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What's new. What's hot. What they're saying. |
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Find Your Audience: They're on the Phone, Sipping a Latte Drastic changes in the music industry have led to innovative approaches to finding an audience -- and getting them to actually pay for music. German band Super Smart has released their new album only as mobile phone ringtones, while Starbucks has unveiled an in-store music service. Super Smart's new work, "Panda Babies," isn't available on vinyl or CD, only as polyphonic ringtones, with a bonus video for phone displays. For an introductory price of 1.99 euros, the curious could get a sample of the band's "disco pop and electro punk." (Prices now match those of other pop ringtones.) Distribution is handled by Go Fresh Mobile Music, whose founder Antonio Vince Staybl recently told the BBC, "Music has to be re-thought." Go Fresh has signed dozens of artists to its "label," and has sold almost 1 million ringtones of various types in its first year of operation. Ringtones have become a big business, with the BBC reporting that almost $100 million of tones were sold in 2003 in the UK alone. Read more about Super Smart from Digital-Lifestyles.info or BBC News Visit the band at their site [German]
Coffee giant Starbucks has unveiled a new service for some of its ubiquitous stores. Soon customers will be able to use an electronic tablet to select songs (from a 250,000 song library) to listen to while sipping, then order a custom-burned CD of songs they'd like to purchase. The service has already debuted in a Santa Monica, California location, and it will spread to 2,500 Starbucks locations over the next two years. Pricing is similar to existing services (such as Apple's iTunes store), with a minimum purchase of $6.99 for 5 songs. Wireless downloads to laptops and portables will be added later. Five years ago Starbucks surprised business analysts by purchasing CD retailer HearMusic, and more recently the company has been offering pre-packaged, moody CD compilations at its coffee shops. Read more about the Starbucks service from Business Week or USA Today article Hear what Starbucks says about music, and visit the "Hear Music coffeehouse" in Santa Monica, California |
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