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Bankrupt Tower Records Adds Bookstore to Website

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 28, 2006 - 10:47am.
Sacramento - Bankrupt music and entertainment retail chain Tower Records on Wednesday announced the addition of 500,000 books to its website at Tower.com. "Tower Records stores have always carried a selection of relevant book titles. Our online store features a selection rivaling other large online booksellers," said Tower senior marketing officer Russ Eisenman. "This is a very exciting launch for us and another positive step for Tower as we strive to deliver the best shopping experience for our valued customers." The company added that, since declaring bankruptcy in February 2004, it opened two new stores in 2005 and plans refurbishments for all of its stores in 2006. It also recently worked with Outhink Media to establish the TowerPod podcasting network.
tags: Website | Record | Bankrupt Tower | Bookstore |

Report: Worldwide PDA Shipments Reach Record Level in 2005

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 17, 2006 - 7:17am.
Stamford, Conn. - Worldwide shipments of personal digital assistants (PDAs) reached a record 14.9 million units in 2005, a 19% increase from the prior year, according to a newly release report from market research firm Gartner. Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of the BlackBerry, became the No. 1 PDA vendor based on worldwide shipments, accounting for 21.4% of total shipments. Palm shipped 2.77 million PDAs, down 25%.
tags: 20%% | Record | Reach | PDA | Shipment |

Canadian Record Label to Defend Family Against RIAA Lawsuit

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 27, 2006 - 8:10am.
New York - Nettwerk Music Group, Canada's largest record label and management firm, has said it will provide legal defense for a family sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for using file-sharing networks to commit copyright infringement. Songs by Nettwerk client Avril Lavigne are among those alleged to have been offered for downloading; other Nettwerk clients include Josh Rouse, Sarah McLachlan and Barenaked Ladies. "The current actions of the RIAA are not in my artists' best interests," said Nettwerk CEO Terry McBride. "Litigation is not 'artist development'. Litigation is a deterrent to creativity and passion and it is hurting the business I love." Nettwerk has said it will pay for the Gruebel family's lawyers, as well as any damages should the family lose its case. "Since 2003 the RIAA has continually misused the court and legal system, engaging in misguided litigation tactics for the purpose of extorting settlement amounts from everyday people -- parents, students, doctors, and general consumers of music," said Charles Lee Mudd Jr, a Chicago-based attorney who will represent the Gruebels. "In doing so, the RIAA has misapplied existing copyright law and improperly employed its protections not as a shield, but as a sword."
tags: RIAA | Canada | Record | lawsuit |

Report: 2005 U.S. Video Game Sales Rose 6% to Record $10.5 Billion

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 17, 2006 - 3:04am.
Port Washington, N.Y. - Propped up by a strong portable games market that offset declines in the console market, U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories grew 6% in 2005 to a record $10.5 billion, according to sales data published on Tuesday by market research firm NPD Group. Game titles for handheld consoles generated more than $1 billion for the second year in a row, while console game title sales saw a 12% decline from 2004. Sales of handheld console hardware were up 96% in 2005 -- fueled by the release of the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS -- while Nintendo's Game Boy Advance continued to lead the segment, with 64% of handheld game sales. "The real story for 2005 was the incredible expansion of portable gaming. The GBA continued to realize stellar sales, and the introduction of the DS and PSP to the market brought older gamers to the portable format," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. Strong handheld hardware sales were offset by a 3% decline in the sales of PlayStation, Xbox and GameCube consoles. The top five console/handheld game titles of 2005, ranked by units sold, were "Madden NFL 06" for PlayStation 2 (Electronic Arts); "Pokemon Emerald" for Game Boy Advance (Nintendo); "Gran Turismo 4" for PlayStation 2 (Sony Computer Entertainment); "Madden NFL 06" for Xbox (Electronic Arts); and "NCAA Football 06" for PlayStation 2 (Electronic Arts). Separately, NPD announced that U.S. PC game sales were down 14% in 2005, to $953 million. The top-selling PC games of 2005 included Vivendi's "World of Warcraft"; Electronic Arts' "The Sims 2"; and NCsoft's "Guild Wars."
tags: Reports | U.S | Video Game | Record |

