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And doing a bunch of other work as well. Since I last posted we launched ARC: The A&R Channel, a long-time vision of a new generation of music programming for the digital media age. We’re currently in 15,000,000 homes via Comcast and there will be plenty to say about ARC in the coming months. In the mean time, if you are a Comcast Digital subscriber please go to ON Demand/Music/ARC and check us out. Thanks.
Posted: December 15th, 2007 under » Editorial, » Media.
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All you haters, eat crow. On the heels of Jobs’ pointed comments about the Big Four labels and DRM, EMI has announced that it will sell unprotected tracks, at 256 kps (double the standard 128), at the iTunes store and elsewhere. Apple’s press release is here but general coverage is everywhere. This offering will apparently apply to everything in EMI’s (parent of Capitol and others) catalog except The Beatles. Admittedly, both companies had their own motives: EMI has major management headaches and is dead last among labels, and Apple is under pressure by the EU to open up its Fairplay DRM to competitors. But it’s a good thing for consumers, and for the industry as a whole. Chalk one up for progress.
Posted: April 6th, 2007 under » Editorial, » Media.
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Here’s one real estate market that is definitely not softening… according to this post in Slashdot the enormous realtor consortium has bought a concentrated group of lots in the virtual community. Wonder who gets the 3%.
Posted: March 25th, 2007 under » Media.
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Posted by Seth Shapiro
If you are interested in submitting to the Television Academy for the 2007 Emmy Awards in digital media, please drop a line to info@newamsmedia.com and we’ll be sure to get you all the relevant info.
Posted: March 24th, 2007 under » Editorial, » Media.
Comments: 2
Posted by Seth Shapiro
The cable industry had a disappointment in NY this week when Cablevision lost the suit filed against it by the major studios and networks re so-called “Network DVR” technology.
The proposed service was an alternative to standard DVRs, which place hard drives in cusomer’s homes… in Cablevision’s model, customers instead recorded programs onto servers at the cable co’s headend. They could then play, rewind and otherwise manipulate the shows remotely. This would have been a great boon for cable, as it would require much less customer support and set-top hardware for in theory the same benefits as DVR. It’s also a competitive advantage that satellite cannot offer, since they have almost no server architecture.
The studios may not like DVR but they really hated this, arguing that this service should be governed by the rights governing Pay Per View, since in their view that’s what it amounts to. And the PPV model requires an additional payment to rightsholders, unlike a DVR recording.
We can see both sides, but for involved reasons it’s ultimately fair that creators be compensated for this model. As interesting a model as server-based DVR is, it truthfully smells more like PPV or VOD than DVR. Score two for the studios.
Posted: March 22nd, 2007 under » Editorial, » Media.
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The two TV Academies have yet to resolve their differences over the Emmys and digital media.
The Hollywood Reporter covers it reasonably well here, but here’s the short version:
There used to be one TV Academy. It was based in New York, as was the TV business.
Then Johnny left for Burbank. Over a period of time, the primetime industry followed. Then the LA chapter of the Academy ceded from the larger Academy, with the view that it represented the majority of those working in television. A visual representation of the conflict can be found here.
As part of the ensuing settlement, the LA Academy (ATAS) won custody of the Primetime Emmy Awards, the ones we’re all familiar with. NATAS (the NY-and-elsewhere Academy) came to preside over areas including Daytime and Technology. An uneasy truce ruled.
Then digital media came along and wreaked havoc.
If you step back, it’s a valid philosophical question: if Primetime television is delivered via new technological solutions, such as IPTV, streaming or download service, does a recogniton of merit fall under dominion of the creative guys or the technology guys? The answer is obviously both. But someone has to preside over the statue, and so the debate continues.
One day we will all undoubtedly get along. Everyone’s trying to do the right thing. Till then hopefully no one loses an eye.
Posted: March 22nd, 2007 under » Editorial, » Media.
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Move over Pat Riley… last week NBC launched a new concept called the “Newpeat” on Steve Carrell starrer “The Office”, itself a US cover of the Ricky Gervais masterpiece. The maiden voyage of this concept was a 60 minute cut of two previously-aired episodes ? with additonal footage added to round out the show. The idea is to take existing content and blend it with the type of footage that might have shown up as DVD bonus material, thereby creating a new product with no incremental spend.
Another hybrid as the Big 4 adapt to the new era. Will be interesting to see how this species evolves. Expect us to see more of these new breeds.
Posted: March 19th, 2007 under » Media.
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Posted by Seth Shapiro
Speaking of which, analysts have speculated for some time on why profitable ringtones are more profitable than full songs. This weekend we took a stroll through the highest Google-ranked free ringtone sites. Guess what? It was cool, and slighty addictive. Mainly they were crap, civilians loading the system with UGC only their best friends would care about. But then just around the corner would be an occaisonal gem, a great Trane riff that looped just right, Beavis as Cornholio, The Munsters. Stuff that made the room say Ho!
Reminding us of what? Of a flea market, or a garage sale, or a 12 year old DJ rooting through his parents’ record collection looking for something funky to cut with.
The true spirit of hip hop is alive and well in the free ringtone cutout bin. Go see for yourself.
Posted: March 18th, 2007 under » Editorial, » Media.
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Posted by: Seth Shapiro
Review of the new phone here. The next model, the 8300, is already being talked up in the forums, the most well-known of which is (not suprisingly) www.blackberryforums.com.
In this generation of mobile, for multiple threads of communication and well- designed User Experience, there is still nothing that can touch Blackberry.
Posted: March 18th, 2007 under » Media.
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Posted by Seth Shapiro
… look to the numbers. Re reviving the music business via digital, a recent metric speaks volumes: the year’s mobile revs are approximately $600B. The year’s music revenues are $30B. That’s a 20x differential. And how many handsets are there vs. dedicated music players? That delta is clearly a hell of a lot bigger.
Devices = # Users and # Users = Demand. The record industry has spent decades managing by inflating prices, oligopoly and constricting supply by providing $15 albums instead of $2 singles. As we said before, how’s it working for them? Not so good.
Whoever rides the music horse in the direction that TV and mobile move will have the stronger hand. Watch.
Posted: March 17th, 2007 under » Editorial, » Media.
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