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pandora

Pandora Inches Closer To The Deadpool Over Royalty Fees

by Jason Wilk on February 17, 2009



  • Last week I had a chance to catch up with Pandora CTO, Tom Conrad at ContentNext’s EconMusic conference in Los Angeles. Tom was in high hopes about the success of Pandora lately, quoting that with their iPhone app alone, they had reached 3.5 million downloads and are seeing some of the highest CPM rates in the industry for internet radio advertising. Their traffic is at an all time high, above 3 million unique visitors a month according to Compete. Like many internet companies at the moment, relying on ad dollars to survive in a down economy is difficult (see: TinyComb). But Pandora is faced with an even more difficult scenario; The Webcaster Settlement Act, which has the potential to put Pandora out of business by raising the per song stream price to $0.19 a song. Please sign the petition at the bottom of the page to help save them from going out of business by lowering online steaming prices.
  • Web sites that stream music have been fighting with the recording industry for two years over the royalties that the sites must pay for each song they play. The record companies and internet radio stations had until this past Sunday to reach an agreement. FM/AM radio stations that simultaneously stream their broadcast over the internet came to an agreement, but standalone services like Pandora and Yahoo Music were left twiddling their thumbs without a deal. According to several people close to the negotiations, the two sides were close to striking a deal, but at the end of the day were unable to agree on some fine points.
  • According to the NYT, “a copy of the proposed term sheet, big Web sites with significant advertising revenue would have paid the greater of 25 percent of their revenue or a per-song fee of 0.088 cents, increasing to 0.14 cents in 2015. Small Web sites with less than $1.25 million in revenue would have paid the greater of 7 percent of expenses or 10 percent of their first $250,000 in revenue and 12 percent of additional revenue up to $1.25 million. If a small Webcaster grows and brings in more than $1.25 million in revenue, the rates for big Webcasters would start to apply. That has rankled some small sites, which say it discourages them from growing”.
  • No one knows what will happen next, but one of the options on the table is to take the case to Congress to ask for an extension on the current deal. If both sides can’t reach a deal, it would give MySpcae Music a significant jump in market share for internet radio. MM is in a unique situation since they launched as a joint venture with all 4 major labels on board, where advertisers are paying per stream. As long as their advertisers stick around, they are laughing all the way to the bank while the rest of the Webcasters struggle for air. Let’s hope for the best for Pandora, the greatest radio station ever.

Cool fact: Pandora’s music genome members still listen to every album before it is processed into the recommendation system. There are still no auto-algorithms trying to tell you what you like. Let’s save this company.

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My Top 15 iPhone Apps Of 2008

