CBS Radio and AOL, who partnered on a online streaming radio player earlier this week, have announced that a modified version of the player will be available for the new iPhone. Now, whenever you want to hear "Lollipop" and you can't be bothered to load it into iTunes, just turn on your phone.

Here is how someone will be able to listen to the radio next month: Buy an Apple iPhone and download the new AOL Radio application. It will connect to AOL's servers by way of the cellular network. The phone's GPS system will monitor signals from satellites orbiting 12,000 miles in space in order to determine your location. This will automatically determine your location and tune to the digital stream from the nearest CBS station.

What is most disturbing about this announcement is that it appears the GPS function will restrict you to only tuning in local stations. In my case, that would be Jamz 101.5, as well as a country station and a "'Brown Eyed Girl' every hour on the hour" oldies station. I've spent a fair amount of time and money trying to avoid those stations, so adding them to my phone isn't entirely appealing. Also, it would seem that the streams would have audio commercials added in from the start (and the possibility of graphic ads later on), which makes me wonder who wouldn't just stick to the music they've loaded themselves. I suppose there's some value to having the AOL stations for when you've become disgusted with your own choices, but when traffic, weather, and news are easily available via other iPhone functions, I can live without my local Jamz.

AOL Turns the iPhone into an Expensive Radio [NY Times]

1) Andrew Mendelson - Morning Meditation
2) Mike Myers - 9 To 5
3) Cornershop - Brimful Of Asha (Norman Cook Remix)
4) Mike Myers - Stop Hitting Yourself (dialog)
5) Mike Myers and Manu Narayan - More Than Words
6) Mike Myers - The Joker
7) Telma Hopkins and Toronto Children's Concert Choir - Lead Me To Your Rock
8) B.A.S.K.O. - Big Boi
9) Robbie Nevil - C'est La Vie
10) Celine Dion - I Drove All Night
11) Mike Myers - My Name Is Guru Pitka (dialog)
12) Lata Mangeshkar and Mohd Rafi - Mere Mitwa Mere Meet Re
13) George S. Clinton - Guru Vindaloo
14) Danny Saber - Mathar
15) Mike Myers - Guru Lineage (dialog)
16) Guru Pitka's Ashram Band - Guru Pitka Chant

Cornershop agreed to this? Where's Panjabi MC?

Here's a classic number from The Apple as a humble apology for bringing any of this to your attention.

The Love Guru Soundtrack [MySpace]
Love Guru - I Drove All Night [YouTube]
The Apple

You can't kill Leona Lewis, you can only make her stronger. For the first time in 30 years, a song returns to the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 after being evicted twice. Love her or hate her, Ol' Dead Eyes is back.

As unusual as Leona's threepeat is, the more interesting moves this week are made below the No. 1 spot, in part because it looks like the songs we may be hearing during car-radio season are hitting the charts now. That includes big debuts by the unsinkable Chris Brown and heartthrob Jesse McCartney, a first-time appearance by new British "It" girl Duffy, and a huge move on Modern Rock by a certain gang of veteran geek-rockers trying to regain their cred.

First, Leona's unusual feat: In general, it's not uncommon for songs to return to No. 1 after falling out for a week or two; just last year, two songs (Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" and Soulja Boy's "Crank That") pulled it off. But "Bleeding Love" is the first song on the Hot 100 to go to No. 1, drop out, return, drop out again, and then come back a third time since the immortal "Le Freak" by Chic in 1978.

Back then, Chic's competition for the top slot came from Barbra Streisand's and Neil Diamond's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" and the Bee Gees' "Too Much Heaven"—a classic disco song outlasting two sappy ballads. This year, it's the sappy ballad beating back the more uptempo material: Lewis first evicted Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" and now ousts Lil Wayne's "Lollipop," which falls to No. 2.

Each time "Bleeding" has hit No. 1, there's been a sales-related deus ex machina assisting it. The first time, it was Oprah (now that's a deus!); the second time, the release of Lewis' album and the attendant hype surrounding it. This time, it's Lewis' performance of the song on last week's American Idol results show, which boosts sales of "Bleeding" to a new peak of 233,000 downloads.

However, as I've said here before, Lewis' ballad is becoming legitimately huge with the public and will likely hang around the upper reaches of the charts for a while. At this writing, more than a week removed from her Idol performance, "Bleeding" is still the top seller on iTunes. Any of this week's top four songs could be No. 1 next week, but for once, plain old inertia might keep Lewis there two weeks in a row.

Clear The Way: The number of debuts on the Hot 100 this week, 10, isn't unusual, but the bona fides of the songs debuting is, kinda. At least half of them, out of the gate, stand a legitimate chance of reaching the winners' circle. (One of them is already there!) It all depends on how soon they catch on with radio audiences. Let's review a half-dozen of them.

Chris Brown, "Forever" - Debuting all the way up at No. 9, it matches Yael Naïm's fluke hit "New Soul" as the highest debut of the year so far. Actually, this is a fluke hit too, as improbable as that seems. "Forever" isn't the "official" fourth single from Brown's sophomore album Exclusive. That would be the vaguely lewd slow-jam "Take You Down," which debuted on the Hot 100 last week (way down at No. 99) and on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart more than a month ago (it's just outside that chart's Top 20 now). "Forever," on the other hand, is a bonus track on the forthcoming "special edition" rerelease of Exclusive. As a kind gesture, the Zomba label released the song early on iTunes for those who already bought Brown's album. Those loyal fans snapped up 113,000 copies of the song, which entirely explains its high placement on the chart this week; it's receiving no measurable airplay so far. You can expect "Forever" to drop next week, which ironically makes it the only one of this week's debuts to have likely already peaked.

