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U2 manager blames everybody for rampant illegal music downloads

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u2.gifU2’s longtime manager Paul McGuinness cannot help but cry for help over the widespread illegal downloading of music files. According to Reuters, McGuinness has condemned every member of the music industry for the shoddy treatment of many artists in this digital age.

He spread the blame between record labels that “through lack of foresight and planning allowed a range of industries to arise that let people steal music”; Silicon Valley companies that create marvelous devices but “don’t think of themselves as makers of burglary kits”; and governments who “created a thieves’ charter” by agreeing that ISPs should not be responsible for what passes along their pipes.

Moreover, he demands that the ISP providers enforce disconnection policies among users caught downloading music files illegally. Aside from that, McGuinness also asked the service providers to share their revenues because they made a lot of money out of music.

Originally posted on January 30, 2008 @ 9:46 am

imeem acquires Anywhere.FM

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imeem has acquired Anywhere.FM, a web music player and Internet radio service. The acquisition of Anywhere.FM brings valuable music uploading capabilities, a rich web music player, and powerful recommendation features that will enhance the imeem experience and help imeem expand its business. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Anywhere.FM desktop uploader enables users to quickly and easily upload their personal MP3 collections to the Web and stream their favorite artists, songs and playlists from any browser. Consumers can upload individual songs or use Anywhere.FM’s uploader to upload their entire iTunes, WinAmp, or Windows Media Player libraries, including personal playlists, song ratings and play counts, with a single click. Users’ libraries are then accessible through a full-featured web music player complete with smart playlists, visualizers, and dynamic search. Anywhere.FM has also created a sophisticated “Friend Radio” feature that lets users discover new music by streaming playlists their friends and other users have uploaded. In addition, Anywhere.FM’s recommendation engine lets users search for people with similar music tastes.

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Originally posted on January 28, 2008 @ 10:59 am

Amazon to rollout Amazon MP3 overseas this year

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Amazon.com announced that in 2008 the company will begin an international rollout of Amazon MP3, Amazon’s DRM-free MP3 digital music store where every song is playable on virtually any digital music-capable device, including the PC, Mac, iPod, Zune, Zen, iPhone, RAZR, and BlackBerry. Amazon MP3 is the only retailer to offer customers DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels as well as over 33,000 independent labels.

Amazon MP3 offers a huge selection of a la carte DRM-free MP3 music downloads, which now includes over 3.3 million songs from more than 270,000 artists. Every song and album in the Amazon MP3 music download store is available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software and is encoded at 256 kbps to deliver high audio quality. Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device; organize their music using any music management application, such as iTunes or Windows Media Player; and burn songs to CDs for personal use.

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Originally posted on January 28, 2008 @ 6:00 am

New on-demand music streaming spurs double digit user growth for Last.fm

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Last.fm realized strong user growth in several key categories after launching it’s free-on-demand streaming service recently. In the United States, Last.fm’s unique listeners increased 85% on the day of launch (Jan. 23) versus the previous Wednesday (Jan. 16). Listening metrics are considered especially relevant as a method to measure a user’s engagement with the site. In addition, the site realized a 45% increase in page views and 27% increase in unique visitors in the U.S. during the same time period.

The site’s momentum continued yesterday as unique listeners increased 80% as compared to the previous Thursday. Page views and unique visitors also increased 60% and 31% respectively during the same time period.

In launching the free-on-demand service earlier this week, Last.fm became the first music web site to offer free, global, on-demand access to the largest licensed catalogue of music built on partnerships with all four major record labels – including Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG, Warner and EMI – as well as CD Baby, IODA, the Orchard, Naxos and more than 150,000 independent labels and artists. Free-on-demand listening is available without registration, or the download of any software.

(Editor’s note: What we should observe is how Last.fm can sustain this and not just a one time growth as expected on new services being launched.)

Originally posted on January 26, 2008 @ 2:10 pm

Last.fm launches on-demand music platform

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Last.fm is launching a service to allow anyone to listen to music on the site for free and on-demand.

Last.fm has become one of the leading places in the world where people can go to listen to music online. Its vast library has attracted a community of more than 20 million unique monthly users in 240 countries around the globe. The heart of Last.fm is a powerful recommendation engine that guides listeners to music they are likely to enjoy based on prior selections, connecting them with the music they love and with others who share their tastes.

In launching this service, Last.fm becomes the first music website to offer free, global, on-demand access to the largest licensed catalogue of music built on partnerships with all four major record labels – including Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG, Warner and EMI – as well as CD Baby, IODA, the Orchard, Naxos and more than 150,000 independent labels and artists.

Originally posted on January 23, 2008 @ 1:46 pm