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Posts Tagged ‘Music Labels’

HootSuite upgrades platform, joins crowded social tracking and managing space

Social networking navigation platform HootSuite announced today that it has again decided to expand the functionality of its service to accommodate the growing popularity of social networking by tracking as well as managing social specific campaigns.

HootSuite started as just a navigation tool for Twitter, but quickly spread to additional social networking platforms like Facebook. The company recently announced the addition of LinkedIn and scheduling status updates to be pushed to various social platforms using Ping.fm, a quick way to push an update to all of social networking sites.

HooSuite’s upgraded platform gives users the ability to not only develop and push social messages to social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn all from one location, but also allows them to gain a better understanding of the audience that the messages are reaching. The company is calling the upgraded features a “Social CRM” tool and says it is targeting marketers, news networks and music labels looking to have a better understanding of its online audience and be able to track multiple campaigns. More specifically, the tool will look at the audiences influence, reach, activity levels and what techniques work best to interact with the social influencers who might follow a company and digest its messages.

The upgraded features also give insight into which messages are resonating best through tracking URLS using Ominture and Google Analytics, analytic tools that can track link usage and give added insight into outreach. Through this, marketers might be able to tweak and update outgoing messaging as well as prep for responses to tracked customer online responses.

HootSuite is entering a well-funded and saturated market of companies offering tracking and managing services. Just last month, social media marketing company Sway landed $2 million to launch its Shoutlet platform to help marketers figure out which social campaigns are working best. In addition, Visible Technologies recently grabbed $22 million in fourth round funding to continue to promote its TruCast platform that’s also helps marketers track and manage social campaigns.

While HootSuite claims its differentiators are features targeted for marketing campaigns used by multiple users across several networks through desktop and mobile applications, the reality is that the majority of the competitors in the space offer the same features, including the recenlty funded companies above.

Based in Vancouver, HootSuite was founded in 2008 by Invoke Media and is used by popular companies such as Dell, Disney, the NBA and FOX, according to its website.

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OpenID Ends 2009 With 1 Billion Users

At the close of a whiz-bang year, OpenID has a lot to be proud of.

With a community of 9 million sites that use OpenID logins and 1 billion individual users, OpenID has effectively revolutionized the way we are able to create and maintain portable identities. Best of all, it’s not just bloggers and geeks who sang OpenID’s praises: The U.S. federal government got on board this year, too.

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OpenID accounts are enabled by such providers as AOL, Blogger, Flickr, Google, LiveJournal, MySpace, Verisign, WordPress and Yahoo with announcements of upcoming OpenIDs from Microsoft and PayPal. Sites that allow users to login with OpenID range from major retailers and music labels to news organizations and social sites.

As for the government, at the Gov 2.0 Summit in Washington, DC, earlier this year, the General Services Administration and several government agencies announced they would adopt OpenID as part of the White House’s Open Government Initiative. Participating companies included Yahoo!, PayPal, Google, Equifax, AOL, VeriSign, Acxiom, Citi, Privo and Wave Systems. On the government side is the Center for Information Technology (CIT), National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and related agencies.

Not only is the government’s involvement a vote of confidence for OpenID’s innovation; it also speaks to the product’s security progress, which was spearheaded by security committee head and PayPal exec Andrew Nash.

In addition to developing and spreading the OpenID product, there’s also the OpenID Foundation, which appointed its first executive committee, including Chris Messina and Don Thibeau, in 2009.

Portable identity is one of our favorite themes from this year, and we applaud what OpenID has been able to accomplish. What do you look forward to seeing from the product, the foundation and OpenID partner sites in the year to come? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Discuss

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Google Launches New Music Search Feature: Partners with MySpace, Lala, Gracenote and Others

Google has just announced the launch of Google Music. This new service is powered by Lala and MySpace’s iLike. Other partners include Gracenote, iMeem, Pandora and Rhapsody. Google has also partnered with the major music labels: EMI, Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music. Through Lala and iLike, Google will also be able to feature music from a large number of independent labels. This new service will be available only in the US for now and will be integrated in the default search results page.

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Rumors about the impending launch of Google’s music initiative flared up last week when members of the press received invitations to an event in Los Angeles that was going to feature both iLike and Lala (not to mention “members of Linkin Park”). Users could already use the parameter “music:” to bring up Google’s music search, though Google never promoted it, and this old feature didn’t include the ability to stream music right on the page.

What Will This New Feature Look Like?

