Digital Trends
Iconic singer-songwriter Bob Dylan is in negotiations to become a voice giving directions on a satnav. At least that’s what he told listeners to his The Time Radio Hour, claiming he’d been approached by more than one manufacturer. He said:
“You know I don’t usually like to tell people what I’m doing, but I’m talking to a couple of car companies about the possibility of being the voice of their GPS system.”
Harmonix has announced the track lineup for the forthcoming Rock Band 2, and it’s a biggie. For headbangers there will be “Let There Be Rock” from AC/DC and – the biggest scoop, “Shackler’s Revenge” by Guns N’Roses, a track from the long awaited Chinese Democracy album.
The other big names include Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam, the Grateful Dead and the Who, a total of 84 tracks, with more than 500 promised by the end of the year, according to the Gamespot blog.
Harmonix has also said that songs downloaded for the original game will be compatible with the new game, and users will be able to port tunes from the original.
Free, ad-supported music service SpiralFrog launched last month, promising music lovers an opportunity to listen to major label music from their favorite artists for free, so long as they’re willing to put up with advertising. Today, SpiralFrog announced it has entered into a licensing agreement with Sony/ATV music, which may serve to expand the roster of big names, well-known tunes, and major-label talent available via the SpiralFrog service.
“The Sony/ATV music catalog is world class, as it combines the world’s hottest new songs with some of the best evergreen classics of all time,” said SpiralFrog chair and founder Joe Mohen, in a statement. “We’re especially excited to work with Sony/ATV as they continue to grow their impressive roster of songwriters through strategic acquisitions.”
Social networking mega-site MySpace has struck a deal with Sony BMG to let MySpace users stream selected Sony BMG music videos and audio content, in exchange for a share of sponsorship and advertising revenues. The content will be available on selected artists’ MySpace pages (because you know Bruce Springsteen is checking his friends list every day!), and MySpace will promote the company’s artists and content throughout the MySpace site. Financial terms of the deal were not revealed.
Highlighting the company’s new partnership with Apple which will provide iPhone and iPod touch users with free Wi-Fi access to the iTunes music store, coffee retailer Starbucks is planning to give away millions of cards good for selected songs from Apple’s iTunes store.
Starbucks says it plans to give away 1.5 million downloads per day from October 2 through November 7 at more than 10,000 Starbucks locations in the United States, for a total of over 50 million songs. The cards will be redeemable on the iTunes store for a complimentary song selected by the Starbucks Entertainment division. The first free song will be Bob Dylan’s “Joker Man,” and subsequent selections are expected to dip into Starbucks’ own catalog of music content (including its recent distribution arrangement with ex-Beatle Paul McCartney) as well as highlight artists like Joni Mitchell, Joss Stone, John Mayer, Annie Lennox, and Band of Horses.
Still love the ‘80s, but want it with a contemporary twist? Then you’re in luck. The New Jersey hair-rock band, Bon Jovi is going to give you the chance to book your tickets to see themin their home state online. There’s nothing new there, but in a first, they’re bundling a digital copy of their new album with your purchase. The tickets are for the group’sfive-day stand in Newark. Initially the digital album – concert package will be available to Amex members, then the general public, via Ticketmaster. Purchasers will receive a code, allowing them to download the album, Lost Highway, from Apple’s iTunes after its June 19 release. It’s the first time such a bundle has been offered. Previously, programs have worked with acts like Bob Dylan butsold tickets and albums via separate sites. Prince came closest when his Musicology tour offered a copy of his album with the tickets. However, that was aphysical copy that had to be collected at the venue.
Internet giant Yahoo and GraceNote have announced a new lyrics service integrated into Yahoo Music, enabling customers to search and view lyrics for hundreds of thousands of popular songs. The deal includes lyrics from nearly 100 music publishers, including the "big five" music labels (Warner Bros., EMI, Sony/ATV, Universal, and BMG), and marks one of the first ways Internet users can search and view accurate and legal song lyrics.
XM Satellite Radio continues to grow its audience, announcing today that it has more than seven million subscribers to its satellite radio service. XM passed the 6.5 million mark in early April, which, extended linearly, puts the company on a growth rate of about 1.5 million subscribers a year.
XM has worked to expand its exclusive programming offerings, featuring radio shows hosted by the likes of Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Willie Nelson, along with exclusive features and performances in addition to its 170 channels of music, sports, talk, comedy, and other entertainment programming. The service has also inked a deal with Ophrah Winfrey’s Harpo Radio to produce a range of new original programming, set to debut in September.
Satellite radio provider XM Radio says it increased its ranks by more than 568,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2006, bringing its overall subscribers base to more than 6.5 million users. The tally means XM Radio is still in the lead as the top U.S. satellite radio provider, and the company says it’s on track to reach its goal of 9 million subscribers by the end of 2006.
XM plans to increase listenership in the second quarter of 2006 by offering new play-by-play coverage of Major League Baseball games, coverage of FIFA World Cup matches in both English and Spanish, the launch of a new XM radio show hosted by Bob Dylan, and a new collection of portable XM radios.
XM Satellite Radio yesterday released details on an expanded channel line up which will push their total number of channels over 170. Some of these new channels are being added as a response to arecent arbitration settlement with XM investor Clear Channel Communications in which they were required to add Clear Channel advertising in May tochannels the radio broadcasting company programs. Overall, XM said, they now have 69 commercial free music channels.On March 1 they added Big Tracks (XM Channel 49), focusing on classic rock from the late 70’s onward, and XM Chill (XM Channel 84), devoted to “Chill†music. During April and May, again in partialresponse to the Clear Channel settlement, XM will be adding U.S. Country (XM Channel 17 – country superstars of the 80s and 90s), Flight 26 (XM Channel 26 – modern hits of the 90s and now), XMHitlist (XM Channel 30 – today’s “hit musicâ€), enLighten (XM Channel 34 – Southern gospel), XM Liquid Metal (XM Channel 42 – heavy metal), The Heat (XM Channel 68 – “rhythmic†top 40), Escape (XMChannel 78 – easy listening) and Viva (XM Channel 91 – Latin pop hits). XM will also introduce six new regional news and talk channels during the late spring/early summer period, joiningCincinnati’s tri-state news radio station WLW (XM Channel 160). These stations, which are programmed by Clear Channel, will be grouped with the radio broadcasting company’s KISS, MIX, Nashville,Sunny and the new WSIX satellite music stations to form a block called “Regional News, Talk & Music Channelsâ€. Other upcoming additions to the XM line up will include the Oprah &Friends channel (156) in September, a Bob Dylan hosted hour long music show on Deep Tracks channel 40 in May, newly launched channel dedicated to FIFA World Cup Soccer (XM Channel 148) and a sportstalk show co-hosted by political guru James Carville and Luke Russert, son of newsman Tim Russert, which airs weekly on XM Live (XM Channel 200) “Our programming lineup demonstrates the depthand breadth of XM’s industry-leading content portfolio,” said Eric Logan, executive vice president of programming for XM Satellite Radio, in a statement. “We continue to expand programming with ourfirst-ever regional news and talk channels, innovative music formats, plus 10 new music channels that demonstrate XM’s firm commitment to providing the most choice and most channels in satelliteradio.”
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