Napster Inks Mobile Music Deal with AT&T Wireless

Although AT&T is Apple's exclusive distributor for the iPhone - and its associated iTunes link-up, the company has announced a partnership with music rival, Napster to offer mobile music downloads. The service is now available on more than 25 AT&T smartphones and handsets. Cellular News reports.

The company said that the expansion was made possible by less restrictive digital rights management (DRM) requirements from the labels and Napster's adoption of more flexible technology.

Thumbplay Provides Unique Insights of America's Tech-Savvy "E-lectorate"

According to Thumbplay, a popular mobile entertainment destination in the U.S. the public is turning out in force to support their candidates through purchases of mobile entertainment content. [via MarketWatch]

While electoral votes are still up for grabs, the tech-savvy "e-lectorate" has clearly thrown its support -- and its purchasing power -- behind Senator Obama. Thumbplay customers are, on average, age 18 - 34, 59 percent of whom are female, and reside predominantly in the Top 20 U.S. markets.

As of 10/28/08, Thumbplay.com confirms that Obama-related content has out-sold McCain-related content by a 9 to 1 margin. The results are based on Obama and McCain related content -- including ringtones, videos and wallpapers -- purchased on Thumbplay.com.

Facebook’s streaming music plans: Out of tune with the record labels?

Leading social network Facebook is considering the idea of streaming music to users on its site. But its ideas for how to execute the plan could fly in the face of how music record labels typically license their artists’ content. The New York Times reports.

In order to avoid having to pay hefty royalty fees itself, Facebook has approached a number of streaming music services about a potential partnership, sources have told us and other publications. The idea is that the partner would use its existing licensing deals with labels to legally stream music on to the social network. Facebook’s not saying anything specific about its plans (and sources say it may scratch them entirely).

Sony BMG inks UK ringtones deal

Visitors to Ringtones.com can now download tones from the Sony BMG UK back catalogue, encompassing both local and international artists.

The deal will also see Mobile Streams offer the content though its other channels, including mobilewallpapers.com, mobilebikinis.com and mobilecomedy.mobi.

[via Mobile Entertainment]

Philips intros MP3 player with Bluetooth phone link

Spotted on electronista, Philips portable new audio player, GoGear LUXE, a unique player built expressly to tie in with a phone.

The device is designed to be wearable as a fashion item and to serve as a Bluetooth headset; the LUXE not only pairs wirelessly with a phone to warn of incoming calls but carries dual microphones of its own to answer the call with active noise canceling. A one-line display shows incoming calls without having to fetch the phone from a pocket.

iTunes glitch censors song titles

A temporary error with the UK's iTunes Music Store has caused some inoffensive song titles to be censored reports the BBC.

Tracks affected include Hot by Avril Lavigne, which is displayed as H*t, while The Cheeky Girls' biggest hit has become Cheeky Song (Touch My B*m).

An Apple spokesman said a "database glitch" occurred when the service was checked for explicit references, and would be fixed as soon as possible.

Profanities are regularly blanked out on the online music store.

Japanese mobile music site admins arrested for infringement

In the US, the RIAA has a huge job on its hands policing people's computer use, but the Recording Industry Association of Japan is far more concerned with mobile phones when it comes to copyright infringement. That's because Japanese music lovers acquire new tunes on their handsets, not from their laptops. ars technica reports.

The RIAJ has announced that two men from Hyogo were taken into custody by police for running a mobile music download sites called "Daisan Sekai" ("The Third World")-

They had no license to offer their tracks, although it's not clear from the announcement whether Daisan Sekai was a money-making venture or simply a file download hub.

The site attracted more than a million unique users and is regarded by the RIAJ as "one of the most popular illegal mobile music site[s]" in the country.

iPhone ringtone snobbery

The iPhone 3G has been selling here in Switzerland for a couple of months, and until the Apple store opened a few weeks ago, you had to put your name on a waiting list at the partner networks (Swisscom and Orange) - because for some unfathomable and annoying reason, they ran out of stock half way through launch day.

So having an iPhone in Geneva is still very special and you can identify someone with an iPhone before he or she even pulls it out because of it's "old phone" ringtone, which seems to be the ringtone of choice from the small selection offered.

So we have gone from being cell phone users who loved to change our ringtones, making whatever a mild a statement that was, giving a glimpse of our personality or just making it easier to identify our own phone, to wanting the same ringtone as everyone else - everyone else who has an iPhone that is. And this from the same people who wouldn't have been caught dead using a default ringtone from their Nokia.

Mobile Music Business Sluggish?

According to a new Jupiter research report reckons, only five percent of U.S. mobile subscribers side load tunes from their computer while less than half of that, two percent, download tracks over the air, despite the emergence of online stores from Nokia, Jamba and MusicStation. InternetCommunications reports.

