Week of October 3, 2005

Grokster To Be Sold!

Monday, October 3rd, 2005

It happened to Napster: When you get sued into oblivion for facilitating piracy, what do you do? You sell your brand to a legitimate outfit. Grokster, which recently lost its copyright liability claim to the RIAA in court, is in talks with legal peer-to-peer service Mashboxx about a possible sale. Mashboxx was founded by former Grokster president Wayne Rosso.

Network Live Prepares To Roll

Tuesday, October 4th, 2005

The company launched from the highly successful Live 8 broadcast earlier this year and is a joint venture of AOL, XM, and AEG. The Hollywood Reporter outlined the company's future in an interview with company head Kevin Wall. Expect a schedule of five evening events per week, with one multi-platinum artist, one developing artist, and a stand-up comedy show.

America Online Rebrands as AOL

Wednesday, October 5th, 2005

In a simple concept, Depeche Mode, iTunes, and Ticketmaster are joining forces to cross-promote the next Depeche Mode album and tour. Anyone that pre-orders Depeche Mode's Playing The Angel album through iTunes is given a password that allows the purchaser a full ten day advance on purchasing tour tickets before they are put on sale to the general public.

Satellite Radio...On Your Cell Phone

Thursday, October 6th, 2005

Mercury Research's Mark Ramsey makes a great point about the recent announcement by Sprint Nextel that they will be offering 20 Sirius channels on their mobile phones for a small fee. His key point is that satellite companies are looking beyond, well, satellite and now see themselves as content providers with no regard for how the content is delivered.

This is a good lesson for radio, which is but one delivery option among many these days.

Viacom Expands Its Broadband Content Offerings

Friday, October 7th, 2005

You have to read between the lines, but the recent Jupiter Research report that consumers are still highly resistent to purchasing content on the Internet via a subscription model. Fully 64% of consumers said they wouldn't pay for content over the Internet, and the number who have paid for content has increased only 5% in the past year. This means that the profit model on the Internet will continue to be advertising, the same model that has been the bedrock of radio for over 70 years.

Check back on Monday for more trends and insights.

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