Pandora Made $50 Million in 2009; Paid $30 Million in Royalties

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Streaming music service Pandora now counts more than 40 million users, and
took in $50 million in revenue last year, founder and CEO Tim Westergren told
CNNMoney.com. Of this sum, Westergren said Pandora paid out $30 million in
royalties to copyright holders. Pandora is also now adding 35,000 new
subscribers to its iPhone application each day.


 

Related Links:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/18/technology/pandora/

http://www.pandora.com

Public Enemy Falls Short of Sellaband Fundraising Goal

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– Veteran hip-hop act Public Enemy has raised $67,400 of the $250,000 it aimed
to generate from supporters by the end of 2009 on fan-financed recordings
service Sellaband, Billboard reports. The sum is actually down about $4,000
from the $71,000 that fans had pledged to invest as of December. Billboard
cited a lack of adequate incentives for investors provided by the group, and the
limited marketing potential of Sellaband as possible explanations.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ufhds
(Billboard)

http://www.sellaband.com/projects/publicenemy/incentives

Author Solutions to Distribute Self-Published Titles on Scribd

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Bloomington,
Ind. – Author Solutions, the
provider of a self-publishing service for authors, announced on Friday that it
has partnered with online publishing service Scribd for distribution. Under the
deal, all new Author Solutions titles published through its AuthorHouse,
iUniverse, Trafford Publishing and Xlibris imprints — as well as a portion of
the company’s backlist of more than 120,000 titles — will be made available for
purchase through Scribd. While authors may set their own prices, a default
price of $9.99 will be set and authors will receive 50% of net sales through
Scribd.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ufh3h

http://www.authorsolutions.com

http://www.scribd.com

Winners of 13th Interactive Achievement Awards Announced

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Las Vegas – The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences
this week named winners of its 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, with
Sony’s "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves" taking the title of Game of the Year,
along with nine other awards. The AIAS also honored Activision co-founder David
Crane with its first Pioneer Award, and Entertainment Software Association
founder Doug Lowenstein with the Lifetime Achievement Award. A full list of
winners is available at the link below.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ufh60

http://www.interactive.org

TuneCore Adds Ringtone Distribution to iTunes Store

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Brooklyn,
N.Y. – TuneCore, the provider of
a service that distributes independent artists’ tracks to digital retailers
like iTunes, on Friday launched a new service that will create and distribute
ringtones for sale on the iTunes iPhone ringtone store. TuneCore customers can
edit their own music into 5 to 30-second .wav clips and upload the clips to
TuneCore, which in turn will distribute the clips as ringtones across iTunes
stores in the U.S., Canada, Japan,
EU, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico
and the U.K.


 

Related Links:
http://www.tunecore.com

Zune Taps Music Reports for Music Rights Administration

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Woodland Hills, Calif. – Music Reports, a provider of music rights
administration services, said this week that it has partnered with Microsoft,
and will administer the music publishing licensing and royalty accounting for
the Zune Pass
subscription service in the U.S.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ufhc7

http://www.musicreports.com

Aspiro Launches Streaming Music Service in Norway

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Oslo – Mobile
entertainment publisher Aspiro announced on Friday that it has launched its
streaming music service, in partnership with local media retail chain
Platekompaniet and Scandinavian telco Telenor. The WiMP service launches with
over 6.5 million songs, licensed from all four major labels and a number of
independents.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ufgzk

http://www.aspiro.com

Fluent Mobile Raises $1.2 Million for Mobile News App

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Boston – Fluent Mobile, a developer of
mobile applications, has raised about $1.2 million in venture capital, according
to a new filing by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The
company’s Fluent News application delivers stories to mobile devices from
various news sources, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA
Today, The Washington Post, CNN, FOX News, BBC, ESPN, TMZ, and others.

The
newest version of Fluent News, released last December, is available free of
charge for iPhone and iPod touch users.

Boston-based Fluent Mobile was founded
in 2008.

 

Related Links:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1484301

http://www.fluentmobile.com

Report: Apple Pulling "Overtly Sexual" Content From App Store

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Cupertino,
Calif. – Apple (NASD: AAPL) has begun removing
applications from the App Store for its iPhone and iPod touch that contain
"overtly sexual content," citing "numerous complaints from our
customers," TechCrunch reported.

Jon Atherton, developer of an application
called "Wobble iBoobs," received an email stating that the software
was being removed from the App Store as the result of a change in policy.

"We
have recently received numerous complaints from our customers about this type
of content, and have changed our guidelines appropriately," reads the
email sent by Apple to Atherton.

"We have decided to remove any overtly
sexual content from the App Store, which includes your application."

Both
TechCrunch and CNET found instances of other applications featuring adult
content that have been removed from the App Store.

"Whenever we receive
customer complaints about objectionable content we review them," an Apple
representative told CNET.

"If we find these apps contain inappropriate
material we remove them and request the developer make any necessary changes in
order to be distributed by Apple."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ufgsm
(TechCrunch)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10456436-17.html

Yahoo Sees Spikes in Olympics-related Searches

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Sunnyvale, Calif.
– Excitement about the ongoing Winter Olympics in Vancouver has caused major spikes in related
Internet searches this week, according to Yahoo (NASD: YHOO).

Among the most popular terms,
searches for "ice skating rinks" are up 607% — particularly among
teens — "red Olympic mittens" are up 182% and the "rules of
curling" are up more than 2,800%.

Individual athletes also have gotten a
lot of buzz, with gold medal skier Lindsey Vonn becoming the top searched athlete
on Yahoo.

Another popular athlete has been snowboarder Shaun White, with
searches for "Shaun White snowboarding" up more than 1,900%, and
related searches for "Flying Tomato" and "Carrot Top" also
seeing significant spikes.

Speedskater Apolo Ohno also has piqued the interest
of Internet users, who have driven searches for "Apolo Ohno
girlfriend" up 1,210%.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ufgey

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