Facebook's favorite music service, iLike, has officially launched its developer platform. The company first hinted at this several months ago and CNET News reported last week that it was nearing its debut. With the platform, approved developers will be able to access the iLike API and work it into their own sites.
"We've always adopted a strategy of syndication, of going where the consumers are instead of trying to bring them to us," CEO Ali Partovi told CNET News on Tuesday. Indeed, iLike launched first an iTunes plugin and then a Facebook application to spread its product around. Partovi said that it was "natural" for iLike to go for a developer platform strategy after becoming so successful as a platform app itself.
But there's an interesting twist to iLike's platform: it's specifically focused on making iLike playlists available and openly collaborative. That's evident in the list of launch partners: the forthcoming Connected Weddings application on Facebook, for example, will let wedding guests add to a suggested song playlist; the Flixster movies application will use iLike's API to let members build movie soundtracks to accompany the film's page in the Flixster directory; the set of TV-fan apps built by Watercooler will let fans also construct the soundtrack that played in the background in any episode of a given TV show. Other partners include Classtop.com, the Social Gaming Network's Free Gifts application, Slide's FunSpace, Jambool, Mesmo.com, and Zimride's Carpools application.
The partners don't end with social applications, either: IAC's Evite will be using iLike's API for a "playlist" tab on each invitation, so that guests can build a party soundtrack, and both TypePad and Google have built embeddable blog widgets to incorporate music.
Playlists are hot, and not just because teen quasi-heartthrob Michael Cera is about to star in a movie about them. The forthcoming MySpace Music heavily features playlist creation, and start-up Muxtape caught on as a hipster sensation before being pulled under mysterious circumstances that likely involved the RIAA. Several other social music services also offer playlist features--Imeem has been doing it for years.
iLike's playlists, as with the rest of the music on the site, have full-length streaming songs available in collaboration with subscription service Rhapsody. That means that you can listen to 25 songs for free before needing to sign up for a Rhapsody account (if you don't, you're restricted to 30-second samples). Imeem and MySpace Music, on the other hand, offer fewer restrictions on free full-length playback.
It's not perfect, mostly because the music is restricted to what's available in iLike's library. While testing out the app I could only access one of the two albums by one of my favorite bands, the Fratellis, and I'm sure there are plenty more instances of missing albums and artists.
But music fans, not to mention iLike's partners, have reason to be psyched: this is a legitimately cool feature. And the struggling Rhapsody, which has been unable to really eat into iTunes' market share, could get a handful of new subscribers out of it: you know, when tipsy party guests wonder why song No. 26 on their Evite playlist won't play, and are more than willing to cough up a subscription fee to keep the beat going.
MTV might've strayed away from music these days--My Super Sweet Sixteen, anyone?--but the entertainment mainstay's latest project aims to both bring it back to its roots and propel it into the social Web. Ambitious, yes.
'The Hills': Now telling you what you want to listen to.
(Credit: MTV)It's called "Soundtrack," and it's an "interactive music guide for TV." If you're watching a heated moment of cattiness between Lauren and Audrina on The Hills and are dying to know what song's playing in the background, you can log on and find out exactly what it was. Then you can purchase the MP3, thanks to MTV's partnership with music service Rhapsody, as well as look up more soundtrack information from past programming. You can, of course, network with other members--this is powered by Flux, the social-networking technology that MTV Networks parent company Viacom built when it acquired a start-up called Tagworld.
Radio stations have been doing the "look up a song" gimmick for years, which makes it not particularly jaw-dropping for MTV to institute the same thing. But it does tap into a host of extremely popular and influential cable shows (for better or for worse) and cross-promotion on TV will likely boost traffic. Plus, it should be said that television soundtracks have become a crucial spot for music discovery--remember when The O.C. propelled California indie-pop bands to the heights of coolness a few years ago?
But MTV also hopes that Soundtrack, which will be worked into the main MTV.com site soon, will become an important promotional hub. There's a ranking of the top songs and artists--and it's a lot more obscure than iTunes or MTV's own TRL charts--and indie bands can create profiles to amass fans.
The indie band promotion may remind you a bit of PureVolume, which thrived for a while as a music promotion and discovery site before MySpace and an army of popular music blogs far surpassed it in influence. And MTV, too, has heretofore been a series of misses in the Web 2.0 space: Viacom lost out to News Corp. in the bidding for MySpace, which had fast become the Web's center for finding new music. The company also failed to jump on the music blog trend, which start-up Buzznet has quickly been amassing. The Twittering Moon Man didn't do much either.
Soundtrack, however, is MTV's most targeted and relevant Web 2.0 effort yet, and will likely be an appreciated attempt to bring at least some of the network's focus back to music. Considering how many people watch The Hills, it could make a difference.
Let's also hope MTV somehow ties Soundtrack into its most shining success of the digital age: video game Rock Band.
