Crisis averted: music royalties stay the same!
A few days ago, our friends over at Appletell reported on a possible increase in royalty rates that could spell out a problem for iTunes, and possibly other digital music stores. A meeting took place on Thursday, and royalties were set on digital downloads and ringtones for the first time ever. The good news for those who buy songs and albums online: prices probably won’t be going up any time soon, at least not because of this. The Copyright Royalty Board set the royalty rate for songs on albums and songs downloaded online at 9.1 cents, or the same rate it was. This rate will remain into effect into 2012.
The interesting rates announced were actually those of master tones. That rate is a comparatively astounding 24 cents. Yeah, you read that right, 24 cents. More after the break.
Amazon’s MP3 store available on the Android G1
Because there isn’t quite enough hoopla today surrounding the news of the Android G1…Amazon comes out and adds their version of the cherry on the cupcake. They confirmed today that a music store for Android-based cellphones does indeed exist, and it comes pre-loaded on the G1. (yes, Virginia..there is a Santa Claus). With it, users have 6 million DRM-free songs to pick from, coming from all four of the top record labels.
You are able to browse and preview no problem anytime you’re connected to the T-Mobile network; but when it comes time to buy and download, you’ll have to have a Wi-Fi connection. No, the songs aren’t free, (although wouldn’t that be a bonus?!), but they also don’t rack you with any extra “convenience” charges. It will still cost the same 89 cents per individual song download, unless otherwise indicated.
In their official press release, Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President for Digital Music and Video says
“Amazon wants to make it easy for customers to discover, buy, and play their music wherever they happen to be–whether sitting at their computer or on the go. We look forward to the release of the T-Mobile G1, which will put Amazon MP3’s vast selection of low-priced DRM-free music at the fingertips of even more customers in more places.”
Music that is downloaded from the site onto the T-Mobile G1 can also be played on PCs, Macs or any other MP3 music player.
via [techmeme]
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SanDisk to release new microSD “slotMusic” card
Well, apparently SanDisk feels Joe Public likes their music hands on. This thinking may well be what led to their new line of music-filled microSD cards. They managed to pull in all the big record labels like Sony BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner. Although, I’m not sure what the labels were thinking with this one. The songs on the 1 GB cards will be DRM-free MP3s that are encoded at 320 kbps for the record.
The first stores they have in on the deal are Wal-Mart or Best Buy. So, you simply stroll into one of those two stores, nab your rockin’, grooving, bopping-loaded slotMusic, and pop it into your phone, and voila…you’re set. However, if you are one of the millions who would simply rather get your music by downloading it, then this little slotMusic thing is pretty useless.
Songza will rock you, but are they legal?
Hey, if thousands of people are doing it, it can’t be wrong…..right? That’s the million dollar question about one of the newest music sites on the Web. Songza advertises itself as a “music search engine and Internet jukebox”. Ummm, ok. Or, one might also say they are a site you can go to in order to search out music and be able to listen to and download it for free. I’m just sayin’.
With 28 million songs instantly playable on the site, 10 month old Songza is luring in the music-seeking crowd pretty nicely. And they make their songs playable in a rather creative way. When you go on their site and enter the song or band title of your choosing, Songza will search the huge inventory of music videos on YouTube looking for it. Then, it streams the audio of the song, while hiding the video in an unseen margin of the browser. Pretty dang tricky, but…..is it actually legal?
Rhapsody and Verizon cozy up to offer DRM-free tunes
Music lovers holding a Verizon subscription will better be able to say “I can hear you now” to their favorite musical artists, as Rhapsody and Verizon team up to offer users with certain V Cast phones DRM-free PC downloads. In obvious competition with iTunes, Rhapsody is still behind in the numbers game (about 5 million in their online library as opposed to iTunes 8 million), however, the bonus of not being stuck with DRM puts them ahead in many people’s minds. This way, you can play the music on any PC, MP3 player, or other digital device. Bonus.
So how much is it going to cost you? The songs are going at 99 cents each, and most albums will be $9.99. You’ll also find a Windows-only download utility that will import your music directly into iTunes, RealPlayer, or the Rhapsody client; Mac users will get their songs in a ZIP file. Select Verizon Wireless V Cast phones (including the upcoming Chocolate 3, the new Dare, the Samsung Glyde, the Juke, the RIZR Z6tv, and the RAZR V9m) can purchase tunes from Rhapsody over the air, and get an MP3 “master” PC download in the bargain.
If you jump on the ball, Verizon is running a special through July 4th: The first 100,000 people to sign up with the MP3 store will get their first album free. And hey…free is always good.
Via [Yahoo! Tech]
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