Archive for the 'business' Category

Music publishers want more of your money

Published on September 17, 2009 in business, music and tech.

Imagine that: Someone in the record industry wants more money.  Shocking, I know.  According to cnet news, music publishers are the latest victims of the digital age.  Apparently, they make pennies on the dollar for tracks sold on iTunes and in other digital music stores.

To be fair, I don’t know the complete business model for digital music well enough to say whether music publishers are or are not getting screwed.  I do know if these folks are going to get paid more, it’s coming out of our pockets, and as the article points out, the outcry is just now starting to settle from Apple’s move a few months ago to implement the first iTunes Music Store price increase.

The kicker to me is that they want to come after other music “sources” in iTunes as well.  These include music in movies and TV shows, streaming radio, and even the 30-second previews for songs in the the store.  This just seems a bit greedy to me.

“In the U.S. while we do get paid a mechanical (licensing fee) from ITunes [sic], we are not getting any performance income from Apple yet,” David Renzer, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group, said in interview late last month with entertainment-industry publication, Encore. “(On iTunes) you can stream radio, and you can preview (tracks), things that we should be getting paid performance income for.

“Also, if you download a film or TV show,” Renzer continued, “there’s no performance (payment) and typically there’s no mechanical (payment) either.”  (from cnet)

It might be true that they don’t get paid for these things, but I really don’t think they should come digging around the digital consumer for money.  Talk to the studios about the movie and TV show issue.  Talk to the radio stations about streaming radio.  As for the 30-second previews, just give it up.  We are already paying up to $1.29 per track.  Keep pushing this agenda and a lot of people will fall back on much cheaper ways to acquire music, TV shows, and movies, which result in zero royalties.

Oh, and they are so upset that they are going to ask congress to intercede.  Good thing congress doesn’t have anything on its plate right now.

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The Google Voice iPhone app saga goes to the FCC [Updated]

Published on August 21, 2009 in business and tech.

USA Today is reporting (via MacRumors) that comments are being filed with the FCC regarding Apple’s rejection of the Google Voice app in the iPhone App Store.  Apparently, Apple is not the only company facing questions.  Google may have some questions to answer on the related subject of the crippled version of Skype on their Android operating system.

Why: Consumers who use Android, the Google-developed operating system for wireless devices, can’t use Skype, a leading Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. A pioneer in free Internet calling, Skype allows you to talk as long as you want without draining cellphone minutes.

Android users get Skype Lite, a watered-down version of the original that routes calls over traditional phone networks — not the Internet. As a result, long-distance calls are still cheap or free, but cellphone minutes are gobbled up every time a Skype Lite call is made…

…Google’s explanation would seem to suggest that T-Mobile requested the block on Skype, but the carrier says that’s not the case. “T-Mobile has not asked Google to block that service,” says spokesman Joe Farren, referring to original Skype [sic]. – USA Today

In both of these cases, it is clear that neither the carriers nor OS providers want to take the blame.  Maybe the FCC can break this problem open and make progress, but as stated before, “consider me skeptical.”

UPDATE: Apple says it acted alone in rejecting the app.  Something still smells fishy here, but if this is the case, bad Apple!

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cnet: CBS to run video ad in magazine this fall

Published on August 19, 2009 in business and tech.

This is pretty cool but could turn out to be as annoying as greeting cards that play music.

The September 18 issue of the Time Inc.-owned magazine will feature the first video ad to appear in print, George Schweitzer, CBS marketing president, said Wednesday at a press conference at the company’s headquarters here.

The ad will be launched in partnership with PepsiCo to promote Pepsi Max soda and the TV network’s Monday prime-time lineup. Not everyone will be seeing it: the ad will appear in a magazine insert sent to subscribers in the New York and Los Angeles areas–an edition without the video chip will be sent to subscribers elsewhere and show up on newsstands.

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“Measure twice, cut once”

Published on August 14, 2009 in business and local.

In a story on NewsOK.com about the pending construction of the Devon Tower, Oklahoma City’s first legitimate skyscraper, I found this quote refreshing:

[Klay] Kimker, Devon’s vice president of administration, said he learned from construction of Liberty Tower that if one doesn’t have time to do things right the first time, then that person will face spending even more time fixing mistakes once the task is done.

You might be thinking, “what is so interesting about common sense like that?”  Unfortunately, I don’t think this is common sense any more.  In a time when any time after right now is late, proper planning is usually one of the first areas to get cut off the timeline.  Unfortunately, I’ve been a part of many projects with a “do it fast, fix it later” mindset.  So it was nice to read that the idea of taking your time and getting it right isn’t completely forsaken.

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Will China make its currency convertible? Or would it rather own the United States?

Published on August 4, 2009 in business and politics.

China is considering making it’s currency convertible and thus, potentially open for trade.  This blog post by Tim Collard of The Daily Telegraph (London) looks at why they are considering this, but more importantly, the frightening reason for Americans that they are in no hurry to do so.

Yes, the non-convertibility of their own currency does mean they are forced to maintain massive dollar reserves; but they are in no hurry to replace the dollar with the renminbi as a reserve currency. It would look good: but they can live with massive holdings of US Treasuries, warming their hearts with the thought that democratic (small “d”) irresponsibility is fast turning the USA into a wholly owned subsidiary of the [People's Republic of China].

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