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STUDY: U.S. LEADS IN MOBILE INTERNET USAGE: A study by Nielsen Mobile reveals that 40 million Americans actively use the Internet on their mobile phones, setting the United States as the top mobile Internet adopter out of 16 countries tracked. That figure represents 15.6% of all mobile users, and does not include an additional 55 million users who pay for mobile Internet access but do not actively use it. Additionally, music was one of the Top 10 Mobile Web Categories. Mobile Internet use produced $1.7 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2008, while 26% of users recall mobile advertisements. Though the U.S. leads the U.K. and Italy in mobile Internet penetration, prominent tech-savvy nations such as Japan and Korea were not included in the study. For a pdf of Nielsen Mobile’s study, click here.

ROYALTIES FOR UNSIGNED ARTISTS AT LAST.FM: Last.fm announced today the official launch of its Artist Royalty Program, an initiative which will pay unsigned artists royalties when their tracks are played. Artists enroll in the program before uploading their tracks to Last.fm and receive royalty payments when their music is played through Last.fm’s radio service or on-demand. Said Last.fm co-founder Martin Stiksel, “The young musician making music in a bedroom studio has the same chance as the latest major label signing to use Last.fm to build an audience and get rewarded.” Read the full press release here.

RAIN ANALYSIS: All “non-public domain” music Last.fm uses is subject to copyright protection. As such, Last.fm is obligated to enter a licensing agreement with copyright owners (which may include royalty-free usage) regardless of whether the copyright owner is a record label or an unsigned artist. (Webcasters with non-interactive services, under the DMCA, can pay the statutory royalties fees to cover all their music, but this almost certainly doesn’t apply to Last.fm). Thus, we believe this new program is simply an efficient way to enter “boilerplate” agreements with indie artists, rather than some gracious decision on Last.fm’s part to pay them — which they’re obligated to do anyway. That said, I’d certainly invite any legal experts among RAIN’s readership to straighten us out if we’ve muddled this. — PM

LISTEN TO WEBCASTS AT 30,000 FEET: American Airlines has reportedly successfully tested in-flight high-speed Internet. Using Aircell’s “GoGo” service, the airline plans to conduct broader trials “in coming weeks” and hopes to expand the service to multiple airplane models. JetBlue Airways, Virgin America, Southwest Airlines, and Alaska Air Group’s Alaska Airlines also are developing hi-speed Internet access. GoGo access will cost $12.95 for flights that are 3 hours or longer, and $9.95 for shorter flights. This development comes after Chrysler’s announcement to offer Wi-Fi Internet in their auto models next year (RAIN coverage here) and news that plans for hi-speed Internet on mass transit systems are moving forward (RAIN coverage here). For more, read Radio Business Report’s coverage here.

MAGICBOX CLARUS PLUS HAS MAGIC PRICE: The MagicBox Clarus Plus desktop Internet radio device not only plays webcasts, HD radio, FM, and streams audio files from your home network, but is also compatible with BBC’s “Listen Again” database of past programs. The UK player is available for the relatively cheap price of £79 (just over $150). For a full spec sheet, click here.

Comment

1. I love these new devices that are showing up, but what doesn’t make sense is why all of these things are coming out of Europe? Do they have better Wifi in more places or what?

   Even the new Nokia internet radio tuner is for European phones…

   — Matt Gunter · Jul 9, 12:57 PM · #

2. Reciva chipsets. Probably lots more of them here because it’s a UK company, though one can pay two or three times the price for the exact same models at (eg) Grace Digital.

   This one is selling for £42 / $80 right now:

   http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134633

   — John Handelaar · Jul 9, 01:57 PM · #

Commenting is closed for this article.

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