According toJupiter Research, about 66 percent of respondents to a recent survey said nothing would motivate them to listen to music on a mobile. That's a bit of a shock given the success of theiPhone ( News - Alert), a device some have speculated will replace the iPod itself.

About 14 percent of users said they wanted over-the-air tunes. About 16 percent of respondents say they assign ringtones to phone book contacts, says Robert Andrews, mocoNews.net writer.

Startup Sets Out to End the Age of Annoying Ringtones

Startup company Hladecek, llc has set out to rid the world of a seemingly endless proliferation of annoying ringtones. How? By creating better ones of course. So the company has today introduced a new ringtone category called "Luxury Ringers" with the launch of its new webstore, iRing Pro.

These aren‘t some 11-year-olds’ “ringtones.” You’ll find no top 40s hits, barking dogs, or Mozart Classics. The Zen Collection consists of short, attractive, livable alerts engineered to ensure universal appeal, and provide a high tolerance for routine use and repetition.

Press release.

RINGTONES KILLED THE HIP-HOP STAR

According to the NY Press, a look at 2007’s most popular ringtones reveals that while the chart is top heavy with rap songs, it is almost completely void of New York artists last year.

"The reasoning is easy: New York beats are more head-nodding backdrops for intricate rhyme schemes than they are catchy ringtone fodder for teenyboppers. Absent a catchy hook, too many NY rap songs are consigned to non-ringtone irrelevance.

“If you don’t write [a hook], you don’t get on the radio, don’t make easy ringtones and you don’t get teenagers to download them,” author Nelson George explains. “At the end of the day, hip-hop is now dance music. Clever rhymes are cool commercially, but they’re not what sells records these days.”

... 220 million ringtones were sold, according to Nielsen Ringscan, for sales of $567 million. "

Dial-a-concert? Japan software turns mobiles musical

According to Reuters, making music has just become easier. A Japanese game maker has teamed up with the nation's leading mobile phone network carrier to enable users to play an orchestra with their fingertips.

"Game manufacturer Taito has created the "Chokkan Classic" software for NTT DoCoMo's i-mode Internet service that lets users to pick their instruments and the melody they want to play.

To activate the sounds, users must either rub or move a finger infront of their phone's infrared sensor. The sensor can also be used to sync several users' phones to create the myriad sounds of an orchestra."

Music fans back legal downloads

Music pirates can be deterred by warnings from their internet service provider (ISP), suggests a survey by Entertainment Media Research (EMR), reports the BBC.

"Almost 75% of music pirates would stop if told to by their ISP, the survey of 1,500 UK consumers found.

The research looked at the digital habits of consumers and found that the abundance of online music services was convincing many to go straight.

Just over half of those questioned said they got music from legal subscription sites, or those supported by ads. "

Image from dotstuff.

Listening to MP3 player for an hour a day could make you deaf, experts warn

Up to one million Britons are risking permanent deafness by listening to their music players too loudly, European officials have said, reports The Daily Mail.

"They say five to 10 per cent of iPod and other MP3 users risk losing their hearing completely if they listen for more than an hour a day for at least five years.

The EU's scientific committee on emerging health risks says between 2.5 and 10million people across the continent could go deaf because of their addiction to their personal music players.

... An EU safety standard already exists restricting the noise level of personal music players to 100 decibels, but the scientists said the danger level is much lower - music pumped into the ears above 89 decibels for long periods of time.

At that level, users of personal music players are exposed to higher noise levels than currently allowed in factories."

Related:

-- Another warning about earbuds

-- Headphones linked to hearing loss?

-- iPod warning: turn it down

-- Another warning about earbuds

-- Headphones linked to hearing loss?

-- Mobiles could lead to hearing loss among college kids

-- Mobiles could lead to hearing loss among college kids

-- Siemens phones may cause hearing damage

-- Groups Wants Loud Warnings On iPods, MP3s

Shazam plugs into Vodafone music store

Music discovery specialist Shazam secures another operator music store integration, this time in Germany. Mobile Entertainment reports.

"Vodafone Germany has begun offering the 'MusicFinder with Shazam' app, which allows users to share their discoveries and purchase content from the operator's music store.

The news follows a similar agreement inked by Shazam last week with T-Mobile and Samsung.

Vodafone Germany customers will be able to download the MusicFinder application direct to their handset from the Vodafone Live! portal and get a 30 day free trial."

Sony Ericsson W350i Sex and the City Edition

Sony Ericsson is launching a "Sex and the City" ( W350i ) mobile phone.

"Bonus items include a memory stick that's preloaded with the entire "Sex and the City" movie soundtrack, a trio of wallpapers and the video song, “Labels or Love” by Fergie.

