At WWDC 2011, Steve Jobs unveiled iTunes in the Cloud and “one more thing” goodie iTunes Match, a move that TuneCore CEO and founder Jeff Price believes will monetize piracy and reset the music industry.

iTunes in the Cloud will allow users to download any songs purchased in iTunes to all of their devices, at no extra charge (up to 5GB of music). Once the service is launched — likely Monday — any music purchased on iTunes from here will be synced automatically.

While this is all well and good — and a long time coming — the real clincher here is iTunes Match, which will automatically, and in a matter of minutes, match songs that you ripped to songs in the store and add them to your library. You won’t have to pay for each individual song, but you will have to shell out about $25 a year for the ability to have your library available.

“This puts together a model that allows people to make money off of pirated music,” says Price, pointing out that users who pirate music will end up paying for it anyway if they decide to go with iTunes Match, putting money back in the hands of rights holders.

“The gap between those two things have never been bridged before — the needs of the consumer and the rights holders,” he adds, pointing out how the service benefits both parties, while recent products like Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music Beta launched without label participation, and consequently, reimbursement.

Jobs did not mention revenue split during the conference, but the rumors say that publishers will garner 12% of the revenue, major labels will get 58% and Apple will keep 30%. Price also tells us that all bands on iTunes using TuneCore will be available on both iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match.

“Napster trained people to download music and listen to it on their computers,” he says. “This new service will help people become more comfortable with the idea of streaming their music. And that’s what resets the whole music industry. Reeducating the consumers on how to listen to music.”

In that respect, Apple’s iTunes in the Cloud could be just the thing that finally legitimizes the likes of music subscription services like Rdio, MOG and Spotify. “It’s great to see Apple bringing more awareness to online music streaming,” says a rep from Grooveshark. “We certainly don’t view iCloud as competitive to us, because the service that iCloud offers really isn’t the same as Grooveshark.”

What do you think of Price’s assertions? Is change really afoot in the music industry?

Photo courtesy of Flickr, karindalziel

More About: amazon, apple, Google, itunes-in-the-cloud, itunes-match, jeff-price, music, piracy, tunecore

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At WWDC 2011, Steve Jobs unveiled iTunes in the Cloud and “one more thing” goodie iTunes Match, a move that TuneCore CEO and founder Jeff Price believes will monetize piracy and reset the music industry.

iTunes in the Cloud will allow users to download any songs purchased in iTunes to all of their devices, at no extra charge (up to 5GB of music). Once the service is launched — likely Monday — any music purchased on iTunes from here will be synced automatically.

While this is all well and good — and a long time coming — the real clincher here is iTunes Match, which will automatically, and in a matter of minutes, match songs that you ripped to songs in the store and add them to your library. You won’t have to pay for each individual song, but you will have to shell out about $25 a year for the ability to have your library available.

“This puts together a model that allows people to make money off of pirated music,” says Price, pointing out that users who pirate music will end up paying for it anyway if they decide to go with iTunes Match, putting money back in the hands of rights holders.

“The gap between those two things have never been bridged before — the needs of the consumer and the rights holders,” he adds, pointing out how the service benefits both parties, while recent products like Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music Beta launched without label participation, and consequently, reimbursement.

Jobs did not mention revenue split during the conference, but the rumors say that publishers will garner 12% of the revenue, major labels will get 58% and Apple will keep 30%. Price also tells us that all bands on iTunes using TuneCore will be available on both iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match.

“Napster trained people to download music and listen to it on their computers,” he says. “This new service will help people become more comfortable with the idea of streaming their music. And that’s what resets the whole music industry. Reeducating the consumers on how to listen to music.”

In that respect, Apple’s iTunes in the Cloud could be just the thing that finally legitimizes the likes of music subscription services like Rdio, MOG and Spotify. “It’s great to see Apple bringing more awareness to online music streaming,” says a rep from Grooveshark. “We certainly don’t view iCloud as competitive to us, because the service that iCloud offers really isn’t the same as Grooveshark.”

What do you think of Price’s assertions? Is change really afoot in the music industry?

Photo courtesy of Flickr, karindalziel

More About: amazon, apple, Google, itunes-in-the-cloud, itunes-match, jeff-price, music, piracy, tunecore

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Google announced Tuesday its Google TV devices will now be able to access customized apps through the Android Market.

Google TV will also be running on the new 3.1 version of Honeycomb later this summer.

