Rock Band music sales close to early iPod music sales

MTV's Rock Band video game continues to fly off the shelves, but more importantly for the music industry the game resulted in more than 6 million song downloads since its launch on November 20, 2007. (Hypebot)

Orchard Losses Jump Even As Revenue Doubles

The Orchard posted a 99% jump over previous year revenue in the 4th quarter of 2007, but losses also grew from $1.4M to $2.4M as gross profit margins fell 34% to 25%. For 4Q 2007, Orchard revenues were $9.9 million, compared to $4.9 million for 4Q 2006, an increase of 99%. These results for 2007 reflect $1.1 million of revenues from Digital Music Group from the 11/17 merger through December 31, 2007.

Rolling Stones Roll Into eMusic; Abkco Deal Quietly Emerges

The Rolling Stones have now landed on eMusic, a quiet deal catching only modest attention Thursday. eMusic subscribers now have access to the entire Rolling Stones catalog spanning 1964-1970, available as MP3s. That includes famous albums Let It Bleed, Beggars Banquet, and Aftermath, as well as indelible classics like "Paint It, Black," "Satisfaction," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," and a laundry list of others. (Digital Music News)

DeWolf: MySpace Actively Talking to Independents

A ramped-up MySpace Music will include participation from the independent label sector, according to information offered by MySpace chief executive and cofounder Chris DeWolf on Thursday. "They will definitely be involved in it," DeWolf told Digital Music News. "We are actively reaching out to different groups that are representing independent labels," the executive continued, though specific companies were not disclosed. "Independent artists are what helped us get started," DeWolf indicated. (Digital Music News)

Sony BMG, Warner Music Downloads Missing at Wal-Mart

Songs from a larger number of Sony BMG and Warner Music Group artists are now unavailable from Wal-Mart's online music store, potentially the result of a licensing impasse between the parties. One source tied into the situation pointed to show-stopping disagreements related to the licensing of DRM-free content. (Digital Music News)

Napster Q4 Revenue Hits $31 Million

Shares of Napster Inc. jumped Thursday after the online music retailer said it expects its revenue for the fiscal fourth-quarter, which ended March 31, totaled about $31 million, beating analysts' predictions. The company's revenue totaled $29.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Napster also said its subscriber base rose to about 760,000 by the end of March. (Billboard, Digital Music News)

iTunes Store Top Music Retailer in the US

Apple announced that its iTunes Store surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the US, based on the latest data from the NPD Group. The iTunes Store became the largest music retailer in the US based on the amount of music sold during January and February 2008. (Ars Technica, LA Times, PR)

MySpace and Record Companies Create Music Site

As part of the deal, MySpace will spin out its popular MySpace Music service as an independent joint venture in partnership with Universal Music, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group. EMI, the fourth major label, is not a part of the deal at this time, but people involved in the negotiations said it would probably join soon. The music companies will own minority stakes in the venture and will make their entire music catalogs available. (NY Times, LA Times, Financial Times, Business Week, Billboard, AP, PaidContent, PR)

Why Steve Jobs wants to sell you a music subscription

Why is Apple suddenly in talks with record labels about bundling an unlimited music plan with new iPods, after resisting such a move for years? Steve Jobs has scoffed at music subscriptions in the past, saying customers want to "own their music." Never take Steve at his word: For years, he shot down the idea of iPods with video or an Apple-branded cell phone — until he made them happen. The same is about to happen for music subscriptions — but not because Jobs has suddenly changed his mind about consumers' tastes. (Valley Mag)

Rockstar and Amazon bring digital music distribution to GTA4

Rockstar's soon-to-be-released Grand Theft Auto 4 has the potential to be one of the biggest titles of all time. Looking to cash in on that potential, Amazon and Rockstar Games have teamed up to create an interesting new aspect of the game that will leverage the ever-increasing bond between gamers and music: Grand Theft Auto 4 is set to include a unique new model for digital music distribution: gamers will be able to buy music for their iPods, PCs, and other devices in-game. (Ars Technica)

