20 posts tagged “music”
New Features Include Model Realviews, Dark Apparel 2.0, and Name-Your-Royalty
Zazzle, the only on-demand retail platform to offer billions of retail quality, one-of-a-kind products shipped within 24 hours, today announced the launch of their technology-powered platform and new business verticals focusing on music, entertainment and fashion. In addition, the company announced new features including Model Realviews, Dark Apparel 2.0, and Name-Your-Royalty.
The proprietary technology-powered platform enables Zazzle to offer revolutionary features currently not available anywhere else in the market-place. "These technologies will dramatically change the game for online retail," said James Heckman, Chief Strategy Officer of Zazzle. "The innovation is remarkable, and Zazzle's platform with the proprietary tools could allow any retailer or designer, regardless of size, to conduct business with similar distribution, inventory strength, and ability to market, as a major brand."
The new features unveiled today further Zazzle's offering of the most powerful array of customization tools, enabling users to create an infinite number of high quality products. Model Realviews, Dark Apparel 2.0 and Name-Your-Royalty are now available, providing an even more powerful experience for consumers, while also enabling sellers to earn more revenue.
The internet music service Napster is soon to be available wirelessly through AT&T, it has been announced.
In early November users will be able to wirelessly access Napster's whole music library, consisting of more than five million songs. Though which devices will be able to access the service has not been announced, Apple's iPhone will definitely not be one of them. Mark Collins, vice president of consumer data for AT&T's wireless unit, said: "AT&T is the nationwide leader in mobile music and offers the largest catalog of songs, the most digital music choices and the best user experience in the industry.
"We are pleased to expand our relationship with Napster, an innovator in the digital music revolution." Napster was founded in 1999 in San Mateo, California by Shawn Fanning. It is now owned by the music service Roxio, which is a subsidiary of Sonic Solutions. For information on other digital products and services visit www.dsldance.com
By Mike Collett-White
British rock legends Led Zeppelin have performed only a handful of times since splitting in 1980 after the shock death of drummer John Bonham, and by their own admission each occasion was a "shambles".
A reunion concert on November 26 offers the surviving members of one of pop music's most successful and influential acts an opportunity to remind the world what they can do.
Bass guitarist John Paul Jones and guitarist Jimmy Page said they, together with singer Robert Plant and Bonham's son Jason, got together for a secret session earlier this year to determine whether they should go ahead with the London gig.
"It sounded like we've played this every night for the last three weeks," Jones, 61, said. "If that's the starting point, this is going to be great.
"I want not just to be able to play it and play it well, I want to be able to give a really good performance."
The silver-haired Page, 63, added: "The fact is that to actually be able to play and make this thing pulse, as it sort of did straight away on the first day we got together, that's really something to look forward to in every respect."
A far cry from the rock'n'roll hellraisers of their 1970s heyday, the softly-spoken musicians sought to play down the hype surrounding their reunion.
They also sidestepped questions about whether the show, a charity tribute to Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun who died last year, was a stepping stone to a full comeback tour.The music industry suffered a significant loss in physical music sales in 2006, but the digital music market continued to grow, a new report has revealed.
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), physical music shipments, such as CDs, fell by 11 percent to $17.5 billion last year, while digital shipments increased by 85 percent to $2.1 billion. Commenting on the figures, IFPI chairman John Kennedy said that the industry had hoped the loss in physical sales would have been offset by the growth in music downloads. "But while digital sales have grown as expected, physical sales have fallen by more than expected," he remarked.
The IFPI stated that digital music formats, which include those downloaded onto computers and cell phones, accounted for 11 per cent of total shipments last year. In related news, reports earlier this week suggested that Universal did not intend to renew its contract with Apple's iTunes for the online distribution of its music.
For information on other digital products and services visit www.dsldance.com
It has been announced that Warner Music Group's Lala.com is to offer songs to listen to for free online.
Using the site, owners of iPods can keep their iTunes libraries online, where they will be able to be accessed from anywhere and shared with any user. Lala.com also allows users to trade CDs online for a nominal fee as well as selling tracks that can be uploaded directly onto an iPod.
Founder of Lala.com Bill Nguyen accused the studios of having "done everything they can to get people to hate music." He added that Napster, which was shut down in July 2001 after an injunction was issued against it, was the "last good thing to happen to music that people loved".
"We wondered what would happen if we built a new Napster, with one hope that if you trust the consumer and don't think they are the enemy then you won't get screwed," Mr Nguyen added. Currently Lala.com has approximately 300,000 members and charges $1 per disc for users to swap CDs among themselves.
"Music is and will always be a driving force of the Internet, states Mark Weibel, EVP of Marketing for Broadband National Inc. who operates the industries leading comparative shopping website for digital products and services. "Recently, there has been a boom in "boutique" music stores that cater to specific audiences. For example, Beatportand Bleep cater to the electronic music community. Magnatune, Amie Street, and Mindawn are other examples of sites that cater to specific audiences. "
For more information on broadband and other digital products and services visit www.broadbandnational.com
Internet sites which contain malware that can infect a PC are becoming increasingly prevalent, the internet search giant Google has warned.
A full one in ten web pages is capable of launching a "drive-by download", meaning that it could place malware onto a PC. Using such software, hackers can steal sensitive information and infect PCs, Google cautioned. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at the security company Sophos, said: "They [hackers] used to spread malware by email attachment. What they do now is spam out URLs.
"You cannot protect users by restricting what sites they go to. You need to start protecting your web access, as well as your email gateway." Such malware present on websites is becoming "a considerable problem" for both businesses and personal users, Mr Cluley added. Meanwhile, companies have been warned to be aware of a worm which inhabits removable drives like floppy disks and USB sticks.
Sophos has stated that the W32/SillyFD-AA copies itself onto removable drives and then infiltrates the computers they are subsequently hooked up to.
