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Best Buy Digital Music Store joins Universal Music Group
to test sales of DRM-free music

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bestbuy.jpgBest Buy announced that Best Buy Digital Music Store will be part of a test by Universal Music Group, offering customers the chance to purchase music without Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection for the same price they would pay for protected music.

“Our customers have shared their frustration around DRM protection and we have listened,” said Jennifer Schaidler, vice president of music for Best Buy. “One of the most appealing aspects of digital music is the freedom it can provide to enjoy music wherever and whenever you want. Taking away DRM protection will help digital music live up to this promise. Best Buy offers a wide variety of digital music players and services to match the various devices.”

The Best Buy Digital Music Store gives music lovers an easy way to enjoy, manage and discover music. Powered by RealNetworks Rhapsody 4.0 music platform, the Best Buy Digital Music Store offers millions of songs that can be accessed in two different ways. Customers can purchase songs for $.99 per song. Customers also have the option to subscribe to the service for $14.99 per month for unlimited music listening. The music can be played on a computer or loaded any compatible MP3 player, and can be listened to without limits as long as the subscription is active. Subscribers can also purchase music at a discounted rate of $.89 per track.

Originally posted on August 10, 2007 @ 3:20 pm

SpiralFrog set to launch, finally

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SpiralFrogAfter almost 7 months of delay and some unpretty executive shuffling, SpiralFrog‘s launch is finally on its way.

Set to go live later this year, the company started sending invitation emails for private beta testers to have a taste of what the startup has to offer. Joe Mohen, founder of SpiralFrog, said that the startup will have 700,000 songs at launch date, all free for download.

SpiralFrog aims to offer ad-supported legal downloads of audio content licensed from the catalogs of the world’s leading independent record labels. With SpiralFrog, users can freely download music without worrying about copyright issues, lawsuits, or spyware.

The idea is to advertise to consumers during the download time which will run about 90 seconds for each song. Although they offer only 700,000 songs in its catalog, way smaller than the (at least) 2 million tracks that Apple offers, SpiralFrog’s list is composed of records from the largest record label to date, Universal Music Group. Now that sounds promising to me.

Originally posted on August 8, 2007 @ 8:15 am

AmieStreet.com gets funding from Amazon

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amie.jpgAmieStreet.com, a new digital music store with a unique demand-based pricing system, announced the completion of its Series A financing led by Amazon.com, Inc.

AmieStreet.com is the first digital music store propelled by social networking, where members of the community drive the discovery, promotion and pricing of music. All songs on AmieStreet.com start at a price of zero cents. As more people download a song the price rises, capping at $0.98.

For recommending their favorite songs to their friends, members are rewarded by receiving credit for the purchase of additional music on AmieStreet.com. The more popular a song becomes after a member has recommended it, the more credit he or she receives to spend on music.

“AmieStreet.com grew from the idea that we needed to make buying music social and fun. The Amie Street community took over from there, driving a shift toward a music marketplace where consumers decide what is popular and what music is worth. We’re thrilled to have Amazon.com’s support in empowering music consumers,” said AmieStreet.com’s co-founder and CEO Elliott Breece.

The amount of Amazon’s investment and the terms are not disclosed.

Originally posted on August 6, 2007 @ 7:40 am

AT&T blue room to feature exclusive webcast of Lollapalooza acts

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att1.jpgMusic fans unable to make it to the Windy City for this year’s Lollapalooza festival can still enjoy front-row access to one of this year’s hottest events through the AT&T blue room. AT&T Inc. has announced the hosting of an exclusive live webcast of the 2007 Lollapalooza concert on AT&T blue room music.

From Aug. 3 through Aug. 5, 2007, the AT&T blue room will feature exclusive performances from some of the more than 130 bands taking part in this year’s Lollapalooza music festival. The final schedule of performances will be available tomorrow. Webcasts start at 12:30 p.m. each day and run through 10 p.m. CT.

Originally posted on July 31, 2007 @ 9:42 pm

iTunes Store tops 3 billion songs

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itunes.jpgApple today announced that more than three billion songs have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store. iTunes is the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store featuring a catalog of over five million songs, 550 television shows and 500 movies. iTunes recently surpassed Amazon and Target to become the third largest music retailer in the U.S.

“We’d like to thank all of our customers who have contributed to this incredible milestone,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes.

Originally posted on July 31, 2007 @ 12:35 pm