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Radiohead co-manager Brian Message has come out in support of Spotify after comments from Thom Yorke about the service.
In one fell swoop, Thom Yorke re-ignited the debate over streaming new music. Pulling his solo material from Spotify, the Radiohead singer sparked a wave of comment with long time producer and collaborator Nigel Godrich backing him to the hilt.
Arguing that the service is detrimental to new music, Thom Yorke removed 'The Eraser' and Atoms For Peace' recent LP 'Amok' from the service. Now, though, Radiohead co-manager Brian Message has entered the fray with a different perspective.
Interviewed on BBC Newsnight (via Music Week), Message explained that "a whole range of managers look at new technology developments such as Spotify as a good thing".
Continuing, the ATC Management executive said: "Streaming services are a new way for artists and fans to engage. As a manager of Thom I obviously sit up and take note when he says, 'Listen guys we need to look at how this works'. It’s a healthy debate that’s going on right now."
Brian Message then added that he respected Thom Yorke for opening up the debate. "He's rightly asking the question of, 'What's in this for new music and new artists?' I think we’re all debating this. (But) as the model gets bigger I think we’ll find a place where artists and managers and all creators can all receive what they regard as equitable remuneration" he explained.
"It's not black and white, it’s a complicated area. There’s been over 20 attempted reviews of Copyright and how it operates in the internet era, and there’s been no satisfactory solution to it."
"The bottom line is, technology is here to stay, and evolution of technology is always going to go on. It’s up to me as a manager to work with the likes of Spotify and other streaming services to best facilitate how we monetise those (platforms) for the artists we represent. It’s not easy but it’s great to have the dialogue."
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Even though iPad sales stumbled in the third quarter, Apple Inc.'s iTunes store continued to rock on, according to the company latest earnings report released Tuesday.
The iTunes store "generated record billings of $4.3 billion in the June quarter, culminating in our best month and best week ever for App store billings at the very end of the quarter," Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said in a call with analysts. Those gross billings, which includes money passed through to developers as well as Apple's cut, translated to net quarterly revenue of $2.4 billion for Apple, up 29% from the year ago quarter, Oppenheimer said.
Oppenheimer credited movies, TV shows and apps for the uptick, saying iTunes customers downloaded more than 1 billion TV episodes and 390 million movies to date. They're currently downloading more than 800,000 TV episodes and 350,000 movies every day.
As for the five-year-old App Store, Apple disclosed that developers have created more than 900,000 iOS apps thus far, including 375,000 apps designed specifically for the iPad.
"The popularity of these apps remains incredibly strong," Oppenheimer said in a conference call with analysts to discuss the company's third quarter earnings. "Downloads have surpassed 50 billion. and app developers have made over $11 billion from their sales of the App Store -- half of which was earned in the last four quarters."
The message is clear: For iTunes, the money is shifting towards video and apps, diluting its former reliance on music, as Apple expands its array of digital content offerings. That's not necessarily bad news for the music industry, which has also diversified its product lineup to include apps, games and videos in which music is a primary element.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook also presented another spot of good news for the industry. Although iPad sales dropped 14% in the quarter, Cook said he belived both tablets and smart phones have further room to grow, particularly in overseas markets. Both types of mobile devices are key drivers of music and media consumption.
Another potential platform for media consumption is the automobile, which Cook viewed as "part of the ecosystem."
"Having something in the automobile is very, very important," Cook said. "Apple can do it in a unique way, and better than anyone else. It’s a key focus for us."
When it came to products that Apple may be working on -- whether it's a watch, a new Apple TV or an integration with car manufacturers -- Cook refused to tip his hand, declining to answer analysts' questions on upcoming releases.
For the first time since the iTunes store opened its doors, the U.S. music industry finished the year with a decrease in digital music sales.
While the digital track sales decline had been expected due to weaker sales in the first three quarters, the digital album downturn comes as more of a surprise as the album bundle had started out the year with a strong first quarter.
Overall for the full year 2013, digital track sales fell 5.7% from 1.34 billion units to 1.26 billion units while digital album sales fell 0.1% to 117.6 million units from the previous year’s total of 117.7 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
While industry executives initially refused to attribute the early signs this year of digital sales weakness to the consumer's growing appetite for streaming, in the second half of the year many were conceding that ad-supported and paid subscription services were indeed cannibalizing digital sales.
While SoundScan has not yet released its annual streaming numbers numbers, so far industry executives have been reporting that the growth in streaming revenue has been offsetting the decline in digital sales revenue.
Overall, album sales suffered an 8.4% decline, dipping to 289.4 million units from nearly 316 million units in 2012. The CD declined 14.5% to 165.4 million units, down from 193.4 million in the prior year, while vinyl continued its ascension rising to 6 million units from the 4.55 million the format tallied in 2012. That means vinyl is now 2% of album sales in the U.S; digital albums comprise 40.6% and the CD is 57.2% and cassettes and DVDs 0.2%
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