In this new implementation, users can’t choose between the Lala or iLike widget. Instead, Google will randomly decide which widget a user sees. This gives Google the option to switch between services and to include other services in future as well.

Buy Songs from Rhapsody – See Lyrics from Gracenote

Underneath the music onebox results, Google will feature links to its other partners, like Rhapsody and iMeem, where users will be able to purchase MP3s.

Google’s partnership with Gracenote also allows it to show lyrics in the search results now. As Marissa Mayer pointed out in today’s announcement, finding lyrics is still very hard on Google. Now, users can type lyrics into the default search box and Google will return results from the music search feature, and users can play the song right on the search results page.

Big Winners: Lala and MySpace

The big winners here are obviously Lala and MySpace/iLike. For Lala, this has been an especially busy period. Just last week, Lala announced a partnership with Facebook. It now powers Facebook’s music gifting service.

iLike has a traditional streaming model. The company streams some song full length and some as 30-second samples. Users can buy MP3s from iLike for between $0.99 and $1.29. MySpace bought iLike earlier this year, and the widget on the Google search results page will be MySpace-branded.

Lala’s business model is more interesting. Users can stream every song on the service once for free. After that, customers can buy the right to stream it for $0.10 or buy the MP3 for $0.89. Users can also upload their own music library to Lala and then stream those songs freely over the Internet.

How important this move is for the two streaming music services becomes clear when we look at the current traffic data for music-related searches on Google.

What Does Google’s Current Music Traffic Look Like?

Hitwise’s Heather Dougherty took a close look at Google’s music traffic earlier today. According to Hitwise’s data, about 6% of last month’s top 1000 search terms on Google were music-related. In total, Google sent about 1.48% of its traffic to music sites. The majority of these searches (15.32%) lead to a Wikipedia site, but almost 10% currently go to YouTube, 5.7% to Yahoo Music and 3% to MySpace.  Now that users can listen to music right from the search results page, these services – including Google’s own YouTube – will likely see a drop in music-related traffic over the next few weeks.

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New Google Music Service Launch Imminent

Google will soon launch a music service in partnership with the major music labels, we’ve heard from multiple sources, and the company has spent the last several weeks securing content for the service from those labels. One source has referred to the new service as Google Audio.

We’re still gathering details, but our understanding is the service will be very different than the Google China music download service that they launched in 2008. That service, which is only available in China, allows users to search for music and download it for free.

This new service will be available for at least U.S. users, our sources confirm, although it isn’t clear if it’s a download or streaming service, or both. Google already has a decent (if little used) music search engine that can be accessed by simply typing “music:” before a query (example). But songs are not available for streaming or download from those searches.

We’ll update as we get more details.

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MySpace Music Rolls Out A Sleek, More Interactive Homepage

MySpace may not be the leader in the social networking space anymore, but its free music streaming site, MySpace Music, has been growing fast. Which is why it’s not surprising that the social network is continuing to improve on this popular product. Today, it appears that MySpace Music has launched a new version of its homepage with UI redesign and several new features (we’ve confirmed with the company that that the redesign is new).

The new homepage is more visually appealing, with images of artists and bands front and center on the page and a sleek. modern interface. The site also features a “What’s Hot” section above the fold, which are the highest streamed arists’ and videos on the platform. Users can also create and share playlists on the homepage that are mixed in with artists’ playlists.

Another interactive section of the site is the karaoke section which lets MySpace Music users upload and share karaoke videos of their favorite artists. And MySpace is aggregating breaking music news, concert listings and new artists mentions into the homepage design.

All in all, the redesign is an improvement from the original homepage, which needed a bit of a makeover. Plus, MySpace has added a number of features that make the site more engaging to users. MySpace Music launched last fall, and has grown its traffic by 190%, according to Nielsen. New MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta expressed concern recently of whether users know that MySpace Music is a destination for music or not, and perhaps this redesign is a way to make the site standout more as a music destination. Earlier this year, MySpace unveiled a new executive team for MySpace Music (which is a joint-venture with some major music labels and thus an independent entity) and improved several of its features on the site. MySpace also recently acquired iLike, a social network based around music. In the announcement, Van Natta said there were no plans to introduce music streaming from MySpace Music into iLike, but te two businesses would work together to grow the event ticketing business.

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This Is Quite Possibly The Spotify Cap Table

Hot European music startup Spotify is back in the news today. On August 4 we broke the news that the big music labels have secretly been shareholders in the company since 2008, and that they paid roughly the same price for their preferred stock as venture capital investors Northzone Ventures and Creandum paid last year.