Report: Record 20 Million Song Downloads Sold During Holiday Week

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 9, 2006 - 5:21am.
Los Angeles - Consumers equipped with new MP3 players and gift certificates to online music stores purchased nearly 20 million song downloads during the week between Christmas and New Year's, breaking the record for one-week digital sales, Billboard reported, citing data from Nielsen SoundScan. Prior to that week, the record was 9.5 million songs, and was set in the week leading up to Christmas. During the week following Christmas, the top 11 singles listed on Billboard's "Hot Digital Songs" chart each sold more than 100,000 downloads; hip-hop group D4L's "Laffy Taffy" took the top spot with 175,000 downloads. A total of 352 million digital song downloads were sold during 2005, a 147% increase over 2004's 142.6 million. Based on last year's post-holidays buying trends, Billboard estimated that the download market in 2006 could reach sales of between 750 million and 1 billion tracks.
tags: Downloads | Music | Reports | Record |

New Year's Revelers Smash One-Day Text Record in U.K.

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 5, 2006 - 7:00am.
London - According to a new report by the Mobile Data Association (MDA), more than 165 million text messages were sent in the U.K. between midnight Dec. 31, 2005, and midnight Jan. 1, 2006 -- an average of more than 6.9 million SMS messages every hour. The MDA said it was the highest daily total on record. The total number of person-to-person texts sent across local GSM networks on New Year's Day grew by a remarkable 24% compared to the 133 million texts sent over the same period last year. The MDA predicted that SMS figures would continue to rise this year to reach an annual total of more than 36.5 billion text messages -- an average of 3 billion per month and 100 million per day.
tags: U.K | Record | New Year | Revelers |

Report: 2006 U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales to Hit Record $135.4 Billion

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 4, 2006 - 7:48am.
Arlington, Va. - U.S. factory sales of consumer electronics will reach a new high of $135.4 billion this year, an 8% increase over 2005's $125.9 billion total, according to projections from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) trade group. Sales of digital televisions, which are forecasted to reach 18 million units and $23 billion, next-generation video game consoles ($14 billion) and MP3 players ($4.5 billion) are projected to lead the record growth of the industry. The CEA expects 30% of all MP3 players sold in 2006 to have video playback capability. "MP3 technology helped boost the audio and accessories markets in 2005. With the introduction of video playback capability, MP3 player sales surged 200 percent in 2005 to $3 billion. Trends in 2006 should be no different," said CEA director of industry analysis Sean Wargo.
tags: Reports | U.S | Record | Electronics |

Report: 2005 Internet Ad Sales Expected to Hit Record $12 Billion

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 21, 2005 - 3:06am.
New York - Internet ad sales are expected to hit another all-time high of over $12 billion in 2005, up from 2004's record $9.6 billion in sales, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Record third-quarter sales of $3.1 billion were up 33.9% over a year ago, boosted by sponsored ads on search engine results. "The continued strength in Internet advertising reflects in part the medium's unique ability to collapse the business cycle for advertising, marketing and branding, making it more attractive for traditional advertisers," said Pete Petrusky, director of advisory services for PricewaterhouseCoopers. "The high percentage growth in revenues is more significant given the larger revenue base."
tags: Internet | Reports | Record |

Social Networking Site MySpace.com Launches Record Label

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 3, 2005 - 3:38am.
Santa Monica, Calif. - MySpace.com, the social networking site with 35 million members recently acquired by News Corporation, announced on Thursday the launch of its own record label, an imprint of Universal Music Group's Interscope Records. Some 550,000 band pages are among the user profiles on MySpace. where bands post songs and tour dates, while users can add bands as "friends" and communicate through blogs and message boards. Major label acts including Madonna, Coldplay and Nine Inch Nails have also used MySpace to promote new releases, often offering pre-release streaming samples. The first release on MySpace Records will be a compilation, "MySpace Records: Volume I," featuring tracks from Weezer, Fall Out Boy, AFI and Dashboard Confessional. Also featured on the compilation is Hollywood Undead, a Los Angeles-based band whose album will be the first proper release on the label, scheduled for the second quarter of 2006. "Radio has become less and less important...MySpace, by getting so huge, can truly move the needle in terms of musical tastes," MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe told Reuters, adding that he is currently talking to four additional bands about signing to the label.
tags: Website | Social | Record | MySpace.com |