Jesse McCartney, "Leavin'" - Another huge debut, at No. 14, the leadoff single from McCartney's forthcoming Depature boasts production assistance from a dream team (no pun intended) of Terius "The-Dream" Nash, Tricky Stewart, and the Neptunes. As with Brown's latest single, McCartney's high debut masks a bit of weakness: it's been available to radio programmers for nearly two months, but only its recent digital release (95,000 downloads, the ninth-biggest seller of the week) got it onto the chart. So it'll probably have a couple of bad weeks on the list until radio catches on. But with no similar singles competing with it—and a solid hook and thumping beat—"Leavin'" could solidify into a genuine hit by summer.

Lil Wayne, "Milli" - A fairly impressive debut at No. 60, "Milli" is a less obvious pop crossover than "Lollipop," with plenty of Wayne's conversational spew. The fall of Weezy's first No. 1 hit isn't fazing him much; he's already unleashed the followup on iTunes, with Tha Carter III still weeks away from release. (Theoretically—I wouldn't bet the farm on this—the album comes out June 10.) As is typical for the world's most prolific recording artist, "Milli" has been out for a couple of months already on mixtapes under the name "A Milli" (sometimes "A Millie"). We've grown accustomed by now to Weezy dropping singles regularly; the difference is, he's now enough of a pop presence that his singles actually perform on the Hot 100.

Usher feat. Beyonce & Lil Wayne, "Love in This Club, Part II" - Debuting at No. 79 on the Hot 100 and a stunning No. 14 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Chart, this looks like a booming-jeep smash already. As reviewed last week by Maura, the rethink of Usher's No. 1 smash is a revelatory transformation of an already-established hit into something breezier and groovier. R&B radio is already signaling its preference: the same week "Part II" makes that massive debut, its "part I" predecessor falls out of the R&B/Hip-Hop chart's No. 1 slot (giving way to Lil Wayne's "Lollipop").

Weezer, "Pork and Beans" - A Hot 100 debut at No. 84, but that's not the big news: on the Modern Rock chart, Rivers Cuomo's bid for post-"Beverly Hills" acceptance vaults 16 notches to No. 3, suggesting it could top the chart in near-record time. That rock format is probably the song's only source of airplay so far, but then, with the exception of the fluke "Hills," it's been a long time since Weezer was a regular Top 40 radio presence. The main cause of "Pork's" Hot 100 debut is its 17,000 downloads sold—a fairly light total that suggests fans are a bit wary. Or maybe the old-school Cuomo-heads are holding out for the Red Album.

Duffy, "Mercy" - Debuting at No. 87, the 21st-century Lulu (I'm with Ken Barnes: these Dusty Springfield comparisons are bullshit) actually sold more downloads last week (nearly 18,000) than Weezer. Radio airplay is still light, so Duffy's strong sales are probably attributable to "Mercy" getting played during a recent episode of ER. Still, the helium-voiced British gal's irresistible hit has that summer vibe all over it, and MTV is starting to play the hell out of the video (at, um, three in the morning). So theoretically the hype will turn real pretty soon.

...And One More Thing: If you're an iTunes user who's nostalgic for the middle of the aughts, be sure to check out the special section Apple posted to commemorate the iTunes Music Store's fifth anniversary this past Monday (careful, autoloads iTunes).

Included in the package are lists of all of Apple's biggest sellers, year by year, from 2003 through 2007. The lists for the first two years, 2003 and 2004, are the most interesting to me. Digital sales have only been used to compile the Billboard charts since early 2005, so this is the first time I've seen all-encompassing lists of Apple's biggest buck-a-song sellers from the Store's early days.

The top download of 2003: OutKast's "Hey Ya!"—which sounds obvious, until you consider that André 3000's megasmash was released about two months before the end of that year. The likely explanation for its end-of-year dominance is that Apple added Windows compatibility for iTunes in October 2003, which exponentially increased the Store's userbase just as OutKast released its biggest single ever.

The top seller for 2004 was Maroon 5's annoyingly inescapable "This Love." Actually, the whole 2004 list is a parade of minivan-friendly adult pop, with Hoobastank, U2, the Black Eyed Peas, and Counting Crows taking the rest of Apple's top five, and a second Maroon 5 track, "She Will Be Loved," making the year-end top 10, too. That brings up another theme of Apple's Store: its evolution from a yuppie-friendly, Starbucksish place for early iPod adopters into the biggest teen gathering place on earth. You really see it on the singles side: by 2007, the list of top-selling albums continues to house soccer-mom-friendly fare like Maroon 5, John Mayer and Amy Winehouse, but the top-selling single is the no-adults-allowed smash "Crank That" by Soulja Boy.

