Digital Music Forum West 2006

Welcome to the official 2006 Digital Music Forum Group Blog! This private online community was created to enable attendees, sponsors, speakers, and partners to connect, communicate, and collaborate before, during, and after the conference.

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Digital Media and the Live Music Experience

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 6, 2006 - 9:19am.

From Digital Music Forum West 2006: Moderator Kelli Richards, a digital music veteran who currently serves as President and CEO of her own company, The All Access Group, promptly re-named this Digital Music Forum panel "The Concert of the Future." Much of the discussion centered on how the companies represented are trying to generate additional value (for fans, artists and themselves) from an ephemeral experience -- going to a concert. The consensus was there are many trails yet to be blazed in efforts to help artists better connect with, and maintain interactive relationships with fans, as well as get their music to both hardcore and potential new fans through new channels and new technologies.

An Interview with NPR Digital's GM Maria Thomas

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 6, 2006 - 8:26am.

NPR Digital GM Maria Taylor - Digital Music Forum West 2006

NPR Digital GM Reins in Expectations on Forthcoming Music Service
"It won't be a digital download store"
From Digital Music Forum West 2006: That's not entirely true. NPR's new digital music service, announced on Aug. 31 and slated for launch in the first half of next year, will likely point users to digital retailers where they can buy song downloads and a portion of proceeds will go to NPR — a presently offered on NPR.org.

Buzz Watch: kSolo.com is A Lot of Fun

Authored by Jay Baage on October 5, 2006 - 6:42am.

From Digital Music Forum West 2006: Why on earth would people want to listen to cheesy Karaoke-singers online? Well, if it was your friend, boss or someone famous singing, would you not be temped to easedrop? I sure would and it turns out a lot of other people would too. kSolo.com is an online success-story that is now part of MySpace and Fox Interactive.

5 Questions with Steve Skrzyniarz, Co-Founder and CEO of Soundflavor

Authored by Jay Baage on October 5, 2006 - 4:26am.

From Digital Music Forum West 2006: Soundflavor, a developer of digital music search and recommendation technologies, introduced on Wednesday a free companion application for Apple's iTunes that makes recommendations from a user's own music library - and from outside music stores - when they play a song or playlist. DMW sat down with Steve Skrzyniarz, Co-Founder and CEO of Soundflavor, and asked him five quick questions.

The Future of Radio: More Competition, More Devices, More Choices

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 4, 2006 - 11:24pm.

Note: This story has been corrected since it was first published.

From Digital Music Forum West 2006. That was the forecast proffered by Billboard Radio Monitor editor Paul Heine, at the conclusion of a Digital Music Forum panel that included representatives from the commercial, public, online and mobile radio sectors.

Peer-to-Peer Executives Reflect on the Relevance of Their Industry

Authored by Scott Goldberg on October 4, 2006 - 2:23pm.

From Digital Music Forum West 2006: Amanda Marks, EVP of Universal Music’s eLabs, set off an alarm among the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) executives in attendance this morning with her suggestion that P2P has become irrelevant. Not surprisingly, they disagreed.

Canada's MuchMusic Launches Digital Store Powered by Puretracks

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 4, 2006 - 12:51pm.

Los Angeles - Canadian music television network MuchMusic announced on Wednesday at Digital Media Wire's Digital Music Forum event in Los Angeles that it has launched a digital music store. The company tapped Toronto-based Puretracks to power the service, which offers a selection of over one million songs in Microsoft's Windows Media Audio format that can be purchased a la carte and downloaded to PCs and portable MP3 players. The store also features ringtones, and celebrity playlists from MuchMusic VJs Sarah Taylor and Tim Deegan.

Snocap Taps Javien to Power Online Sales for Digital Music Stores

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 4, 2006 - 12:38pm.

Los Angeles - Javien Digital Payment Solutions, a provider of e-commerce management services, announced on Wednesday at Digital Media Wire's Digital Music Forum event that it has been tapped to power online sales for Snocap, the digital music registry and distribution firm founded by Napster creator Shawn Fanning. Under the deal, Virginia-based Javien will power the sales for Snocap's artist stores, including those created as part of Snocap's recent deal with social networking site MySpace.

Soundflavor Debuts Music Search and Recommendation Technologies

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 4, 2006 - 12:34pm.

Los Angeles - Soundflavor, a developer of digital music search and recommendation technologies, introduced on Wednesday a free companion application for Apple's iTunes that makes recommendations from a user's own music library -- and from outside music stores -- when they play a song or playlist. The company, which announced the news from Digital Media Wire's Digital Music Forum event in Los Angeles, cited a survey it commissioned by Insight Express that found nearly two-thirds of digital music listeners feel they have a lot of great music that they forget to play.

Buzz Watch: Nic Harcourt – The Human Recommendation Engine

Authored by Jay Baage on October 4, 2006 - 12:26pm.

From Digital Music Forum West 2006: Nic Harcourt, Music Director for KCRW and host of Morning Becomes Eclectic, articulates what many are thinking - the big record labels have themselves to blame for the current state of the music business, not just piracy: “What happened in the 90’s was that they pushed the alternative rock movement down our throats and then all these one-hit-wonders. They let the cat out of the bag. It is disingenuous of them to blame piracy for their problems.” He made the statement in a keynote interview with Ned Sherman, CEO and Publisher of Digital Media Wire, during “Digital Music Forum West” at the BelAge hotel in Los Angeles.

Yahoo! Music’s Dave Goldberg: “Downloads, as a business model for digital music, has failed”

Authored by Scott Goldberg on October 4, 2006 - 9:56am.

From Digital Music Forum West 2006: Dave Goldberg, VP & GM of Yahoo! Music, incited unanimous disagreement from his fellow panelists for the statement, but he explained his point: “When you look at people who are buying downloads,” he said, “it is two kinds of people: Older people who have money and time, and people who are doing it through gift cards.”

Sony BMG's Thomas Hesse: Our Digital Revenues will grow 50-60% in 2006

Authored by Jay Baage on October 4, 2006 - 6:05am.

UPDATED
From Digital Music Forum West 2006. Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s Global Digital Business operating group, reveals that he expects digital revenue to be up 50-60% for the full year 2006. He said to DMW that it might even be as high as 70%. On the negative side, he says that physical sales are continuing to go down significantly. Hesse held the keynote address that kicked of DMW’s conference “Digital Music Forum West”, on October 4 and 5 at the BelAge hotel in Los Angeles.

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