the break for more info.
Google partners with Universal, EMI, Sony Music, 23 independent labels on Google Music, scores exclusive content
A music store isn't much without plenty of music, and Google's new offering launched with some big backing today. The company is partnering with Universal, EMI, Sony Music and no less than 23 independent labels on the service -- according to Google, that covers about 13 million songs in total, 8 million of which are available today. Speaking at the launch event, Universal's Rob Wells said that he expects Google Music to be a "rich new revenue stream for our artists," and further noted that he's excited about the "global rollout" across all Android devices, although we're unfortunately not hearing many specifics about availability outside the US just yet. What's more, Google also announced that Google Music will have a number of exclusive offerings from the labels, including concerts from the likes of The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Pearl Jam and The Dave Matthews Band, and the exclusive debut of Busta Rhymes' latest album.
Apple gets cozy with EMI, Universal, and Sony over cloud music licensing (updated)
Ah, so it's all coming together now. Following a report on Warner Music inking a cloud streaming deal with Apple, CNET is back with fresh information that sees three more major record companies jumping on board. Citing "multiple music industry sources," we're told that EMI is the latest addition to Apple's cloud music portfolio, while Universal and Sony are close to sealing the deal to permit this rumored iCloud service. If true, such endorsement will no doubt add pressure on Google and Amazon over their cheeky, license-free cloud streaming offerings -- not a bad way to fend off competition, though it's not clear how much money's involved. Guess we'll know more at WWDC next month. Update: Bloomberg is citing multiple source who claim that Sony has inked a deal with Apple leaving only Universal to play coy. Two sources claim that Apple's cloud music service won't require users to upload their music.
Norio Ohga, former Sony chairman and multimedia pioneer, dies at 81
There's more sad news out of Japan this morning, we're afraid -- Sony is reporting that former chairman Norio Ohga passed away in Tokyo yesterday from multiple organ failure. He was 81. You may not personally remember a Sony under his reign -- Ohga directly helmed the company from 1982 to 1995 after decades of service in product planning -- but Norio Ohga was arguably the man responsible for turning Sony from a high-profile analog electronics manufacturer into a digital multimedia conglomerate. He helmed the deals that formed Sony Music, paved the way for Sony Pictures and established the very same Sony Computer Entertainment that would birth the PlayStation, and it was he who pushed the optical compact disc standard that all but replaced the magnetic cassettes and diskettes that held portable media. Without him, DVDs and Blu-rays might have fallen by the wayside, and that's another thought that brings tears to our eyes. You'll find Ohga's official obituary after the break.
Amazon negotiating for Cloud Player music licensing deals after all?
Publically, Amazon wants you to think it doesn't care about licensing the music that it will let you store in the cloud, but privately we're hearing the company is scrambling like mad to work things out with angry music labels as we speak. Specifically, the Wall Street Journal cites a pair of anonymous sources who say Amazon's actually negotiating deals with the four major labels right now -- though Amazon won't confirm such a thing -- which the e-tailer hopes to close in a matter of weeks. What's more, they say Amazon may move to a system that compares users' uploaded songs with a database of those tunes it's managed to licence should the deal go through -- a system much like Sony's Music Unlimited, by the sound of it. It shouldn't come as any surprise, then, that the Journal quotes Sony Music chairman Martin Bandier in its final paragraph, who makes his pointed indignation at Amazon's announcement heard: "This is just another land grab. I can't make it any plainer than that. It's really disrespectful, and of course we are considering all of our options." Nothing like a little bit of mainstream media coverage to help pressure a business deal.