Made-for-TV websites have been part of Google TV’s value proposition since its launch, as have onboard apps including Netflix, Twitter, Pandora, Napster and more. However, today marks the first time any dev can make and sell apps for Google TV through the Android Market.

Google first unveiled Google TV at its I/O event last year. In spite of impressive demos, the company was said to be delaying a launch because of software tweaks in December 2010. And given the company’s underwhelming marketing and education efforts for the product — and stiff competition from the user-friendly and dead cheap Roku — many have wondered whether Google TV might flop.

However, the new availability of apps for Google TV means that more developers will be enticed to build more apps for Google TV. These third-party applications could give a much-needed boost to Google TV’s publicity and perhaps even its user experience.

As Google TV Product Manager Rishi Chandra stated earlier this year, “We plan to bring developers tools for building applications specifically for the TV and living room, and we plan to bring Android Market to Google TV, so consumers can download thousands of applications to their TVs.”

As was the case with the original Android mobile OS, Google’s projects often get off to a rough start. They’re launched early and require a good deal of support from the developer community to achieve that consumer-friendly polish to which end users are accustomed. And just like the powerful new Androids are miles from their practically unusable forebears, a more open, collaborative Google TV platform stands to compete well in the market of connected television devices.

We’ll keep a close eye on Google TV — especially on the the movement of product from store to living room. We’re sure Google is hoping these announcements and product enhancements will have a net positive effect on sales; time alone will tell if a year of relative dormancy has already hurt the platform’s image too much.

Mashable’s Google I/O Coverage

• Android Honeycomb Goes to 3.1
• Ice Cream Sandwich: Android’s Newest, Sweetest Flavor
• Google TV Gets Android Market Access
• Google Launches Movies for Android
• 100 Million Android Devices Now Activated [STATS]
• Google Music Is (Finally) Here
• How Google’s Music Service Works [VIDEO]
• Google Music Service To Debut Without the Labels
• Android@Home Lets You Control Your Lights & Appliances Wirelessly

More About: Google, google io, google tv

For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:

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Google announced Tuesday its Google TV devices will now be able to access customized apps through the Android Market.

Google TV will also be running on the new 3.1 version of Honeycomb later this summer.

Made-for-TV websites have been part of Google TV’s value proposition since its launch, as have onboard apps including Netflix, Twitter, Pandora, Napster and more. However, today marks the first time any dev can make and sell apps for Google TV through the Android Market.

Google first unveiled Google TV at its I/O event last year. In spite of impressive demos, the company was said to be delaying a launch because of software tweaks in December 2010. And given the company’s underwhelming marketing and education efforts for the product — and stiff competition from the user-friendly and dead cheap Roku — many have wondered whether Google TV might flop.

However, the new availability of apps for Google TV means that more developers will be enticed to build more apps for Google TV. These third-party applications could give a much-needed boost to Google TV’s publicity and perhaps even its user experience.

As Google TV Product Manager Rishi Chandra stated earlier this year, “We plan to bring developers tools for building applications specifically for the TV and living room, and we plan to bring Android Market to Google TV, so consumers can download thousands of applications to their TVs.”

As was the case with the original Android mobile OS, Google’s projects often get off to a rough start. They’re launched early and require a good deal of support from the developer community to achieve that consumer-friendly polish to which end users are accustomed. And just like the powerful new Androids are miles from their practically unusable forebears, a more open, collaborative Google TV platform stands to compete well in the market of connected television devices.

We’ll keep a close eye on Google TV — especially on the the movement of product from store to living room. We’re sure Google is hoping these announcements and product enhancements will have a net positive effect on sales; time alone will tell if a year of relative dormancy has already hurt the platform’s image too much.

Mashable’s Google I/O Coverage

• Android Honeycomb Goes to 3.1
• Ice Cream Sandwich: Android’s Newest, Sweetest Flavor
• Google TV Gets Android Market Access
• Google Launches Movies for Android
• 100 Million Android Devices Now Activated [STATS]
• Google Music Is (Finally) Here
• How Google’s Music Service Works [VIDEO]
• Google Music Service To Debut Without the Labels
• Android@Home Lets You Control Your Lights & Appliances Wirelessly

More About: Google, google io, google tv

For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:

• Follow Mashable Tech & Gadgets on Twitter
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Mark Mulligan is vice president and research director at Forrester Research, serving consumer product strategy professionals. He is a leading expert on music and digital media.

