Tricia Duryee in Commerce on February 16, 2011 at 12:56 pm PT
For the first time, eBay is letting consumers dictate the contents of the next designer fashion collection that it will sell exclusively online.
News Byte
Peter Kafka in Media on February 2, 2011 at 6:12 am PT
Spotify has one U.S. label deal and at least one more–with Citigroup’s EMI–that’s very, very close. That doesn’t mean the music service is guaranteed to land in the States, but it’s hiring as if it will: It has just picked up former LimeWire engineer
John Pavley, and will put him to work at Spotify’s New York office. It’s also looking for a
finance pro.
News Byte
Peter Kafka in Media on January 27, 2011 at 12:43 pm PT
Ethan Kaplan, the Warner Music Group tech guru last seen here
thinking deep thoughts about data, is leaving the company. Kaplan, whose most recent post saw him running the “emerging technology” unit for the label, explains why he’s leaving on his
blog, though he doesn’t say what he’ll be doing next. Meantime he’ll continue running the R.E.M. fansite Murmurs.com.
Peter Kafka in Media on January 4, 2011 at 10:33 am PT
Roger Waters and crew said they didn’t want their record label selling singles in Apple’s music store. But those concerns seem to have been resolved.
Kara Swisher in News on December 16, 2010 at 9:05 am PT
And today, here’s Spotify’s Daniel Ek singing for his supper.
Well, not in the U.S. as yet, where the Swedish CEO and co-founder of the innovative streaming music service has not been able to make good on his promise to strike deals with music labels.
Kara Swisher in News on December 16, 2010 at 5:14 am PT
Star venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins paid $150 million for a stake in Twitter and all he
didn’t get was a board seat.
That’s due to another directorship he has at search giant Google.
Maybe Doerr will get one at Spotify or Groupon, where he could be investing next.
Peter Kafka in Media on November 26, 2010 at 1:52 pm PT
Target pays Twitter for top billing today. But a pop idol boost gives Wal-Mart plenty of exposure, too–and Twitter doesn’t make a dime for that.
Peter Kafka in Media on November 17, 2010 at 7:00 am PT
That Google Music launch doesn’t look like it’s on the table for this year. Meanwhile Spotify is getting very close to a yea-or-nay decision on a 2010 U.S. debut….
Peter Kafka in Media on October 27, 2010 at 2:58 pm PT
Spotify still doesn’t have a single deal with a U.S. music label, which makes it impossible to launch the service here. But a combination of compromise and cash could still get things done. And a pact with Sony is now “essentially signable.”
Peter Kafka in Media on June 22, 2010 at 6:00 am PT
Digital music is a lousy business. Almost everyone who tries it loses money, and even mighty Apple says its iTunes Store is basically a break-even proposition. But if Google does it right, it makes perfect sense for the search giant to jump in anyway.
