There's money for everyone! The latest fundee would be Just Sing It, an ambitious karaoke concept that just rustled $1 million in financing. Let's see how this evolves: CEO Alec Andronikov told TechCrunch this is more than just a karaoke app, it's an addictive, social experience with karaoke as the gateway.
Speaking of games, the guys behind College Battle are now expanding their collegiate gamesmanship to include DJs. As in, who's the best DJ across the college land, with endless rounds of face-offs (all heavily-sponsored, of course) to determine the best talent. Sponsors of 'Campus DJ' include MINI USA, Chegg, Dubbler, Jabra, Monster Energy Drink... campusdj.com.
Which brings us to 1200Squad, the hip-hop DJ network that emerged from the long-running Cornerstone Mixtape series. Now, the collective is expanding with a significant overhaul of 1200squad.com, which now opens access to all sorts of clips, charts, profiles...1200squad.com.
And the bigger game? It's wide open right now: enter Kobalt Label Services, which just inked a global distribution deal with Travis and Wildlife Entertainment. The partnership finds Kobalt expanding its disruptive publishing concept to complement Travis' seventh album release, Where You Stand.
And what about the pre-release, streaming album exclusive? As in, is this working, and if so, for whom? Enter Paramore, which just scored a top-charting album following a cool two million exclusive streams on Rdio. But wait: Jon Maples, SVP of Product and Content at Rhapsody, says pre-release exclusives actually do little for the services themselves. Ponder this riddle...
Back in LA-LA land, Jimmy Iovine has just been confirmed as the commencement speaker for USC's upcoming graduation ceremony. Let's see how this one goes: earlier, Iovine drowned interviewer Walt Mossberg in a name-dropping avalanche while promising to 'scrape user hard drives' for the Daisy launch. Then again, Iovine is pals with Bruce Springsteen, Dre, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty, Trent Reznor, Eminem, Lady Gaga...
Last month, Digital Music News broke the news that track sales were actually declining in 2013. Now, it looks like the entire iTunes Store itself is slowing down: according to a just-published analysis by All Things D's Peter Kafka, Apple pulled $2.4 billion in iTunes-related sales last quarter, but the train is slowing. "Last quarter, iTunes sales increased 28 percent; in the previous quarter they increased 23 percent," Kafka wrote. "Most retailers would be very happy to see those kind of leaps, but as far as I can tell, they are the smallest increases Apple has seen in the last two years."
Written while listening to Bobby Caldwell and A Tribe Called Quest.