The music industry’s fortunes (or lack thereof) are familiar to most. The CD is suffering one of the longest death rattles in consumer product history, and it is becoming painfully clear that digital downloads are no knight in shining armor about to whisk up the fallen music business and ride off into the revenue growth sunset.

So how did we get here? What happened? The answer is simple: You. You shook off the chains of record label control and decided to listen to music on your own. No more waiting until the CD was in the shops or for the song to come on the radio. With the advent of the PC and the Internet, you could download what you wanted when you wanted, and rip and burn to your heart’s content.

This digitization process put you, the audience, in control. It turns out that the consumer’s perceived value of music was dictated by scarcity or availability: Either you paid what the retailer asked or you didn’t get the music. With Napster and CD burning, high quality copies were available to everyone. But what does digital music strategy now need to do to in order to get out of it’s current stall?

Digital Music Strategy is Playing Catch Up

Napster symbolized a shift from the distribution era, where everything was sold in units, to the all-access paradigm. The problem is that the majority of the music products currently available don’t grasp this concept. It took years of denial for the record labels to finally go digital, then to finally go DRM-free, and then to finally embrace ad supported content and the like. The net result of this repeatedly defensive and reactive strategy is always being one step behind present consumer demand.

The Demographic Time Bomb

Back in 2005, I warned that a demographic time bomb was ticking for record labels — that the Millennials, the first generation of digital youth, were opting for Kazaa instead of iTunes, and that unless a new wave of products embraced ad-supported or subscription services, music sales would decline for the rest of the decade and beyond. That demographic time bomb is now going off in our faces, with tumbling revenues and stalling digital growth highlighting the diminishing relevance of current music products. And now, to compound matters, the fuse has been lit on another demographic time bomb. A whole second generation of music fans is in imminent danger of following the Millennials out of the music-buying marketplace: The Digital Natives (12 to 15 year olds).

Digital Natives

In the music industry’s first digital decade, efforts focused on converting 30-something CD buyers to digital downloads and trying to win over the file-sharing Millennials (now aged 16-24) with the wrong digital products. It’s still the dominant strategy (Spotify is one late but crucial step forward). The strategy left the Digital Natives un-catered to, because their needs differ so much from those of previous generations.

The Digital Natives give us a sneak peak at the future. Millennials looked like the future for a while but their behavior has a finite life span. For example, ripping and burning CDs, even downloading from BitTorrent and iTunes both recreate the analog behavior of getting units of music. This is because they started out in the analog era. They are the transition generation with transitional behaviors.

Digital Natives don’t have that analog era baggage. All they’ve known is digital. Online video and mobile are their killer apps. These Digital Natives see music as the pervasive soundtrack to their interactive, immersive, social environments. Ownership matters less. Place of origin matters less. Context and experience is everything. In a world beyond content scarcity, experience is now everything. With “free” infecting everything, the content itself is no longer king. Experience now has the throne.

Future Music Products Need “SPARC”

A radical shift in music product strategy is the only feasible response. To harness the potential of the Digital Natives and to meet emerging consumer demand, digital music products must have SPARC. That is to say, they must be:

• Social: Put the crowd in the cloud.
• Participative: Make them interactive and immersive.
• Accessible: Ownership still matters but access matters more.
• Relevant: Ensure they co-exist and join the dots in the fragmented digital environment.
• Connected: 174 million Europeans have two or more connected devices. Music fans are connected and expect their music experiences to follow suit.

Music products must harness disruption — that isn’t in question. What is, is whether they do so quickly enough to prevent another massive chunk of the marketplace from disappearing for good. And as the canary in the coal mine for media businesses at large, music companies offer lessons for product strategists across all content genres. Be it books, TV or movies, sooner or later the needs of the Digital Natives must be met. If they’re not, these consumers will go straight to the free legal alternatives that do.

More Music Resources from Mashable:

– 10 iPhone Apps for Music Lovers
– Music Tech: 8 Digital Instruments for the Cutting Edge Composer [VIDEOS]
– 8 Musical iPad Apps for the Digital Maestro
– 4 Ways Bands Can Cash in Online Without a Label
– Top 10 Twitter Tips for Bands, By Bands

Images courtesy of Flickr, Ferrari + caballos + fuerza = cerebro Humano , theoddnote, s~revenge.

More About: digital music, digital natives, itunes, millenial, music, social media

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Napster founder and Facebook founding president Sean Parker lashed out at the movie The Social Network at a conference in Europe today, calling it “a complete work of fiction.”