It's been a tumultuous few days for Yahoo--you know, with that takeover bid from Microsoft--but the company continues to shake things up internally, too.
On Monday, the company announced that it will discontinue its Yahoo Music Unlimited subscription service and will transfer its customers to RealNetworks' Rhapsody service.
In mid-2008, Yahoo Music Unlimited subscribers will be guided through an in-browser process to convert their music libraries to Rhapsody's service. For a limited time (length unknown), they'll be able to keep paying Yahoo's subscription fees, which cap out at $8.99 per month, before being required to start paying Rhapsody's $12.99 monthly fee.
Additionally, Yahoo announced in conjunction that it has acquired FoxyTunes, a browser plug-in that is compatible with multiple desktop and Web-based music players.
RealNetworks, which acquired Rhapsody when it purchased parent Listen.com for $36 million in 2003, has been partnering with both hardware manufacturers like TiVo and media companies like Viacom's MTV Networks. It's the company's best strategy for staying afloat in a digital music landscape that's not only dominated by Apple's iTunes but also seems to be gravitating toward "free," not subscription-based models.
But the announcement with Yahoo is shrouded in uncertainty, for obvious reasons. Just about anything could happen to Yahoo if Microsoft's proposed $44.6 billion acquisition goes through.
RealNetworks, ironically, has a hostile history with Microsoft, too, dating back to an antitrust scuffle several years ago that led to a partnership in which RealNetworks ultimately claimed it was shortchanged.
Rhapsody, the subscription music service owned by RealNetworks, has teamed up with music blog network and social networking site Mog.com to provide, well, music.
Through this partnership, songs mentioned on Mog's blogs are accompanied by a yellow "play" button that allows users to access the full-length streaming file through Rhapsody, which offers a total of about 4.5 million independent and major-label songs in its catalog. "We couldn't be more excited to have Rhapsody enabling music listening on MOG," Mog founder and CEO David Hyman said in a joint press release. "With today's release, MOG has put more key pieces in place towards its goal of building the ultimate online music community."
Rhapsody's full-length song playback is also now integrated into Mog's "Mog-o-Matic" downloadable music discovery software, creating playlists of recommended music based on what you play on your computer or portable music player. It's social, too--you can listen to not only your playlist, but also those created by members of your friends' list on Mog. In addition, Mog users can create custom playlists of Rhapsody songs, much like Imeem's streaming lineups.
New versions of Mog-o-Matic have been released in conjunction for both the Mac and Windows operating systems; the company touts them as faster, more efficient, and more stable. At the same time, Mog has souped up its music search feature, redesigned its artist and album pages, and tweaked its page layout.
But don't hold your breath--this Rhapsody-Mog deal isn't free. Mog members can access the Rhapsody streaming songs for a 14-day free trial, after which point they have to sign up for Rhapsody's subscription service ($12.99 per month) or a 25-songs-per-month deal.
Rhapsody's subscription-based music service has, thus far, proven unable to compete with Apple's ubiquitous iTunes. As a result, the RealNetworks-owned service has attempted to compete by forging partnerships across the digital-media landscape: an impending music store deal with MTV Networks and an appearance on TiVo set-top boxes, for example.
Unfortunately for Rhapsody, it still hasn't been able to create much of a dent in the iTunes arsenal. Nevertheless, the deals keep rolling in.
On Monday, MTV Networks is set to unveil an initiative to connect its television, online, and mobile presences by helping music fans answer that crucial question--"Who the (expletive) sings that song?"
In other words, MTV Networks, the Viacom division that encompasses the MTV, VH1, and CMT brands as well as a host of other pop culture channels, is aiming to renew its focus on music by bringing lyrics to the forefront. This will begin rolling out in November and is expected to be complete by the middle of 2008.
On television, several of the networks' existing music-related programs will start to incorporate "lyrics and the artists' inspirations for their words" into their structure, and all three channels will air a new "Name That Tune" series, according to a release from MTV Networks.
Online, the networks' Web sites will feature lyrics search data from digital music database Gracenote, accompanied by multimedia artist information, trivia games, and a link to purchase the song in question--which will undoubtedly be tied into MTV Networks' Rhapsody-powered music store when that launches. And in the mobile space, curious music fans will be able to text-message inquiries (an artist's name, song name, or snippet of lyric) to a SMS code and receive a link to a mobile Web site containing data pertaining to the song and artist.
This is a potentially lucrative move for MTV Networks, which has not only struggled to bring its pop culture influence to the Web but has also fallen from some music fans' favor as its networks increasingly prioritize reality shows. Unlicensed lyrics sites are currently facing incipient copyright scrutiny--not to mention the fact that there's no such thing as a Google Lyrics Search.
Not yet, at least.
The National plays the 'Rhapsody Rocks NYC' concert on Monday night at the Highline Ballroom in Chelsea.
