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Report: U.S. Music Album Sales Up 6.9% in First Half of 2004

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 9, 2004 - 6:28am.
New York -- The U.S. music industry rebounded in the first half of 2004, with album sales of 305.7 million units up 6.9% from the 285.9 million units sold in the first half of 2003, Billboard reported, citing Nielsen SoundScan data. Universal was ranked the top distributor, with 27.1% market share, while independent labels collectively accounted for 17.5% of the market and BMG leapt over Warner to claim third place with 16.4%, bettering Warner's 14.6% share. Rounding out the distributors were Sony (12.8%) and EMI (10.7%).
tags: Reports | U.S | Musics | Album | First Half |

Report: For First Time, Music Not Most Popular File Download

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 9, 2004 - 6:27am.
Paris -- For the first time, video and other non-audio files have become more popular on file-sharing networks than music, the Associated Press reported, citing a study of 30 countries' downloading habits conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The report, which does not differentiate between legal and illegitimate downloads, found that music accounted for 48.6% of shared files in 2003, down from 62.5% in 2002, while video files increased from 25.2% to 27% of all downloading traffic. The "other files" category, which includes software and pornography, almost doubled in size and now accounts for nearly 25% of all downloads. The OECD report found that video accounted for 23.7% of U.S. Kazaa users' files, compared with 35.4% among German users; higher video file percentages were also reported in Belgium, England, Finland, France, Norway and Poland.
tags: Music | Reports | Download | First Time |

EU Commissioner Opens Investigation on New Media

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 9, 2004 - 6:27am.
Brussels -- EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said this week that he would open an inquiry into whether European TV, music and sports operators were keeping their content from so-called New Media providers like mobile-phone operators and suppliers of video-on-demand. A growing number of Europe's smaller entertainment and telecommunications companies are complaining that video stores and TV networks have little interest in accommodating New Media and that they being discriminated against. An openly sympathetic Monti said that video-on-demand was being "hindered … by strong tendencies by established TV operators to protect their position to the detriment of new technologies and new players". He also said the EU would move to promote the "rapid and undisturbed development" of New Media and "act wherever we detect foreclosure of markets".
tags: New Media | Investigation | EU Commissioner |

Microsoft Launches Pre-Orders for $499 Portable Media Center Devices

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 9, 2004 - 6:26am.
Houston -- Microsoft on Friday announced that pre-orders for the first Portable Media Center devices, which run its Windows Mobile software and can store and playback movies, TV shows, music and pictures, are now being accepted from retailer Amazon.com. Two $499, 20GB models -- the Creative Zen Portable Media Center and the Samsung YH-999 -- will be shipped in August and September. Microsoft also announced a partnership with Major League Baseball, which will make available subscription and pay-per-view content for the devices, including daily condensed and full games, highlights, bloopers and archival footage.
tags: Microsoft | Pre-Orders | Portable | Center Devices |

Report: Global Broadband Subscribers to Exceed 325 Million by 2008

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 9, 2004 - 6:24am.
Boston -- Global broadband penetration is expected to exceed 325 million subscribers by 2008, while the North American marketplace will grow from 34 million at the end of this year to just under 75 million, according to a report from Massachusetts-based market research firm Yankee Group. Cable modem-based broadband is projected to trail DSL connections globally, but maintain its lead in the North American marketplace, while satellite connections will grow to 12 million and 4% market share in 2008. Strong growth in Asia-Pacific and Europe will propel broadband wireless connections to achieve 8% of the market by 2008. "Broadband access continues to be one of the largest and most profitable areas of telecommunications around the world," said Yankee Group senior analyst Lindsay Schroth. "Despite the downturn in telecom spending in the past few years, providers are expanding access networks and attracting new broadband subscribers with a variety of access technologies."
tags: Reports | Subscribers | Global Broadband |

Creative Technology, Soundbuzz.com Launch Online Music Stores in Asia

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 9, 2004 - 6:24am.
Singapore -- U.S. consumer electronics firm Creative Technology and Asian online music distributor Soundbuzz.com have partnered to launch a series of online music stores in Singapore, Hong Kong and India in an attempt to create a legitimate digital music market in regions plagued by rampant piracy, Reuters reported. Milpitas, Calif.-based Creative markets portable players like the 20GB Zen Touch that are compatible with the stores, the first of which launched this week in Singapore offering 250,000 songs for $1.16 each. Soundbuzz CEO Sudhanshu Sarronwala told Reuters he expects the Singapore store to sell 300,000 to 500,000 songs annually. A second store in Hong Kong slated to launch this year is projected sell 1 million songs per year, while a store in India is expected grow to twice that sales figure within two years. Piracy and uncertainty over pricing are hampering plans to launch similar online music stores in Taiwan and China, Sarronwala told Reuters.
tags: Internet | Asia | Creative Technology | Soundbuzz.com |

FTC: Some Game Publishers Still Marketing Mature Games to Kids

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 9, 2004 - 6:23am.
Washington -- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week released its fourth follow-up report to Congress on the marketing of violent movies, music and video games to children. With regard to video games, the report found that a substantial part of the industry is complying with industry standards limiting ad placements for Mature (M)-rated games in popular youth-oriented media. However, the FTC found M-rated games advertised in gaming magazines popular with teens, and also that Teen (T)-rated games were advertised in media popular with pre-teens. The FTC noted that 32 companies violated ratings requirements in the first nine months of 2003, with four actually receiving fines. It also found that the industry could improve its efforts to disclose rating information by including content descriptors in TV ads and on the front of game packages. The FTC also announced the creation of a new website intended to teach parents and kids about entertainment ratings, available at a link below.
tags: Games | FTC | Mature Games | Kids |