Top 10s
Last week's position and total weeks charted in parentheses:

Hot 100
1. Leona Lewis, "Bleeding Love" (LW No. 2, 11 weeks)
2. Lil Wayne feat. Static Major, "Lollipop" (LW No. 1, 7 weeks)
3. Jordin Sparks with Chris Brown, "No Air" (LW No. 3, 17 weeks)
4. Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake, "4 Minutes" (LW No. 6, 6 weeks)
5. Usher feat. Young Jeezy, "Love in This Club" (LW No. 4, 11 weeks)
6. Ray J & Yung Berg, "Sexy Can I" (LW No. 7, 13 weeks)
7. Mariah Carey, "Touch My Body" (LW No. 5, 11 weeks)
8. Sara Bareilles, "Love Song" (LW No. 8, 26 weeks)
9. Chris Brown, "Forever" (CHART DEBUT, 1 week)
10. Chris Brown, "With You" (LW No. 9, 22 weeks)

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
1. Lil Wayne feat. Static Major, "Lollipop" (LW No. 3, 7 weeks)
2. Mariah Carey, "Touch My Body" (LW No. 2, 12 weeks)
3. Usher feat. Young Jeezy, "Love in This Club" (LW No. 1, 12 weeks)
4. Ashanti, "The Way That I Love You" (LW No. 6, 11 weeks)
5. Rick Ross feat. T-Pain, "The Boss" (LW No. 7, 16 weeks)
6. Ray J & Yung Berg, "Sexy Can I" (LW No. 4, 16 weeks)
7. Jordin Sparks with Chris Brown, "No Air" (LW No. 8, 8 weeks)
8. Keyshia Cole, "I Remember" (LW No. 5, 26 weeks)
9. 2 Pistols feat. T-Pain and Tay Dizm, "She Got It" (LW No. 13, 16 weeks)
10. Plies feat. Ne-Yo, "Bust It Baby (Part 2)" (LW No. 17, 9 weeks)

Hot Country Songs
1. George Strait, "I Saw God Today" (LW No. 1, 12 weeks)
2. James Otto, "Just Got Started Lovin' You" (LW No. 3, 28 weeks)
3. Trace Adkins, "You're Gonna Miss This" (LW No. 2, 21 weeks)
4. Taylor Swift, "Picture to Burn" (LW No. 4, 16 weeks)
5. Phil Vassar, "Love Is A Beautiful Thing" (LW No. 5, 26 weeks)
6. Brad Paisley, "I'm Still a Guy" (LW No. 6, 10 weeks)
7. Rascal Flatts, "Every Day" (LW No. 7, 10 weeks)
8. Lady Antebellum, "Love Don't Live Here" (LW No. 9, 30 weeks)
9. Carrie Underwood, "Last Name" (LW No. 10, 7 weeks)
10. Kenny Chesney, "Better as a Memory" (LW No. 11, 6 weeks)

Hot Modern Rock Tracks
1. Seether, "Rise Above This" (LW No. 1, 10 weeks)
2. Puddle of Mudd, "Psycho" (LW No. 2, 26 weeks)
3. Weezer, "Pork & Beans" (LW No. 19, 2 weeks)
4. Atreyu, "Falling Down" (LW No. 3, 14 weeks)
5. Flobots, "Handlebars" (LW No. 7, 4 weeks)
6. The Raconteurs, "Salute Your Solution" (LW No. 4, 5 weeks)
7. 3 Doors Down, "It's Not My Time" (LW No. 5, 10 weeks)
8. Linkin Park, "Given Up" (LW No. 8, 8 weeks)
9. Death Cab for Cutie, "I Will Possess Your Heart" (LW No. 9, 6 weeks)
10. The Bravery, "Believe" (LW No. 6, 30 weeks)

..."We propose that music rightsholders set up a licensing scheme, with government approval, by which manufacturers and importers of 'enabling devices' (e.g. MP3 players, iPods, phones) would pay rightsholders to share the value that they realise from consumers format-shifting."



[MBG spokesman Richard Mollet] said this is not a levy in the European sense as it would not be statutory, begging the question of how the MBG plans to persuade device makers to agree to paying its licence.



"Clearly there would have to be a process of negotiation and development, but I think there are a number of factors pointing in our direction," he said. Some device manufacturers, notably Nokia, have started to seek licensing deals, while others may be persuaded by the prospect of "other potential business models and opportunities for partnership".

If I was Apple, I think I'd start demanding a second "iTunes only" track for each album just for having to hear this kind of desperate plea.

UK music biz wants cut of iPod cash [MacUser via TheDailySwarm]

• "However creative label lawyers may be, how can this model fit with past or current recording and publishing contracts or government mandated royalty payments? Who will decide how the money is divided and when it is paid?... Instead of offering music as "pay once and hit the buffet table as often as you'd like forever", there other avenues that deserve serious exploration. Ad-supported music may be part of the answer. More broadly, better serving the consumer (aka fan) is central to the industry's future. Marketer Seth Godin wrote about artists building and monetizing their "music tribes" and models like Trent Reznor's multi-tiered pricing and Radiohead's "pay what you want" release have produced impressive results. Just as foodies skip the buffet and pay premium for gourmet, real music fans will support their pleasures with their wallets if they are offered to them properly. Until the industry understands and respects the bond that music creates with fans, no price will be too low." [Hypebot]