As you can see in the video above (skip to 5:20 for this part), Parker admires the production values of the film, but objects to the way his character was portrayed. He particularly dislikes the scene where he writes a check to Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin:

“The part of the movie that frustrated me is actually the scene at the end where the character played by Justin Timberlake — who happens to have my name — basically writes a check to Eduardo – who I’m also, I consider Eduardo a friend of mine, and I’m one of the few people at Facebook who still interacts with Eduardo – and throws it in his face and has security escort him out of the building. And I mean, that’s just rude. This guy in the movie is a morally reprehensible human being.”

Parker made the remarks in an on-stage interview at the DLD Conference 2011 in Munich, which started today.

In an interview with Mashable three months ago, Zuckerberg wouldn’t say whether he liked the film or not, but thought its audience size was minuscule compared with Facebook’s: “We build products that 500 million people see… If 5 million people see a movie, it doesn’t really matter that much.”

[via YouTube/KiTTGTR]

More About: discussion, DLD Conference 2011, facebook, interview, quote, sean parker, the social network, trending, video

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Major Labels Fall Under Apple’s Spell Again:

Music subscriptions are not new. Rhapsody, Napster and others have been offering them for years with only moderate success. But an iTune’s music subscription service appears to sound new and sexy to the struggling labels.

So when Apple also recently told label heads that they were having serious doubts about whether Spotify could ever deliver serious revenue; the profits Apple was really worried about were their own. According to CNet, Apple reminded the labels that it’s hard to to sell something that someone else – like ad supported Spotify – is giving away. An industry insider told CNet’s Greg Sandoval that it’s “only logical that if Spotify were allowed to launch a free-music service here, at a time when Nielsen recently reported that the growth of digital sales has flattened out, it could eat into the businesses of proven revenue-producers like Apple and Amazon.”

There are at least two major problems with Apple’s hypothesis that the labels are choosing to ignore. While single tracks sales are flat, Nielson and many others project continued album download growth. As for Spotify hurting music sales – the old “why pay for the cow when you can get the milk for free?” argument – most surveys show that Spotify increases download sales while also fighting piracy.

Apple has always been a very aggressive competitor and with Google, Spotify and others preparing to chip away at it’s supremacy in the music space, Jobs & Co. appears anxious to crush or at least stall any competition that in can.

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]]> http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/tutorial/apple-in-serious-talks-to-stream-music/feed/ 0 http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/everything-you-want-to-know-about-google-tv/ http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/everything-you-want-to-know-about-google-tv/#comments Wed, 06 Oct 2010 09:28:46 +0000 Facebook-Web-Design http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/everything-you-want-to-know-about-google-tv/ Google has set up a new site for Google TV, with a "quick tour" spotlighting the features. Many of these were on display at the product announcement at Google I/O earlier this year, but it’s still nice to be able to look at the details in one place. 

Google also announced some new content partners, including HBO, Turner Broadcasting, and NBC Universal. The site says Google TV will come pre-loaded with apps for Netflix, Twitter, CNBC, Pandora, Napster, NBA Game Time, Amazon Video On Demand and Gallery. Apps from Android Market will start working on Google TV early next year. 

It uses  Chrome and Adobe Flash 10.1 to let you access web content. You can use either your Android phone or your iPhone as a remote control. This includes voice search and the ability to use multiple phones. You can also send videos from your phone to Google TV. All of the other features are discussed here. 

On the site, there is a spotlight section that will show sites that are being "tweaked and perfected" for the TV. In the "Why?" section of the site, Google says:

"Like Android, it will be an open software platform. From the start, it will be able to work with any TV. And before long, anyone will be able to build applications for it…"

"The coolest thing about Google TV is that we don’t even know what the coolest thing about it will be."

There are also sections on the new site for developers and how to get Google TV (complete with updates for when new products become available). 

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]]> http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/everything-you-want-to-know-about-google-tv/feed/ 0 http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/facebook%e2%80%99s-founding-president-now-working-with-chatroulette-video/ http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/facebook%e2%80%99s-founding-president-now-working-with-chatroulette-video/#comments Sat, 07 Aug 2010 02:16:33 +0000 Facebook-Web-Design http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/facebook%e2%80%99s-founding-president-now-working-with-chatroulette-video/

If you were ready to write off Chatroulette as just a passing Internet fad, don’t. Sean Parker, the man who founded Napster and helped shape Facebook’s early years as founding president, has revealed that he is now working with Chatroulette and sees long-term potential for the service.