Paying the Piper

Independent musicians express skepticism about industry idea to levy internet fee to pay for music. After Portfolio.com reported that Warner Music Group was exploring the idea of adding a monthly fee to consumers' internet-access bills to pay for music downloads, the digital music community rose up to ask: What about us? "It's the talk of the industry right now," Phil Crosland, the marketing chief of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, said. (Portfolio)

Radiohead Launches Song Remix Contest with iTunes

Radiohead has partnered with Apple's iTunes Store to give fans the ability to create their own remix for their new single "Nude," offering the separate vocal and instrumental parts of the song for download from the online store. Finished songs may then be uploaded to RadioheadRemix.com, where the public will vote on them; users may also place voting widgets on their own websites that will count in the final tally. (Digital Media Wire)

Universal Music Invests in Digital Distributor INgrooves

Universal Music Group announced on Tuesday that it has made a strategic investment in digital music distributor INgrooves, and will partner with the company to distribute music. San Francisco-based INgrooves recently served as the exclusive digital distributor for Dolly Parton's "Backwoods Barbie" album, and also provides distribution and marketing services for partners including ESL Music, VP Records and Stones Throw Records. (Digital Media Wire, PR)

SpiralFrog™ Signs Agreement with Warner/Chappell Music

SpiralFrog, the free ad-supported, Web-based music experience, and Warner/Chappell Music, the global music publishing arm of Warner Music Group Corp., announced an agreement to make the company’s catalog of music compositions available to complement SpiralFrog’s growing roster of audio and video content. (PR)

Buzznet Gets Investment From Interscope-Universal Music; Buys Stereogum; Acquisitions Coming?

Pop culture-focused social media site Buzznet, based in Los Angeles, has raised a big-ish third round of funding, as much as $25 million, we have learned, and that Universal Music-owned Interscope has invested a few million in it. A source close to the company tells us that Qloud, the music application maker backed by Steve Case, has been sold to Buzznet for a “little over their last round valuation. Qloud makes the “My Music” application on Facebook (with similar products on Bebo, Friendster, and hi5), which has 1.8 million installed users. (PaidContent, Mashable)

iTunes Competitors: We're Number 2! No, We're Number 2! (AMZN, AAPL)

Amazon's MP3 store, launched last fall, is now number two behind iTunes, says USA Today. No way, says eMusic CEO David Pakman: We're in second place -- just like we've always been! There's no way to actually referee the dispute, because USA Today isn't playing fair: It doesn't actually provide any sales or market share numbers for Amazon. Instead, Pakman says on his blog, reporter Jefferson Graham called the four major labels and asked them who their second biggest digital retailer was, and they said Amazon. (Silicon Alley Insider, USA Today)

eMusic: Apple's bundled-music device would be anticompetitive

Apple is in for a fierce legal fight should it ever release a device that offers all-you-can-eat music, according to David Pakman, CEO of rival digital music service eMusic. "It smells like classic Sherman Antitrust Act to me," Pakman said. "I only know what I've read but the plan sounds very similar to the tying practices Microsoft used with Windows/Explorer. And Microsoft is still paying the penalties for that one." (News.com)

Chesky Launches High-Resolution Download Store

"I thought starting an audiophile record label was hard," Chesky Records co-founder Norman Chesky told Stereophile. "That was nothing compared to this. We've spent three years developing HDtracks." HDtracks has now "soft launched" for PC and Mac, and it's impressive. There's no digital rights management (DRM) and downloads of CD-sourced material can be purchased as full-resolution FLAC or AIFF files. HDtracks also offers 320kbps MP3 files. (Stereophile)

Apple Bundle Math

When doing the math and trying to decide if $20 or $80 or whatever is a good deal for an Apple-and-music bundle, a few things need to be in the calculations. First is the classification -- download versus tethered download. Big difference in revenue and royalties. The former is an unlikely scenario. The latter is a better guide to how the upfront fees would be disbursed. (Coolfer)

Sony BMG, Warner Near Deal With MySpace

MySpace's plan to launch a digital-music joint venture with the major record companies is picking up steam, as the social networking giant nears deals with Sony BMG and Warner Music Group, multiple sources familiar with the situation told The Post. The agreements could be signed as soon as this week. The service is expected to launch later this year. (NY Post)