• "Apple gets to rejuvenate its slowing iPod line, and makes the iPhone even sexier. The flailing music labels get a slice of guaranteed income, bolstered by the world's most inventive consumer electronics company. And their belated embrace of the MP3 format means they're not locked into Apple for all their music sales: If they want a different deal with Amazon or anyone else, they can do so — the music they sell will work on iPods and iPhones. Is this trickier than it looks? A little. Current music subscription services have a complicated per-stream license structure, and that could get in the way. There are still debates about how to pay music acts and songwriters for digital sales. Etc. Whatever. If there's anything the music industry has learned in the last decade, it's that it has to move quickly, leave the lawyering for later, and make sure it gives consumers a better option than stealing. And this one, hypothetical as it may be, sure sounds like one to us." [Silicon Alley Insider]

• "Getting $20 from Apple per device will net the labels more than the $80 per device from Nokia because they don't move even half as much as Apple does." [Universal Indie Records/Coolfer commenter]

• "What this may mean for us as consumers, at least, would be that Apple is planning to bring the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store to even more devices in the iPod line (or at least expand the capacity of the iPod touch to hold a subscription collection like this). If Apple really is planning to open up their library to a subscription, they should make it as easy as possible to obtain the music on demand." [The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

Apple in talks to sell iPod and iPhone with unlimited music [FT]

Sorta-sensitive singer John Mayer went back to a well-worn blogger well when he wrote up a recent iTunes crash—complete with screenshots!—on the latest iteration of his personal site. (I guess since he already went the "blogging his lunch" route, this was the only direction that he could take.) Mayer wonders if his report will be met with a reaction not unlike the ones that the cast of The Front Page has when a big story breaks, but I suspect that it'll just be met with relief that the missive doesn't just say "U SUCK ITUNES!!11one"

Report [John Mayer's Blog]

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company announced it had sold its 2 billionth download Jan. 6, 2007; its 3 billionth July 31, 2007; and its 4th billion Feb. 27. As such, Billboard estimates that the store sold 1.7 billion downloads last year, and that of that amount, 940 million tracks were sold in the United States and 732 million were sold abroad, as the company operates stores in 21 other countries.
If all 1.7 billion downloads were counted at the U.S. price of 99 cents, they would equal $1.7 billion in revenue last year. But when it repatriates sales revenue from other countries, it likely enjoys a bump thanks to exchange rates. For example, in the United Kingdom, iTunes charges 79 pence per track download, but that equals $1.56, according to Web site oanda.com.
So when revenue is brought back to the States, Billboard estimates iTunes' music download revenue at $1.9 billion last year, which is in line with the $2.7 billion in revenue it reported during calendar year 2007 for other music-related products and services. Those consist of iTunes Store sales, iPod services and Apple-branded and third-party iPod accessories.

The piece's coda notes that administrative costs and heavy advertising take their chunk. Nevertheless, I actually managed to read the whole thing without wondering where I was, which when it comes to me and hard math is an accomplishment.

Dollars & Cents: iTunes Store [Billboard]

That's partly because the song in question comes from Benson's album The Alternative To Love, which was released nearly three years ago. The Detroit singer-songwriter is no stranger to TV ad money, having already placed several songs in national spots ("Tiny Spark" for Saturn, "Cold Hands (Warm Heart)" for Ford, and even "What I'm Looking For" already once before for Sears). Nearly a week after the iPod ad started running, the song is nowhere to be found on the iTunes Store's Top 100 chart. But given that Benson's previous biggest claims to fame include filling more cutout bins with his major-label debut, 1996's excellent One Mississippi, than Carly Hennessy has—not to mention playing in a band with Jack White that even most White Stripes fans seem to hate—I'm happy to see a little extra exposure for "Looking," which was my favorite song off Alternative.

Brendan Benson - What I'm Looking For [YouTube]

Is this shot of the surely-now-ex-HP spokeshandmodel and his ladyfriend using matching MacBooks during rehearsals for Jay's show at the 40/40 club in Vegas last week a sorta-subtle hint that Jay-Z and Apple will announce their long-rumored label venture at MacWorld next week? Or are these two just checking their e-mail on their friends' computers because BlackBerry access was limited by the rehearsal studio's thick walls? It's so hard to tell!

Caption This [Crunk + Disorderly]

Still, more than 80 percent of the digital music market remains encoded with DRM, despite the announcements from the big labels. That's because of the highly popular iTunes Store, and Apple's iPod and iPhone. Those devices, with more than 100 million units sold, only play music protected by Apple's proprietary FairPlay DRM technology, or music that isn't protected at all. Apple, since 2003, has sold more than 3 billion music downloads, capturing more than 80 percent of the market.

Apple chairman Steve Jobs has repeatedly balked at licensing FairPlay for use on competing download services or devices — meaning music companies had to choose between using iTunes or going DRM-free if they wanted the songs to play on the all-important iPods. The industry stood by and allowed most of its music-download sales to come from Apple, but that is slowly changing.

Napster, the online music service that nearly a decade ago was synonymous with music piracy, announced Monday it was looking to strike unrestricted licensing arrangements with the Big Four. Right now, the subscription-based service's millions of downloads are not compatible with the iPod, which Warner chief Edgar Bronfman Jr. in September labeled the "default device" in the digital music scene.

