Universal embraces MP3 for "lost classics" store
13:50 | Wednesday July 30, 2008
Universal is making a major foray into the world of MP3s, with the launch of a new download store dedicated to exclusive tracks, rarities and “overlooked classics”.
Lost Tunes (www.losttunes.com/) opened today, offering 134 download albums that are available exclusively through the site. The initial batch of digital-download exclusives includes The Walker Brothers’ Live In Japan, three albums by Comsat Angels and Bill Fay’s eponymous album.
All downloads on the site are available as 320kpbs MP3s, without digital rights protection. Universal has previously experimented with MP3s in the UK and all downloads sold from its Classics and Jazz online store are in the DRM-free format.
However, this site represents an important move towards embracing DRM for the major.
niversal Music Catalogue head of digital and media Azi Eftekhari says, “We wanted Lost Tunes to replicate the experience of going to a favourite local record shop where browsing and discovering music is a real pleasure and an adventure. We only include music that we love.”
To mark the launch, Fiction Records’ Delays are recording their four favourite “lost tunes” to be released exclusively via the site on Monday September 1.
The site will also offer eight previously-unreleased recordings from The La’s including the John Leckie and Steve Lilywhite mixes of Come In Out Come Out and John Leckie and the Bob Andrew mix of ‘Way Out’.
A further 500 exclusive download albums are scheduled to be launched on the store in the coming six months, including previously unreleased music from the Trojan, Fiction and Decca archives.
Lost Tunes is powered by 7 Digital and has been designed by One Shoe. International versions of the site will launch in the coming months.
Fonte: Music Week
Sony BMG posts loss
13:16 | Wednesday July 30, 2008
Sony BMG recorded a net loss of $49m (£24.75m) in its first fiscal quarter of 2008, with sales down $55m (£27.78m) year-on-year at $820m (£414.35m).
The loss compares to a profit of $21m (£190.61m) in the equivalent quarter of 2007, a result that parent company Sony says reflects the decline in the physical market and an increase in re-structuring costs.
The company says that its best-selling release in the quarter included Usher’s Here I Stand and Leona Lewis’s Spirit.
Meanwhile, the Nikkei Business Daily today reports that Sony is continuing in talks to buy Bertelsmann’s 50% stake in Sony BMG, with the two companies aiming to reach agreement in August.
Fonte: Music Week
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