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Takin' It To The Streets...Online
October 6, 2006
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"I don't think anything's going to be a habit anymore. I think people are going to be drawn to a certain medium in their leisure time and they're going to do it because there is a desire to do it at that particular moment in time. Everything is going to be a matter of choice. I think that's going to be a huge revolution in the industry."
-- George Lucas, speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the renamed School of Cinematic Arts at USC.While I'm waiting for all the millions of dollars I supposedly have coming from a myriad of different sources in Nigeria (that's what all these e-mails that keep flooding my 'Inbox' tell me anyway), I thought I'd take keyboard in hand and peck out this week's newsletter and commentary.
First off, Microsoft announced this week its new Windows operating system, Windows Vista, will have new antipiracy technology that locks people out their PCs if the operating system isn't activated within 30 days after installation with a legitimate product registration key in time. ( Read about it here)
Remember reading that here first (if you haven't already somewhere else). I'll of course print the first news item when somebody somewhere cracks the encryption codes and is able to undo what Microsoft has spent a lot of time and money on trying to protect its copyrighted and much pirated software.
Anything that any company does to try and stop piracy is to be commended, but having said that, I'm afraid all it means in this case is that it will take pirates a little longer to do what they've been doing for a long time. Maybe Microsoft will but a serious "speed bump" in their efforts to pirate software. Maybe it will work. But those pirates have talented hi-tech people working for them as well. So we'll have to wait and see. But again, remember you read it here first.
It seems there's been a lot of press about the real possibilities of You Tube's ability to generate a real meaningful business model ever since Mark Cuban made his statements about You Tube not being something he'd buy or invest in.
While the arguments go back and forth between the pros and cons of what You Tube can or cannot accomplish, I think it's important to note that You Tube, Google Video, Yahoo video, and all the rest, have dramatically altered the media landscape forever. This week, John Hayes, the chief marketing officer for American Express, which is in talks to become a You Tube sponsor said (echoing the words of George Lucas at the above): " This is the most exciting time you could ever enter marketing; the world has been turned on its ear. I call this the 'I'll decide, not you' generation."
There it is again, the power of "consumer-empowering destinations" (as Warner Music Chief Edgar Bronfman referred to them two weeks ago when announcing WMG's alliance with You Tube).
The "streets" online are now paved with a golden multitude of consumer-empowered destinations and more seem to be popping up daily. This week the Wall Street Journal reported that "Young adults, ages 18 to 24, spend about 10 hours a week online, two hours more than they spend watching TV. Many of them don't even own TVs but have laptop computers." (Source: ' TV and the Internet Are Coming Together - What That Means for Networks, Advertisers and You ')
It sure doesn't sound to me like You Tube or any of these new online media destinations is a bad bet for a thriving future business. But then, what do I know? Mark Cuban is a billionaire and has his own basketball team. I'm here writing my newsletter in the middle of the night. But what the hell, as Jackie Mason says, " I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something."
And if I was to buy something. I'd certainly buy into You Tube. Remember the little search engine called Google?
Digital-music Sales Sing 'Stayin' Alive'
While sales of physical albums plummeted during the first nine months of 2006, big increases in the demand for digital tracks and albums have kept the overall music business in line with last year's totals.
According to Nielsen SoundScan figures for the week ending Oct. 1 marking the end of the third quarter, physical album sales so far this year totaled 370.5 million units, down 8.3 percent from the 404.2 million racked up in the year-ago period. However, digital album sales climbed 115 percent, with 22.6 million sold through September. Downloaded tracks soared 72 percent, to 418.6 million.
Adding digital albums and track-equivalent albums (with 10 digital tracks equaling one album) to physical sales, a total of 434.9 million albums have been sold in 2006. The comparable year-ago figure was a tad higher at 439.2 million.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Video Fixation
As the Internet alters what we watch and how, YouTube surfs the next wave.
Steve Chen and Chad Hurley almost blew it. In May of last year they launched YouTube, a new Web site for user-provided videoclips, and in the next few months legions of the young and relentless overwhelmed it, watching thousands of videos and posting hundreds of new ones every day. Chen and Hurley had used their credit cards to bankroll the cost of storing and sending out the brief clips. They were ecstatic--but scared. The more viewers their site drew, the more money they lost.