"Talks are currently in progress with the labels," said Napster's Allen. He said the company anticipates selling unprotected music from the Big Four sometime in the second quarter.

"The move to MP3s is certainly a step in clearing up some of the dysfunction, and Apple's hermetically sealed proprietary system," Allen said.

As opposed to the hermetically sealed proprietary system that all of iTunes' competitors used—I mean, shoot, I would have loved to have at least tried some of the formerly PlaysForSure-protected services out there, but I was constantly told "No Macs Allowed." It got to be like that scene in Snoopy Come Home where Snoopy tries to visit Charlie Brown in the hospital after a while, only without that low baritone voice singing at me because I couldn't play any music. So by the time some services did open their door to my operating system, I'd given up^*.

The more I read music-industry types whining about Apple and iTunes and FairPlay and how iTunes has unfairly locked up the market through the dual crimes of making a well-designed player and a smooth shopping experience for people who want to buy music (compare the steps required in redeeming a Platinum Music Pass vs. those required to buy the same album from iTunes), the more I feel like executives are stubbornly refusing to listen to the old maxim "turnabout is fair play"—pun not really intended there, although if that was the intent when that system was first named back in the day, I have to say that it's kind of genius. Innovating better is the answer—not taking your ball and going home, or complaining about how unfair life is. And yes, I realize I sound like an Apple fangirl by saying this, but to hear these executives complain about their companies being "locked out" from iTunes is even more ludicrous when you think about how a chunk of the userbase (including people who make music!) has been consistently held back from consuming music legally thanks to the limitations of the products they've been hawking all these years.

Despite Move to MP3s, DRM Will Haunt Record Labels [Wired]

^* The exception: Rhapsody, mainly because it works on my TiVo in a pretty amazing way. But that's a subject for another post (once my TiVo gets hooked back up).

OMGGGG11!!!111!!1 KILL THE RECORD INDUSTRY FOREVER!!
• "Jay-Z and Jobs are both brilliant businessmen, and the move would make sense on a number of levels: The labels almost view iTunes as a competitor now, the industry landscape is rapidly transforming, and whoever finds the magic formula for a new kind of label/distribution firm stands to make a lot of money as they establish the new paradigm of the industry. And iTunes already is something like a label." [Gizmodo]

• "[Y]ou can probably be sure that whatever music is made through this new label will only be available via iTunes and I would have to imagine giving Steve Jobs' rant early last year, will be DRM-free.... All I know is that if this rumor is true, it's going to be another massive blow to the traditional record companies." [ParisLemon]

No Way
• "Don't believe the hype. Jay's tenure at Def Jam was far from an overwhelming success, and he starred in an HP commercial. That alone would give Apple pause in most cases. Secondly, I don't see what Apple gains by sharing their venture with Jay as the executive in charge. The company would be much better served following the cue of Starbucks and launching a label with high-profile, established artists making new, high-margin recordings under tight distribution. And, on that level, the source of this rumor becomes a bit more clear. I do believe it's possible that Apple might launch a record label — they got clearance from the last deal with Apple Corps, if I recall correctly. It might even be iTunes-only. But if Jay-Z's involved, it's for a recording contract — not as business leader. Then again, "launching" a label could easily mean putting out the first album..." [Cult Of Mac]

• "While we're sure there's a nugget of truth to this, Jobs would be shooting himself in the foot if he started an Apple-branded label. Let's break down why this is kinda goofy. The idea is that Jay-Z, whom recently left Def Jam, will launch a label partnered with Apple. The problem is, Steve Jobs can't do that; the other labels would call shenanigans (rightly so, too) and jump ship, there would be federal trust issues at play, and more importantly, Apple is banned from ever starting a record label due to previous litigation with the Beatle's Apple Records. If those aren't good enough reasons for you, then we don't know what else to say. That doesn't mean, though, that Jay-Z isn't starting a label himself, in fact that's likely. And we wouldn't put it past the genius to make it the first mainstream digital downloads-only label. In fact, we'd not be surprised if he made an exclusive distribution deal with Apple. That would totally make sense, and not really cause any of the previously mentioned headaches." [CrunchGear]

Maybe?
"I can tell you that Jay flat out denied this when somebody asked him about it back in October.... I can't tell you if this is actually going to happen or not, but I do know that the music industry needs some kind of earth shattering wake up call. This may or may not turn out to be it. Something needs to be done sooner rather than later." [Nah Right]

^* Uh, who would we be thinking of? Jermaine Dupri?

In Rainbows [iTunes]
In Rainbows [Amazon]

"You need to look no further than Apple's iPhone to see how fast brilliantly written software presented on a beautifully designed device with a spectacular user interface will throw all the accepted notions about pricing, billing platforms and brand loyalty right out the window. And let me remind you, the genesis of the iPhone is the iPod and iTunes - a music device and music service that consumers love," he said.

"For years now, Warner Music has been offering a choice to consumers at Apple's iTunes store the option to purchase something more than just single tracks, which constitute the mainstay of that store's sales. By packaging a full album into a bundle of music with ringtones, videos and other combinations and variation we found products that consumers demonstrably valued and were willing to purchase at premium prices. And guess what? We've sold tons of them. And with Apple's co-operation to make discovering, accessing and purchasing these products even more seamless and intuitive, we'll be offering many, many more of these products going forward."