The news was revealed earlier today at the Techonomy conference during a session on what follows social media, which was moderated by David Kirkpatrick.

Although Parker did not disclose the exact nature of his relationship with the random live video chat site, he was essentially cornered by Kirkpatrick into publicly admitting his involvement.

Parker initially began by explaining that Chatroulette interests him because of its ability to randomly connect users through live video. “Nobody has nailed live video,” said Parker.

Parker continued by hinting that Chatroulette’s future will focus on algorithmically directing more traffic to the people that are the most interesting in order to eliminate the penis problem. “One way of defining ‘more interesting’ is simply [identifying] who doesn’t get ‘nexted’,” explains Parker.

Session attendee David Spark uploaded video of the conversation to YouTube and you can watch the exchange below. Does Parker’s involvement foretell a successful future for Chatroulette? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Irochka_T

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Reviews: YouTube, iStockphoto

More About: chatroulette, facebook, sean parker

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]]> http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/facebook%e2%80%99s-founding-president-now-working-with-chatroulette-video/feed/ 0 http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/rdio-subscription-service-now-open-for-business/ http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/rdio-subscription-service-now-open-for-business/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 20:23:57 +0000 Facebook-Web-Design http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/rdio-subscription-service-now-open-for-business/ Rdio is a desktop and mobile music subscription service that competes with the likes of Rhapsody and Napster. It is now available across the U.S. and Canada.

Originally posted at MP3 Insider

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]]> http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/rdio-subscription-service-now-open-for-business/feed/ 5 http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/gadgets/nintendo-to-employ-new-methods-in-fight-against-3ds-piracy-nintendo-to-beef-up-game-security-for-3ds-game-console-hopefully-keep-pirates-at-bay/ http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/gadgets/nintendo-to-employ-new-methods-in-fight-against-3ds-piracy-nintendo-to-beef-up-game-security-for-3ds-game-console-hopefully-keep-pirates-at-bay/#comments Sun, 11 Jul 2010 11:23:00 +0000 Facebook-Web-Design http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/gadgets/nintendo-to-employ-new-methods-in-fight-against-3ds-piracy-nintendo-to-beef-up-game-security-for-3ds-game-console-hopefully-keep-pirates-at-bay/ Piracy has long been a problem for pretty much every digital product maker out there. And unfortunately, due to the ease of pirating methods, whether you like to admit it or not, the good majority of us are guilty of the act be it back in the days of Napster or more recently with Torrents. Whatever the case may be, movie studios and game/software developers have been pulling out all the strings to combat piracy even taking to the White House with the Obama administration recently announcing a major crackdown on piracy.

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Read the rest of Nintendo To Employ New Methods In Fight Against 3DS Piracy [Nintendo To Beef Up Game Security For 3DS Game Console, Hopefully Keep Pirates At Bay]

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]]> http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/gadgets/nintendo-to-employ-new-methods-in-fight-against-3ds-piracy-nintendo-to-beef-up-game-security-for-3ds-game-console-hopefully-keep-pirates-at-bay/feed/ 2 http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/gadgets/licensing-proving-troublesome-for-cloud-based-itunes-apple-rumored-to-be-hitting-roadblocks-regarding-licensing-on-route-to-cloud-based-itunes/ http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/gadgets/licensing-proving-troublesome-for-cloud-based-itunes-apple-rumored-to-be-hitting-roadblocks-regarding-licensing-on-route-to-cloud-based-itunes/#comments Mon, 05 Jul 2010 02:21:05 +0000 Facebook-Web-Design http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/gadgets/licensing-proving-troublesome-for-cloud-based-itunes-apple-rumored-to-be-hitting-roadblocks-regarding-licensing-on-route-to-cloud-based-itunes/ When digital music downloading was first made available through illegall venues like Napster, it was a godsend. Prior to these times people had never experienced what it had felt like to acquire music quickly and efficiently from the comfort of the own home. Sure, some users were slapped with some hefty lawsuits and the service saw its demise only to be reopened later as a legal service but there’s no question about it: Napster dropped us into the high paced digital downloading society that we’ve come to know and love today.

