Gerd Leonhard's Blog on The Future of Music, Media & Entertainment

paidContent.org: Amazon.com’s Music Service Coming Next Month (all MP3s!)

Link: paidContent.org - The Economics of Content - Amazon.com’s Music Service Coming Next Month?.

Amazon.com’s Music Service Coming Next Month?

Rafat has good blip on Amazon's new service - all based on MP3s of course. Will be interesting to see what happens with EMusic then.

"Is the world ready for it? Amazon.com’s (NSDQ: AMZN) ready to launch its world-changing music service next month, the 500th such service claiming to, well, change the world. Earlier reports pegged the launch in May this year, but that came and passed. Now NYP reports a mid-Sept launch date is planned, and will offer songs in MP3, DRM-free format. Included will be music from Universal Music Group, EMI and a large number of independent labels (all thee have started selling MP3 formats songs)...missing will be two notable sources, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group, both holdouts on DRM-free songs..."

Kyte.TV Rocks: check out my show on "The Future of Music Publishing"

Just had dinner  last night with Daniel Graf, Co-Founder and CEO of Kyte. His company is really hot right now as it is the first to offer a complete converged experience of  social networking based on video / photo sharing on the mobile AND the computer, and synchronously, even. Pretty mind-boggling stuff!

Add some pretty cool chat tools (allowing you to chat with people while they watch, on the phone or the PC), some great music tracks provided by IODA, Capitol Records, among others (on that note they do need a lot more choice, but I think I can fix that;) great and easy editing options, and fast servers and very intuitive design, and you have a winner.  One thing is for sure: I will be producing a lot more shows here, both on the mobile as well as on the computer.

Here is my channel feed: This will auto-update with all my new stuff (I hope) - hit the play button for the music (I don't use auto-play on this site). Enjoy!

iodaCAST

IODA has some great ideas to market their music - such as this podcast feed at IODACAST. Great way to find out about new bands. Keep that good stuff rolling guys (and girls)! Link: iodaCAST. 

IODA also supports bloggers that want free MP3s via their PromoNet tool, and last but not least my company www.sonific.com also recently made a deal with them, adding all of their Promonet tracks to Sonific's SongSpot library. Most tracks aren't live yet but they will be, soon.

Brightcove Founder Lays Out Media Vision For A New Video World (this is a company to watch)

Jeremy Allaire knows his stuff, that is for sure. Now here is a company to watch! MediaPost Publications - Brightcove Founder Lays Out Media Vision For A New Video World - 04/27/2007.

My fav quotes:

"Open distribution and "self-service models" where content can be created and distributed with no cost of entry are leading to an explosion of new programming outlets and niche networks because anyone can create a TV network today--production companies, publishers, or consumers..."   GL: indeed, NICHES are where we are going!

"The idea, says Allaire, should be some "blended distribution strategy" that includes a branded content site, strategic syndication to affiliate sites, and viral distribution through widgets or players such as Brightcove's that "empower the consumer to distribute it for you." For advertisers, you're looking at extending reach by 50%, 60%, 70% or 80%, he said..."

GL: SYNDICATION is the keyword - and the key.

"Branded marketing content can also be syndicated, Allaire noted. He pointed to DuPont's program created with Denuo in which a blogger was hired to write science stories..."

Check out Jeremy's video here

Trend: Music Recommendations 2.0 - how to discover new music

Good sumnmary here
CScout TrendBlog � Trend: Music Recommendations 2.0.

Music recommendation services are taking on Web 2.0 functionality integrating the best of user generated content, communites and social networking.

New app enables music streaming to PCs - Yahoo! News

Sounds interesting. I met the CEO at CES - check it out! New app enables music streaming to PCs - Yahoo! News.

Google Watch : Five Reasons Google Will Acquire YouTube (and 5 Reasons Google Won't)

Link: Google Watch : Five Reasons Google Will Acquire YouTube (and 5 Reasons Google Won't).

Five Reasons Google Will Acquire YouTube

1. YouTube has more traffic than Google Video and, what's more, represents the cultural zeitgeist in a way that Google does not. By acquiring YouTube, Google would be investing in the future of interactivity on the Web, and ensuring that the company has the inside track on video search trends.

2. Google can afford the bandwidth. YouTube's biggest expense is the bandwidth required to serve 100M videos per day. Ostensibly, Google could cover those costs while actually making the site browsing faster through Google's distributed architecture.

3. The advertising potential is enormous. Direct visits to YouTube are just one angle. If searches done through Google automatically lead to YouTube videos, that's another. What's more, YouTube, despite its immense cultural position, is still a small company with a small amount of revenue. The upside on the deal would be big for Google.

4. Google has experience dealing with copyright holder concerns. It is one of the few companies that could buy YouTube and manage the copyright concerns that large studios and networks have.

5. Google could integrate its social networking products and/or get the inside track on how a social network operates in a video-based site. Google is also heavily invested in mobile technologies -- I would expect to see YouTube functions integrated into handsets.

jkOnTheRun: Gmail adds .mp3 playback. GoogleMusic... soon?

Link: jkOnTheRun: Gmail adds .mp3 playback.

ehem.... google >> Music >> streaming >> downloading. Soon IMHO.

Wired 14.09: No Suit Required Nettwork Records Feature

Wired 14.09: No Suit Required.

Go Terry go!!

Sonific’s Music Player For MySpace and Blogs - Mashable*

Link: Sonific’s Music Player For MySpace and Blogs - Mashable*.

About my new company, www.sonific.com