Tagged: adsupportedmusic

San Francisco based trueAnthem has grabbed $2.9 million in first round funding for its online and supported music service according to an SEC filing . It joins Guevara (who hits 160,000 users according to a tweet yesterday) and others in a sector that has seen its share of failures. The startup hopes to help major clients reach key music fans who they see as influencers that can spread brand messaging. A central component of their campaign is a special trueAnthem Social Media Player you can see in action here [...]

(Updated) Music Ally and others have jumped on figures published by Spotify that show a '09 loss of $26.5 million. TechCrunch Europe declared that the numbers show that U.S. expansion is now "imperative". But year old figures for a startup don't begin to tell Spotify's story or provide a prediction of it's future. Not only did Spotify get substantial funding earlier this year, but according to the latest official Spotify numbers from October, the music service [...]

Bruce and I want to thank this month's advertisers for making it possible for us to bring you the latest news and views, as well as, extended commentary on the next music business. This month, our valued supporters are OurStage , Subway Fresh Artists , Next Big Nashville and Leadership Digital Music Summit , SoundExchange , EmpireLabz , TourIntel , We Are Listening , Play the Music , and NARM: Know Your Consumer Conference . Hypebot [...]

Ever wonder why Weezer called their latest album "Hurley" and slapped the face of some random character from the TV show Lost on the cover? A big inside joke or something--right? A calculated viral strategy... The only way they could top their stunt of releasing their own line of Snuggies ... Actually , it's none of it, none of the above. According to Voyno at The New Rockstar Philosophy and a subsequent video that was released, the reason that the [...]

In response to an article in the Guardian on Clay Shirky and his opinion on news paywalls, Glenn Peoples over at Billboard has written a great summary of how the music industy's digital dilemma relates to that of the newspaper industry's. As well, he frames the discussion around the freemium debate : "One of the big questions [...]

Reports coming from Swedish performing rights groups show that Spotify's payments to artists appear to be growing exponentially. Swedish songwriters association STIM spokesperson Susanne Bodin confirmed an "eightfold increase" in payments to its members over last year. STIM had reported that last June's payments were 500,000 kroner with the latest payment rising to 4 million kroner ($512,280) according the TheLocal.se . Just how much revenue Spotify can generate has been among the major concerns preventing the major labels from allowing the service to launch in the U.S.

On The Future Of we7 & Ad Supported Music Last week UK music streaming service we7 announced the first month where its on demand music was paid for in full by advertising. It was a milestone for BOTH We7 and for ad supported music which has struggled to find ad funded modes that are both profitable and return measurable payments to rights holders. So we asked we7 CEO Steve Purdham what's next for the company. Q: [...]

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The controversial M.I.A. video "Born Free" depicts the military rounding up red headed children and executing them. Some media outlets reported that YouTube had removed the violent video, but instead they put it in an age restricted section. The net result is that it's almost impossible the find the video unless you know the YouTube internal URL. Perhaps parental discretion is warranted. Perhaps not. The video is disturbing and contains violence and nudity, but it also deserves to be seen.

What Income Is Being Paid To Artists & Labels? UK music streaming service we7 has it's first month where on demand music was paid for in full by advertising. That may make we7 the first company to demonstrate that a music on-demand ad-funded model can be profitable and still return measurable payments to rights holders. 1 million plays on we7 generates payments to the music industry of between £2,000 to £4,000 ($3100 - $6200 US), according to the company. Without [...]

Early attempts at ad supported music failed to gain traction. But last week Australian based Guvera entered public beta in the U.S. with a different approach that EMI and Universal hope will capture advertiser and fan interest. Guvera offers free 256kbps downloads paid for by advertisers who can match artists to their brand's 'personality'. As you can see by the image to the left, Guvera is not particularly subtle when it comes to marketing. In this guest post Australian [...]

Ad supported music service Guvera entered public beta yesterday, but without many of its key features including activated. The site went live in Australia, where the company is based, several weeks ago. When its fully operational, Guvera's model goes beyond the "watch an ad and get a download" model by engaging the user more deeply and only with brands that they are likely to have interest in. Thus, registration for Guvera begins with a fairly lengthy questionnaire that identifies the users age, address and interests. Universal and EMI as well [...]

(Updated) Music discovery and subscription service MOG.com has announced another $9.5 million in funding and a pending expansion into Europe. The round was led by Menlo Ventures which was joined by new investor Balderton Capital. Dharmash Mistry, partner at Balderton Capital, has been appointed to MOG's board. The company had raised $12.5 million in previous rounds. MOG also announced that it will launch in the UK by the end of the second quarter. The UK is one of rival Spotify's most successful markets; and with Spotify thus [...]

Ad supported music service Guvera will officially launch in the U.S. on March 30th. Digital distributor INgrooves has joined Universal, EMI, IODA, BMI, and SESAC in approving content for Guvera. Guvera is a music and content download system designed in Australia. Content is paid for by advertisers looking to target consumers via branded channels. After viewing the ad, downloads are offered as DRM free mp3's. Music may be where Guvera is starting, but the end game includes other forms of digital media as well. "We also see a [...]

Ad supported music service Guvera will officially launch in the U.S. on March 30th. Digital distributor INgrooves has joined Universal, EMI, IODA, BMI, and SESAC in approving content for Guvera. Guvera is a music and content download system designed in Australia. Content is paid for by advertisers looking to target consumers via branded channels. After viewing the ad, downloads are offered as DRM free mp3's. Music may be where Guvera is starting, but the end game includes other forms of digital media as well. "We also [...]

Australian based Guvera has raised any additional $20 million for its ad supported music service. A U.S. launch is expected in 2010. That's in addition to $10 million raised earlier, Guvera CEO Claes Loberg told TechCrunch . Late last year Guvera signed U.S. deals with Universal, EMI and IODA for its service. On Guvera, users can search for a specific song, artist or genre. From the list of [...]

FreeAllMusic.com has signed a deal with Universal Music Group to offer free ad supported digital music downloads. FAM will offer DRM free mp3 downloads in exchange for watching a brief video commercial. There is no software required and after the download the users' music selections and sponsoring brands are only promoted externally through an opt-in ad network.During the sites current private beta, users will be offered up to 20 free downloads per month. In October, CEO Richard Nailling told Hypebot, "We have one major label signed and intend to have all four majors signed by our launch [...]

Wishing you a joyful and prosperous 2010! Thank-you for reading Hypebot all year. My mantra for 2010 is: Focuses, Fearless & Kind What is your mantra or goal for 2010?

Continuing what feels like an unprecedented string of false starts and missed deadlines, ad supported music service Qtrax canceled a Christmas eve press conference. What's the excuse this time? Apparently only one person is capable of speaking for the company or honoring its commitments and he was...ill. "Yes, it is true that we intended having a Press Conference today," said a post on the Qtrax blog. "And it's also true, that in the last week, our CEO, became ill with a generally non-life-threatening but [...]

FreeAllMusic , a new site that will offer mp3's in exchange for watching a single video commercial enters private beta today, December 22nd. There is no software required and once a user chooses a brand to sponsor their download, that brand owns every part of the download process, which includes video advertising, through to the download into their offline music library. During the private beta, the company is testing offers of 15 to 20 free downloads per month, five per user session, starting every New Music Tuesday, based [...]