Friday's Music 2.0 Briefing: REAL Action, Live Nation, EchoNest & More
HYPEBOT FEATURES:
- Is DRM dead? Some in the music industry think its poised for a comeback.
- UK trade group AIM has issued a Digital Copyright Manifesto.
- MySpace goes viral in partnership with Yahoo, Twitter and others.
- Microsoft sends indie labels an unexpected "Zune Bonus" check
- DIGITAL NARM coverage: Day 1, Day 2
> RealNetworks shared first quarter financial reporting a decline in profit as operating expenses increased. Revenues for the quarter rose 14% in large part because of a $61M payment on an antitrust settlement from Microsoft.
- Real also announced plans to spin off and perhaps IPO its games division. (paidcontent)
> Live Nation reports a $35 million first quarter loss to Wall Street. (Billboard, press release pdf)
> Last.fm who signed a deal to power AOL Radio in the US last year is now doing the same in the U.K. France and Germany.
> This year's class of music and music industry students are set to join an "industry in turmoil." (Financial Times)
Echonest has launched "Recommend", an API that helps music services personalize their websites to each visitor's unique music taste. Any music website - bloggers, social networks, Internet radio or retailers - can access the Recommend API in both free and paid versions. (press release)
