☭ marselip0910 叶俊华™

(IFPI)
2008/10/22


Three Reasons AC/DC chose Wal-Mart.

2008/10/28


After a #1 UK debut, early sales put the new AC/DC "Black Ice" Wal-Mart exclusive on track to top the US charts with 800,000 first week sales. How did it do it and why did AC/DC choose Wal-Mart? These three grainy cell phone photos from the front aisle of Wal-Mart in rural Berlin, NH tell the story.

-------------------------------------------



imeem的冬天不好過
作者: Terry 2008/10/26

互聯網的冬天已然來臨，處於產業變革期的數位音樂企業的冬天就變得更冷了。尤其是對於還處於在探索商業模式階段的諸多互聯網音樂服務提供者。

剛剛度過版權難關的Pandora也在近日宣佈裁員14%準備過冬。而面臨Myspace新音樂平台上線競爭壓力的imeem日子就更不好過了，加上近期Facebook即將介入音樂服務的傳聞也愈演愈烈。

Pandora Cuts Staff 14%. Are More Layoffs Ahead?
2008/10/19

"This is a very sad day for Pandora, and for me personally. Today we reduced our staff from 140 to 120 employees. Like virtually every company, Pandora is not immune to the challenges presented by the current economic turmoil. We are trying to react quickly and responsibly to the new environment...

These layoffs come from what is by many measurements one of the more successful music start-ups. As founder Tim Westergren pointed out in the announcement, battles like royalty rates are almost behind the company.  But a bad economy is a bad economy; and Pandora is smart to conserve cash as it works toward profitablitiy. Expect more such announcements before the end of the year from across the music and tech sectors.

imeem在過去2年先後融資近5000萬美元，包括紅杉資本Sequoia Capital China、華納音樂集團等的投資，在今年夏季被估值為2億美元。該公司早前稱擁有註冊用戶3000萬，有1億用戶使用通過他們平台分發的Widget。

即便是這樣，跟Pandora一樣imeem也尚處於使用者發展和商業模式實踐階段，在這個寒冷的大環境下，不得不採取應對措施。imeem在上周宣佈裁員25%，官方稱目前其開發的工作量較以前有所下降，而外界同時傳聞其也在尋求買家，準備出售。imeem之前的改版做了非常大的調整，將焦點完全聚集在音樂的發現(搜尋)上。

Imeem is laying off 25% of its staff and looking for a buyer. (paidContent) Portfilio has a look at imeem's troubles as part of  the broader digital music landscape. (Portfolio) The consolidation which is being sped up by the poor global economy continues...

我也聽聞中國數位音樂領域企業也在早早著手準備，或許有人會覺得這有些誇張。再來看看EMI音樂集團公佈的資料，的確不容樂觀。EMI今年的CD銷售量下跌28%，而數位音樂增量僅有19%，唱片收入下降23%，版權收入增長僅2%，當然這狀況也跟EMI自身運營不善有關。

EMI Loss Hits $1.2 Billion. Can It Survive?
2008/10/27

EMI lost a whopping $1.2 billion in the financial year that ended March 31st dwarfing the prior year’s $455 million river of red. Revenue declined to $2.3 billion from $2.8 billion.

Some losses stem from restructuring after Terra Firma's takeover. But EMI underperformed its competitors using most benchmarks. CD sales at EMI fell 45% from 2005 to 2007 compared to an average market decline of 19%. EMI projected 51% revenue growth in digital saled and delivered 29% growth despite being the first to drop DRM.

“There should be no false expectations,” the report stated. “EMI cannot be turned around overnight.” It's hard to see how EMI can A&R its way out of this mess and survive while Hands & Co. restructure, but the company may have no choice. In normal times consoldation with WMG would now be rumored. But a gloomy global economy looms making it hard to imagine any investor saving Terra Firma by scooping up EMI's assets even at fire sale prices.

-------------------------------------------

音樂發行型式豐富的年代
作者: Terry 2008/10/26

要說CD市場衰退最大的受害者其實並非是唱片公司，而是CD發行和零售商，他們的飯碗都被砸了。像著名的唱片連鎖店Tower Records在2004年倒閉就是最直接的例證。或許我們都沒太在意，以前在我們周圍的音像商店也都一間間消失了，要想閒來去逛逛CD店也不那麼容易了。

唱片店慢慢的都轉向了網站式經營，線上電子商務的模式對使用者是要方便許多，商家的成本也減輕了，專輯預售等模式也更為容易操作了。只不過對部分音樂愛好者來說少了一份淘音樂的樂趣。

在這種階段下，音樂發行方式變得越來越多樣化，尤其是針對數位音樂，業界都在探索一種新的消費者認可的音樂發行方式。

以前連鎖超市、賣場也是主要的音樂CD零售商。現在像Wal-Mart、Tesco這些著名的連鎖超市除了在店鋪銷售外，都開始線上銷售CD和數位音樂。數位音樂發行除了iTunes、eMusic之類外，電信運營商也推基於手機的數位音樂零售服務。

SonyBMG的Musicpass採用發行專輯卡的方式銷售數位音樂。

Shoppers at 521 Winn-Dixie supermarkets in the US south can buy Sony BMG Premiun MusicPass download cards. (press release)

Sandisk搞了一套稱為Slot Music的數位音樂發行方案，期望用存儲卡的方式去取代CD發行。儘管它被不少人認為是愚蠢的創意。

SanDisk slotMusic: Do We Need These Little Things?
2008/10/16

The need to be attached to your computer to download music into your player is a pain (unless of course you do it over the air.) CD's are bulky (unless you rip them). But are these really problems in need of a solution - particularly a solution that is an entirely new format requiring an entirely new player?