Amazon Cloud Player upsets Sony Music over streaming license, Amazon shrugs
In case you missed the news, last night Amazon gave us a little surprise by launching its free Cloud Player service, which lets you stream your music collection from the cloud to your computer or Android device. While this has no doubt put a smile on many faces (American ones only, for now), Sony Music isn't too happy about Amazon jumping the gun over licensing for streaming rights. The record label told Reuters that it's hoping Amazon "will reach a new license deal, but we're keeping all of our legal options open." Yikes. In retaliation, Amazon responded with the following statement to Ars Tehcnica: "Cloud Player is an application that lets customers manage and play their own music. It's like any number of existing media management applications. We do not need a license to make Cloud Player available. The functionality of saving MP3s to Cloud Drive is the same as if a customer were to save their music to an external hard drive or even iTunes." Of course, the bigger story here is that Amazon's free Cloud Player is going head-to-head with Sony's Music Unlimited streaming subscription service, which was pushed out last month after plenty of money talk with various record labels. Understandably, Sony isn't willing to let Amazon cut through the red tape here without a fight, and this may also affect similar music locker services like mSpot and MP3Tunes, albeit at a much smaller scale. In fact, Sony's already expressed its discomfort with those particular companies' mode of operation, so you can probably expect to see this tension boiling over to some form of legal action before long. Now that a big shot like Amazon's involved, it's almost inevitable. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Apple working on unlimited downloads of purchased iTunes music, setting MobileMe free?
You know all that rumor and speculation about Apple launching a subscription-based streaming music service? Forget it -- at least until the next rumor comes along. Bloomberg is citing three people with knowledge of private talks between Apple, Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music to make purchased music more easily accessible to iTunes users. Two sources claim that an agreement could be announced by midyear. Contrary to popular speculation aroused by Apple's purchase of Lala, they're not talking about streaming music from Apple's new North Carolina data center scheduled to come online in the spring. According to Bloomberg's sources, Apple is instead, planning to offer unlimited downloads to any device linked to the same iTunes account. So, purchase a track on your iPhone and download it again for free to your iPad without having to go back and tether the mobile device to your PC or Mac for a sync. Hard disk crash? No worries, there's a permanent backup in the cloud. Of course, there's nothing preventing Apple from providing unlimited downloads in parallel with a streaming service except for the labels and artists who prefer the higher revenues paid out by download services. Then again, if it was left to them we'd still be buying our music on $15 CDs. Incidentally, one Bloomberg source was also caught blabbing about Apple's plans to overhaul the MobileMe service to store pictures, video, and other online content sometime this year. Better yet, it could drop from $99 per year to free -- something already reported by the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago.
Spotify reportedly signs US deal with Sony
Just a week ago, we covered a New York Post story indicating that Spotify, the ad-supported or subscription based all-you-can-eat music streaming service, was about to sign a deal with Sony Music in the U.S. -- taking Spotify a step closer to the U.S. market. Now, according to MediaMemo, that deal has now gone through. Though both Spotify and Sony have declined to comment, it's reported that a deal -- similar in terms to Spotify's European music label deals -- has been reached. However, Spotify still needs to secure further agreements (or at least one big arrangement) with other music labels, to increase its catalogue, before it can begin offering a service in the U.S.. Spotify is facing some big hurdles, though. According to MediaMemo, the labels are anxious "...that Spotify's free streaming service will increase the decline of CD sales, which have been dropping for a decade, but still make up the majority of the labels' revenue. And, "...there is also muttering that the labels don't want to upset Apple, which sells tunes on a track-by-track basis via its iTunes store and dominates the market for digital music." However, last week The Post also reported that Spotify had the support of one other unnamed major music label. Though there seems to be an apprehension amongst U.S. music labels towards Spotify, perhaps we'll be hearing reports of another Spotify / major music label deal in the coming days. [Via Boy Genius]
Talay Robot will document your tweet, give it a soundtrack, Twitvid the results (video)
Tweet a message @talayrobot and something magical happens. An ST Robotics arm whirs to life inside Sony Music's London HQ and starts transcribing your words of wisdom unto a glamorously lit whiteboard -- in the finest handwriting font its designers could find! Best part is that the whole thing gets filmed and the video is sent back to you within a matter of minutes, equipped with an audio clip from Sony's Talay Riley. Yes, it's a promotional stunt, but it's also undeniably one of the coolest intersections of robotics and social networking we've yet seen. Skip past the break for some video examples or get tweeting and create your own.
VUDU offers up Brightcove ad-supported streaming video, Sony Music is the first to jump in
VUDU keeps adding to its offerings bit by bit, first Pandora, now Brightcove video is available, popping up in the VUDU Labs section. The first content up is from Sony Music's MyPlay Video Network, as Brightcove notches its first set-top box partner. You'll have to take a look to see what artists are available, but it's hard to argue with more free music to go with those HD & HDX purchases and rentals.
