Music Ally

2009 has seen the rise of streaming services Spotify and Pandora (and the fall of several of their rivals); governments grappling with anti-piracy legislation; The Pirate Bay trial – and then its tragicomic sale saga; and hundreds of bright-eyed music start-ups and thousands of iPhone apps. And STILL no Yellow Submarine iPod.

We rounded up the key trends from the year for our final Music Ally Report of 2009, and the article is republished below in full. If you’re interested in our service in 2010, with its daily bulletin and fortnightly analytical report, click here for a free trial.

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Bob Dylan might not be a fan of streaming music, but he appears to be into his GPS. BBC News Online is reporting that he’s in talks with “a couple of car companies” about providing his voice for their satellite navigation services.

Dylan teased listeners to his radio show with an example: “Left at the next street. No, right. You know what? Just go straight.” However, he seemed to be having second thoughts on-air: “I probably shouldn’t do it because whichever way I go, I always end up at one place – on Lonely Avenue. Luckily I’m not totally alone. Ray Charles beat me there.”

If this isn’t just Dylan having a joke at his listeners’ expense, we’ll be at the front of the queue when the cars go on sale, however pricey they are. Although the thought of trying to weave through tiny country roads in the dark while your satnav tells you “Most likely you go your way and I’ll go mine” is a trifle worrying…

We all know Bob Dylan isn’t shy about sharing his disdain for all things digital-music related, but this week his wrath has been specifically aimed at streaming services. Over the past few days his back catalogue has been pulled from sites like we7 and Spotify, as Dylan takes issue with those who are sharing his music with their users. An instruction was issued by his US reps, through Sony, asking sites to prove they have the right to put the material up.

So far no one from Sony has responded to our requests for comment; presumably everyone at Columbia is busy sifting through years of licensing agreements and contractual binding looking for a solution to this latest outburst.

Clive Gardiner, we7’s digital music SVP, said: “We took it off the site a few days ago. Spotify would have had the same instruction.  But it may be a short listing and it may come back again.

“There are some artists that will take umbrage at this from time to time. We expect this sort of thing, especially with streaming, and it not being fully understood where it sits yet. “

The only Dylan albums Spotify is carrying at the moment are Bob Dylan 60s Live, A 30^th Anniversary Concert Celebration and a Tribute compilation, leaving out the 30-plus longplayers he’s wracked up since his first release in 1962.

Dylan is not the first artist to question the rights of streaming services, with Bryan Adams issuing a similar request through Web Sheriff a few months back. Eventually the situation was ironed out, and Adams’ catalogue reappeared.

It’s now a common promotional tactic for albums to be available as a full online stream the week before their release. Bob Dylan is the latest artist to jump on the bandwagon, with his label Columbia Records announcing plans to stream his new Tell Tale Signs album on National Public Radio’s website.

The stream kicks off tomorrow, and covers the full 2-CD compilation, which is part of the Bobster’s authorised bootleg series of rare and unreleased recordings. The album itself goes on sale next week. It’s the first time NPR has tried this kind of thing, following in the footsteps of Napster, MySpace and Imeem.

Columbia isn’t stopping there with its promo plans for the new album. A free track will be given away on Dylan’s own website, while another will be distributed via Amazon’s MP3 Store, in advance of the full album’s release.