The chairman also issued a warning to mobile operators, and offered advice to those aspiring companies hoping to cash in on that underdeveloped market, according to MacUser.

"The sad truth is that most of what consumers are being offered today on the mobile platform is boring, banal and basic," Bronfman said. "People want a more interesting form of mobile music content. They want it to be easy to buy with a single click - yes, a single click, not a dozen. And they want access to it, quickly and easily, wherever they are. 24/7. Any player in the mobile value chain who thinks they can provide less than a great experience for consumers and remain competitive is fooling themselves."

A single click! Information architect-friendly rhetoric like this from people running music companies is nearly revolutionary. Although I guess this means that Edgar isn't all that high on the ringle.

Warner reverses stance, praises iTunes [MacNN; ht Chris Molanphy]

Instead, iPhone owners will have to buy music via their computers and then download it to their phones, a process called side-loading.

...The arrival of the iPhone on Friday has stoked optimism among some music company executives that it will usher in a new wave of easier-to-use mobile music devices or even entice more people into embracing the phone as music player _ and into buying more music.

"The introduction of the iPhone is an enormously positive event," said Warner Music Group Corp. CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. at a conference earlier this month in New York. "It creates more and more consumers who are looking to buy music, but it also galvanizes the mobile industry to compete."

Some analysts, however, say mobile music sales will be dampened as long as users are limited to loading music on their phones via their PCs and Macintosh computers, and blocked from buying music wirelessly.

"The whole idea of on-the-go instant gratification isn't there," said Ted Cohen, managing partner of media consulting firm Tag Strategic.

In the past, that "on-the-go" gratification has come at a steeper price than sideloaded tracks; however, both Verizon and Sprint have recently cut prices for over-the-air downloads, and Sprint's music files, which were originally a whopping $2.50/track, are now priced at iTunes' 99 cents/song mark. Still, from what we've read, the iPhone setup for transferring music to computers isn't all that different from the way users get music onto their iPods—a familiarity that, at the very least, will get people interested in using the phone's music capabilities. And while we aren't gadget experts by any stretch of the imagination, we suspect that the iPhone's Wi-Fi compatibility will ultimately pave the way for it being compatible with the iTunes store, at the very least.

iPhone May Not Rock Music Industry [AP via Washington Post]

Earlier: Apple's Experiment With DRM-Free Music Begins

As part of its digital marketing strategy, Starbucks plans to give "Memory Almost Full" prime positioning in its Hear Music area in the Apple iTunes Store. The digital distribution deal for McCartney is believed to pertain solely to the new album and not back catalog.

However, the pact signals increased willingness on the part of the former Beatles to make music available for consumption online. Music from the Beatles and the band's former members has been conspicuously missing from digital distribution offerings, and a glaring content hole for operators of music download and subscription services.

Two purely speculative thoughts on this: 1) Steve Jobs will give a keynote speech at a Mac conference next month in San Francisco, which could be the perfect time to formally announce the Beatles deal; and 2) that "glaring content hole" line is going to draw a lot of confused late-night Googlers.

Exclusive: McCartney Goes Digital, Beatles 'Virtually Settled' [Billboard]

Fifth-generation iPods have come with a Music Quiz game for a couple of years now. If you've ever been bored enough to click on it, you were treated to a clever, low-tech game that played samples of songs from your 'Pod and threw up multiple choices of song titles, also from your collection. iQuiz isn't much higher-tech than that, and the obvious difference is an improvement in the graphics (including some ill-advised game-show music that, mercifully, you can turn off). Here's the clever part: Apple made iQuiz customizable, and gave it the power to track lifetime scores.

The game comes with a few hundred music-trivia questions, which, if you're reading this site, you'll run through in a fraction of a day. (They're actually fairly smart questions, but I kept getting the one asking me to name the Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime over and over.) But once you get bored, you can write your own quizzes and send them to friends for uploading into their iPods. Below, your Guest Idolator offers a 10-question sample quiz he threw together over the weekend, when he should've been out enjoying New York's summerlike weather.

Apple clearly wants this thing to take off—they've priced iQuiz at 99 cents, five bucks cheaper than all the other iPod games. We give it about a month before someone on the series of tubes creates a site to start trading custom iQuizzes, complete with people bragging about their SAT-like iQuiz prowess (three wrong answers kills a 10-question round, so one bad round of trivia will drag your lifetime average down). The quizzes you create don't have to be about music, of course, and iQuiz actually comes with sets of trivia about movies and TV. It'll be interesting to see who ends up dominating the iQuiz geekery: 24 obsessives, or Fall Out Boy fans.

Chris Molanphy's iQuiz Pack [link expired]
iQuiz [Apple]

"Apple has always tried to operate a single pan-European iTunes stores accessible by anyone from any member state. But we were advised by the music labels and publishers that there were certain legal limits to the rights they could grant us," its statement said.

We'll be watching to see how this plays out, because we've often wished that iTunes had more flexibility, country-wise (oh, for a day when we can just buy the Siobhan Donaghy album with one click!). While we're well aware that label deals and licensing records can get tangled once a country's boundaries are crossed, we'd love to see the labels and Apple at least make some sort of effort to have an "import section" of sorts, thus allowing music nerds to actually buy digital copies of the records they're looking for instead of heading to murkier channels to get them (or individual tracks that aren't available on their country's editions). Wouldn't that actually stoke record sales?

