Posts Tagged ‘Universal Music Group’

UK ISP Virgin Media and UMG announce "carrot and stick" music plans

by Steve O'Hear

June 16th, 2009 | Posted in Audio | CommentsNo Comments

I have a love-hate relationship with my Internet Service Provider (ISP) Virgin Media. I love the fact that they give me a fast and reliable fiber optic broadband connection (no copper running into this house), although I’m less keen on their peak time throttling policy. On the other hand, I hate their cozy relationship with the major records labels over the issue of illegal file sharing, whereby they appear to be more than willing to entertain the idea of disconnecting customers at the labels’ request if it’s claimed they are persistent offenders.

This week, Virgin talked up the latest phase of that cozy relationship, announcing a new unlimited music plan backed by Universal Music Group, and a firm commitment to “educate” file sharers through a temporary suspension of service.

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Vodafone Music's DRM-free move makes Apple and Nokia look bad

by Steve O'Hear

March 12th, 2009 | Posted in Audio, Mobile | CommentsNo Comments

Vodafone, which currently operates music download stores in over 20 countries, is to become the latest company to jump on the DRM-free bandwagon, announcing this week that it will soon be transitioning its music catalog away from the copy-protected WMA format to standard MP3s. Additionally, customers will be able to covert their existing Vodafone purchases to DRM-free versions at no extra charge, unlike Apple’s current iTunes arrangement where users wishing to ‘upgrade’ are effectively asked to pay twice.

That’s the good news as far as Vodafone is concerned. The bad: only three of the four major record labels are on board – Universal Music Group, Sony Music and EMI – with Warner, for now at least, refusing to join in the fun, and the whole DRM-free deal only applies to a la carte downloads not Vodafone’s MusicStation all-you-can eat subscription service.

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A year after launch, free music service Qtrax has all four majors but questions remain

by Steve O'Hear

February 12th, 2009 | Posted in Audio, Mobile | Comments1 Comment

Twelve months ago, free ad-supported music download service Qtrax launched in a blaze of controversy, most notably claiming it had support from all four major record labels, which was news to them. Qtrax is going after the holy grail of music, free and legal downloads, and so it wasn’t surprising that the company faced a licensing uphill battle. A year later and all the “t”s have been crossed and the “i”s dotted: EMI, Warner, Sony BMG and Universal Music are on board, reports AP, and a relaunch is planned for next month. However, a few questions remain.

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"Just like your local record store", Universal launches Lost Tunes

by Steve O'Hear

July 30th, 2008 | Posted in Audio | Comments4 Comments

“Think of us as your small local record store, run by a team dedicated to helping you find the very best music”, reads the welcome page of Universal Music’s new music download store.

Launched first in the UK, with international versions of the site expected in the coming months, Lost Tunes is attempting to tap into a bygone era where music fans regularly scoped out local record stores looking for rare gems. “Lost Tunes comes with a secret stash of records you can’t find anywhere else online” the welcome blurb boasts. “Anywhere else online” being an indirect reference to Apple’s iTunes, hence Universal’s choice of name.

To that end, tracks are offered as mp3s, encoded at the higher bitrate of 320kpbs, and compatible with almost any digital music player, including iPods.

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Wal-Mart ditches DRM at a cost

by Steve O'Hear

April 8th, 2008 | Posted in Audio | Comments1 Comment

Wal-Mart ditches DRM at a costWhen Wal-Mart first starting selling DRM-free music through its online store, we had one major complaint. Alongside those iPod-friendly MP3s from EMI and Universal Music, sat copy-protected tracks from the two remaining major labels that were only compatible with PCs running Windows and supported PlayForSure devices. A sure way to confuse customers and create a very poor shopping experience, we concluded.

Along with a redesign of the Wal-Mart online music store, the “world’s largest retailer” has finally ditched DRM completely but at a cost. Rather than successfully negotiating licensing deals with the DRM-free holdouts – Sony BMG and Warner Music – Wal-Mart has sacrificed music from those two labels completely (tracks from Sony BMG’s Neil Diamond seem to be the exception, reports Wired).

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