Report: Global Video Game Market to Hit Record $58.4 Billion in 2007

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 25, 2005 - 7:01am.
London - The release of next-generation video game consoles yet this year and early next year will spur the global games market to a record high of $58.4 billion in 2007, according to a report from U.K.-based market research firm Informa. The games industry will generate $35.3 billion in 2005, a 5.3% increase over 2004, the firm predicted, with the console games industry representing half of games revenue worldwide. Console hardware sales are expected to grow from $3.9 billion in 2005 to $5.8 billion in 2010, while games for the consoles will generate $13 billion this year and $17.2 billion in 2010. "We still anticipate the PS3 to take the largest share in the next wave of consoles, but it will not have such an easy time of it this time around. The Xbox 360 will benefit from first-mover advantage and Nintendo has already revealed some interesting ideas for its Revolution concept," said Informa's Zenobia Talati, co-author of the report. Informa also projects the fast-growing mobile games sector to generate $2.6 billion in 2005, growing to $11 billion by 2010.
tags: Reports | Record | Video Game Market |

Wireless Industry Reports Record Subscriber Additions

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2005 - 4:04am.
San Francisco - The wireless industry on Wednesday reported the largest one-year addition of new subscribers since first offering commercial service in 1983, adding 25.2 million subscribers for the year ending in June. Steve Largent, the president of wireless industry association CTIA, said that the U.S. wireless penetration rate of roughly 65% points to more growth in the future. "When you look at countries in other parts of the world with penetration rates exceeding 100%, it's only logical to predict that subscriber growth in the U.S. is far from over," said Largent. CTIA's semi-annual survey also reported a sharp increase in SMS traffic and revenue from data services. In the month of June alone, more than 7.2 billion SMS wireless messages were sent, up from 2.8 billion the previous year. Revenue from text messaging and SMS traffic was $1.24 billion, up 154%.
tags: Subscriptions | Reports | Record | Wireless Industry |

U.S. Independent Record Labels Form New Trade Group

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 8, 2005 - 10:32am.
New York -- A consortium of U.S. independent record labels has joined together to form the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), a trade group that aims to "promote the significant market share of its combined membership," and "urge government and business to support fair trade practices, including equal access to the media and the marketplace, on par with the largest companies in the industry." Some 125 record labels are now members of A2IM. Noting that over 30% of Internet radio play is derived from independent label artists, Steve Gottlieb, CEO of TVT Records and an A2IM board member, told CNET News.com: "Manufactured pop culture is disintegrating before your eyes as the Net takes hold, but some of these institutional biases hold on and continue into new media … Any arrangement that treats music differently by virtue of it being owned by multinationals is not a good strategy and is doomed to fail."
tags: Labels | U.S | Record | Trade Group |

Australian Record Labels Conducted Surveillance on Kazaa CEO

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 31, 2005 - 6:07am.
Sydney -- The Australian music industry conducted extensive surveillance on Nikki Hemming, CEO of file-sharing software firm Sharman Networks, in the course of its copyright infringement investigation of the company, ZDNet Australia reported on Tuesday. Michael Speck, of Australia's Music Industry Piracy Investigations, told the court currently hearing a copyright infringement case against Sharman that Hemming was tailed on a "continuous basis," and that her residence was monitored for several months in an effort to determine who actually controlled Kazaa. "She personally wasn't a subject, rather the premises associated with her were. Conducting an investigation into a shadowy organization hiding behind a veil of secrecy and surveillance is a normal practice," Speck told ZDNet Australia.
tags: Australia | CEO | Record | Kazaa | Surveillance |