In the first few months traffic was doubling every few weeks. So they weighed selling the intrusive, unskippable ads that rivals allowed, a move they had hoped to avoid; their zap-happy viewers might flee anything that came between them and their Web TV. "The ad money was very tantalizing," Chen recalls. "We looked at it every step of the way, every week."
Then the tech twosome made an audacious gamble: They would forgo ads as long as possible, betting the plummeting cost of bandwidth--now falling 30% a year--would catapult them past ad-laden competitors, freeing them to fashion new and subtler forms of promotion after the fans were in the house. The first act has been a hit. The scrappy, frenzied YouTube site pumps out over 100 million short videoclips and takes in up to 65,000 new ones every single day. It draws 34 million unique visitors a month, ranking it among the 15 most-visited sites in the world.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Apple, Mobile Operators Answer Musicians' Royalty Call
Apple Computer's iTunes and mobile operators, including Vodafone, on Thursday agreed on royalty rates to pay song writers and music publishers for digital downloads in Britain to partly resolve a dispute.
Under terms of the deal, Apple and four mobile operators will pay 8 percent of gross revenue, excluding value-added taxes, for all music sold digitally, excluding ring tones. A lower 6.5 percent rate was agreed for non-"on demand" services such as streaming.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Hollywood Says Piracy Has Ripple Effect
Seeking another weapon in its war on piracy, the movie industry hopes to wow lawmakers today with a study that says the economic impact of illegal DVD and Internet film distribution may be as much as three times what was previously estimated.
The movie industry continues to vigorously combat both DVD and Internet piracy of its films domestically and overseas, urging foreign governments to crack down on illegal DVD factories and toughen laws on Internet file-sharing...
It's important to remember, however, that even though piracy prevents money from reaching the movie industry, those dollars probably stay in the economy, one intellectual property expert said.
"In other words, let's say people are forgoing paying for $6 billion in movies by downloading or consuming illegal goods but end up spending that $6 billion on iPods, computers and HDTV sets on which to watch the movies, which leads to $25 billion in job creation in the computer/software/consumer electronics field," Jason Shultz, staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote in an e-mail.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Rallies Protest Limits On Digital Copying
Free software advocates rallied against certain limits on copying music and films on Tuesday in a global "Day against DRM" (digital rights management), saying consumers are robbed of their fair-use rights as entertainment goes digital and online.
Groups of concerned consumers and technologists handed out leaflets during rush hours and lunch breaks in American and European cities like Boston, Zurich, Paris and London, alongside an Internet campaign to raise awareness.
Read more about it by clicking here.
'Star Wars' Lucas Sees Shrinking Pic Biz
George Lucas has a message for studios that are cutting their slates and shifting toward big-budget tentpoles and franchises: You've got it all wrong. The creator of "Star Wars," which stamped the template for the franchise-tentpole film, says many small films and Web distribution are the future.
And in case anyone doubts he means it, Lucasfilm is getting out of the movie biz.
" We don't want to make movies. We're about to get into television. As far as Lucasfilm is concerned, we've moved away from the feature film thing because it's too expensive and it's too risky. For that same $200 million (spent on a feature like 'Star wars'), I can make 50-60 two-hour movies. That's 120 hours as opposed to two hours. In the future market, that's where it's going to land, because it's going to be all pay-per-view and downloadable."
Read more about it by clicking here.
A New Beatles Album To Be Released...Well, Sort Of
The Beatles are releasing a new album next month, which promises to be a "new experience" of the Fab Four's music.
'Love' is the soundtrack to the Beatles-inspired Cirque du Soleil show of the same name, consisting of experimental mixes of the pop phenomenon's back catalogue.
The band's original producer George Martin and his son Giles made the disc after the surviving Beatles, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, alongside John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and George Harrison's widow Olivia, approached him to create a Beatles soundscape for the show, which debuted in Las Vegas, Nevada, in June.
Read more about it by clicking here.
The Worst Products of Q3 2006
Here's a list of the worst products that PC magazine saw in the third quarter of this year.
As September drew to a close, more and more companies began announcing their lineups for the holiday season. (Yes, already!) While you may not even be close to thinking about what you're going to buy and for whom, when that time does come, you'll want to know which products to avoid.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Music Editor Survives Hot, Hot Sun And Suds At Austin City Limits Music Festival!
Got a passion? Mine's music. Whatever yours is, imagine the near-ultimate. Cloud 9. Nirvana. Hall of Fame All-Star Weekend. All you could ask for. As good as it gets.