by Jason Wilk on January 1, 2009

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  • The App store has been a great success thus far. Although I have gone through my share of downloading and quickly deleting apps that I don’t use more than a few times, there have been 15 that are consistently open on a daily basis, some hourly.
    • Facebook. By far the app I use the most. I constantly update my status, check for notifications and chat throughout the day. Although buggy sometimes, it is my biggest time killer coming out of the app store.
    • MyAnalytics. Since Google has yet to come out with an iPhone app for Google Analytics, this app is the best substitute. Nothing like having a record traffic day and keeping track of it on the go. It takes a little bit of getting used to, since some durations throghout the day it will show you a combination of your current and previous days traffic. I find it to be dead on if I check it from 2pm throughout the day.
    • Shazam. If you don’t have this app yet, I’m surprised. Open up the app, put it next to the song you are listening to and it will tell you who the artist is, where to buy it, what the lyrics are and then stores the info. Hipsters beware, it has trouble picking up on Jason Bentley tracks.
    • BigOven. Sometimes I just need to cook. This is a really nice app that contains thousands of recipes. It has been downloaded welll over 1 million times.
    • Trace. Best game of they year for me. Travel to one of the 5 worlds in the game with your little red character. Trace your own lines around the obstacles and set your own path to success. Must be downloaded to get the full effect. Truly addicting.
    • WritingPad. Similar to note pad but utilizes the latest typing technology, Swype. You don’t need to lift a finger or tap to write a word. Drag your finger through the letters of the word you want to spell and it will recognize it. Great for taking quick notes or impressing your non-tech friends. This is the future of the mobile keyboard.
    • Pandora. The great app produced by the Music Genome phenomenon. Type in an artist or song you want to listen to and it will create a radio station based on similar styles and sounds. Awesome for your car, iPod Dock or walking around.
    • PapiJump. Just about as addicting as Trace. Using the accelerometor, bounce the pink ball to each blue step until you can’t go any further. Just don’t try plaing it in the car. My high score is 46,000.
    • Wurdle. Shake the iPhone and a fresh screen of letters will appear. Try and drag yor finger through possible words and rack up points. Think you did well? Once your time runs out, you will see all the words you missed and feel like an idiot every time.
    • Wordpress. Make a lot of typos like me when you write? Well, make sure you have the Wordpress app so you can correct your grammar on the go. Gives you instant access to your dashboard, where you can add, edit or delete a post.
    • iGolf. I take a sense of pride in this game since I think I may hold the world record. Play a few holes or hit the driving range with this Wii like golf game. Try and avoid playing it in public, people may think you’re nuts.
    • iHunt. Need to take out a little aggression? Just open up this app to go kill some deer or pheasants. Use the accelerometer to aim you shotgun or rifle and shoot away. Such a fun game with great sound effects.
    • Fandango. Movie times/reviews, on the go and fast.
    • CollegeFB. Great app from the nice guys at PlusMo. Keep track of all the college football games on the go. Gives you an updated play by play for each game you click on.
    • UrbanSpoon. The best app for finding a restaurant near where you’re standing. Choose from a variety of genres, pricing options and areas.

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Top 10 iPhone Apps of 2008 (Hint: #1 Involves Koi)

by John Jorgensen on December 3, 2008

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  • Apple has released the top 10 purchased iPhone apps in ‘08:
    • 1. Koi Pond
    • 2. Texas Hold’em
    • 3. Moto Chaser
    • 4. Crash Bandicoot: Nitro Kart 3d
    • 5. Super Monkey Ball
    • 6. Cro-Mag Rally
    • 7. Enigmo
    • 8. Pocket Guitar
    • 9. Recorder
    • 10. iBeer
  • Koi Pond. Really. You’re telling me that the number one paid iPhone app, creating windfall profits and untold fortunes for those who developed it, is a simulation of a pond with some fish in it. Who the hell would buy this thing? [Full disclosure: I bought Koi Pond]
  • I can personally vouch for Enigmo being so addictive that I have more than once ignored calls from family members in need just to get to the next level. (sorry Mom I’ll call you back tonight I promise)
  • Top free app: Pandora. No surprise.
  • If you produced any of the above top 10 paid apps, it’s going to be a good Christmas this year.

MobileCrunch

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  • 148Apps, an iPhone app reviewer says 10,000 applications are now available on the iPhone App store
  • Here’s a breakdown:
    • 24% of apps are free
    • 35% cost $.99
    • Average cost is $3.12, including free apps.
    • 34% are games or entertainment
  • Biggest waste of iPhone developer time: Weather apps. There are actually 49 different weather apps on there even though the iPhone has one built on. Come on with that.
  • Apps that I use everyday: Trace, Facebook, Free RSS Reader, PlusMo College Football App, PapiJump, Pandora, Flashlight and

Are you an iPhone developer with some extra time that can help build me a cool app I have an idea for? (I promise it’s not a weather app. email Jason@tinyComb.com)

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werewolf_fangs

  • Home.Live.com
  • As of last night, Microsoft’s Live.com is now a full blown social network in addition to a search engine.
  • In conjunction, Windows Live Photos and Windows Live People have both been launched.
  • Users are automatically ‘friends’ with all of their contacts on Windows Live Messenger (#1 messaging service worldwide with 268 million users vs Yahoo’s 116m).
  • Similar to FriendFeed, Live pulls in your content from around the web including blog posts, Pandora, Twitter, Flickr, Yelp and RSS.
  • A Facebook-like activity stream announces every change to your profile and every photo you upload or review you write.
  • Yahoo had been talking about building this out around their email platform a year ago.

TC

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