SanDisk apparently thinks so and with its Sansa slotMusic microSD format and player they attempt to deliver an alternative. Let me admit that I have not spent any time with a player (if Sansa wants to send me one I promise a followup review), but I do know microSD cards. They are about the size of a nickle and just as easy to loose. The player looks tiny as well and at $20 is a real bargain when compared almost any mp3 player.  But here's the catch - there's no internal memory. 

It's often been said that the music industry was saved by the CD. Everyone who had a warn out album bought it again on CD.  slotMusic might be be cool for some, but it doesn't feel like a savior.
slotMusic debut artist line-up:

• ABBA
• Chris Brown
• Coldplay
• Connie Talbot
• Daughtry
• Don’t Quit Fitness Bundle
• Elvis Presley
• Five Finger Death Punch
• Jimi Hendrix
• Jimmy Buffet
• Katy Perry
• Keane
• Kelly Clarkson
• Kiss
• Leona Lewis
• Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Metro Station
• MIA
• Nelly
• New Kids On the Block
• Neyo
• Nickelback
• Pussycat Dolls
• Rihanna
• Rise Against
• Robin Thicke
• Saving Abel
• Shwayze
• Solange
• Sugarland
• Tim McGraw
• Toby Keith
• Usher
• Weezer
• Young Jeezy

數位音樂捆綁、預裝在手機和Mp3終端早已經不是新鮮事了。近日Dell與環球音樂卻聯合打算採用捆綁PC的方法發行數位音樂，真是有點意思。

雖然說發行方式相比CD時代來說變得更加多樣化了，然而這些方式似乎並不能有效刺激數位音樂的消費。看來只能怪數位音樂格式的複製、傳播和分享成本都要比以往所有介質更為低了。

Universal Bundles Music For Dell PC's
2008/10/24

As part of their move back into music, computer maker Dell and Universal have teamed to offer bundles of genre related tracks pre-installed on new Dell PC's.

The 50 song music bundles for $25 and 100 song for $50 includes a curated selection of MP3s priced at about half of the standard per $.99 track Initial Universal bundles include  #1 Songs, Afternoon Delight, Blues Masters, The Classics, Freshmen, Rock Titans, and and an exercise themed bundle Sweatbands & Leotards. The offering will be expanded and refreshed regularly. A similar offering bundles films.

-------------------------------------------

數位音樂調查顯示產業新氣象
作者: Terry 2008/10/23

根據最新的一份英國數位音樂消費者調查揭示的資料，可以看到一些有利於音樂產業的好趨勢。

非法下載的用戶數相比07年下降了10%，這其中最主要是受兩大因素影響。一是從07年開始ISP開始參與到反盜版的行列中，大多數用戶害怕他們的下載行為會被ISP監控。另一原因是提供正版免費下載和免費試聽的服務越來越多，52%的非法下載用戶認為沒必要再去下載盜版。

合法下載用戶數從07年的47%上升到56%。其中45歲以上和35-44歲的合法下載用戶分別上升了11%和8%，35歲以上的數位音樂消費者有40%以上每月都至少付費下載一次音樂。

社群網路加速了音樂的消費，68%的社群網路使用者經常通過SNS社區發現新音樂，其中Myspace高達83%，另外有50%使用者有推薦音樂人給社區的其它用戶。

報告同時也揭示了一些新的商機，稱有12%消費者願意付費線上觀看音樂現場演出，有34%消費者對去電影院觀看現場演出或者DVD首映感興趣。有26%消費者願意考慮通過他們的社會化網路主頁或者博客銷售音樂。

YouTube已經取代了Myspace的基於音樂的社會化網路平台的地位，41%的消費者認同Youtube，而認同Myspace的僅25%。這主要的原因是由於消費者對音樂視頻的興趣正在變得更濃。有47%消費者認為有音樂視頻的話他們更喜歡看音樂視頻，而有71%的用戶認為官方的音樂視頻是最有價值的數位內容。還有71%用戶稱在Youtube能找到他們所有想要的音樂視頻。

儘管在中國對非法下載的壓制力度沒有那麼大，但從今年開始湧現免費正版的服務，例如Google的音樂搜索，也將逐步改變以前的狀況。傳聞百度音樂搜索和1Ting也均在著手解決版權問題。與國外不同的是，SNS社區中以音樂作為重心發展的並不多見，被消費者認可為新音樂發現價值的就更少了。音樂視頻方面就更別提了，在土豆這些視頻網站上，排行榜80%以上的內容被影視等內容佔據。

-------------------------------------------

水星逆轉 Mercury Rev專輯“Strange Attractor”
作者: Terry 2008/10/22

Mercury Rev的新專輯“Strange Attractor”也沿用了Radiohead的做法，提供160K的mp3免費下載，只需要提供你的郵箱地址即可。從這些音樂家的線上行銷活動來看，歌迷的email列表是他們管理歌迷的最基本也是最重要的資源。