Now, though, Swedish news site ComputerSweden is reporting that those music labels actually got their stock for free. “Sony BMG, Universal Music, Warner Music, EMI and Merlin…bought at the time in to Spotify – for a pittance. They received 18 percent of the shares in Spotify barely 100 000 kronor,” (about €10,000) says the report. Metro Teknik has also picked up on the story.

We don’t believe that report is correct based on our sources that say that the labels paid roughly the same price as the venture investors for that stock.

And we have now obtained that unverified capitalization table information, reportedly based on a filing in Luxembourg where the company is headquartered, showing the various ownership positions of the major Spotify shareholders, including the prices paid for the stock.

We have reason to believe this is largely or completely accurate based on information it contains that we independently obtained from a separate source and have not previously published. With one exception – either the report inaccurately shows investments by labels as 1/1000 of their real amount (meaning three 0’s need to be added), or the report excludes most of these investment amounts.

Here’s the cap table:

Shareholders in Spotify on 10/7 2009
Bolag Andel
Rosello (Lorentzon) 28,6%
Instructus (Ek) 23,3%
Northzone Ventures 11,9%
Enzymix Systems (F. Hagnö) 5,8%
Sony BMG 5,8%
Universal Music 4,8%
Warner Music 3,8%
Wellington IV Tech 3,8%
Creandum II LP 3,5%
Swiftic (Strigéus) 2,6%
Creandum II KB 2,4%
EMI 1,9%
Merlin 1,0%
SBH Capital (B. Hagnö) 0,8%

df
Riskkapitalbolagens investeringar
Northzone 8 miljoner euro
Creandum 4 miljoner euro
Wellington 6,5 miljoner euro
Li Ka-shing 20 miljoner euro*

* enligt Financial Times
How much the labels paid for their shares.
Sony BMG – 2 935 euro för 6 procent av aktierna.
Universal Music – 2 446 euro för 5 procent av aktierna.
Warner Music – 1 957 euro för 4 procent av aktierna.
EMI – 980 euro för 2 procent av aktierna.
Merlin* – 490 euro 1 procent av aktierna.

This cap table shows founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon with 23.3% and 28.6% of the stock, respectively, for a total of 51.9% of the fully diluted stock of the company. The four big labels plus indie aggregator Merlin own a total of 17.3%, and paid an aggregate of €8.8 million for that stock.

Or, they paid €8,808 for that stock, which is what ComputerSweden is reporting.

Based on all previous information that we’ve received about the company from sources, including additional discussions with people close to the company this evening, the aggregate investment by labels was €8.8 million.

If the labels didn’t pay for the stock, all those previously sourced numbers are incorrect, which we think is highly unlikely.

The new round of financing, from Wellington Partners, Li Ka-Shing and additional strategic partners (Based on the cap table above, Spotify has already closed on the Wellington portion of that deal) will be $50 million or so, at valuation of $250 million (yes, I know I’m mixing currencies, but the numbers are all roughly working out). Most of that, or about €26.5 million, may be accounted for.

The key takeaway from this is that the founders have done an excellent job of raising a big bucket of money while retaining control of the company, and they are one of the very few music startups to actually get real cash from the labels.

My esteemed colleagues see some big holes in the Spotify story, but there is clearly a lot going right with this company, too. The real hurdle is making the model work, meaning they have to generate real advertising and premium revenues to offset big royalty streaming payments to the labels.

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Are Apple And The Music Labels Mixing Holiday “Cocktails” On The Tablet?

An interesting report hit the Financial Times today, indicating that Apple is working with all of the major music labels on a way to boost album sales. But the report is confusing in a number of regards, and is propelling new rumors that Apple’s new large form iPod touch, or tablet (which itself is naturally still a rumor, though an increasingly likely one), could be rushed to be out in time for the holidays — this year.

But let’s take a step back for a second here. FT seems to go back and forth between tying this new Apple/music label effort, which is apparently code-named “Cocktail”, with this new device. At first, it indicates that it’s separate (emphasis mine):

The talks come as Apple is separately racing to offer a portable, full-featured, tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season, in what the entertainment industry hopes will be a new revolution.

But it goes on to say (emphasis mine):

The device could be launched alongside the new content deals, including those aimed at stimulating sales of CD-length music, according to people briefed on the project.