I'm tempted to stick one of those labels on the Austin City Limits Music Festival I attended last month. Three days, eight stages, 130 bands. Everyone from Ben Harper to Van Morrison, Flaming Lips to Willie Nelson, Matisyahu to Raconteurs to Nickel Creek, Thievery Corporation to Deadboy & the Elephantmen, Explosions in the Sky to Asleep at the Wheel to TV on the Radio, Ween to Los Lobos. I should have been ecstatic. I think I would have been, if I hadn't been so exhausted. And hot. And exhausted from being hot...
I watched the Raconteurs very comfortably, thank you, from the Oasis deck, under an umbrella and with mist floating everywhere, having been rewarded with a precious chair by a group of ladies who thought I could settle a bet about the "Bang Bang" song the Racs were wailing on: yes, Nancy Sinatra did it ("Kill Bill"), but it was a Sonny & Cher song first (slight error: Cher solo, and of course music/lyrics by Sonny), and because I'm such a Terry Reid fan I had to add that these guys weren't the first to rock the song up - 19-year-old Reid's first album, nearly 40 years ago, was titled "Bang Bang You're Terry Reid." (Yes... I know... Vanilla Fudge rocked it too, but ... no comparison.)
Read more about it by clicking here.
Sony, Bertelsmann Appeal Annulment Of Joint Venture
Japanese electronics giant Sony and Germany's Bertelsmann have appealed against an annulment of their joint venture that created the world's No.2 music company, Europe's top court said on Thursday.
In an unexpected judgment in July, the Court of First Instance--Europe's second-highest court--annulled the joint venture on the grounds that the European Commission made errors in law and assessment when it approved the deal.
Read more about it by clicking here.
THIS WEEK'S 'WHO CARES?' NEWS ITEMS
ITEM#1: Lawyers for Michael Jackson and ex-wife Debbie Rowe said the pair have settled "all the issues" in their ongoing custody dispute last week, arriving at terms that are "appealing to both of them." Interesting choice of words, since neither of them finds the other appealing at all.
ITEM#2: George Michael arrested again and released with a warning in London early Sunday, after cops found him slumped at the wheel of his car and in possession of cannabis. Maybe he fell asleep listening to his old hits.
ITEM#3: A Massachusetts judge issued an arrest warrant for Bobby Brown after the singer failed to show up at a hearing over delinquent child support payments. Kim Ward, the mother of two of Brown's children, is seeking $11,000 in back payments. Now that he and Whitney split, and Whitney's no longer footing the bill, Bobby better get a real job.
ITEM#4: Former KISS guitarist, Vinnie Vincent, lost his Supreme Court appeal claiming he's owed royalties from his former bandmates for his contributions to the 1983 album 'Lick it Up.' His contributions? He played guitar.
ITEM#5: Isaac Hanson, the eldest brother from Hanson, tied the knot in Oklahoma over the weekend to longtime girlfriend Nicole Dufresne. Um, is anybody out there still following what the Hanson brothers do??? And if so, why?
CONGRATS
CONGRATS TO: Scarlett Johansson, named the Sexiest Woman Alive by Esquire magazine.
CONGRATS 2: James Taylor honored by his alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sunday, receiving the 2006 Carolina Performing Arts Lifetime Achievement Award.
CONGRATS 3: To former Kinks frontman Ray Davies honored with BMI's Icon Award in London for his enduring influence on the music world. They really got him.
CONGRATS 4: To Justin Timberlake whose "SexyBack" topped the Billboard singles charts for a sixth week
CONGRATS 5: To George Clooney who will be presented with the 2006 American Cinematheque Award Oct. 13.
MATERIAL GIRL INDEED
Madonna setting a new Guinness World Record as highest paid female singer, raking in an estimated $50 million in 2004. She knocked Britney Spears out of the top spot she'd held since 2001. Better cut back hubby K-Fed's allowance Brit girl.
A GOOD REASON TO MOVE UP THE RELEASE DATE
Warner Bros. distributing DVDs of 'Superman Returns' in China more than two months ahead of its global home video release with the movie priced comparable to pirated discs, between just $1.80-$2.80 apiece.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, DEPT
Miles Davis posthumously inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk, with a bronze bust of the iconic musician to be displayed in lieu of the traditional sidewalk handprints.
