Monday, we sat down with Rhapsody President Jon Irwin to get a little more insight behind why the company bought fellow online music service Napster. As part of the acquisition, Rhapsody acquired all Napster subscribers and other IP assets from Napster owner BestBuy. Meanwhile, Best Buy received a minority stake in Rhapsody.
Irwin tells us he looks forward to bringing the Napster subscriber base over to Rhapsody. Rhapsody has around 800,000 subscribers and Napster reportedly has around half that. Irwin declined to give us specific subscriber numbers, but says that the combined company will release this number n the next few months. → Read More
I love Yvo Schaap, even though I’ve never met him in person.
Wanna know why? Because the man keeps on digging up interesting stuff by simply perusing code, and then alerting us.
Schaap found the embeddable +1 button and a a link to the Google Games logo before either of them was publicly released, and now he may have identified several companies that will be partnering with Facebook for the imminent launch of the latter’s Music service (which may be called Vibes). → Read More
I just read that Spotify is coming to the U.S! Oh, wait. That was an article from 2009. I hope they really mean it this time. I love the product. To grease the skids for them a bit, I’ve put together a little travel guide for what they can expect in advertising and media circles when they do arrive.
Being Swedish I’m guessing they’re fantastic dressers and that their accents will make even the Brits envious. American agencies all have European envy, and Spotify is certifiably a big deal abroad. Agency status meetings will be preceded by Absolut and herring in honor of Spotify’s arrival. → Read More
We created subscriptions for publishing apps, not SaaS apps.
—email attributed to Steve Jobs
There’s been so much confusion in the wake of Apple’s new subscription billing policy for apps that Steve Jobs felt the need to issue the proclamation above via his preferred method, a personal email. (It’s his version of the burning bush). While Apple’s new policy clearly states that all subscriptions for purchasing “content, functionality, or services in an app” must go through Apple, Jobs suggests that Apple will make a distinction between “publishing apps” and “SaaS apps” (software as a service). Apps like Salesforce or Evernote, for example, operate under an SaaS subscription, and are available to the same subscribers on the Web and other devices besides the iPhone.
Apple appears to be backtracking here. As I suggested on Friday in a Fly or Die video with Rhapsody’s president Jon irwin (who offers a music streaming subscription app on the iPhone), Apple’s initial broad-stroke rule may very well have been a trial balloon. The subscription billing system was obviously designed with media apps in mind, particularly publications. Maybe Apple won’t apply it to other types of subscription apps. Indeed, this latest email from Jobs appears to signal that Apple is adjusting to the market reaction. → Read More
The media world is in a tizzy over Apple’s new subscription billing rules for iPad and iPhone apps. Basically, Apple will now take a 30 percent cut of all in-app subscription revenues and own all the customer data. As written, the rules apply to everything from iPad magazines and newspapers to subscription music services and even subscription movie services like Netflix.
We’ve debated these rules up and down. In this special episode of Fly or Die, Rhapsody president Jon Irwin joins us to explain how online subscription media businesses work from his perspective. Irwin is one of the few executives brave enough to speak out against the new rules. → Read More
Who says nobody will consider paying for streaming music? Thumbplay Music, which offers unlimited music streaming apps for a monthly subscription across iPhone (iTunes link), Android, and Blackberry, reports that its smartphone apps have been downloaded 500,000 times since June. Thumbplay won’t say how many of those downloads turn into paying customers (you get a free trial before having to start paying $9.99 a month), but even if it’s only 10 percent, that’s $500,000 a month in revenues. → Read More
If you’ve created music playlists using iTunes, Spotify, Last.fm, YouTube, We Are Hunted, Winamp, Rhapsody, Soundcloud, or even if you’ve simply scribbled a list of your favorite tracks in a notepad file, you need to check out Playlistify soon. The basic, solid premise of the service is to let you enjoy your custom-made playlists anywhere you like.
I was looking for an excuse to write it up anyway, and now they’ve given me a decent one: they’ve added a new feature that lets you convert your music playlists into Twitter lists. → Read More
Rhapsody is going solo and cutting prices along the way. The digital music service is spinning off from its parent companies, MTV/Viacom and RealNetworks. The newly independent company is called: Rhapsody International. In honor of its new status, the company is also releasing an Android app and dropping its premier monthly subscription fee by a third to $9.99 a month, from $14.99.
