 RAIN 10/21: Google will launch streaming music service, according to report ·Oct 21, 11:02 AM GOOGLE TO PARTNER WITH LALA, iLIKE FOR SEARCH-BASED SERVICETechCrunch is reporting today that Google will partner with online music discovery and purchasing service Lala and social music discovery site iLike for a new streaming music service. Early this morning, the tech news site began reporting that an announcement from Google was imminent. TechCrunch now says they’ve received an invitation to an announcement event one week from today. TechCrunch sources say all four major label groups back the service.
According to TechCrunch, “the new service (according to sources) will be integrated into Google search. Users will be able to stream songs directly from Google TechCrunch has more here. SLACKER TO OFFICIALLY DROP G2 DEVICE; COMPANY RAISES $12 MILLION IN NEW FUNDINGFollowing a focus-shift toward developing applications for smart devices like the iPhone and Blackberry (see RAIN here), Slacker now says it will indeed discontinue its own digital music player, according to The Wall Street Journal’s VentureWire. Slacker’s portable, satellite-connected G2 player, introduced to rival Apple’s iPod and iTunes, never caught on with consumers, who’ve been significantly more enthusiastic about the Slacker webcasting service on desktops and wireless phones. Slacker President Jim Cady, running the company following the August departure of CEO Dennis Mudd, says the device “no longer fit(s) the company’s long-term strategy,” and that it will be phased out next year.
Cady told VentureWire his company sees web-enabled smartphones as its dominant platform moving forward. “‘We find mobile customers tend to be a little less migratory’ than Slacker users on a PC,” he told VentureWire. Those devices — and possibly next-generation car radios — will also play a key role in making the Slacker service accessible in cars, Cady said. In other Slacker-related news, the company has apparently raised at least $12.1 million of a $14.2 million offering — but is keeping details mum. Read more from VentureWire here. SoCalTech reported on the investment news here. DiMA CRAFTS PROPOSAL TO CREATE MUSIC RIGHTS OWNER DATABASECollecting royalties from services which use music is just half the job for agencies like ASCAP, BMI, SoundExchange (or Harry Fox Agency). They also have to pay out funds to entitled publishers, songwriters, copyright owners, and performers. And often, tracking down these recipients can be a difficult and time-consuming process. In fact, the cost of finding the entitled creators and owners can be higher than the payout itself (if you caught SoundExchange executive director John Simson at the RAIN Summit East last month, you’ll remember him explaining, “I’m not going to spend a dollar to find someone to pay them twenty-five cents.”). The result is that a lot of money collected doesn’t reach deserving parties, and instead gets stockpiled as “pending and unmatched,” or “P&U.”
The Digital Media Association (DiMA), according to Digital Music News, is now circulating a proposal to create a centralized database of rights owners. (DiMA is the DC-based lobby for, among other companies, larger webcasters and music services like Pandora, Apple, and RealNetworks.) Such a store-house of information would add transparency to the royalty-collection process and help ensure that royalties that services pay to use copyright recordings and compositions go to the deserving creators, performers, and owners. The proposal states, “There is no single document, catalog or user-friendly searchable database tool available to [the] industry… (a) collaborative approach on this project will be of broad benefit to all stakeholders, including songwriters, publishers, artists, recording companies and digital services.” Read more from Digital Music News here. share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
via partners iLike and LaLa. Additional information around the music query will be provided to users as well (presumably any relevant results from YouTube as well as information already available in Google’s existing music search)… Users will also be offered the opportunity to purchase songs for download, we’ve confirmed.”