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)NEW YORK--You've got to hand it to RealNetworks' Rhapsody. The subscription music service is pulling out all the stops to increase its market share--partnering with TiVo, entering a lofty deal with MTV Networks--and even if it hasn't been able to dent Apple's iTunes, Rhapsody hasn't been making itself look stupid in the process.
In fact, if the company's "Rhapsody Rocks NYC" concert here Monday night was any indicator, music aficionados are taking the company seriously.
(Credit:
Rhapsody)
Monday night was the eve of this year's CMJ Music Marathon, which runs from Tuesday through Saturday. While the Rhapsody concert wasn't actually affiliated with the festival, the timing was perfect for a company that's trying to reach out to influential music lovers--just about all of them were in New York for CMJ.
The show, held at the Highline Ballroom in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, featured the Brooklyn-based indie rock act The National--one of those bands that tends to get extolled by indie guru blogs like Pitchfork Media and Stereogum--with openers American Babies, The Little Ones and Pela.
The Highline, coincidentally, is so close to the New York Googleplex that you could practically see Googlers' colorful lava lamps in the building's fourth-floor windows a block away.
The venue was packed, but the people there weren't the sorts who were looking to be seen, pick up dates or start a fight with some hipsters. It also wasn't a geekfest like the Rhapsody-TiVo party earlier this month; as a tech reporter who doesn't normally cover the music industry, I saw very few familiar faces, and there was no cadre of gossiping gadget bloggers clustered by the bar.
Rather, the people who showed up to Rhapsody's pre-CMJ event were the kinds of fans who would be talking about the "really decent" acoustics of the new venue, introduce you to some guy who'd been a bass player for a dozen years and was now creating a cool new digital-music start-up, or debate the merits of pay-per-song versus subscription-based download business models. (There's a lot you can say about that.)
And while there were undoubtedly plenty of concertgoers who doubted Rhapsody's chances as an iTunes competitor, they would still have to admit that the company is building up some street cred.
Rhapsody has an impressive roster of industry veterans on its executive team, knows how to assemble a lineup of bands that even the average "Pitchfork snob" wouldn't sneer at, and can bring in a fun crowd of people to a show in the process. Even if RealPlayer still sucks, that's saying something.
The music sounded pretty good, too.
Look who was there on the red carpet! Must be hot in that suit.
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)When I walked into midtown Manhattan's flashy Arena nightclub on Tuesday evening for an event celebrating the introduction of RealNetworks' Rhapsody music service on TiVo, a waiter approached me with a tray full of tumblers containing a clear liquid accompanied by slices of lime.
I was thirsty. "Is this water?" I asked him.
"No, it's an HD Crystal Clear Cosmo," he replied matter-of-factly, "so, no, it's not water."
A little bit of journalistic digging--i.e. finding a sign detailing the evening's signature drinks--yielded that that the HD Crystal Clear Cosmo consisted of vodka, triple sec, white cranberry juice, and lime juice. The Cosmos were accompanied by pale blue Rhaps-a-Tinis that consisted of Hypnotiq, vodka and white grape juice.
Personally, I never knew that vodka, white cranberry juice and triple sec were responsible for the crystal-clear picture on the awe-inducing Discovery Channel HD documentaries that I occasionally watch while eating take-out Chinese food in my apartment. Guess you learn something new every day.
On the left, 'HD Crystal Clear Cosmos.' On the right, 'Rhaps-a-tinis' with Hypnotiq.
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)But I digress. The TiVo-Rhapsody event wasn't all that momentous, considering the news that Rhapsody would be fueling a TiVo-based music service had already hit the wires hours ago. This was, rather, a party, albeit one with an approximately 65-35 male-female ratio. (Hey, that's the industry.) TiVo president and CEO Tom Rogers and RealNetworks Chairman and CEO Rob Glaser made brief speeches--about which Rogers joked that "you can't fast-forward through" like you do with commercials on a TiVo.
The crowd was, overall, a suit-clad industry set. But I spotted a few fellow members of the online tech press: Gizmodo's Richard Blakeley, the Silicon Alley Insider's Peter Kafka, and camera-toting CrunchGear blogger Nicholas Deleon, who thought the Rhaps-a-tinis were gross.
(Credit:
Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)
Then there was entertainment. The event featured a live performance by alterna-pop band Fountains of Wayne, and emcee skills courtesy of The Bachelor host Chris Harrison, who spoke of TiVo and Rhapsody as a "perfect match" in the vein of the reality show that employs him.
(Yes, he also made a few self-deprecating jokes about how the couples on The Bachelor don't typically last too long.)
The relationship analogies got a little bit uncomfortable when Harrison started talking about how TiVo kept forming alliances with other companies like Rhapsody and Amazon Unbox to boost its set-top service. "That TiVo's kind of a whore," Harrison joked. "TiVo gets around. It's my kind of guy."
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