Gaming consoles aren’t what you think they are, nor are the people using them the people you think they are. New information about gaming-related sales in 2007 was recently released and it might raise a Miibrow or two.

In 2007, there were $18.85 billion in gaming sales, with $9.5 billion of that spent on games and $9.35 billion spent on consoles. Console-based games heavily outweighed PC-based and handheld games combined (accounting for 69.4% of the sales). Just as Wii predicted, Nintendo won the popularity contest by selling 6.29 million units in 2007. Xbox finished second with 4.62 million, PS2 finished third with 3.97 million, and last was the PS3 (yes, that’s three, not two) with 2.56 million. How does this compare to movies and music? The movie box office total for 2007 was $9.66 billion (slightly up from 2006, which totaled $9.49 billion). We are still awaiting the RIAA report for 2007, but the IFPI reports that global music sales fell about 10%.

That’s all fine and dandy, but why does it matter? Read the rest of this entry »

In a recent issue of Wired magazine, an article was written about Last.fm’s new deal with the major music labels. Last.fm reached agreement with all four major labels to stream music via the CBS-owned social media site. This signals the first major internet radio play by a media conglomerate, though it is not the first internet radio site to offer free music from all major labels (Imeem.com was first to market). “We’re overlaying the content on top of the already very active community”, says Felix Miller, Last.fm’s founder. CBS is hoping will help to draw users from more popular community sites like NewsCorp rival MySpace. And in a direct assault on emerging artist labels (like MySpace records), any independent artist can submit their music to be part of the Last.fm playlist, “and will receive undisclosed standard fees with no label deduction, more than double the payment artists get from commercial radio in the UK,” according to Miller. This is a great offer for an emerging band and could help solidify the site as a viable new music incubator.
The significance of this article is that Last.fm gives Viacom a non-traditional radio channel with streaming access to music from every major label, as well as emerging and unsigned artists. They may not own the song rights or the radio station, but they are making a (small) bet that user-programmed internet radio is a viable competitor to terrestrial radio and a compliment to their content portfolio. It will be interesting to see how Last.fm is levered and promoted across Viacom music networks such as Mtv and VH1.

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“If a picture is worth a thousand words, a 3-D picture is worth 3,000”. These were the words of DreamWorks Animation CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg this year at ShowEast in Orlando, FL. Known for their breakthrough CGI technology with films like Shrek and Madagascar, DreamWorks Animation knows that competitors like Disney’s Pixar are just as much players in the digital CGI game as they are. Audiences have come to expect digital animation experiences with films like Cars, Ratatouille, and Bee Movie. Recognizing this, Katzenberg is making a big push into 3-D animation for his studio so they can breakthrough the “CGI clutter”.

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Facebook. MySpace. Friendster. LinkedIn. Flickr. Twitter. The list of social networking sites goes on and on. All serve a basic purpose of connecting to other people, but they are usually all people we already know or know through friends. Wouldn’t it be cool if people could connect with friends and strangers through their favorite types of music? Now there is a new site that does just that. Think of it as MySpace meets Pandora (a site that allows users to create custom stations and has built-in software that tracks users’ tastes of music based upon their ratings of individual songs). It has all of the social networking features of MySpace, so you can find friends, view their profiles, and send messages and comments. It also has the features of Pandora where users can play their stations according to their personal taste. The key element that this site offers is that it will show other Jango users who have the same musical taste, opening up an entirely new way to connect with other people, be they best friends or complete strangers.

The site is in Beta right now and makes an official launch on November 12^th. Since it is so new, we feel that now is the time for corporate partners to get involved. Imagine a “Sounds of Starbucks” or “Target Tunes” channel where other Jango users can view what fresh new music these companies recommend. Just like brands have presence on MySpace and users can add them as “friends”, corporate sponsors could take it a step further and actually act like friends by recommending new sounds. It can help maintain a brand personality and make a fun and authentic consumer experience.

www.jango.com

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It’s official. Product placement is unabashedly and unapologetically entering the music business. For many years, artists have given shout outs to their favorite brands—usually jewelers, footwear makers and spirits—but a $4 million deal announced yesterday between Fergie and Candie’s strikes new commercial ground in the music business. Read the full story.

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Bud.tv. Sprite’s own social networking site, Sprite Yard. P.Diddy ordering Whoppers on YouTube. NBC widgets spreading throughout the internet. H&M shopping on the Sims game. Visiting Christian Doir & Sears on SecondLife. Commercial cavemen getting their own show. What will be next? A NASCAR race where the drivers must drive the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile? A concert tour where the performers onstage are McDonald’s french fries playing instruments (hey, a Fry Guys band! That’s it!)? This is an interesting time for brand marketing. With the emergence of so many forms of media, companies are going crazy. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong, but I wonder how much will stick. Will we be watching VH-1’s “I Love the 00s” 10 years from now and be laughing at the marketing boom of the 00s? Or will companies have more brand loyalty than ever because of these programs?

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