Okay, except that it then goes on to say (emphasis mine):

The labels and Apple are working towards a September launch date for the project, which aims to boost interest in albums by bundling liner notes and video clips with the music.

So the Financial Times seems to be both suggesting that Apple’s tablet is closely tied to this new Cocktail project, which could launch in September. Or, the tablet is a separate project and will launch in time for the holiday shopping season (typically late November). Of course, reports last week had Apple working hard just to get the tablet device done for Q1 2010. So what gives?

Here’s what it sounds like is happening. The music industry people that FT talked to are excited about the prospects of their new project with Apple, but they’re even more excited about this new tablet device. As I’m reading it, project Cocktail sounds pretty ho-hum by itself (um, liner notes as an incentive, again, really?), but this is the key part:

Consumers would be able to play songs directly from the interactive book without clicking back into Apple’s iTunes software, executives said.

So it sounds like project Cocktail could offer special functionality that may be optimized for this tablet (and perhaps the iPhone and iPod touch). And so that’s why they’re probably talking up the new device, which they may or may not have even seen, as is indicated by the FT report still not knowing the actual screen size.

All of this is also interesting because it’s Apple apparently working closely with the record labels — two sides which have had plenty of disagreements in the past. And this seems to be all about album sales, something which you could easily argue that iTunes is responsible for hurting with its per-track structure.

But the labels just recently got their way and forced Apple to up the price of many songs on iTunes. At the same time, album prices largely stayed the same (though some went up). So now it appears that the labels also want to make more off of albums, by not only giving users a reason to buy them, but I would imagine also charging more for these special Cocktail albums.

But will it work? From the way this story reads, it seems like it may be contingent on this new Apple device. I don’t know about you, but I could care less about liner notes that the albums on iTunes already have. If anything, I’d prefer not to get them, as they just clutter up my music library. And iTunes already has plenty of “special” versions of albums that have bonus music videos and other goodies. So unless this story is about nothing, it would seem that FT just isn’t describing Cocktail very well for the most part, and instead we should look to the description of it as a highly interactive experience for music.

But then the report jumps back to being about the tablet — and it reads like the device will matter more for movies, than music:

The entertainment industry is hoping that Apple, which revolutionised the markets for music players and phones, can do it again with the new device.

“It’s going to be fabulous for watching movies,” said one entertainment executive.

Or maybe books:

Book publishers have been in talks with Apple and are optimistic about their services being offered with the new computer, which could provide an alternative to Amazon’s Kindle.

In all likelihood, Apple is probably targeting all three (music, movies and books) with the new device, but it’s hard to follow here.

Most importantly, how likely is it that we’re going to see such a device in just a couple of months? Probably not too likely.

[photos: flickr/ginsnob and TECHcocktail]

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MySpace Music Appears To Be A Hit, Increases Traffic Tenfold Year-Over-Year

MySpace may not be the hottest thing in social networking any longer, with visitor numbers and page views decreasing at an alarming rate, but apparently its free music streaming service MySpace Music is still something of a hit.

According to Nielsen data (PDF) for June 2009, traffic to MySpace’s music subdomain has grown 190% since its launch in September 2008 and year-over-year traffic to the URL has increased a staggering 1,017%. This traffic includes at least one visit by our own MG Siegler, who was happy to learn Pearl Jam’s new single premiered exclusively on the service.

New MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta may be convinced users are not sure if the service is a destination for music or not, but if these numbers are correct it would make sense for him and the recently announced executive team for MySpace Music (which is a joint-venture with some major music labels and thus an independent entity) to dedicate a good deal of attention to it. Not that they’re haven’t been doing that up until now – in fact we mentioned earlier that the service has much improved since its unveiling and according to a recent Telegraph article the service is slated for a September launch in the UK.

Going back to the Nielsen report, the estimated 190 percent increase in traffic since the service’s debut translates to growth from 4.2 million unique visitors to 12.1 million in June 2009, with traffic to the subdomain having increased 1,017 percent year-over-year. When comparing unique visitors for MySpace Music to other sites within the music category, it ranked third only behind AOL Music and Yahoo! Music but ahead of other popular music sites like MTV Networks Music, MSN Music and Pandora.

According to Nielsen, people between the ages of 12 and 17 were 2.4 times more likely than the average active Internet user to visit MySpace Music on the subdomain. Visitors between 18 and 24 were 2.2 more likely than the average Internet user to visit the site in June.

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