Yahoo! Music With New MP3 Offer

 

Following the release in DRM-free MP3 download of the Jessica Simpson single, Yahoo! Music has signed a deal with Hollywood Records (a division of Disney) to sell Jesse McCartney’s new album, “Right Where You Want Me” in the same restrictions free format.

The news has sparked again the recurrent debate about the future of digital music sales and the adoption of restriction free formats by digital distributors. Analysts seem to agree that these recent moves form Yahoo! Music are in a still very early stage and that any outcome is too weak as an example to extrapolate. In fact, only if big portions of mainstream catalogue were readily available in MP3 format and not only a few tracks is that trends could be determined.

In a recent debate we conducted in our Blog (link here), readers were very much divided on the DRM non-DRM subject. While some did defend the DRM free model, many said they didn’t have a problem with the current services they have been using, although there seemed to be a few users that used a larger collection of music encoded from their CD collection rather than buying on line often.

Protection Cracked

 

Only one day passed after the updated version 7 of iTunes got online with a more secure DRM than ever before and already several sites have posted links to software QTFairUse that unlocks the protection.

The creators of the software claim that they are not endorsing piracy or illegal usage of the songs bought via iTunes, but rather allowing consumers that paid for their songs to use them openly across all formats and not only within the Apple environment.

It seems that no matter what steps are taken to better protect legal downloadable tracks, hackers are one step ahead. Just recently the latest Windows DRM system was cracked and a link to it is easily available online.

We’re Back!

 

Dear reader, we know you missed us! We made a short two week break from this blog and – as promised – are back with the latest on the digital music market.

September started very well here at Cyberextazy. We have been busy preparing for the Christmas CD and DVD release and a profound wave of restructuring is sweeping our team, now that on the digital front there are great news in the pipe-line! But let’s not jump ahead of ourselves. As Sir Humphrey from the BBC series “Yes, Minister” used to say: “At the appropriate juncture, when the time is ripe”, it will be made public.

In the mean time, I’m back at my desk. Two other bloggers will be joining me shortly here and the three of us will create two more blogs from Cyberextazy: one in Portuguese and one in Spanish. That will cover the territories considered strategic by our company. The digital music revolution is here, and it’s here to stay.

Be sure to come back to these pages!

Tyler on Patience

“And the things that come to those that wait may be the things left by those that got there first.”
Steven Tyler

Perish The Thought!

 

I don’t want my body to be a distraction from my talent or my brain.
Shania Twain

Ringtones in MTV’s Video Music Awards

 

MTV’s Video Music Awards have a new category this year. For the first time ever the “Ringtone of the Year” will be awarded. Nominees are The Black Eyed Peas for “My Humps,” Bubba Sparxx for “Ms. New Booty”, Fort Minor for “Where’d You Go”, Nelly for “Grillz” and Kanye West for “Golddigger”; the top-selling ringtones of 2006 in the United States.

Questioned about the inclusion of a sound-only category in a videos award show, senior producer for wireless at MTV, Michael Scogin, insisted it makes sense: “Ringtones are a big part of the music industry now,” Scogin says. “Artists sell hundreds of thousands of ringtones before they release a video, single or CD, so we’d be missing out if we didn’t have it in there.”

Scogin also believes the industry will shift from ringtones to watchtones, a ringtone that also features video, a format already gaining popularity.

Source: NY Post