Apple drops DRM
Major record labels will allow iTunes to sell all its music stripped of digital rights management (DRM), removing a barrier to digital music buying, while iTunes will introduce in April the tiered pricing the industry wants
We expect no real bounce in demand, however, as Apple’s DRM was not a restriction for iTunes customers as most owned iPods, the dominant music player in a market which is almost fully matured – we expect few iPod customers to pay to upgrade their libraries to DRM-free |
Media, Music and Radio |
January 2009 Access this report
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Apple Q1 FY2008 results
Powered by strong computer sales at Apple stores and surging European sales (and the weaker dollar), Apple’s dollar revenue for Q1 FY2008 rose 35% year-on-year to $9.6 billion, exceeding guidance of 29% |
Media, Music and Radio |
January 2008 Access this report
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Apple quarterly results
iPod volumes hit a record 21.1 million units sold in the key Christmas quarter, but year-over-year quarterly revenue growth declined again to 18% (from 29%) due to lower prices for all iPods and consumers’ drift to low priced flash memory based players (iPod Shuffle). Apple’s push on the iPhone limits the iPod’s future development and hence this segment’s future revenue growth |
Media, Music and Radio |
January 2007 Access this report
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Apple: The power of music
Apple’s hardware-driven strategy for music recently passed two major milestones, with 10 billion paid track downloads and 250 million iPods sold
In 2009, Apple ‘returned’ to record labels and publishers roughly $1.9 billion, while generating gross profits in the region of $3.2 billion from the sale of iPods and music
Of wider significance to Apple is the music strategy’s contribution to building a mass market brand and expanding its customer base, helping to drive adoption of their computers and, more recently, the iPhone |
Media, Music and Radio |
March 2010 Access this report
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Apple’s iPods: reaching maturity?
Apple revealed an updated iPod range to stimulate demand in the run up to the all important Christmas quarter, when iPod revenues typically account for 50% of Apple’s totals |
Media, Music and Radio |
September 2007 Access this report
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Audiovisual advertising blues 2007
Television advertising revenues fell by nearly 7% and radio advertising by more than 4% in 2006 according to latest market estimates. We expect declines of around 4% for both media in 2007 |
Media, TV, Music and Radio |
January 2007 Access this report
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Back to being Apple computer
iPod revenue (quarterly, year-on-year) declined for the first time. Even though unit sales were up 24% year-on-year, the average iPod price was down 20%. Apple group revenue growth is increasingly dependent on Mac sales and new product launches, like Apple TV (March 2007) and the iPhone (in June 2007) |
Media, Music and Radio |
April 2007 Access this report
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Channel 4 radio: six feet under
Channel 4 has announced the immediate withdrawal of its majority stake in 4 Digital Group, a new venture that was awarded the licence by Ofcom in 2007 to build the UK’s second national commercial radio DAB multiplex, and Channel 4 will not be launching its promised portfolio of broadcast radio channels
The obvious culprit is the weak economy, with mobile telecoms seeming to be more vulnerable to consumer cutbacks than previously thought, a hypothesis supported by recent consumer research |
Media, Music and Radio |
October 2008 Access this report
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Channel 4: radio ambitions aim too high
Ofcom has awarded the UK’s second national commercial digital radio multiplex to Channel 4 Television, having rejected a competing bid from National Grid Wireless |
Media, Music and Radio |
July 2007 Access this report
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Clear Channel – designs on global radio?
Encouraged by the way that Google has come to dominate the global market for online search advertising, Clear Channel and its rival CBS Radio are now eyeing the potential to dominate the global market for online radio advertising, and fend off Google. |
Media, Internet, Music and Radio |
September 2008 Access this report
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Commercial radio update: pressure continues
This report updates our coverage of the commercial radio sector. In Q1 2010, RAJAR data showed that the average number of hours listened per listener and the total number of hours listened, across both the commercial sector and the BBC, fell by 2.7% and 1.2% respectively compared to Q1 2009. This continues the long term trend of gradual consumption decline we have highlighted in the past. Another consistent trend is the relative robustness of listening to BBC radio, whilst the brunt of the decline is borne by the commercial sector |
Media, Music and Radio |
May 2010 Access this report
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Commercial radio: growth ambitions quashed by economic realities
Commercial radio trade association launches new R.A.D.I.O. plan to achieve 20% revenue growth, increased share of listening and migration to digital platforms by 2011 |
Media, Music and Radio |
March 2007 Access this report
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Commercial radio: out of tune with London
The three most listened to radio stations in London all belong to the BBC, for the first time since commercial radio started in 1973 |
Media, Music and Radio |
May 2007 Access this report
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Consolidation in UK commercial radio – positioning for a digital future
Global Radio’s acquisition of GMG Radio has cemented its dominant position in the commercial radio sector, giving it a 51% share of revenues and a 47% share of listening.
If approved by the Competition Commission, the deal will allow Global to extend the Heart brand to the North of England and Scotland, helping to establish a stable listener base ahead of the digital switchover.
We believe there is scope for further consolidation, which is likely to focus around Planet Rock and Absolute Radio – two groups that are leading the way on digital platforms. |
Media, Music and Radio |
October 2012 Access this report
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Copyright owners and ad-supported digital content models: more trouble brewing
Highlighting the challenges of the ad-supported digital music model, SpiralFrog, the first licensed service to launch in the US, collapsed recently in a sea of red ink and failed promises
Newly licensed ‘cloud’ jukeboxes like Spotify or We7 are struggling to make sense of the ad-supported model whose licensing costs far outweigh their potential revenue at present |
Media, Music and Radio |
March 2009 Access this report
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DAB radio - nice platform, shame about the take-up
Consumer take-up both of DAB receiver hardware and of listening to digital-only radio stations has been slow, in spite of considerable investment in content and in transmission infrastructure for the platform by the BBC and commercial radio since 1995 |
Media, Music and Radio |
June 2008 Access this report
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Digital Radio Switchover: somewhere over the rainbow?
For the radio industry, the transition from an analogue broadcast system to a digital one is not going particularly smoothly. Data from the latest RAJAR audience survey, the first to track platform usage, showed that listening to digital radio stations remains stubbornly low. While the television industry has an agreed roadmap that includes a firm date for complete analogue switch-off, the radio industry has yet to determine such a date and appears mired in Ofcom consultations over the future shape of the commercial radio sector. |
Media, Music and Radio |
October 2007 Access this report
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Emap – can't get used to losing you
Emap’s sale last week of its consumer magazine and radio divisions to H. Bauer, the German privately-held publisher, for £1.14 billion is nothing short of miraculous given declining consumption and advertising trends in those business sectors currently, and for 2008 |
Media, Press, Music and Radio |
December 2007 Access this report
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EMI and WMG: into the end game
Citigroup acquired Terra Firma’s EMI Group on 1 February and may look for buyers in the near future. Although Terra Firma paid far too much for EMI Group in 2007, it significantly improved the operating metrics
Warner Music Group has entered the fray as a buyer or a seller of music assets. We think WMG’s management will keep the recorded music division and sell Warner/Chappell |
Media, Music and Radio, Non-UK Media |
February 2011 Access this report
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EMI: the game of musical chairs continues
Citigroup has agreed to dispose of EMI’s recorded music division to Universal Music Group, and a Sony-led consortium is buying EMI’s music publishing division
UMG’s merger with EMI may raise competition concerns in the US and EU on the already concentrated recorded music market. Citigroup bears no risk
Depending on the nature of the strategic alliance between Sony/ATV Music Publishing and EMI Music Publishing, the EU may raise competition concerns on digital licensing |
Media, Music and Radio |
December 2011 Access this report
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