[via Ubergizmo]

Government Price Fixing Won’t Fix Music Business

The New York Times Bits Blog on the decision by the Copyright Royalty Board to impose a standard royalty rate on music sold as ring tones.

"... Until now, those rates were negotiated individually between ring tone sellers and the publishers.

The board set a rate of 24 cents, higher even than the publishers had asked for. This means that the government has basically endorsed the current pricing scheme that sets the value of ring tones at $2 to $3. "

Read full article.

MySpace Music: 1 Billion Songs Streamed “In A Few Days”

MySpace is claiming that its MySpace Musicservice has already streamed well over a billion songs since launching on September 25.

... Notably, it took iTunes nearly three years reach the same milestone, although it’s hardly a meaningful comparison seeing as MySpace tunes are free to stream while on iTunes punters were asked to shell out $0.99 a pop.

[via digital lifestyles]

Music stars unite to seek control

Acts including Robbie Williams and Radiohead join a coalition called The Featured Artists' Coalition to try to gain ownership and control of their music from record labels. The BBC reports.

"It wants artists to keep the rights to the music they create and to have a greater say in how their songs are sold - and a bigger slice of the takings.

It is a sign of a shift in power in the music industry in the digital age."

World's longest ringtone lasts over an hour

Dwango, a Japanese firm, aims for a Guinness big book of records with the world's longest ringtone, lasting 61 minutes and 40 seconds.

[via TechRadar]

Discord over the phone that comes with free music

Nokia's bold plan to offer unlimited downloads with its new mobiles is making artists nervous about their royalties, writes James Robinson for The Observer.

"It sounds too good to be true: the world's largest mobile phone company launches a service allowing its customers to download an unlimited number of tracks by almost any artist or group, completely free, for as long as they want. But Nokia's new Comes With Music contract, launched in London last week, promises just that.

It is good news for fans, but some artists are unhappy about the deal, which is the latest example of a big corporation using the power of music to sell its products. Artists fear they may not receive a large enough proportion of the proceeds. "

Full article.

Free Sarah Palin Ringtones from FunMobility

Governor of Alaska and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's media sound bytes have been mashed byFun Mobility into six free ringtones.

Sarah Palin Tones Include:

-- Foreign Policy Experience
-- Lipstick on a Pig
-- Quiz Show: Palin's straight talk on the Bush Doctrine
-- Shore up the Economy
-- VIP Nominee
-- Blizzard of words

[via Wireless and Mobile News]

UK's Mobile Network Operators To Boycott Nokia "Comes With Music" Scheme

Comes With Music has faced its first setback at a very early stage as UK's top mobile operators - Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Orange - have vowed not to sell Nokia's free music service over their networks, at least until Christmas. ITPortal reports.

"The FT reports that Nokia, like Apple, has run into difficulties during discussions with the network operators. This could spell some bad news since Nokia is betting heavily on CMW to fend off competition from rivals Apple and Android.

And if UK network operators do not lend support to Nokia's music platform, one can expect their US counterparts to follow suit, not only on CMW but also on Ovi, which is Nokia's "umbrella concept" for internet services."

Royalty rate doesn't change for Apple, music retailers

The Copyright Royalty Board on Thursday froze the rate that digital-music stores such as iTunes and RealNetworks' Rhapsody must pay music publishers.

News.com reports, "the three-member board that sets statutory copyright licenses e-mailed the Digital Media Association (DiMA), the National Music Publishers' Association, Apple, and other download stores with its decision to keep the royalty rate at 9.1 cents a song.

The board also set the same rate for CDs and established a 24-cent rate for ringtones. The decision is the first time the board has established royalty rates for digital downloads. The rates are set for the next five years.

What all this means of course is that Apple will not be shuttering iTunes -- as if there was ever much of a chance of that--and appears to remain very much in control over the economics of digital music. "

New mobile music deals explained

At first glance, it's an eye-catching deal: as much music as you like, straight to your mobile, with no monthly subscription fee. Nokia and Sony Ericsson are about to start selling new handsets with unlimited downloads included in the purchase price and other phone makers are expected to follow suit.

Record companies are keen on the idea. They hope these new 'all you can eat' deals will stop people illegally downloading music for free. So how will these new services work? And what's the catch?

BBC's Newsbeat explains.

Apple threatens iTunes closure

According to Pocket-Lint, "Apple has threatened to close iTunes rather than pay out more in royalty costs.

"The US Copyright Board will rule this week on a decision to increase in the royalty on digital sales from 9 to 15 cents per track, as per the Music Publishers' Association's claim.

But, the head of Apple's Internet Services division, Eddy Cue, said Apple will not cover the extra 6 cents. "