Music Ally

2010 is shaping up as a big year for mergers and acquisitions in the digital music space, continuing the trend seen in the latter months of 2009, when the likes of Lala, Imeem and iLike were all snapped up, for varying amounts. So which services and startups might be under new ownership this time next year? Here’s some of our predictions.

eMusic

You don’t have to be a soothsayer to suggest that eMusic may be bought in the near future – the company effectively admitted it was open to offers (i.e. shopping itself to potential buyers) just after Christmas. Boss Danny Stein told the New York Post that “We’re opportunistic stewards of capital… If an offer was made that created value for our shareholders we’d listen to it.”

(more…)

US streaming music service Pandora has followed through on its promises to start turning a profit. “We became profitable for the fourth quarter of 2009, and now we’re shooting for profits for the entire 2010,” CTO Tom Conrad tells GigaOM.

The company ended the year with 43 million users, with three million signing up in December alone. The article also talks about Pandora’s non-computer growth: 2.7 million of those new users in December signed up on other devices, nearly 30% of its usage comes from mobile phones, and the company has in-car deals with Pioneer, Ford and Alpine.

But it’s the profitable Q4 news that will resonate within the industry, given the debate around whether streaming music can ever make its numbers add up. Spotify will also be encouraged by news that the US market can drive profits from this kind of business model, in advance of its launch there.

This week sees the annual CES show in Las Vegas, showcasing the latest, hottest and often barmiest new consumer technologies. As ever, music is present and correct. And one of the themes emerging already is the coming spread of streaming music beyond web and mobile to new platforms.

Two announcements to chew over. First, Samsung unveiled Samsung Apps last night, which will provide an iPhone-esque applications store for its new range of connected HDTVs and Blu-ray players.

Developers will be able to make downloadable applications for these devices that connect to web services. The first free apps will debut in spring, followed by paid apps in the summer.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

US streaming music service Pandora has doubled its size to 40 million registered users in 2009, and is apparently adding 600,000 new signups a WEEK at the moment.

Half of those new users are coming from mobile, says the company, with iPhone alone accounting for 10 million of the company’s users. TechCrunch suggests that Pandora now accounts for 44% of all internet radio listening hours in the US.

What the article explaining all this lacks, of course, is any sense of how much money Pandora is making from this huge growth – and how that stacks up against its licensing costs.

Still, the stage is set for an intriguing battle with Spotify next year, and Pandora deserves plenty of credit for its success in increasing its user base so rapidly.

Steve Purdham is CEO and founder investor of We7, the web-based ad-supported music streaming service. We talked to him for a feature in the latest Music Ally Report, which subscribers can read here – while non-subscribers can sign up for a free trial. The Q&A is after the jump.

(more…)

Pandora Chief Strategy Officer Tim Westergren founded interactive radio service Pandora in 2000. The innovative service draws upon music recommendations based upon human experience rather than computer algorithms alone; its iPhone app has brought new success in the US market, although Pandora is no longer available to UK residents.

We interviewed Westergren for a feature on the future of free licensed digital music as part of the latest Music Ally Report, which subscribers can read here – while non-subscribers cansign up for a free trial. Find the Q&A after the jump.

(more…)

Interactive radio service Pandora has revealed as part of an article in GigaOm that snowballing mobile uptake has driven the brand’s impressive growth of late. Pandora has been installed on 13 million smartphones to date including iPhone, Blackberry, Palm and Android. 9 million of those users didn’t previously have computer-based Pandora accounts, meaning that 24% of Pandora’s users came from mobile. A quarter of the music played on Pandora goes to mobile and 25% of the purchases via iTunes or Amazon happen through mobile.

The speculation last week about Google’s music search plans was pretty much on the money. Announced officially last night, the company’s new search features will provide streaming previews when people search for song titles or artists – or even specific lyrics. iLike and Lala are the two main partners as previously reported, although the iLike element will be branded as MySpace. However, Pandora, Imeem and Rhapsody are also on board, providing links to “music related to your queries as well” – a recommendation element, in other words. The new feature is only available in the US for now. So how does Google decide which partner to serve links up for each query? A virtual coin toss, apparently.

Streaming music service Pandora has secured a new round of funding to continue its growth, with reports suggesting the amount may be as much as $35 million.

Greylock Ventures led the round, and its partner David Size is joining Pandora’s board. The news comes just days after the announcement of new royalty rates for Pandora and other online radio firms, which Pandora founder Tim Westergren hailed as finally providing the company with a viable future.

And yet… MP3.com founder Michael Robertson has ripped into the new rates in a post on his blog, claiming that the per-song fee element means most webcasters will be paying between 40% and 100% of their revenues. “Net radio is going to die a slow death in the United States,” he writes, singling out Pandora as one company that still won’t be able to make the numbers add up.

“Pandora estimates they will do 1 billion hours of streaming in 2009 which requires $17 million in royalties. They estimate they will do $40 million in revenue which equates a payment to the major labels of 42.5% of their total revenues. No business can operate with such an enormous financial obligation.”