(…)
Read the rest of Licensing Proving Troublesome For Cloud-Based iTunes? [Apple Rumored To Be Hitting Roadblocks Regarding Licensing On Route to Cloud-Based iTunes]

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]]> http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/gadgets/licensing-proving-troublesome-for-cloud-based-itunes-apple-rumored-to-be-hitting-roadblocks-regarding-licensing-on-route-to-cloud-based-itunes/feed/ 3 http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/why-social-experience-is-the-future-of-online-content/ http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/why-social-experience-is-the-future-of-online-content/#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:16:34 +0000 Facebook-Web-Design http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/why-social-experience-is-the-future-of-online-content/

Jon Goldman is CEO of the multiuser content-sharing platform Qlipso, which recently acquired the assets of online video site Veoh.com. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Every time you navigate from website to website, or video to video, you’re driven by the experience. And yet, when we share content online — whether it’s scrolling through a Flickr photostream from your friend’s wedding, or a live-streaming video — we are often left feeling that something is missing; that for all of the attention on social networking, there are few social media experiences that match the fun of hanging out together with friends in person.

The old debate about what is more valuable — content or distribution — doesn’t capture the whole picture because it’s the user experience that counts. It’s pretty clear now that social interaction is a key factor in driving “stickiness.” We want to socialize, interact and engage around content.

So why has this type of interaction been missing from most digital media experiences? One way to look at this is through the lens of the music industry.

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Lessons from the Music Industry

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The music industry offers an excellent case study of the unhappy ending online video could face if we forget the importance of social interaction. By now, everyone knows the tale of how the music industry largely shunned technological improvements in distribution in the early 2000s, just as downloading portals, such as Napster, offered consumers a more engaging and efficient means of acquiring music. The decades-old distribution model for music was dead.

But the new distribution model for music, while revolutionary and largely beneficial, was inherently prone to over-saturate the market. File sharing lead to rampant piracy, and iTunes’ 99 cent-per-song model made music distribution and consumption nearly ubiquitous, to the point where artists started losing profits from the very model they thought would save them. As a consequence, consumers’ perception of the value of the actual content — songs and albums — decreased.

This has led musicians to go back on tour to entertain and engage their fans and have real-life social interactions. It’s bringing back the real-world social connections that make music so important to our lives.

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Content Can’t Always Be King

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The rise of social media has allowed pundits, social media gurus and seemingly everyone else to proclaim, “content is king.” And while great content can keep people coming back for more, one could argue the music industry’s current content model — a 99 cents, listen-all-you-want platform — isn’t sustainable. It offers instant access to great content, but that content has become commoditized. It’s difficult to keep this type of content exclusive over time, which in turn degrades user loyalty. Content acquisition alone can’t be the final answer.

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User Experience Will Trump Ubiquitous Content

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The mass distribution models of the digital age are beginning to show their faults. As people throughout the world gain access to an increasing number of media consumption devices (computers, smartphones, iPads, etc.), we now have more choices than ever before. Content itself no longer defines our choice of distribution channel.

The balance of power within digital media is shifting again, this time to the experience that envelops the content. In the same way that musicians are now making money again by going on tour and entertaining their fans at real events, online content that is packaged as a social experience will be more in line with consumer web use trends than mass-market online content portals.

In the coming months and years, we’re going to be able to interact with media in more engaging and fun ways. We’ll be able to watch our friends’ reactions when they get “RickRolled” for the first (or thousandth) time; we’ll be able to high-five our friends with 3D avatars while we’re all watching the World Cup online; we’ll be able to better bridge the gap between our real-life social inclinations and the content we enjoy on the web.

As content and distribution continue to expand to overwhelming proportions, user experience becomes the key to locking onto and growing a real, loyal audience.

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More Social Media Resources From Mashable:

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– 5 Ways to Build a Loyal Audience on YouTube
– How Real Estate Pros are Using Social Media for Real Results
– How Social Media is Helping Veterans Connect
– HOW TO: Help New Users Stay Engaged on Twitter
– Why Food Bloggers Are Here to Stay

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Andresr, flyparade

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Reviews: Flickr, iStockphoto

More About: apps, content creation, ipad, iphone, itunes, social media, web video, youtube

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]]> http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/why-social-experience-is-the-future-of-online-content/feed/ 0 http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/music-streaming-service-mog-raises-9-5-million/ http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/music-streaming-service-mog-raises-9-5-million/#comments Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:41:37 +0000 Facebook-Web-Design http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/music-streaming-service-mog-raises-9-5-million/

MOG, an on-demand music streaming service with backing from both Universal Music Group and Sony Music, has raised $9.5 million in a new round of funding.