“We are free to move forward and chart our own market course,” says Rhapsody’s President Jon Irwin. He says the company, which plans to release a Blackberry app by the second half of this year, is indeed on track to be profitable by the fourth quarter. → Read More
Knowing you guys, you not only knew Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 leaked several days ago, but you grabbed it instantly, and gained some nice ratio buffer in the process. Oh, and you listened to it many times over (as have I). Good, great. → Read More
This morning, subscription music service Rhapsody is putting public pressure on Apple to approve its new music streaming app by making its case directly to the press. Unlike other streaming music apps already on the iPhone from Pandora, Slacker, AOL Radio, imeem, and Sirius XM, Rhapsody’s would allow users to individually select and listen to any one of the 8 million songs in its catalog on-demand or create their own streaming playlists, as opposed to listening to a more radio-like, random assortment. It is in the same boat as Spotify, which is also awaiting approval as an iPhone app.
In the wake of the Google Voice app rejection/indefinite review and the resulting FCC investigation, Rhapsody is betting that Apple won’t reject its App, even if it does compete directly with iTunes. Rhapsody VP Neil Smith tells the NYT that “not approving things for the app store is giving people a reason to say, ‘I’m not going to buy an iPhone.’”
Smith gives Rhapsody a little too much credit. It is a great product, don’t get me wrong. But paying $15 a month for unlimited access to Rhapsody’s Web jukebox appeals to a very limited niche audience. → Read More
Provided Apple and/or AT&T don’t throw a fit, you’ll soon be able to use Rhapsody on your iPhone (and iPod touch). The App works over 3G and EDGE (and Wi-Fi, of course), streaming music from a library of more than 8 million songs. → Read More
Let’s not chastise Apple too harshly for introducing variable pricing for music to the iTunes Store. Why, a quick search on some of the other big online music stores reveals that they, too, charge one price for some songs, and a different price for others. Case in point: Amazon, Rhapsody and Beatport. → Read More
Okay, this has to be the coolest hack of the week. Visual search engine SearchMe has just added a music search tab that brings back results with free, legal, unlimited full-song streams and cover art you can flip through. It’s CoverFlow on the Web. And it actually trumps the experience one Yahoo’s music search, which also offers free full streams through Rhapsody—but those are limited to 25 streams a month per searcher.
SearchMe instead is tapping into imeem’s vast catalog of fully licensed music. (Along with Rhapsody and MySpace Music, imeem is one of a handful of companies with comprehensive music streaming rights from all the major labels). [Correction] But SearchMe is not using imeem’s API, which originally was limited to apps on imeem itself, but has since been extended to other sites through a. Instead, it using the widget loophole in imeem’s licensing deal with the record labels. Imeem users can stream any song and create playlists on imeem itself or through imeem’s widgets which can be embedded elsewhere. (Other partners such as Apture and Slide also use imeem’s API to invoke imeem widgets). → Read More
Searching for music is one thing, but have you ever wanted to search for an artist and play their songs without needing to visit other sites? If so, Yahoo and Rhapsody have launched a new service that will let you do just that.
