Via Scoop.it – Social Music Gaming

An archaic licensing system and excessive royalty rates are holding streaming music services back, according to Pandora founder Tim Westergren (pictured) as his company moves into its next phase following an IPO.

Pandora, a US streaming and music discovery service which recently generated headlines on the back of an IPO that valued the company at $2.56bn (£1.56bn) on its opening day, has 48m active users in the US but has yet to break even.

Westergren said this was due to excessive royalty demands. “We pay too much in royalties,” he explained. “I say that as a musician who is supportive of it [the royalties system]. But we pay too much in absolute terms.”
Show original

Via Scoop.it – Social Music Gaming

If there’s a new and notable trend in social gaming — it’s games that are doing double duty as a marketing tool for music artists. Lady Gaga recently partnered with Zynga for a special FarmVille promotion, which gave players early access to songs from her newest album.

That was a one-time shot, but other games, like the just-launched Platinum Life Country and the upcoming MargaritaVille games, are built to be interactive music portals. Each of these is a game, but it’s also just another place that fans can tune in to listen to the new Kristin Chenoweth single (and a host of other Country Music Television artists) or a few Jimmy Buffett tracks, respectively, via a streaming player.
Show original

Via Scoop.it – Social Music Gaming
What do startups think of collective music licensing in its current form? Michael Breidenbrucker took the stage at the Music 4.5 event today to give his experiences – he was previously at Last.fm, before co-founding mobile music startup RjDj. ““Innovation is clearly happening in the technology sector, and not the music sector. And a lot of that innovation is carried out by small startups.”
Show original

Via Scoop.it – Social Music Gaming

Huge news in the gaming world: PopCap Games, the company behind such hits as Plants vs Zombies and Bejeweled, is in the process of being acquired — and we’re hearing from multiple sources that the price is over $1 billion.
Show original