EU charges record companies, Apple on record sales [Reuters]

In a major reversal of the music industry's longstanding antipiracy strategy, EMI Group PLC is set to announce Monday that it plans to sell significant amounts of its catalog without anticopying software, according to people familiar with the matter.

The London-based music company is to make its announcement in a press conference that will feature Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs. EMI is to sell songs without the software — known as digital rights management, or DRM — through Apple's iTunes Store and possibly through other online outlets, too.

DRM has been a contentious issue in the world of online music sales. Record companies have so far insisted that digital retailers employ the software to prevent rampant copying. But because the DRM used by Apple is proprietary and does not work with services or devices made by competitors, it has had the unintended consequence of locking owners of its popular iPod music players into buying the most popular mainstream music from the iTunes store, and not its competitors. Record companies have blamed this lock-in for limiting digital-music sales, which account for around 15% of all recorded music sales in the U.S.

EMI's move comes after months of private discussions and public advocacy by Internet and technology industry executives, including Mr. Jobs, aimed at encouraging the music industry to change its approach to licensing music for sale online.

This is pretty surprising news, and not only because it involves a major label making a smart decision about online distribution for the first time in, well, forever. (Although if we were going to bet which major would drop DRM first, it would have been EMI; they're no strangers to the idea of loosening restrictions on even their biggest artists.) If we could make it to London in time for the 8 a.m. ET press conference, we'd ask a few questions: First: How will Apple open iTunes to these DRM-free downloads, and will labels that have been distributing their wares without DRM—like all of those on the MP3 subscription service eMusic—be able to follow in EMI's path? Second, will EMI make a play to put its DRM-free catalog on that service, which has traditionally been the land of indie labels? And third, how will this move affect the beleaguered label's prospects for eventually being bought? Warner Music, which was chief among EMI's suitors, has a CEO who's pretty stridently pro-DRM; does this mean their dalliances are officially dead? (It's far-fetched to think that Apple eventually swoop in and save EMI's day—or is it?)

EMI to Sell Much of its Music Without Antipiracy Software [WSJ]

This morning, we got a press release from EMI teasing an "exciting new digital offering" from the beleaguered record label, one that would be announced at a press conference at its London headquarters tomorrow. The guests at the press conference: EMI CEO Eric Nicoli, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and an unnamed guest who will provide a "special live performance." Nicoli's been giving Apple props lately, so Jobs' attendance at this event got our interest piqued—and the fact that the EMI press rep who sent out the release attempted to recall it shortly thereafter, a trick that pretty much never works, only fueled our speculative flames. Could this be the long-awaited announcement that the Beatles catalog will be going online? Or did EMI's PR department get a little too slap-happy with the prospect of pulling a big April Fool's joke on everyone?

The full release after the jump.

UPDATE: Reuters is reporting that "a source familiar with the situation" is saying that tomorrow's press conference will not include a Beatles-related announcement. We'll be watching live at 8 a.m. ET, and you can tune in as well.

UPDATE 2: Holy crap!

Subject: 2 April Event (testing)

PLEASE JOIN EMI GROUP CEO ERIC NICOLI
AT EMI'S HEADQUARTERS
ON MONDAY 2 APRIL AT 1PM LONDON / 8AM NEW YORK TIME
TO HEAR ABOUT AN EXCITING NEW DIGITAL OFFERING.

WITH SPECIAL GUEST, APPLE CEO STEVE JOBS
AND A SPECIAL LIVE PERFORMANCE

FROM 12.15PM - ARRIVE AT EMI - REFRESHMENTS SERVED
1 -1.40PM - MEDIA BRIEFING
FROM 1.15PM - PHOTOGRAPHERS ARRIVE
1.45PM - PHOTOCALL

EMI
27 WRIGHTS LANE
LONDON
W8 5SW

If you wish to attend in person, please register by emailing your name and contact details to [redacted]

Earlier: Beatles' Digital Catalog Coming To Many Digital-Music Services Near You

June 11th is a Monday, and Apple maniacs know that The Company only releases stuff on Tuesday. Even if Cingular is doing the distribution, it makes as much sense as any that the phone will be released according to Cult Tradition. Which doesn't change until Steve Jobs says it changes.

The better bet is the Tuesday of WWDC, which is the 12th.

That's only 74 days, people! Too bad this thing doesn't have a prayer of leaking (at least, not for another six weeks or so), or we'd already be wading in enough completely speculative, yet rhapsodic posts to warrant a very special Track Marks.