NOT LADY LIKE AT ALL
Avril Lavigne issuing an apology to fans after she was caught flipping off and spitting at photographers twice in one week, saying "my behavior was a reaction to the persistent attack from the paparazzi."
L. RON HUBBARD WOULD NOT HAVE LIKED THIS
'Nip/Tuck' creator Ryan Murphy telling the Los Angeles Times the show's fourth season will offer an inside look at Scientology, as one of its characters, Kimber, joins the religion. Per Murphy, the characters will audit each other, go through cleansing rituals, discuss "havingness," slam prescription drugs, have silent births, and more. Gee, first Tom Cruise takes a hit on 'Southpark and now 'Nip/Tuck' weighs in on the issue. ( Fun factoid: In 1949, L. Ron Hubbard was invited to address a science-fiction group in Newark hosted by the writer, Sam Moskowitz. 'Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous,' he told the meeting. 'If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be to start his own religion' - Los Angeles Times, August 27, 1978 )
LIKE A CANDLE IN THE WIND, OR A NICE ODOR AT HOME
Elton John teaming up with Bath & Body Works to launch his own line of candles and home fragrance products for the store, dubbed the Fireside Collection. Proceeds will benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation, with reps saying the signature fragrance will be based on vanilla bean, smoky cedar wood.
THINGS NOT LOOKING GOOD FOR STUDIO 60
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip drawing in just 8.9 million viewers Monday night, managing in three weeks what it took Saturday Night Live more than 30 years to achieve: A dramatic drop in viewership, flat jokes, and bad writing in general.
GET YOUR BIDS IN NOW
An auction featuring hundreds of personal items belonging to Cher kicked off in Los Angeles Tuesday, with Bob Mackie dresses, portable record players, sketches and boots belonging to Sonny Bono all among the hawked memorabilia.
KUDOS TO
Jon Bon Jovi for teaming up with Habitat for Humanity and the Saturn auto company to launch the Phase V Homeownership Project in Philadelphia, a plan to renovate 15 row homes on the city's north side.
COMING SOON!
- Sting, Songs from the Labyrinth (10/10)
- My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade (10/24)
- John Legend, Once Again (10/24)
- Frank Sinatra, Sinatra: Vegas (11/06)
2006 Industry Conferences
Date Name Location CMJ October 31 - November 4 New York
Quotes of the week
"The movie is called 'Kiss,' and we have to keep kissing for two hours or the bomb in our heads will go off...I think she'd consider it. It couldn't be worse than 'Catwoman' "
-- Dane Cook in Us magazine, on a fantasy movie idea for him to star in with Halle Berry."Dating? In terms of age...over the last year, I've probably covered the territory from 21 to 61."
-- Jack Nicholson in Us Magazine."You might be a little bit gay, you're just not doing it."
-- Rosie O'Donnell, speaking about Oprah on 'The View.'"There's no way in the world I would rather be single. Tony feels the same, too. I've said the only reason Tony and I are going to stay together forever is because we're too lazy to look for someone else."
-- Eva Longoria, talking to PEOPLE magazine in April of this year. This week PEOPLE reports that she and San Antonio Spurs player Tony Parker have split up."I never realized his addictions weren't normal. I just thought that it was what dads did."
-- Jack Osbourne in Star, on father Ozzy. Uh, you thought Ozzy was normal???
The B-Side - 'Blips'
WELL, HE WAS BOUND TO GET ARRESTED FOR DUI ANYWAY: TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa officials said a drunk driver rammed into police headquarters overnight, causing $5,000 in damage to a pillar.
Christopher Jones apparently crashed into the building, causing the pillar the crack. He refused to get out of the car, wrapping his arms around the steering wheel before officers tried forcing him out and eventually shot him with a stun gun.
"ALMOST HEAVEN, WEST VIRGINIA"? NOT! : CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- There's something dirty in the West Virginia Capitol. But it has nothing to do with politics.
State officials have shut down the Capitol building's cafeteria after finding filthy conditions. Health inspectors report 50 food-code violations, ranging from a severe roach infestation, to toxic levels of cleaning solvents. For now, Capitol workers and visitors have to brown-bag it.
Capitol officials said they would keep the kitchen and dining area closed pending a complete overhaul.
Box Office
Check The Daily & Weekly Box Office (and more film info) at: www.boxofficemojo.com.
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