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Kurthanson.com Preview (Feb 29, 2008)DELCOLLIANO, CARNEGIE SET OUT TO "SAVE RADIO": Jerry DelColliano (with Jim Carnegie) has broken down his prescription for radio's ills into an 11-point, two-part story covered in RBR. Not surprisingly, most of the 11 items advise radio to accept the reality of a "new-tech" future, and do a far better job of preparing for it. Some gems Jerry offers: Build a multi-platorm brand ("1. Start by seeing radio under a larger umbrella" and "8. Develop the podcasting business"); A new way to avoid untenable recording royalties ("4. Start your own Internet-based record labels"); and Create new music formats online, not on HD ("6. Internet streaming" and "7. Unplug your HD equipment")...STRIKING A DEAL WITH LABELS MAY BE A SMARTER MOVE FOR RADIO: Rather than outright attacking music industry efforts for an AM/FM performance royalty, radio would be smart to broker a mutually-beneficial deal with labels on the matter. That's the opinion J.P. Hannan, CEO of the investment firm bearing his name (and Regent Communications board member)... FIND MUSIC "LIKE-MINDS" - PC WORLD REVIEWS JANGO: A PC World review in The Washington Post praises the social networking aspects of the Jango streaming service, which helps users discover new music by connecting them with like-minded music fans. The review says t he streams are somewhat limited (with "only 15,000 artists and 200,000 songs in rotation") but do operate within the legal confines of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Though Jango's "Take me to a station that happens to be playing [Song X]" feature makes us wonder.). Get the details on these stories, plus more news, in today's issue of RAIN, online now at http://www.kurthanson.com/ The Wires (Feb 29, 2008)Third-party stories are copyrighted by their respective owners. SDN has no affillition with these stories.Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- While cars will still have radios and, increasingly, satellite radios, the traditional radio could become a relic of generations past. I try to pass along trends that I see developing with my students at USC and I can assure you that nearly 100% of my students would like to drive a car with these features. You know they are not great radio fans. Many go through a laborious routine just to make their iPods work through their car radio. The SYNC system and future devices made in its image would be seamless. Since radio is an automobile with four wheels, the radio may soon be headed for the junkyard with the next generation USA Today: From Edward C. Baig -- Remember when a clock radio was just a clock radio? The prototypical alarm clock of the cyberage may well turn out to be Chumby, the cuddly and versatile new gadget I've been testing. This compact Wi-Fi-connected touch-screen Internet "appliance" does a lot more than wake you up. Chumby can broadcast Internet radio stations, deliver Facebook, MySpace and Twitter status reports, and serve as a digital picture frame Our Final Story of the Day (Feb 29, 2008)Our final story of the day is the news about Ryan Seacrest's new radio venture. That's it for SDN for the month of February. Goodnight.The Wires (Feb 28, 2008)Third-party stories are copyrighted by their respective owners. SDN has no affillition with these stories.Kurt Hanson: DIGITAL STARTUPS BEMOAN LABELS' "GOLDEN GOOSE KILLING SPREE": Why would record labels - starving for new revenue streams as their traditional business model crumbles - remain so antagonistic to potential business partners who may indeed be the industry's future? Online music entrepreneurs made their case at the Digital Music Forum in New York yesterday. Webcasters who've been trying to negotiate feasible licensing deals with SoundExchange since 2002 can certainly relate... APPLE NOW NATION'S #2 MUSIC RETAILER: Only Wal-Mart sells more music than Apple's iTunes store now, according to a new NPD study. Apple says it's sold over four billion songs - 20 million on Christmas Day 2007 alone. And while 5 million people bought music online in 2006, that number leapt to 29 million in 2007... RAMSEY: INTERNET NOT RADIO'S BRAND EXTENSION, IT IS THE BRAND: What's the point of building an online radio product that doesn't take advantage of online features and strengths? Not much, says radio analyst Mark Ramsey after a visit to an anonymous new Internet radio station headquarters. In his words: "For radio, the Internet is not a brand extension, contrary to conventional thinking. It is the new brand,"... MOONVES SAYS LATEST COST-CUTTING WILL HELP FUND CBS DIGITAL INITIATIVES: Last.fm posted a 92% increase in listening since the website inked deals to stream the catalogs of the Big 4 record labels, said CBS chief Les Moonves in the company's fourth-quarter earnings call. More directly, Moonves also said that CBS has created capital to invest in digital assets by cutting funds for smaller-market TV and radio... Randy Dotinga: Blind DJ brings blues to KSDS. Ted Herring is just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill jazz-station disc jockey who marries people and gives massages for a living even though he can't see. It's not exactly what he had planned. From Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- CD sales continue to tank. Online sales still cannot make up the difference. It makes sense to them to turn to their old friend -- the radio industry -- and make up the difference. Their argument is that radio gets free music from the labels (in spite of the ASCAP, BMI fees stations have always paid). Interesting that the labels didn't move to repeal the radio tax exemption until recently. Before that I guess radio was not getting a free ride or perhaps the labels were not as desperate. Unable to make their businesses grow and left to their own devices, the labels have to look elsewhere. This week the NAB and RIAA have rival forces descending on the Capitol to lobby lawmakers to see it their way. But I've been thinking... |