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07/30/2008

Sales at Sony BMG decreased 6% over the previous year "due to the continue decline in the physical music market worldwide not being fully offset by growth in digital product sales" according to Sony's latest earnings report. The division lost $42
million before taxes last quarter alone compared to a profit of $31 million in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. Best selling releases during the quarter included Usher's, Here I Stand, Leona Lewis' Spirit and Neil Diamond's Home Before Dark.

The decline left analysts scrambling to explain why Sony would still be in serious talks to purchase a controlling interest in the partnership from Bertlesmann. Does Sony really see future profits in recorded music or does it want to gut the operation to cut its losses more quickly?

07/30/2008

BREAKING NEWS: Rob Stevenson has been named to the President of Virgin US by Nick Gatfield, EMI Music’s new President, A&R, North America, UK & Ireland.

It is a turnaround for Stevenson, who ousted as EVP of A&R at Universal’s Island Def Jam in December 2007. Rob has a track record that includes signing Fall Out Boy, The Killers, The Bravery, Sum 41, Lady Sovereign, Saliva, Thrice and President of boutique label Stolen Transmission,a defunct joint venture label imprint with IDJMG.

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE:

“I’ve known and worked with Rob for several years during my time at Universal and have great respect his A&R instincts, creativity and business acumen. Rob’s track record speaks for itself: he’s been responsible for the breakout success of some of the world’s most exciting, original musical artists and I will depend on him to help me transform EMI’s approach to A&R” said Gatfield. “Rob shares my view that we must be fearless about embracing innovation and that we must work to create true partnership with artists.”

“When Nick offered me the chance to work with him again and to help reinvigorate a top music brand name like EMI, I couldn’t refuse,” said Stevenson. “I look forward to work with an exciting roster of established stars, and to take on an amazing opportunity to create Virgin as the most exciting place for artists to be. We’ll smash the model and break the rules and create true partnerships with creative talent.”

Rob Stevenson Bio

Rob Stevenson is one of the US music industry’s most successful A&R executives, having signed and develop a range of some of the world’s most original and successful new artists, including multi-platinum and award-winning Fall Out Boy, The Killers, whose first two albums have sold more than 12 million units worldwide, Sum 41, whose albums have sold in excess of 10 million globally, The Bravery and Lady Sovreign. Prior to his role as President of Virgin US, Stevenson was EVP for A&R at Island Def Jam. He was also President of Stolen Transmission Records, his joint venture label imprint with IDJMG. Before that, he held a variety of senior A&R positions at Universal Music Group, including VP of A &R at Island from 2002 to 2006, following two years as director in the department. He joined UMG’s Mercury Records as an A&R manager in 1998. Stevenson began his career at advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather.

Scott Francis Now Pres. Warner/Chappell
07/30/2008

Scott Francis has been named to the newly created position of President, Warner/Chappell Music, and Chairman and CEO, Warner/Chappell Music U.S. Francis, a veteran music publishing executive who previously served as President of BMG Music Publishing's BMG Songs North America division, will run WMG's U.S. music publishing operations as well as play a role in Warner/Chappell's global strategy. (press release)


唱片公司的桌面行銷工具
作者: Terry
華納音樂旗下的Atlantic Records推出了一個針對歌迷的桌面用戶端產品Fanbase（基於Adobe的Air開發），也可算得上是一種樂隊的新媒體行銷方法。

從用戶端本身來看，基本上可以算是一個桌上出版的樂隊官方網站，提供了樂隊的歌曲試聽、新聞和其它相關資料，也整合了像meebo的web聊天平臺用於歌迷的交互。此用戶端目前還只開放了Simple Plan樂隊。從體驗來說的確要比流覽官網強好多，只是需要下載安裝對使用者來說多少還是麻煩了些，從Simple Plan的平臺web聊天參與人數來看，目前是挺活躍的，用戶是真的喜歡還是圖一時的新鮮，還有待觀察。

Atlantic Partners With imeem, YouTube, BrightCove & Meebo
07/29/2008

Atlantic Records has launched an interactive desktop application powered by Adobe Air designed to connect artists and fans. Fanbase pulls content about bands from multiple sources into one central location. Fanbase includes a music player, video and chat, all design to encourage fan interaction. The application can be downloaded at AtlanticRecords.com, as well as the artists’ web sites.

To deliver Fanbase audio, Atlantic collaborated with imeem and through an integrated music player, Fanbase automatically captures the latest music from a given artist and delivers a streaming playlist. Video content is driven by YouTube and Brightcove and the chat feature is powered by an integrated Meebo chat window.

“Fanbase is a very cool way for our fans to connect to us directly from
their desktop,” added Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan. “The features on the
application are also a great way for the fans to connect with one
another as well. It’s been an awesome tool to help build our fan
community.”

“We’re always looking to elevate the experience and interaction our fans have with our artists,” said Eric Snowden Creative Director of Digital Media for Atlantic Records. “Through Fanbase we’re delivering that experience digitally, on-demand and in a manner that allows fans to create a much deeper connection with their favorite artists.”

New Search Engine www.Cuil.com Launched by Anna Patterson, an ex-Googler

Google面臨挑戰　搜尋引擎「Cuil」推出(2008/07/29 11:49)

網路搜尋引擎巨擘Goole面臨挑戰！一群由Google前員工28日正式推出了新的搜尋引擎──Cuil(音同「Cool」)，這個讀音跟「Cool」一樣的搜尋引擎，共同創辦人安娜派特森(Anna Patterson)宣稱Cuil搜索網頁內容是Google的3倍，而且可以出現更為精準的搜尋結果；對此，Google則不願發表評論。

您習慣使用的搜尋引擎是什麼？根據美國comScore市調公司調查，Google在美國的市佔率高達61.5%，雅虎為20.9%，微軟則只有9.2%；不過最近Google卻出現了強勁的對手，那就是──Cuil，由C-U-I-L4個英文字母所組成的搜尋引擎，發音念起來很像「Cool」。

共同創辦人派特森表示，她希望使用過這個搜尋引擎的用戶都可以感受到耳目一新，她又說，「我希望大家都能享受到這個搜尋引擎所帶來的方便。」

Cuil的搜尋目錄包含1200億網頁搜尋結果，頁面顯示方式也跟Google的水平排列不同，Cuil會顯示更多的圖片與文字，並且設計輔助問題，方便使用者找到更貼切主題的欄目，不至於找出一堆無意義的「垃圾資料」。

派特森認為Cuil最吸引人的一點就是「保護隱私權」，因為在Cuil搜尋過的字串不會保存在電腦記憶中。有趣的是Cuil創辦人以及設計團隊，許多成員都是從老東家Google出來的，新公司對上老東家能否挑戰成功？外界都在關注。

Anna Patterson
cuil.com

, an Xoogler(ex-Googler) who was once in charge of Google’s large search index project TeraGoogle, launched a new search engine http://www.cuil.cominvention/ in a bid to shake the dominance of her former employer on Monday. As a fervent Google user, I will not use Cuil (pronouced cool) as my major search engine any time soon (after all as a launch version, cuil has too much to improve), but its magazine-like format search results supplemented with relevant pictures in a 2~3-columned layout sure will may let me make it as an alternative of Google when I search for celebrities' pictures.

Screenshot of results yielding 0n Cuil.com when searching Miley Cyrus