Echo Nest set to spin off skunkworks project This Is My Jam

Great example of intrapreneurship. Social music site This Is My Jam is getting kicked out of the (Echo) Nest.

Crowd-sourcing music creation? Avicii and Ericsson say why not?

Hey songwriters! Team up with Swedish DJ Avicii to write the next hit song – Avicii x You.

Read how here

Year-end numbers show ‘cranky old media’ far outperformed its sexy tech rivals

Here’s the Myth: Traditional media companies are going the way of dinosaurs.

And here’s the Myth Buster: In 2012, legacy media companies such as Comcast, News Corporation, and Time Warner posted share price increases of 16.1% – 57.6%.

Writing for Deadline Hollywood, David Lieberman pointed out that “cranky old media far outperformed a sexy technology group composed of Amazon, Netflix, Apple, Yahoo, Google and Microsoft. Take that, digital overlords!”

“As it turns out, the traditional television business is far stickier than people thought, and audience behavior is not changing as rapidly as people thought it might,” said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG Research. “Yes, television viewing went down in 2012 for the first time, but people are still watching five hours a day. YouTube is growing, but people are watching eight minutes a day. They are where cable was in 1980.” But he added that it would not take YouTube and the Internet 30 years to overtake television.

Read the entire article here.

Disney to concert industry: how to help customers spend more $$

Starting this spring, Disney Parks will introduce a rubber bracelet for guests to wear that is encoded with lots of information about you, including a credit card. Just tap the bracelet on cute little Mickey-themed orbs and presto – you’ve got that T-shirt without waiting in line at a cash register. How could this be put to work for the concert industry? Everybody wants customers to be happy, buy merch, and eat and drink. With these cool little bracelets, fans could spend less time in line and, maybe, more money by tapping those little orbs. And just think – more info about you for the venue!

Get inspired here

Online radio to serve you search-related ads

It was only a matter of time before online radio jumped into the lucrative Big Data game. Soon you’ll be hearing targeted ads on your favorite online station based on your recent web surfing. Picture it – you’re relaxing with friends, listening to your station and up pops an ad for Spanx. Sure you need a little smoothing out under the new dress, but does everybody else need to know? Creepy? Annoying? You bet. Read more here

What Does Your Favorite Music Say About Your Politics?

Click For Larger Image

Interesting article via Buzzfeed that graphs how likely people are to vote for either Obama or Romney based on their musical preferences. The information for the chart was gathered from people’s  ”Likes” on Facebook. Link to the full article, which also includes favorite movies is here.

Is Apple Planning To Go Streaming Subscription?

Some folks wondered if Apple would announce a subscription iTunes access model on Wednesday (9-12-12), along with its new iPhone and iPod features. But the silence on that issue was deafening.

PaidContent says Apple can pick and choose the moment when it wants to reinvent the music industry – again. Apple’s iTunes download store catapulted the recording industry into the online world in 2003, which seems ancient history. Still, U.S. digital music revenue rose a healthy nine percent through last year (source: IFPI), according to Robert Andrews of PaidContent. iTunes sales account for roughly 70% of all digital music sold, making it the dominant player in that arena. While the rumors swirl that Apple eventually will go the subscription service route, Apple itself is silent on the issue.

And what’s the rush? Killing the iTunes download cash cow makes no sense right now, for Apple or the music industry. Sure, Apple uses music as a draw for its real profit-makers – those sleek, addictive, and elegant physical products – but some feel this savvy company is biding its time until it sees whether Spotify – the canary in the subscription mine shaft – is a commercially viable business model.

Economists say it will take approximately 100 million subscribers to make an online music subscription service commercially viable. With its 435 million paying customers, who would pay up front for the service, Apple would create an economic tsunami in the music industry if and when it flips models. Consumers will love it. But what about record labels, artists, and Apple’s competitors?

Read Robert Andrews’ blog here.