MOG, which has already raised over $10 million in angel and Series A rounds, launched in December with the goal of muscling into the subscription music business, with its value proposition being its $5-per-month price and 256kbps streams.

Competitors include Napster, Rhapsody and Spotify (though Spotify has yet to launch in the U.S.).

According to MOG, the new funding will be used to push European expansion, develop mobile apps and build partnerships. The company plans to expand into the UK by the end of June, with other nations to follow. MOG is also upping its free trial from one hour to three days in order to give people a better chance to experience its product.

The funding round was led by Menlo Ventures, a previous investor in the company, and joined by Balderton Capital.

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Reviews: Rhapsody, Spotify

Tags: MOG, music, online music, rhapsody, spotify

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]]> http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/web-resources/music-streaming-service-mog-raises-9-5-million/feed/ 5 http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/tutorial/napster-launches-new-developer-portal/ http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/tutorial/napster-launches-new-developer-portal/#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:45:20 +0000 Facebook-Web-Design http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/tutorial/napster-launches-new-developer-portal/ Napster said today its application-programming interface (API) is now available via the new Napster Access developer portal.

Now consumer electronics and web developers can integrate Napster content and services into their own products and web pages.

Samsung has added Napster to its Internet-connected TVs, allowing users to access the service for $5 monthly after the 14-day trial period.

“Current and potential partners have requested access to the Napster API so they can provide a great music experience directly from their site or device,” said Christopher Allen, Napster general manager. “

“Now our consumer electronic partners, music bloggers, music fan sites and other businesses, regardless of size, can easily create and offer our on-demand music service and sell MP3s directly from their site or product.”

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]]> http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/tutorial/napster-launches-new-developer-portal/feed/ 0 http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/blogposter/web-resources/twones/ http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/blogposter/web-resources/twones/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:47:07 +0000 BlogPoster http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/blogposter/web-resources/twones/

What can you use the application for?


Twones.com is a site that allows the user to collate all of the songs that they listen to on the web in one place. The site tracks and adds the music the user listens to through the use of a Firefox browser plugin. The site recognizes and tracks music from over 20 differentc services, including Last.fm, iTunes, MySpace, WinAmp, YouTube Play.it and others. Users can follow other users, and see the music they’re listening to in the user’s activity stream. Users can “Shout” about a song, which is a comment that will go into the activity stream. Users have a Home page, where they can see the most Popular music for Today, This Week or All Time.
In addition, users can view My Music to see their Activity and Favorites. Users can also view what’s On Air, for a real-time stream of what other users are listening to currently. When users use the browser plug-in to open a song, it is added to their activity stream on the site. The site has a built-in browser-based music player for playing any of the songs listed on the site. Users can play any list of music they are listening to by pressing the Play this List button. Users have a complete Profile on the site and can invite their friends from the major social networking sites when they join or at any time thereafter.

What is the history and popularity of the application?


Amsterdam, Netherlands-based Twones was founded by Tim Heineke, Diederik Martens, and Johannes La Poutre in July 2008. Time Heineke currently serves as Director, Diederik Martens as Head of Product Development and Johannes La Poutre as Head of Development. The site was still in beta at time of review.

What are the differences to other applications?


Competition to Twones.com comes from sites such as MySpace Music, Rhapsody, Napster, Pandora and Last.fm. All of these sites assume that the user gets all of their music from one site. Increasingly, more users are getting music from multiple sources, and that is the gap that Twones is designed to fill. MySpace music offers the most similar service to Twones, but does not provide the ease of integration with over 20 different services offered by Twones.

How does the application look and feel to use?


Pages load slowly but music tracks begin playing immediately. The browser plug-in for Firefox performed without any glitches. The site is very easy to use, and navigation is intuitive. Most actions on the site can be done from the user’s Home page. There is also a music search bar shown on all pages of the site.

How does the registration process work?


Registration to the Twones site is free and is required to use the site. The registration process asks for username, email address and password. Validation of the email address is required.

What does it cost to use the application?


Registered users have access to all features of the site and there is no premium membership offered to the site.

Who would you recommend the application to?


Twones could be useful for anyone who regularly listens to music at more than one site. The site makes it easy for the user to consolidate all of the music they listen to. The site is also a good place to discover new music, by following other users or keeping an eye on the activity stream and comments. The site is very easy to use, and integrates well with the other music services that it supports.

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