HYPEBOT’S MUSIC INDUSTRY QUICKNEWS

UPDATED

– FRENCH COURTS SAY PERSONAL P2P OK – UK’s The Register is reporting that "The French courts have ruled that using peer-to-peer networks (P2P), providing you are doing so for personal rather than commercial reasons, is legal. The decision comes just as the French Parliament meets to discuss whether internet users should pay a voluntary tax or surcharge of €5 a month to use P2P networks."  Influential online sources like Slashdot are hailing it as "A Legal Victory For P2P’s"

– NAPSTER REPORTS MIXED FINANCIALS – Amid continuing rumors of downsizing and Google buy-out, yesterday’s earnings call showed Napster with increasing revenues but accelerating net losses. Revenues were $23.5 million during the third quarter representing a 94% gain over the prior year. Subscribers rose by 66,000 in the quarter to 500,000. " But net losses widened to $17 million compared to $13.6 during the previous quarter.

MORE EARNINGS NUMBERS –

• Loudeye revealed preliminary numbers that show the company running out of cash with almost no bright spots on it’s immediate future.

• Watch for earnings calls from XM and Sirius next week.

– THE NEW ARTISTIC MIDDLE-CLASS – Hypebot and others have written that while the digital revolution may be leading to lower sales for top tier artists its also opening up many more opportunities for niche and mid-level artists.  BusinessWeek’s Jon Fine weighed in on the subject this week under the title "Rockers, Keep Your Day Job.  Worth reading.

– APA AGENCY GROWS – CelebrityAccess is reporting that booking agency APA has brought several new agents on board at its Los Angeles and Nashville offices as well as promoted from within. In Los Angeles, Dan Baron, Tyler Grasham and Mike Wilson join the Talent department, the latter two promoted to full agent status; Tim Scally joins the Comedy department; and Scott Simpson, Michael Pelmont, David Boxerbaum and Lindsay Howard have joined the Television/Literary department. In Nashville Galloway brings clients Cross Canadian Ragweed and Jake Shimabukuro, among others to the Nashville roster, which includes Rodney Crowell, Lee Roy Parnell, Sean Costello, Seth James and Maia Sharp. These moves come just a few weeks after APA re-launched its NYC office with four agents.

– TOURING TRADE GATHERS IN VEGAS – Trade magazine POLLSTAR’s annual gathering of the touring industry tribe The Concert Industry Consortium starts Monday in Las Vegas and Hypebot will be there.

– SONGBIRD THE HOT NEW FREE MEDIA PLAYER –Songbird, a new free open source music player designed to unite music from various catalogs has launched and is rapidly gaining traction. Demand was so high for this Firefox based application that Hypebot had trouble accessing the site this morning.

– THE GRAMMY’S continued to disappoint with few if any of the sought after water-cooler moments.  U2 was the big winner. Perhaps AOL was smart to let "official online" status slip to Yahoo!Music.