Music Store by Sony Ericsson, Official

LONDON -- Mobile-phone maker Sony Ericsson yesterday hit back at rivals Apple Inc. and Nokia Corp., unveiling plans for its own Internet music portal and introducing three new handsets.

Sony Ericsson, a joint venture between Sony Corp. and Telefon AB LM Ericsson, plans to release the upgraded PlayNow service next spring, adding millions of new music tracks from major record labels.

Until now, Sony Ericsson has only offered music downloads via its handsets from Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture of Sony and Bertelsmann AG.

Sony Ericsson expects to start a music service for computers and mobile handsets in the second quarter of 2008, after gaining support from the three other major record labels -- Vivendi's Universal Music Group, EMI Group PLC and Warner Music Group Corp.

"The situation today is that we have offers on the table of 5 million music tracks, as a first step, from all the majors, as well as local and independent labels," said Sony Ericsson's Martin Blomkvist, head of content acquisition and management.

A number of analysts have expected Sony Ericsson -- known for pioneering music phones through its Walkman-branded handsets -- to face increasing competition from Nokia, which recently started its own music store, and Apple's music-playing iPhone, which starts selling in Europe on Friday.

Sony Ericsson said it will sign agreements with different record labels and offer different music tracks depending on the market and mobile-phone operator preferences. It plans to share revenue with mobile-phone operators from the music downloads, as well as sales of computer games, ring tones and phone wallpapers.

The London mobile-phone maker is also making the content available in MP3 and Windows Media digital rights management, or DRM-enabled formats, meaning music can be used on other brand devices that are compatible with those technology standards.

While Sony Ericsson declined to say how much it will charge for music tracks, Mr. Blomkvist said the service will be "competitively priced" for each market, with consumers able to pay via their mobile-phone bill or a payment card.

"The current PlayNow service is set up in 29 countries and we have 100 revenue-sharing agreements in place," he said. "By adopting an open platform, we want to take down as many barriers as possible."

Sony Ericsson also unveiled three new handsets, including two new Walkman-branded music phones.

The W890 Walkman phone, which is capable of storing about 1,800 songs and includes an FM radio and a 3.2-megapixel camera, will be available in the first quarter of 2008. The more basic W380 model with 512 megabits of memory, FM-radio and a 1.3 megapixel camera will also be available early next year.

The company also launched the K660 mobile broadband phone, designed for Internet browsing, with a 2 megapixel camera.

by Daniel Thomas for WJC

Shazam sees mobile music services growth exceed 500%

Shazam announces enriched mobile music experience through agreements with AMG and LyricFind

San Francisco and London, 23 October 2007 – Shazam, the world-leading mobile to web music services provider today celebrates record growth by announcing an increase in end-user traffic of 500 per cent in the last five months. Currently registering one and a half million calls per week, Shazam’s service has gone from strength to strength and now boasts 11 million unique users. The company is launching services in 25 new countries giving it coverage across 45 markets in all major territories including the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and MENA. Consolidating its position as a pioneer in mobile music, Shazam also today announces strategic agreements with All Media Guide (AMG) and LyricFind to integrate the world’s leading rich music content to provide the ultimate mobile music experience.

The agreements, which are extensions to Shazam’s core service of music recognition will provide users with a host of rich information (including artist biographies, album cover art, reviews, pictures and lyrcis) on over 4 million tracks and artists. Using this information, music lovers will be able to discover, purchase and interact with music while on the move, all from one application on their mobile phone. They will also be able to manage their historical discoveries, access track charts, purchase follow-on products and share their musical findings with their friends.

Mobile operators are also expected to benefit, with artists and record labels marketing music through mobile operators rather than through more traditional channels, as was the case with Prince’s decision to release his first single from Planet Earth in North America exclusively with Verizon in May 2007 which utilised Shazam’s music recognition services. As operators look towards offering richer content and media, services such as those provided by Shazam not only present operators with new revenue streams but also provide them with new ways of supporting creative entertainment. Shazam’s agreements with AMG and LyricFind are an ideal case in point. Average monthly usage levels are expected to quadruple as a result of the agreements, giving operators the opportunity to benefit from higher revenues, greater customer loyalty and significantly reduced churn.

[read more in press release]
[photo by JoshMcConnell]

Storing Music Files Online is Illegal in Japan

A SERVIE letting people store their music online has been ruled an infringement of copyright by a Tokyo district court.