Rumor: Apple iPhone Out on June 11th (Fool us Once) [Gizmodo]

- As Lily Allen knows all too well, Apple offers front-page priority to artists who provide exclusive tracks. This is standard procedure for digital outlets, but Apple is "especially aggressive and has outsize clout."
- Labels aren't always thrilled with the practice, but they comply, as an album that's on the front page "can sell about five times more copies on average through the site than it does in the three to five weeks that follow, when the album isn't featured."
- In anticipation of Prince's Super Bowl performance, Rhino and iTunes reduced the price on several of his catalog albums to $7.99; afterward, Soundscan figures for Purple Rain increased fivefold.
- The iTunes staff is made up of professional music geeks, including radio DJs, former record-label staffers, and a guy who helped manage Paul Simon's Graceland tour. And its California headquarters is situated "in a cluster of nondescript cubicles that could easily be confused with a software-development group but for a smattering of music posters on the walls."
- Now that store has started selling TV shows and movies, music staffers have to start lobbying for high-visibility album and artist placement three to six months in advance. The iTunes managers say they refuse to accept payment from labels in exchange for better real estate.
- The store's front page is broken down into the following categories: "Splashes" (the rotating images at the top of the page); "swooshes," the 8-item that appear right underneath the splashes; and "bricks," the image-driven buttons that are often used for celebrity playlists and other exclusives.
- Steve Jobs is training a legion of cyborg bumblebees in a Nevada canyon, preparing them for a world takeover that should begin in mid-2009.

Music's New Gatekeeper [WSJ]

Apple's offer to license [the Apple DRM] Fairplay to other technology companies is a welcome breakthrough and would be a real victory for fans, artists and labels. There have been many services seeking a license to the Apple DRM. This would enable the interoperability that we have been urging for a very long time.

Perhaps the RIAA's Web-enabled computers, still crippled by the last remnants of the Sony rootkits they inadvertently installed a couple of years back, didn't load the entirety of Jobs' essay? In addition to skipping the essay's anti-DRM railing, they missed this bit:

"Apple has concluded that if it licenses FairPlay to others, it can no longer guarantee to protect the music it licenses from the big four music companies."

Unless that's what the RIAA wants—all of the rigamarole and pain-in-the-ass aspects of DRM, but none of the "security" it allegedly offers. And honestly, given their recent track record, we're not so willing to rule that idea out.

Jobs to DRM: Drop Dead [Bit Player, via Listening Post]
Earlier: Steve Jobs To Record Labels: Tear Down Your DRM Wall

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple (the company in charge of the Beatles' catalog) and Apple (the computer company that can't seem to make a decent battery) have settled their trademark dispute:

Under a new deal that replaces one reached in 1991, Apple will own all of the trademarks related to "Apple" and license some of those back to Apple Corps Ltd., the Beatles' record label. The trademark lawsuit between the companies will be withdrawn. Terms of the settlement are confidential.

"We love the Beatles, and it has been painful being at odds with them over these trademarks," said Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs in a prepared statement. "It feels great to resolve this in a positive manner, and in a way that should remove the potential of further disagreements in the future."

Jobs added, "This has nothing to do whatsoever with the fact that we desperately want to put Rubber Soul on the iTunes store before the introduction of the iPhone. Nothing! Now excuse me while I give Yoko a hot-stone massage."

Apple, Beatles Reach Deal Over Use of Trademark [WSJ]
Earlier: More MacWorld: Will The iTunes Store And The Beatles Finally Come Together?

Morris isn't sure he is cut out for the role of enforcer but believes he has no choice. 'The truth is that I'm the most unlikely candidate because I don't like being in the middle of the sandwich,' he said.

Ah, but what would type of sandwich would he be, exactly? Morris clearly wants everyone to believe that he's a Po' Boy, but he's not getting much sympathy from us: The war on Internet music distribution is like the war on drugs, and Morris and his pals will be stuck turning their deep pockets inside-out as the one-a-day calendar pages fly off the wall. If there are going to be some pre-dawn raids, best to go after Apple and Microsoft rather than YouTube and MySpace, as Jobs and Gates might be scared enough to pony up. Besides, you guys chose long ago to treat music videos and streaming audio as free advertising; you can't blame us for getting used to them.

Universal CEO tough on licensing deals [AP]

Here's another photo from the MacWorld demo of the (real) iPhone's musical interface—it looks pretty slick, but we couldn't help but notice that all of the albums are by the Beatles, one of the bands whose catalog is still unavailable via digital music channels. Could this be Apple's sly way of saying that they've finally buried the hatchet with that other Apple?

[Photo via Gizmodo]
Earlier: iTunes Store May Get First Bite Of Beatles' Online Catalog

UPDATE: Okay, okay, it was a joke.

Gizmodo's coverage of MacWorld2007 [gizmodo.com]
Earlier: iPod-Worshipping Music Fans Prepare To Hand Jobs More Handjobs
[Image via Gizmodo]

...most Apple watchers are waiting for an announcement on an Apple smartphone, which could play music, make calls and perform other functions.

Wall Street analysts, including Charlie Wolf of Needham & Co., Chris Whitmore of Deutsche Bank and American Technology Research's Shaw Wu, have mentioned the widely anticipated iPhone in notes to clients. "The veil of secrecy and anticipation around the iPhone's release is already generating tremendous buzz without a single iPhone advertising dollar being spent," Whitmore wrote in an January 2 note.

Personally, we were hoping that Apple was finally going ahead with the iZod, a new device in which Jobs doppelganger Terence Stamp implores the "Planet Houston!" to "kneel!" between tracks. But we'll probably have to settle for iPhone, which will convert the entire population into insular (yet chatty) noise machines, therefore making movegoing an even bigger annoyance than before.

Many Expect iPod Phone At Macworld [Reuters]