Now that Apple is moving beyond iTunes, it’s worth remembering how revolutionary iTunes was. Before the iTunes Music Store, your best bet to find music online was through a file-sharing site like Napster. Your only legal options were either niche storefronts, or label-specific ones, none of them user-friendly. iTunes brought purchasing music online into the … Continue reading “iTunes, In Memoriam”
By 1999, Tower was operating more than 150 stores in almost two-dozen countries, generating annual revenues of a billion dollars. But in 2004, the company was forced into bankruptcy, a victim of its own unchecked appetite for expansion, cutthroat competition from consumer-electronics retailers, tone-deaf marketing decisions on the part of the record industry, and viral … Continue reading “The Spectacular Rise And Fall Of Tower Records”
“Now, a startup backed by Sean Parker of Facebook and Napster fame … called the Screening Room … offers secure anti-piracy technology that will offer new releases in the home on the same day they hit theaters.” But it will cost a lot more than the price of two cinema tickets.
“The debate has been enabled by social media and reflects changes in many artists’ attitudes toward the online economy over the last 15 years or so — a period that stretches from the rise of Napster and iTunes to online streaming outlets like YouTube, Pandora and Spotify, and has been accompanied by enormous changes in … Continue reading “More And More Musicians Demanding Changes In How The Music Industry Works”
“Spotify is selling a lie. In this post-Napster world, the pressure is on for new independent artists to have their music sit alongside massive acts – but we’re not getting anything back.”
“A total of 4.4 billion tracks were streamed in the last twelve months from sites including Spotify, We7, Zune, Napster and Deezer.”
“Seems that the US Justice Dept wants to destroy the world of books,” he wrote on his Twitter page. “Anyone who thinks that fair pricing that allows authors to make a living is a cabal or cartel system is deep in the grip of Napsterism.”
“UK music industry revenue fell just 3.4% last year to £795m as the steady decline in the popularity of CDs was offset by a 25% increase in income from digital downloads and subscription services such as Spotify and Napster.”
“Despite the demise of Napster more than a decade ago, music fans continue to use file-sharing sites to discover and share music. In certain circles, especially more underground and fringe scenes, music blogs and sites are indispensible ways of discovering new artists, as they’re mostly ignored by mainstream magazines and websites.”
“Not so long ago, the industry was upset about kids moving 3 megabyte MP3s around on Napster. Today, it’s common to see 35 gigabyte compilations of, say, seven seasons of the TV show House, all conveniently bundled together. (Note that that’s ten thousand times bigger.)”
