Höf’s Mixtape has created a Twitter account a few weeks ago but I still haven’t quite figured out how to best promote this line extension. I suppose the best thing is to keep telling my readers: Höf’s Mixtape on Twitter is active and being updated regularly. Go there to follow and be followed.
If this is indeed an in-house Microsoft spoof (as some people believe it to be), then can somebody explain to me why the laptop looks a whole lot like a MacBook Pro?
The new year in the business of music is already off to a lousy start. And it’s not even February yet. Lay-offs, bankruptcies, paltry sales, etc.
Here are some of the worst news from the last couple of days:
Are these signs of an accelerated downward trend? Or just singular results that examplify the recurring weakness of the slack season?
What do you think? Drop me a line.
This music industry claim saying that 95% of all downloads are illegal and unpaid for is causing British legislators to act. Since record labels and ISPs won’t come to terms on how to limit filesharing (even though both parties had agreed to a “Memorandum of Understanding” half a year ago), the situation isn’t really changing. No voluntary agreement has so far deterred anybody from getting their music for free online. This failure to come up with a workable solution has now startled UK politicians.
According to information obtained by the Financial Times, UK “ministers intend to pass regulations on internet piracy requiring service providers to tell customers they suspect of illegally downloading films and music that they are breaking the law.” This provision will be part of the upcoming report Digital Britain, prepared by Lord Stephen Carter who in the current UK administration is in charge of technology and communications.
The proposed new law would also make ISPs collect data on serious and repeated infringers of copyright law, which would then be made available to music companies or other rights-holders who can produce a court order for them to be handed over, the FT reports. Who would take care of that? A new monitoring body called Rights Agency which would be overseen by Ofcom, Britain’s broadcasting regulator (think FCC).
The costs for this Rights Agency are to be shared by both ISPs and rights-holders, says the draft. What consequences repeat offenders would have to fear remains to be seen. The FT report provides no details to that question. I’m sure ISPs and labels in France and Germany are watching this closely.
International music trade body IFPI on January 16 released their Digital Music Report 2009 – right in time for the industry gatherings MidemNet and Midem in Cannes. According to these latest figures, the digital music business grew for the sixth consecutive year. In 2008, the increase in global sales was approximately 25% to a trade value of $3.7 billion.
This is of course against the backdrop of an overall global decline in recorded music sales of around 7% last year. The Digital Music Report ‘09 goes on to specify that by now digital platforms account for 20% of all recorded music revenues – up from 15% last year. Sales of single track downloads, which still are the key driver in the digital business, grew 24% to 1.4 billion units with Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” ending up being the international topseller of the year at 9.1 million units. Digital albums experienced a growth of 36% in copies sold.
The most important global territories for digital sales are basically the same as in the physical world with the United States leading the way ahead of Japan, UK, Germany and France.
In these markets digital growth happened at very different speeds. During the first half of 2008, digital accounted for 39% of recorded music sales in the U.S. That percentage was more than four times that of Germany (9%) in the same period. This corresponds with the differences in consumer spending for digital music. While American broadband users on average spent $12.50 on digital music last year, music consumers in the UK only spent $7.80 for downloads in 2008. It’s even less in other European territories.
Even though IFPI sees great improvements in the market, the digital business is still hampered by piracy. Chairman & CEO John Kennedy explained that record companies are transforming their business models “in an environment where 95% of music downloads are illegal and unpaid for”. According to IFPI estimates, more than 40 billion tracks were fileshared in 2008.
Kennedy still plans to battle this issue by trying to come to agreements with ISPs on models of graduated response. Last year had seen a “tipping point” in that quest, he said. Meanwhile France, UK, Germany and the U.S. appear to be on the same track for this approach.
“Comes With Music”, Nokia’s plan to sell new cell phones by bundling the gadgets with almost free access to a vast catalog of digital music, seems to be a tough sell. At least in the UK where exclusive retailer Carphone Warehouse is not reporting that CWM units are flying off the shelves. In fact, CPW had to cut the price on its CWM offer by one third.
Instead of £127 ($185) the Nokia phone 5310 now only costs £82 ($120) which means users can download “for free” and have a phone for less than 33 cents a day. While it seems like CWM is – as of yet – no runaway success, Nokia is preparing a German launch for the service. The new cell phone Nokia 5800 XpressMusic which comes with a touchscreen and 8GB of storage will hit stores there on January 16.
No details yet, on when CWM will be ready for lift off in Germany. Company spokespeople say Nokia is still negotiating with distribution partners and providers about a broad release. In the UK Nokia wasn’t able to place CWM with any of the big four providers. Pricing hasn’t been released either. Nokia recommends a retail price of €395 for the 5800 XpressMusic (that’s without a contract and without CWM).
The French have been working on this for months now, so have the British. Even the content industries in the United States are leaning this way now. No wonder then, that the consensus-driven worlds of business and politics in Germany are getting on the bandwagon, too. I am talking, of course, about what has become known as the “3 strikes rule” or the “Reposte Gradueé”. The German trade org BVMI has been pushing this since last year.
Handelsblatt recently reported that Brigitte Zypries, federal minister of justice (U.S. = attorney general) has called for a meeting with the six largest internet service providers in Germany to discuss what a graduated response model could look like. The ISP summit is said to be scheduled for January.
Seperately, MusikWoche reports that Zypries is already planning a follow-up meeting with representatives from the music industry. Behind closed doors, the labels and the ISPs are apparently already talking about this sticky issue. However, the official position of the providers remains hostile. Being a deputy aiding the music industry’s goals shouldn’t be an ISP’s business, said Andreas Maurer, spokesman for 1&1 Internet – one of the six providers scheduled to meet with Zypries.
Apart form 1&1 the other ISPs lined up for the summit are Deutsche Telekom, Arcor, AOL, Freenet and Kabel Deutschland. Local studies say that 70% of all illegal filesharers could be convinced to stop their behavior with a graduated warning system.