According to the Everyday Newspaper, the service run by an outfit called 'Image City' enabled the punter to store their CD in an off-site server. It could then be downloaded to a mobile phone when the customer was on the move.

However the cunning plan was attacked by the Japanese music copyright association (JASRAC) who claimed that it was an infringement of copyright. It has demanded that the service be switched off.

Image City claimed that the data on its servers belonged to the customer. They were not copying it for other people's use and therefore could do with it what they liked.

It seems that the Judge disagreed.

[via theInquirer]

Yahoo! Music launches lyrics service

Yahoo! Music announced a new licensing deal that will allow the download music service to also offer lyrics to hundreds of thousands of songs. Lyrics will be provided by Gracenote's database. The lyrics service will be incorporated into Yahoo! Music Search, Yahoo! Music Artist Pages, Yahoo! Music Top Songs, and Yahoo! Search.

When people typically look for lyrics online, they find a website that is offering the lyrics illegally. After all, even lyrics are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without prior approval. The new service by Yahoo! Music will be the first mass-market Web service to offer licensed lyrics.

This will indeed encourage viewing of licensed lyrics through Yahoo! Music. Some people find it a little hypocritical that Yahoo! still lists websites that show unlicensed lyrics. They may have a point.

[via geek.com]

UK Entrepreneurs Introduce a Free and Legal Online Music Service

If you cannot beat them, join them - but in a legal and lucrative way. That is what United Kingdom musician Peter Gabriel, entrepreneur Steve Purdham, and investor John Taysom have done regarding the multitude of people sharing music online.

In June, the entrepreneurs are scheduled to start operating an online music and advertising service, www.we7.com, where people may legally download music free-of-charge to share and play on MP3 players - provided they agree to listen to ads attached to the music for up to four weeks. The service - currently in the beta or testing stage - enables artists to receive royalties for their songs and advertisers to reach the Web 2.0 generation described as "a notoriously difficult audience to reach."

"In the 'can't pay,' ‘won't pay' digital world, where consumers expect ‘free' content, the idea of We7 is simple: artists get paid, music fans get free downloads and advertisers get heard," We7 CEO Purdham explains. "Also, under the battle cry of ‘Don't Steal It - We7 It', the We7 model removes a key driver of music piracy: cost."

Gabriel adds: "We7 provides artists - even across the more experimental or minority genres - with the opportunity to build a new source of income from their music. "Ad funded downloads are the way to provide free music to the consumer without depriving musicians of their livelihood."

We7 will graft short adverts onto the front of music tracks and albums based on consumer demographics, including age, location and gender, as well as preferences. The ads will remain attached to the tracks for up to four weeks so they are listened to repeatedly. Consumers who prefer ad-free tracks will have the option to purchase the music.

Everybody who signs up for We7 will also have the option to join the TasteMaker community to select their favorite music, including the music of new bands that according to community members deserves to be published. We7 members will therefore allow selected new artists to access more fans and earn royalties for their music.

[via iBLS]

College Web music service Ruckus gets $10 million

Ruckus, a free and legal digital music service for U.S. college students, said on Thursday it received $10 million in funding that it will use to expand the advertising-supported business.

The digital music service allows any U.S. student with a valid '.edu' e-mail address to join and download digital songs and movies legally. It says students from more than 900 schools nationwide have joined Ruckus since January.

Ruckus said this latest round of funding was led by two new investors, Anschutz Investment Co. and Columbia Capital. The company said the investment will be used to scale up the business, which has grown rapidly in recent months, and to develop additional services.

U.S. college students have been at the forefront of the digital music revolution, which took off in 1999 when Shawn Fanning, then a student himself, founded Napster, which allowed free but illegal downloading of digital songs. Though Fanning's Napster was eventually closed down by the legal action of major music companies, students turned to other services deemed illegal by the music industry.

Recent copyright infringement lawsuits by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on behalf of the music industry have focused on discouraging college students who use file-sharing services to download music illegally.

Ruckus, which has nearly 3 million songs and a range of full-length films in its service, also has affiliate deals with 120 U.S. colleges to provide services to their students.

As well as helping its students avoid infringing copyright laws, U.S. colleges are eager to reduce excessive use of campus network bandwidth by Web-based file-sharing services popular with students. Napster Inc., a legal digital music service, also offers similar alliances with university campuses.

[via Reuters]