The 500,000 Song iPod: iPods and other devices may soon be able to hold a hundred times more information than they do at present due to a breakthrough in storage technology.’Scientists at IBM say they have developed a new type of digital storage which would enable a device such as an MP3 player to store about half a million songs – or ,500 films – and cost far less to produce’.
‘In a paper published in the current issue of Science, a team at the company’s research centre in San Jose, California, said that devices which use the new technology would require much less power, would run on a single battery charge for “weeks at a time”, and would last for decades’.
Outlook: 40% of Music Sales Will be Digital by 2012 according to a report by market research firm In-Stat. The firm also projects that revenue from worldwide full-track mobile downloads will reach approximately $4.2 billion by 2012.
Reality or Fictionality: A major music-oriented television channel has proposed an idea for a reality series revolving around Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose according to sources. The project indicated that the show would focus on the reclusive singer’s efforts to complete and release the long-delayed Guns N’ Roses album, Chinese Democracy. Sources at Rose’s label, Geffen Records, said that a finished version of Chinese Democracy has been delivered to the company.
iTunes Top Songs:
4 Minutes – Madonna
Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis
Praying For Time – Carrie Underwood
Lollipop – Lil Wayne
No Air – Jordin Sparks
What About Now – Daughtry
Touch My Body – Mariah Carey
Love In This Club – Usher
Sexy Can – Ray J
According to Hits, Leona Lewis is running above expectations, projecting 195-205k sales. Daughtry had another consistent week with sales of 17k and his debut record has reached a total of 4 million. I’m sorry but Madonna’s single 4 Minutes is forgettable within 4 minutes. It’s a 4 minute infomercial sound clip void of any emotion or passion. Madonna use to be a pioneer setting trends in fashion and in music….what happened?
Island Def Jam Music Group Launch New Hip-Hop Label in Partnership with TAG Body Sprays: Island Def Jam and Procter & Gamble’s TAG brand formed a new hip-hop record label, TAG Records which will be led by hip-hop mogul Jermaine Dupri who will act as president. The TAG Brand will showcase TAG Record’s artist and Jermaine Dupri across various TAG brand advertising and marketing initiatives throughout 2008.
Does Free Streaming Sell Music? Last.fm’s free, ad-supported music streams have resulted in a 119 percent increase in music purchases through Amazon, the company said today. Last.fm says they have the proof and streaming free music allowing users to have full-track previews drives music sales, both digital and physical.
So far the Last.fm model seems to be working. The labels get paid every time a track is played and longtime members were buying more music too—there was a 66 percent increase in album and track purchases among existing users.
Radio Links to iTunes: US radio broadcaster, Clear Channel, has linked all of its digital FM music stations to Apple Inc.’s iTunes store, giving listeners a way to buy songs they’ve heard. Clear Channel will now share in revenue from iTunes.
New Music: Denver band Flobots is climbing up the alternative charts. They were discovered after Denver radio station, KTCL, began playing their track Handlebars. The beginning of the track instantly sucks you in and they remind us of novelty act Cake meets Eminem.
Payola: Wired published a column titled ‘Is Sonicbids’ Pay-for-Play Music Promotion the New Payola?‘ that discusses whether they share artists’ fees with the websites that use bands’ content.
Recommended Listening: So Long and Little Pill By Stereoside.
 
A new study shows continued growth for iTunes. When it comes to familiarity, Apple’s iTunes leads among the herd as the dominant digital music destination, even over MySpace.
R.E.M – Accelerate – (TW) 115k
Counting Crows – Saturday Nights – (TW) 60k – (Total) 150k
Panic At The Disco – Shine A Light – (TW) 37k – (Total) 176k
Taylor Swift (TW) 27k – (Total) 2,800,000
Sara Bareillas – Little Voice – (TW) 27k – (Total) 633k
Raconteurs – (TW) 25k – (Total) 67k
Alicia Keys – As I AM – (TW) 22k – (Total) 3,363,000
Jordin Sparks (TW) 19k – (Total) 631k
Paramore – RIOT! – (TW) 12k – (Total) 833k
Foo Fighters – Echoes – (TW) 6k – (Total) 705k
Bored to Tears: American Idol’s Simon Cowell said he was bored by the talent earlier this year – but not anymore. “It’s a reality show,” he told The Post. “If you’re bored, you’re bored. If you’re not, you’re not. I can’t help it if I’m bored. Sometimes it’s mind-numbingly boring, and it shows on my face.”
“It’s a long run during auditions,” he says. “That’s the time that you’re most miserable.” The contestants appear to be “trying harder” in recent weeks, and that’s why he seems more engaged than he did earlier in the season, he says.
Thats how we feel at Kings. We are bored. We haven’t really found any mind blowing artists lately – maybe some decent ones, but definitely not great!
Speaking of Idol, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, were to appear Wednesday on the uber-popular US reality show “American Idol.” Other stars who recently signed on to the Fox television show are Victoria and David Beckham, Jim Carrey, Reese Witherspoon, Julianne Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Bono, Celine Dion, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Connolly, Mariah Carey and Robin Williams.
Perez For Sale? Hilton’s core audience is twentysomething females who make his trash talking and celebrity gossip site a daily destination. ‘As popular as PerezHilton.com is, it gets less than half the traffic of the reigning celebrity-gossip sites: Time Warner’s TMZ.com and NBC Universal-Yahoo joint venture OMG.yahoo.com’. Some insiders say Perez is looking for a potential bidder.
So Who is Really the #1 Music Retailer? Wal-Mart is still the #1 music retailer, not Apple’s iTunes. Hits Daily Double says the Big 4 Distributors confirm this. We say calling Apple the #1 music retailer in April based on a week’s worth of data calculated back in January is a tough call.
New Music: Pop band Camera Cant Lie is heading to NYC for a string of showcases. Check out the track Losing You. Also, Alkaline Trio posted a new song titled ‘Help Me‘ on their myspace and their new record will be released in July through Epic Records.
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