Music Ally

US telco Verizon Wireless has given some numbers on how its mobile music service is doing, although it’s bundled them together with video. Its subscribers downloaded 36.5 million music and video downloads in the second quarter of this year, up 5.5% from the 34.6 million they downloaded in the first quarter. (more…)

Simon Gavin is the head of A&M Records (part of Universal Music Group), whose current roster includes The Police, The Horrors, The Courteeners and Duffy. We spoke to him about his involvement in the series, and what makes it an interesting platform for artists and labels. (more…)

Last year UK broadcaster Channel4 launched Mobile Act Unsigned with Orange and Sony Ericsson: an interactive talent show bringing together broadcast TV, online and mobile. The show’s format works as an A&R platform where acts must test their mettle in the live arena in front of an audience and panel of judges, comprising Blur bassist Alex James, Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley and head of A&M records Simon Gavin. The winning act Envy and Other Sins walked away with an album deal with A&M UK (part of Universal Music Group), marketing support, management, a booking agent and merchandising deal. It returns this year, with the (slightly less catchy) title Orange Unsigned Act with Sony Ericsson. The premise is largely the same, but the competition is opening up to include singer/songwriters and urban acts. A transmission date is yet to be announced, but it is expected to launch in autumn.

Music Ally spoke to Simon Gavin and Sony Ericsson’s European head of music marketing about their involvement with the show, what they hope to get out of it, and what we can expect from the new series. (more…)

As part of Vivendi’s second-quarter financial results announcement, the company has revealed Universal Music Group’s performance. UMG generated revenues of just over 1 billion for the quarter, which is either a 5.3% decline (in real terms) or a 3% rise (if you take currency fluctuations into account). (more…)

Microsoft and Yahoo might not have merged (yet), but the two companies clearly share a somewhat laissez-faire attitude towards their music customers. Yahoo has just announced that it’s shutting down its Yahoo Music Store at the end of September, and just as Microsoft did with MSN Music, it’s told users that after the shutdown, they won’t be able to transfer their previously purchased songs to unauthorised computers or re-license them after changing operating systems. (more…)

A quiet news day in the UK has propelled news of a Memorandum of Understanding between the six biggest UK ISPs and the BPI and brokered by the UK Government right to the top of the news agenda. (more…)

With much speculation around the likely launch date of the new MySpace Music service, we’ve now got confirmation from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. CEO Chris DeWolfe says the new joint venture will launch in September, despite having only signed up three of the four major labels. (more…)

The Pretenders have gone all Music 2.0 for the release of their new album `Break Up The Concrete’, which comes out on 23 September. The band plan to give away a free track every week leading up to the release, each with a different partner. (more…)

There’s been plenty of speculation since yesterday’s announcement of Sky and UMG UK’s planned subscription music service, which we brought you news of in a special alert. PaidContent suggests the service will be offered under a distinct brand so it can be promoted through Sky’s rivals, while Jupiter analyst Mark Mulligan thinks Sky’s service will be targeted at households and families, thus differentiating it from most other digital music services. (more…)

It might have released some innovative digital music players recently, but they didn’t stop SanDisk from announcing disappointing results for the second quarter yesterday. The company posted a loss of $68 million for the quarter, compared to a profit of $28 million in Q2 last year. (more…)