Universal Music Group Launching Digital-Only Record Label

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 22, 2004 - 4:41am.
New York -- Major record label Universal Music Group this week will launch a new record label unit that will distribute music exclusively through digital services like Apple's iTunes, Napster, RealNetworks' Rhapsody and MSN Music, The New York Times reported on Monday. Universal Music Enterprises Digital has signed eight independent artists to contracts that will not provide advances or cover album production costs, but will maintain artists' ownership of master recordings. The music is then licensed by Universal and promoted by the company's expansive marketing department. "Even a token gesture from their promotional department is going to be more powerful than anything we've ever had,'' Hans Rotenberry of Nashville band the Shazam, which signed with the new unit, told The Times. Universal will pay musicians with digital-only contracts 25% of royalties, without the standard deductions for packaging and promotional giveaways. If online sales of a song reach around 5,000, Universal has an option to pick up distribution of the album at retail. "It's just so expensive these days to record an artist and make a video and put them out on the road to properly develop them," Jay Gilbert, a senior director at Universal's Music Enterprises unit, told The Times. "This is an alternative to that that's not very expensive but can be highly effective." The Times reports that Warner Music Group is also developing a digital label, which will finance recordings for online sales with an eye towards potential CD releases later.
tags: Universal Music | Record | Digital-Only |

Report: Top Broadband Providers Add Record 2.3 Million Subscribers in Q3

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 10, 2004 - 7:40am.
Durham, N.H. -- The top U.S. cable and DSL broadband Internet access providers added a record 2.3 million new subscribers during the third quarter of 2004, and now count a total of 30.9 million subscribers, according to a report from New Hampshire-based Leichtman Research Group (LRG). The report includes data from the top 20 broadband providers, representing 95% of the total market. Top cable providers added 1.28 million new subscribers, and retain a 6.6 million subscriber advantage over DSL with a 61% share of the total broadband market. "Cable and DSL providers responded to the slight downturn in the market last quarter by aggressively marketing broadband services with discounted introductory offers to woo new subscribers and returning college students," said LRG president Bruce Leichtman. "The seasonal variations in the broadband market that have taken place this year are likely to continue in the future, but without further slashing of prices, total net additions similar to this quarter may be difficult to replicate."
tags: Broadband | Reports | Subscribers | Record | Q3 |

Record Number of E-Books Sold in First Quarter, Up 46% Over 2003

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 4, 2004 - 3:11pm.
Chicago -- Publishers report that a record 421,955 e-books were sold in the first quarter of 2004, with units sold up 46% and revenues up 28% over the same period a year ago, according to data from the Open eBook Forum. "This quarter eBooks have hit a new high mark for sales," said Open eBook Forum president Steve Potash. "eBooks represent the fastest growing segment of the publishing industry." The group also on Friday released its e-book bestseller list for the month of May, with Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code topping the list for the third straight month.
tags: E-Books | Record | First Quarter | Sold |

Apple Loses Bid to Move Trademark Suit With Beatles' Record Label to U.S. London

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 6, 2004 - 7:15am.
Apple Computer has been denied a motion in the London High Court to move a trademark lawsuit brought against the company by the Beatles' record label, Apple Corps, from the U.K. to the U.S., Reuters reported. The record label sued the computer maker for violation of a 1991 agreement where Apple Computer agreed not to use the name in association with the music industry -- an agreement that Apple Corps said the company has broken with the launch of its iTunes Music Store in the U.K.
tags: Apple | Beatles | Record | Suit | U.S. London |

U.S. Indie Record Labels Look to Form Own Trade Group

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 2, 2004 - 8:51am.
New York -- Over 150 U.S. independent record labels are negotiating to form their own trade group to negotiate copyright and distribution matters on behalf of members, The Financial Times reported. Details for the group, whose working title is "American Music Independents," will be discussed during meetings in New York and Los Angeles this month. The group would give a voice to independents not represented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), whose members include the major record labels Sony, BMG, EMI, Warner and Universal. U.S. independent record labels represent approximately 13% of the world's $13 billion total music sales, and about 30% of the online retail market. The proposed U.S. group has consulted both the U.K.'s Association of Independent Music (AIM) and Europe's Impala -- which represents 2,400 independent labels -- on organizing the collective.
tags: Indie | Labels | Record | U.S. |