Staring today, users who search for an artist on Yahoo Search will be able to play the artist’s songs in the search results, thanks to a shortcut sitting at the top of the page. Even better, the songs will be played in their entirety through Rhapsody’s FoxyTunes Player. According to Yahoo, the new feature is just another elemt of its “play the Web” strategy and its desire to open its site for outside content and services. → Read More
AppleInsider has posted details about a patent recently filed by Apple that describes technology for playing iTunes content from a desktop computer remotely on an iPhone or iPod touch. The new software would load only meta data about songs, videos, and other media onto a handheld device. It would then allow users to stream this media from their desktop computers on demand and even let them organize their iTunes libraries remotely (by adding, deleting, and moving files around). The main benefits come from saving space on your handheld device, where disk storage is scarce, as well as saving the time it takes to synchronize. There’s been no official word from Apple on when or whether it plans to release this technology (it files patents all the time that go nowhere). But such a development could be seen as one step towards a streaming music service like Rhapsody or Napster, which have operated in stark contrast to Apple’s download model. However, the patent does not suggest that Apple plans to stream data from its own servers – just consumers’ own desktop computers, where they keep the music they have downloaded. Apple could also be understood to be taking on at least one facet of Microsoft Mesh, which promises to make consumers’ personal files available to them on whichever device they use. Of course, MobileMe already goes to show that Apple has data synchronization on its mind – but perhaps there’s a broader trend here as well. CrunchBase Information Apple iPhone Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Oh, Yahoo. Why do you make it so hard to like you? Take this story. Yahoo is shutting down its music download store at the end of September, including the DRM validation servers. Without DRM validation servers, people who purchased tracks outright won’t be able to play them. In other words, people will be left with useless files on their hard drives. Nice. To be fair, it’s not like Yahoo is completely screwing its [former] customers. The company will provide coupons to download the previously downloaded (but now useless) songs again from Rhapsody, which will be DRM-free MP3s. That, or you can get your money back. Your choice. Meh, to be honest, Yahoo is doing right by it customers, and this is more of an illustatrion of how silly DRM is more than anything else. → Read More
iLike, the music service with a massive following on Facebook and increasing popularity elsewhere, has introduced full-song playback on its flagship site, iLike.com. Through its partnership with music subscription service Rhapsody, the site will be offering over 5 million songs from all of the major labels and a variety of indie artists, too. In conjunction with the launch of full song playback, the site is also launching a new self-serve ad platform for concert promoters. Unfortunately, the full-song playback will be partially restricted for users that aren’t Rhapsody subscribers. Non-subscribers will only be able to listen to a maximum of 25 songs per month, while Rhapsody users under the service’s $12.99 monthly plan will be able to listen to an unlimited number of songs. iLike competitor Last.fm began offering less restrictive playback options in January, but has had issues with keeping its content-providers satisfied (Warner Music Group pulled out of the deal in June). The new ad-platform, which also launches today, is designed to give concert promoters a way to create feature-rich ads without much effort or technical know-how. Ads will be distributed across iLike’s network (namely their website and social network applications), and will display content depending on a user’s geographical location. On social networks, the ads will also include elements like “invite your friends” and “see who’s going”. iLike has also announced plans for a new developer platform that will be launching in the near future (likely in the next few weeks). While iLike has offered widgets for syndication in the past, the new platform will allow developers to customize their own web applications. CrunchBase Information iLike Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Can you hear me now? No, I’m listening to music thanks to Rhapsody. That horrendous opening can mean only one thing: Verizon Wireless has joined up with Rhapsody to launch a mobile music subscription service, the first of its kind. The name, V CAST Music with Rhapsody, could use some work, but that’s to be expected. (That’s actually a good idea for an article: on terrible product names.) Anyway, the service, which will run you $15 a month, gives you access to a library of five million all-you-can eat songs. (Or, you can keep paying $1.99 per individual download if you’re so inclined, one for your phone and one for the PC, all DRM-free.) Subscribers will get to use the service on both their cellphone and PC. Now, you’ll need a Rhapsody-compatible phone to use the service. These include the unreleased LG Chocolate 3, which will be the service’s launch vehicle, and current “it” phone for VZW, the LG Dare. You can try it out today by visiting VZW’s Web site. → Read More
[photopress:itunes8.png,full,center] It’s odd. Steve Jobs has said “no” to the idea of iTunes music subscriptions time and time again, but the rumors never die. Now the Financial Times is reporting the wheels are again turning to grant all-you-can-download music for a monthly subscription to users. There would be a likely premium on hardware or a start-up cost, but with groups like the Zune Marketplace and Rhapsody siphoning off iTunes would-bes, it’s the next logical step for Apple. But it’s not for all users. Many want to buy their songs and actually own them. Mixing the two markets might make things confusing. Which are you, gentle readers, subscription-minded or ownership-minded? Apple mulls unlimited music bundle [Financial Times] → Read More
