Makin’ Money with MP3tunes

I love MP3tunes and when they announced that they were expanding their service to include 1GB of free music storage I thought it was a brilliant move. The MP3tune service is pretty simple, give them $40 bucks a year and you can upload all the music you have into a virtual “locker”. They store it for you, give you the software to synch it with a bunch of computers and they do deals to make it available via an ever expanding list of interenet connected devices. Its musical goodness.

Friday Ends Russian MP3 Era

Hark, the end of the era of legally purchased MP3′s may be near. Tuesday Friaday could mark the end of AllofMP3.com as we know (and love) it. The service becomes subject to new rules dictated by Russian strong man Vladimir Putin on September 1st and the impact of these rules may result in sweeping changes for all Russian MP3 sites. While I’m no lawyer and I dont claim to understand the nuances of Russian Law, a cursory reading of the updated rules governing AllofMP3.com’s service seems to indicate that rights holders may have been given the right to individually license content to AllofMP3.com. Given all the rabid anti-AllofMp3.com FUD music industry mouthpieces have been spreading its unlikely they’ll offer any sort of licensing agreement and this would end sale of international content by the site.

Oh My God you gotta see OhMiBod…

This is just funny! A few months ago I posted about the iBuzz and today while tag surfing on WordPress I came across this post on bicyclefish. Its an funny, buzz worthy, amazing new product from the Suki LLC . The comedic potential of this product is tremendous especially with the plethora of attachments and accessories. This may very well be the words first social sex toy. The site encourages people to post their favorite iTunes playlists to share with others. The titles of the top 5 playlist on the site are:
#1 Music to hit a “Home Run”!
#2 Trip-Hop is the perfect beat to start or end your day!
#3 Can you feel it?
#4 The ultimate 3-some
#5 Hammerhead mix

Apparently I’m really late to this as its gotten a ton of press but the one question I have is, does the iPod supply enough power to really put the “O” OhMiBod? Do yourself a favor this morning and check out the pictures on their site. Its awesome!

Sony Buys Grouper, Turner Peddles Ads

Sony Pictures Entertainment announced today that they were buying Grouper.com, one of the 30 plus UGC video sites attempting to unseat YouTube as the King of crap collection. The deal puts $65 million in the coffers at Grouper and CEO, Josh Felser, gets to keep his job. They say they may move the company towards advertising in the future but have no current plans to change the sites model or structure. You can read the press release here or just marvel at the word-smithing of Grouper’s CEO below.

“When you pair Grouper’s innovative video sharing platform on the web and the desktop with Sony’s connected devices and copyrighted media you create a dynamic and exciting environment for consumers,” said Grouper CEO and co-founder Josh Felser. “We have an opportunity, as part of the Sony family, to bring together user-generated and copyrighted content across platforms and devices for the first time.”

Someone need to let Josh know that for the last 10 years user generated content has been little more then copyrighted content flying across platforms and devices without the permission of companies like, say, I dont know, SONY.

Suicide Watch: Music Industry Threatens Musicians

The ongoing saga of the music industries attempts at self-immolation, highlight what happens when luddite industries go digital. Everyone involved on the traditional side of the music industry seems to have become resistant to all forms of criticism, commentary and common sense. As the music industry continues its death march into irrelevance, it seems determined to antagonize every group it can, while it publicly implodes. The NY Times Puts it this way:

Now the industry is squaring off against a surprising new opponent: musicians.

According to this article in todays NY Times, several labels along with the music publishers union have been turned started to threaten sites that post, link to or allow users to post “guitar tabs”, info on where to put your fingers to play a certain song.

Timber! A Tower Falls, Labels to Follow

Its been coming for a few weeks now… In early August the LA Times reported (here or reg free here) that at least 3 labels had cut off Tower’s supply of overpriced plastic discs as a result of its failure to keep the checks flowing. Now, recently hired Tower CEO, Joseph D’Amico is making good on his promise to sell the company by declaring it bust and begging anyone with a checkbook and masochistic tendencies to take it off his hands. But dont worry the stores arent going to close since NARM thinks their swell and their bankers were willing to spot them $85 million. The full press release is here, my take on snippets of it are below. Check out the PDF’s of the various and sundry chapter 11 related fillings here.

Game Changing Gear

What makes certain gear game changing? First, it has to do something old in a new way. Second, its gotta be simple. Third, it has to chart a new direction. Memorex seems to have the right idea with the iFlip, a digital display device that instead of trying to be another iPod killer, is an ipod extender. Its a simple looking tool that does one thing, it lets you play your iPod videos on a better screen for a mere 200 bills. Sure its not perfect, screen resolution is passable but not stellar and the battery life is modest but it shows where things are going. Memorex could pop the same hardware into its TV sets and begin the process of cannibalising sales of its commoditized DVD’s with higher-margin digital products like a TV with iPod dock. its own lunch before someone else gets around to it. build the value of  of Storage is increasingly moving away from display Sweet. Smooches to the good folks at iLounge for the original posting with more info and images.

Summer Slut: A Digital Dominatrix is Born

I’m an old man. I dont pretend to know much about the younger generation but from what I summize, when your a sexy, gregarious 25 year old, hotly pursued by media moguls and rock stars, chances are your going to “get around”. While I’m loath to call someone a slut for have a healthy appetite the sheer number of partners one particular 25 year old has been partnering with is a bit shocking. And no I’m not talking about Paris Hilton. The 25 year old I have in mind year old I have in mind has done more partner swapping then Carmen Electra and has been with more tech industry “big boys” then Jenna Jameson. From film makers to gamers and Internet moguls this 25 year old seems to have dedicated this summer to getting into every niche and cranny of the digital world. A look back at the deals they’ve done reveals a lot about their approach to the digital space as well as their chances of success.

When Pundits Attack

(Image from Blaugh click image for full carton including funny caption)

Somethings in this world just make sense. You dont have to be told how or why, you just intuitively feel the rightness of it. My first encounter with ice cream inside a cone shaped cookie was one such a moment, melted cheddar on tuna between two slices of rye was another. Without explanation or commentary, these thing just made sense. The Long Tail, while not as moving an experience as the meeting of cream and cone, was another of those things that just made sense. But no sooner did Chris Anderson publish his tale of new markets, new models and new money then some print media hater chime in with a few barbed critiques aimed at souring what had been a pretty universal love fest for the book. What ensued over the course of the next several days was a somewhat less then epic battle of pundits with snippy comments and declarations of victory on all sides.

5 Reasons Social Media Will Kill Broadcast

Vlogs may never replace watching TV and newspapers may not buckle under the weight of blogs, but as the abyss of choice gets deeper, the move away from main stream media (MSM) as the primary content source will only accelerate. The collective output of erstwhile media consumers on blogs, vlogs, social bookmarking and photo sharing sites, along with a host of new online services, will in the next 5 years replace MSM as the dominant media form. Thats right I said it, in 5 years only aging boomers, people that believe Fox News is news and the “Buba’s” in the “fly over states”, will use MSM as their primary source for news and entertainment. US Media, my very own patent pending, copyrighted trademarked catchphrase, is the term I’m using for all the media that we make, revise or steal that others can then consume, remake, or steal. US Media is vastly superior to MSM in 5 key ways, none of which MSM believes are critical, and its along these axises that US Media will destroy MSM.