Personalized Web Radio Pandora Adds Ads To Free Service

Pandora the Internet radio station and “music genome project” which has been running for the past 4 years  will start to add commercials to their free servicem although the $36 per year premium membership will remain ad-free. 

The service that has 21 million registered users and 2 million daily visitors, uses a listener’s music preferences to format a radio station based on their taste. It’s a similar idea to iTunes’ Genius, except it doesn’t just use music in thelisteners catalogue. The company had experimented with ads before, but now audio advertisements will become a regular part of the service albeit in an extremely low-impact way: one 15-second ad will only play every few hours. 

The company  made the following announcement via Twitter: “So you know, we did not take on audio ads lightly. We try to be extremely respectful of your listening experience, & promise to be prudent.”

So far advertsing time on the service has been ordered by American Idol, Bose speakers and McDonald’s , while companies like Best Buy and Kraft advertise through graphic ads on Pandora’s iPhone service, which is not currently running audio ads. The service is now only available in the USA due to licensing constraints. 

Festival chief gives clues

Following Michael Eavis revelation that this year's Glastonbury festival at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 26, 27 and 28, is set to have four headliners playing over the three days, it has emerged that  he has given clues to the nationalities of the headliners.

Inthemix.com.au reports that the festival chief has said that two of the headline acts are from the USA, while the other two are British.

It has been strongly rumoured that Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Blur will play headline slots, and if the rumours turned out to be true this would leave space for one more British act, according to Eavis' statement.

Other British bands rumoured to be playing at the festival include Franz Ferdinand, The Ting Tings, Kaiser Chiefs and Keane.

See Glastonburyfestivals.co.uk for ticket details.

HMV turns to live music

On Sunday night, New Kids on the Block will become the first band to take to the stage at the newly christened HMV Apollo, formerly the Hammersmith Apollo. It may not be the illustrious start the new part-owners of the famous west London venue might have wanted. After all, The Beatles, The Clash and Johnny Cash all played packed-out gigs there. But it will mark an important moment for HMV.

The re-branding is the result of a joint venture unveiled last week between the entertainment retailer and Mama Group who are the UK's second biggest concert venue owner. This new company will operate 11 sites across the UK, eight of which will be in London.

As it's store sales take a battering on three fronts: from illegal downloads, online streaming technology and the consumer spending slump, HMV is tuning in to the live music scene. 

'Live music is the booming part of the entire industry, so it's logical for us to try to tap into it, harnessing the customer base we already have and also attracting younger consumers,' Simon Fox ,HMV's chief executive explains. 'In this market, we need to adapt.'

Dispite the sector being in dire straits, Fox tries to be bullish, noting that the chain still managed to sell 8m CDs over Christmas. Zavvi and Woolworths, two of HMV's biggest competitors on the High Street,  have already shut up shop.

Their demise may be good news for HMV, but it also underlines the similar struggle it faces. The chain has been quick to revamp its product range and to expand online, but total CD sales are falling by around 10% every year, with more consumers switching to downloading their music either legally, on sites such as iTunes, or illegally.

Downloading is usually cheaper - and sometimes free - and shoppers get access to their music faster and without having to leave their homes.

HMV is not the only company seeking to gain from the booming trade. Many record labels have also tried to tap into the sector. Meanwhile, O2, which took over the Millennium Dome, announced this month that it was pairing up with the Brixton Academy owner Academy Music Group to rebrand 11 venues under the phone giant's name.

RIAA stops filing music piracy claims

The Recording Industry Association of America announced last month it would stop pursuing legal action against individuals for music piracy.

The decision comes after critics' complaints that the lawsuits did little to curb illegal downloading. The RIAA will now depend on the cooperation of major Internet service providers to combat the issue of music piracy.

Depending on what ISPs and the RIAA decide, music infringement may  result in action by the ISP, including a warning e-mail, slower Internet service or Internet discontinuation, according to the Wall  Street Journal.

