WebProNews

Twitter Users Buy More Online Music

Active Twitter users are more engaged with online music and are more likely to make purchases than non-users of the microblogging service, according to a new report from the NPD Group. "NPD's latest music-acquisition study shows that there are segments of consumers who are more actively integrating Twitter as a key tool for communicating and networking," said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD.

Last.fm Rolls Out Visual Music Player

Last.fm has introduced its new Personalized Visual Music player that plays a slideshow of images related to the song. Some of the images are uploaded by the Last.fm community. The Visual Music player offers users a continuous stream of artist images, music videos and other types of rich media of the artist being played.

Teens Spending Less On Online Music

Teens (age 13 to 17) purchased 19 percent less music in 2008 than they did in 2007, according to a new report from the NPD Group. CD purchasing feel 26 percent and paid digital downloads dropped 13 percent compared to the previous year.  With paid digital downloads, 32 percent of teens purchasing less digital music said they were unhappy with the music that was available for purchase and 23 percent were satisfied were satisfied with the digital music they already owned.

Online Music Purchases Increase

The number of Internet users paying for digital music increased by just over 8 million in 2008 to 36 million Internet users, according to a new study from The NPD Group. Purchases of online digital music downloads increased by 29 percent since last year; they now account for 33 percent of all music tracks purchased in the U.S. NPD's Digital Music Study, also found that there were nearly 17 million fewer CD buyers in 2008 compared to the previous year.

Muxtape Previews New Reincarnation

Back in August, popular music site Muxtape was ordered to shut down by the RIAA. Then in September, MuxTape announced that it would be back in a different way. It would only be a service for bands to help them gain exposure.

Digital Music Sales Up

The decline in U.S. CD sales led to a decrease in overall music demand by 2 percent in the third quarter, according to the NPD Group.The overall drop off in music purchases includes CDs, digital music downloads, and P2P file sharing sites.

The Year in Online Music

Recently I dug back through our archives to put together something of a retrospective looking at the year in online video. Now I have done basically the same thing looking at 2008's happenings in online music.

Site Tries to Cash in On "Used" MP3s

A new site has emerged that claims to be a place to buy and sell "used" mp3s. "Stop illegally sharing and start legally selling! Buy drm-free mp3's starting @ $0.25," Bopaboo states on its front page.

Music Industry Reaches Agreement On Online Royalties

The Digital Media Association (DiMA), the National Music Publishers' Association (NIMPA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), along with the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and the Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) have reached an agreement on how music creators will be compensated for music distributed online.

Mick Jagger Advises EU On Online Music Sales

Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger has become an advisor to the European Union. The singer, along with the chief executive officers of Apple, EMI, eBay, Fiat, Louis Vuitton and others, are meeting in Brussels today with the EU's competition commissioner Neelie Kroes.