music Archive

eBay company StubHub has announced a new partnership with AOL Music today. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Basically StubHub will be integrated all over AOL Music so people can buy and sell tickets (and pay comissions to StubHub) from practically anywhere on the site. From the release, “this includes AOL’s Artist & Video pages, as well as AOL Music’s concert touring website, TourTracker. For the first time, users can also see up-to-the minute concert ticket price ranges on StubHub’s marketplace without ever leaving AOL Music. ”

“Allowing our consumers to purchase tickets to sold-out shows through StubHub will significantly enhance our user experience,” said Bill Crandall, vice president of AOL Music.

My very close friend (and CN designer) Mark loves Elvis. He has all the albums, the Atari video games and the videos. Luckily when we speak he doesn’t sing any of Elvis’ songs to me. So it was with great excitement when I received a note about a new iPhone application launching today that is perfect for Mark.

The app is called “Elvis Mobile” and here’s a list of what’s included:

• An “Elvis Sightings” section allows fans to submit their Elvis pictures, taken with their iPhone, directly to www.elvis.com from anywhere in the world and simultaneously update their Facebook pages with the same information.
• An “Image” section will be updated weekly and will feature never-before-seen and rare pictures of the life and times of Elvis Presley.
• A “Video” section will be updated periodically with clips of Elvis and special Elvis events/happenings.
• A “News” section features the latest information on all things Elvis from www.elvis.com.
• A “Livecam” section gives fans a real-time look at Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion in Memphis, TN.
• A “Podcast” section allows users to listen to The Graceland Beat from Elvis Radio.

I don’t have an iPhone so I can’t enjoy the King as a I travel around the city. It looks like the application is free and even offers a Facebook Connect option so you can share your Elvis Sightings with your Facebook friends. Hmm, I wonder if Elvis is on Twitter?

I’ve written about QR codes before and if you read CN, you know that I really hope the QR technology takes off in the U.S. as it has in other countries like Japan. You can see an example of a QR code (also known as 2d Barcode) on the left. Basically when you scan the code with a reader, it does something.

Today I came across, via Dean Collins, a record label using QR codes to get people offline to interact with their music. I’ve embedded a video below which describes how Lost Highway Records is using QR Codes. The video explains that they are using the codes to get people to a website where they can listen to their music, purchase full songs and find out information about upcoming concerts.

Check out the video and then think about how you can use QR codes for you and/or your clients. While I know the easy answer is that not enough handsets support the technology, adding the codes to your ads and promotional materials is easy – so why not capture those who can read the codes?

NY-based DubFiler describes their service as, "a different kind of file management site. We are DJ’s, producers, promoters and we’re constantly slinging files around – tune ideas, so-and-so’s newest track, your new drum track. But we’re tired of sites where the files expire and we have to reupload them. We’re tired of flashing banners and typing in cryptic passwords. We’re tired of waiting 60 seconds for our downloads to begin."

The service is basically a way for musicians to share their music inside a network. DubFiler charges $5/month for 500mb of storage.

The service is very easy to use. You upload a song and then are presented with a link that you can share with others. When visitors come to DubFiler via the link, they are presented with two options: play or download. DubFiler also provides stats on how many downloads, plays have taken place for each song.

I’d like to see DubFiler add messaging options so that listeners can leave feedback for the artist. Perhaps the messaging could even allow listeners to comment on a specific portion of the music timeline similar to Viddler’s in-video-stream commenting.

Wireless provider Cricket has launched a new mobile music program today. After reviewing the materials, I found the pricing model to be a bit confusing for the average user. It looks like songs downloaded directly to the phone are $2 or 3 for $5/month. But if you download them via the Cricket website they are $1 but to use the song on your mobile, you need to pay an additional $1.25. Cricket’s Mobile Music service is managed by LiveWire Mobile.

From the release, "Customers can search music by artist, album, song and genre to purchase tracks and download them directly to their Cricket phone for $1.99 each, or receive three download credits for a $5 monthly charge. Songs are available online at www.mycricket.com for $.99 each and customers can use Cricket’s Music Manager software to sideload the tracks to their mobile phone, or buy two copies of each song, one for their PC and one for their phone for $2.25 per song."

Why wouldn’t a Cricket customer just download the songs on their current music provider (iTunes, etc.) and then upload them to the phone? Some of Cricket’s phones support a SD card so they should be able to handle music as well. The price seems expensive at $2 when most online music sites are currently offering songs for $1.

Cricket also noted that they have partnered with Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em which allows Cricket customers to download a free two-week playable version of the artist’s latest song.

Last week at the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Howard Han presented his NY-based startup GigMaven. The service is described as a way to streamline the booking process for musicians and venues. This morning I sat down with Han to learn more about GigMaven.

Basically GigMaven is a marketplace where venues list open gigs and musicians "apply" to the gigs. Once the musicians have applied, the venue selects a band to fill the gig. The venue pays a fee when they complete the process. It’s a similar business to another NY-based startup, ZocDoc.

For GigMaven to be successful, the key is to get enough venues from enough locations worldwide to always be able to fill a musician’s needs. I’d like to see them optimize their venue pages for the search engines. It would also be interesting to look at creating a destination site to help people connect with artists and to research venues. They could also work on ticketing or partner with a company who already handles the ticketing. The more they can "own" parts of the venue booking and ticketing process, the better I think they will do.

GigMaven is launching this month in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The company has raised an angel round of funding to-date.

We initially covered Vienna-based Tunesbag last April when they launched their private beta. Today they have announced some additions and upgrades to the service they describe as an “online media hub”.

You can now listen to any public playlist using the search feature and then save it to your library if you like the songs. They have also updated the search to allow for a site-wide search which will index artists, tracks, users and playlists.

Tracks and playlists can now be shared with other tunesBag users along with the ability to share outside of tunesBag via mail, Facebook and MySpace. They have also released a new music player. 

Lastly, they plan to publicly open the service in the first half of 2009.