The RIAA still reserves the right to prosecute piracy cases already in progress,  but the RIAA ending lawsuits against individuals could spell a larger trend in the music industry. Apple's iTunes store, a digital media vendor, is also coming up with less restrictive methods to deal with music sharing. It started offering digital rights management free content, or songs that can be copied and shared, on Jan. 6, according to the iTunes Web site.

RIAA

Radio Play Listed - The Boss Is Back

Bruce Springsteen’s new album Working On A Dream (Columbia) has been added to the Radio Two B list in its entirety, alongside the new single from U2, Get On Your Boots (Mercury).

The BBC playlist additions in full are:

Radio One

C list

• Glasvegas - Flowers & Football Tops
  
• Madcon - Liar
  
• My Chemical Romance - Desolation Row
  
• Shontelle - T-Shirt
  
• Take That - Up All Night
  
• The Ting Tings - We Walk
  

Radio Two

B list

• Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Working On A Dream (album)
  
• U2 - Get On Your Boots
  
• Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream
  
• Raphael Saadiq - Love That Girl
  

C list

• John Travolta & Miley Cyrus - I Thought I Lost You
  
• Laura and The Tears - Love Live On!
  
• Leon Jackson – Stargazing
  

6 Music

B list

• Chase And Status – Against All Odds
  
• Glasvegas – Flowers and Football Tops
  
• School Of Seven Bells – Iamundernodisguise
  
• The Ting Tings – We Walk
  

C list

• M. Ward – Never Had Nobody Like You
  

Apple sales rise again

Despite the challenging economic circumstances, Apples sales appear to be holding up with the company posting a net profit of $1.6bn (£1.15bn) for the three months to the end of December.

Its revenue was up from $9.6bn in the same period last year to $10.2bn, despite the global downturn in the economy.

22,727,000 iPods were sold during the quarter, which represents a 3% unit growth over the same period last year. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 4,363,000.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said “Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history - surpassing $10bn in quarterly revenue for the first time ever.”

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer added “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2009, we expect revenue in the range of about $7.6bn to $8bn.”

http://www.apple.com/

First Isle of Wight fest acts named

The first confirmed acts for this year’s Isle of Wight Festival, June 12-14 , have been announced as The Prodigy, Basement Jaxx, Pendulum and The Ting Tings 

This years weekender marks the eighth year of the event since it was resurrected, in 2002, by John Giddings of Solo Promotions and organisers are promising a dynamic line up for the island festival.

The four named acts will take to the main stage on Friday June 12 to kick start the festival, with more artists being announced in the coming weeks and months as the summer season draws closer.

More than 30,000 tickets have already been sold for the 55,000-capacity event.

http://www.isleofwightfestival.com/

Happiness for Coca Cola

Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes, Panic At the Disco, Cee Lo and Janelle Monae have collaborated on a new track as part of Coca Cola’s Happiness Factor Three commercial campaign.

The track, entitled Open Happiness  will be released by Atlantic in March to tie in with a wider campaign that will see the featured artists appear on 20 billion cans of the soft drink globally.

According to Coca Cola global marketing manager, sports and entertainment marketing, Umut Ozaydini, the song is  an attempt to reflect the optimism of Coke as a brand. “We wanted to use music as a key factor of this programme and push our message of uplift and optimism,” He added. “The record industry seems like it needs an uplift.”

In the UK and France, the artists will feature on 200 million packs and there will also be a related TV campaign. “As a brand we feel we might be able to take the artists to the next level,” Ozaydini adds.

Ozaydini went on to link the song to the spirit of optimism generated by Barack Obama’s inauguration as US president.

Vice president of the Brand Asset Group, Joe Belliotti,  which put the deal together, said that he considered the project a success already, as the artists are proud of the song, while Coke is behind something creative.

However, the song – a saccharine affair, with rather banal lyrics – received its global premiere at Midem and received a muted reception from the crowd. Delegates were left questioning why Coke was working with such established artists, rather than using its power to push new acts as they have been doing via there web site.

http://www.music.coca-cola.com