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Technology

Microsoft Zune Discontinued Amidst Falling Demand

Source: HypeBot
March 15, 2011

Microsoft has opted to cease development of the Zune. Current models will remain for sale, but newer ones will not be released. Instead, Microsoft is shifting its focus to mobile phones. This decision comes after five years of challenging Apple and failing to capture a significant market share. Last year, a study by the NPD Group indicated that Microsoft's efforts to break into the rankings of the top five portable music players in the U.S. remained futile. Prior reports have ...

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Technology

Site Platform Bandzoogle Buys Competitor Sayvee

Source: HypeBot
March 12, 2011

Musician website platform Bandzoogle has acquired Sayvee, a fellow Canadian start-up that branded itself as “Web Fuel For Artists." Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sayvee hosted websites will be moved to Bandzoogle's servers over the next few weeks and receive a free trial. “We have been hard at work this year upgrading Bandzoogle's core platform and features to make sure we meet our members' expectations and help them navigate the heavily disrupted music landscape" said David Dufresne, Bandzoogle's ...

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Technology

EchoNest, Rhapsody Launch #SXSW Explorer App

Source: HypeBot
March 12, 2011

(Updated) Echo Nest and Rhapsody launched Festival Explorer Austin Edition, a free iPhone app that integrates personalized concert recommendations, show calendar, location based tools and data on 2,000+ bands playing SXSW. Festival Explorer Austin Edition lets SXSW attendees search the concert calendar by artist, venue or tag. Many bands play multiple shows, so users can add a specific appearance by a band to a calender or a Favorites list for access to all of their shows. The Echo Nest's “hottnesss" ...

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Technology

Direct-to-Fan Service Nimbit Gains $1.25M in Funds

Source: HypeBot
March 12, 2011

Direct-To-Fan service Nimbit has raised an additional $1.25 million of funding from its current investor group. The company will use these funds to expand their product team and speed up the introduction of new direct-to-fan products. “The music industry is now turning the corner and direct-to-fan has emerged as the new model," said CEO Bob Cramer. “We're fortunate to be in the right place, at the right time, leading this direct-to-fan revolution. This money will be used to accelerate our ...

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Technology

The Hidden Dangers of the Mainstream Cloud

Source: HypeBot
March 11, 2011

In the past month, I've dedicated my time to thinking about the hidden challenges of subscription music and contemplating the dangers of the mainstream cloud. At present, there are many roadblocks that are not as discussed as much as they should be. For a second time, I've delved into behavioral economics in an attempt to discern how effort and ownership impact music value. I used this as a lens to determine if free music trials are too short and what ...

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Technology

10 Strategies to Engage Fans Through Social Media

Source: HypeBot
March 11, 2011

This post is by Hypebot intern Hisham Dahud. His Twitter: @HishamDahud. By now, it's well known that engaging fans through social media plays a large part in how music artists build and maintain relationships with their audience. But for many artists, social media remains something they choose not to fully delve into. Some find it too overwhelming; with the constant posting of content onto the countless platforms and would much rather spend their time creating music. Others may even be ready ...

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Technology

Will ReverbNation Accelerate Myspace Decline?

Source: HypeBot
March 11, 2011

At the close of 2010, MySpace caught a break when it partnered with ReverbNation. It finally gave the artists on the social network a great set of tools to connect with their fans. But did MySpace's alliance with ReverbNation hurt the social network more than it helped? Given that MySpace already found itself nearing irrelevance, empowering artists with an e-mail marketing client may have hammered the final nail in its coffin. When Hypebot posted a chart that detailed MySpace's traffic race to ...

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Technology

Like.FM - Track All Your Music Listening Sessions

Source: HypeBot
March 10, 2011

If you took Last.fm, removed the radio feature, and kept the scobbling, you'd get Like.fm. The app lets you track your music listening sessions across iTunes, YouTube, Pandora, and Grooveshark, among others, and lets you create playlists of your favorites and share them with friends. Once you install the web and desktop apps, they run in the background and create a listening history. As long as a song is listened to 80% of the way through, it gets added to ...

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