Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

In an effort to monetize the growing number of music videos on its site, MySpace has just launched a new pilot advertising initiative that places attractive overlays at the bottom of some clips, allowing users to buy the song they’re listening to or immediately jump to the artist’s homepage. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/06/myspace-begins-monetizing-music-videos-with-impressive-results 2/6)

The music industry lost what was once thought to be one of its great digital hopes. Sony/UMG joint venture TotalMusic has officially pulled the plug according to a blog post by VP of Product Management Jason Herkowitz, a little over a year after it was conceived. Envisioned as a direct competitor to the iTunes juggernaut, TotalMusic sought to offer users access to unlimited music by charging device manufactures an upfront charge and a monthly fee that would be passed on to users. (Cynopsis 2/9)

Three of the largest recording companies are in talks to renegotiate music-licensing deals with Google‘s YouTube. Plus, the top labels are seeing big music sales from Google’s G-1 mobile phone. Google CEO Eric Schmidt could find himself “an accidental music industry titan.” (Iwantmedia 2/9, http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10156255-93.html 2/4)

As more Web sites like Hulu and Joost offer free movies and television shows, some consumers are taking advantage and eliminating their cable or satellite TV subscriptions. Joost CEO Mike Volpi says: “We believe that the majority of TV will be viewed over the Internet.” (Iwantmedia 2/9, http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/06/internet.tv/index.html 2/6)

Hulu, the online video joint venture from NBC Universal and News Corp., appears to have the firmest grip on what consumers and advertisers want, according to The Economist. “Supporting streamed video with advertising, rather than charging for downloads, turns out to work very well.” (Iwantmedia 2/9, http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=348963&story_id=13059735 2/5)

Battlestar Galactica fans will be able to quench their thirst for the two-hour prequel spinoff Caprica on digital platforms a full year before the movie airs on the Sci Fi Channel. The movie, which will lay the groundwork for a 22-episode series slated to launch in 2010, will be available on DVD and as a digital download on April 21 of this year but will not air until the show is ready to launch on Sci Fi. (Cynopsis 2/9)

Doritos’ user-generated Super Bowl took first place in YouTube’s Ad Blitz promotion. The E-Trade’s “Singing Baby”; CareerBuilder.com’s “Super Bowl Con”; Pepsi Max’s “I’m Good”; and Doritos’ “Power of the Crunch” rounded out the top 5. The contest racked up more than 21 million views and 2.6 million votes in all. (Cynopsis 2/9)

Fox Business Network is premiering a live weekday Web show. Hosted by FBN’s Jenna Lee and Connell McShane, “FoxBusiness.com Live” will air in HD on foxbusiness.com for one hour weekdays at noon and feature breaking financial news reports and business interviews. (Iwantmedia 2/9,http://www.multichannel.com/article/173726-FBN_Bows_Weekday_Online_Web_Show.php 2/6)

Online instant messaging portal Meebo, which allows users to write once and transmit messages to multiple IM platforms, added an integration allowing messages to be exported to Facebook chat. Meebo users will now be able to conduct instantaneous text chats with their Facebook friends off the social network as well as browse status updates of their Facebook friends. (Cynopsis 2/9)