Saturday, December 1, 2007

Music Search Engines Tread Fine Legal Line

Techcrunch writes about a few social music sites; seeqpod, SkreemR and songza:



Unlike sites like LaLa, Imeem and Pandora (and many others), which are all trying to play by various RIAA rules to deliver music to users, music search engines generally don’t pay royalties of any kind. The music itself is never on their servers, so they have significantly less copyright exposure. More on that below.



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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Songkick: Live Music Lovers Will Love This

TechCrunch writes about social music site Songkick:



Freshly launched Songkick is a startup looking to capitalize on that growing market by providing a simple way to discover live shows for artists you love along with the cheapest concert tickets. The impetus for the site grew out of the founder’s frustrations over no single concert site providing a comprehensive list of all the concerts they want to see. There would be some on Ticketmaster, others on LiveNation, and still more on resale at StubHub. So, they’ve created a comprehensive database that tracks concerts as they appear on the 14 different ticketing sites and across dozens of blogs. Currently they only cover the U.K. and U.S.



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BluePulse Does the Flirting For You. “Recommended” Friends Now Live.

Mashable writes about mobile social network BluePulse:



BluePulse, the mobile social network, how has a new mobile social messaging platform. This updated release includes Friending, which is a combo of messaging tools for building out your circle of friends through their trusted networks.



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Dashwire Brings Your Entire Mobile Life to the Web. Easy.

Mashable writes about mobile social network Dashwire:



Dashwire is a new mobile network with a web presence that essentially acts as an extension of your mobile phone. It synchronizes with pretty much everything you do on your hand set, saving messages, images, videos, ringtones, checking your ringtones, and more.



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Jango is Pandora + All the Rest

Mashable writes about social music site Jango:



Jango is a new music social search and discovery site. It’s currently in private beta, and I got a chance to snoop around what it’s got going on so far. Jango revolves around the creation of your own playlists, which operate much like a Pandora station. Start with a genre or a particular artist, and go from there.



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Monday, October 22, 2007

TVTonic Adds Next New Networks Content for Downloadable Video Feeds

Mashable writes about social tv service TVTonic:



TVTonic, the Internet television service that provides downloadable video feeds, has landed a licensing deal with Next New Networks for the offering of a dozen or so new channels, which will be added to TVTonic’s lineup.



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iLike, Billboard Team Up for New Music Charts

Mashable writes about social music site iLike:



iLike has teamed up with Billboard, the music chart provider, to create new charts for tracks being played and shared through iLike’s service and Facebook app. This is essentially a “branded” Billboard chart for iLike users, to be shared with Facebook users and others, and should leverage the popular iLike Facebook app presence very well.



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Tioti.com wins ’seven figures’ from Pond

TechCrunch UK writes about social tv service Tioti:



Tape It Off The Internet (Tioti.com), the aggregator of social media around TV, will announce on Monday that it has secured a “a seven-figure” Series A funding round from Europe’s largest early-stage technology venture capital fund, Pond Venture Partners. Tioti had previously secured angel investors, including partners from Alegro Capital. The move comes three weeks after the site opened its doors to new users and after almost a year in closed, invite-only beta.



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Saturday, October 20, 2007

SendMe Acquires Mobile Network mbuzzy

Mashable writes about mobile social network mbuzzy:



SendMe, the mobile media company, has acquired mobile social network mbuzzy for an undisclosed amount. With both online and mobile access to its social network, mbuzzy lets people connect from multiple points of access.



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Joost Coming To The Browser?

TechCrunch writes about Social Tv service Joost:



Joost CEO Mike Volpi just suggested on stage at Web 2.0 that Joost is working on a browser-based version of its peer-to-peer Internet TV service. “At some point, when we can deliver the quality that Joost is known for, we will deliver an in-browser experience,” he told the audience here.



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If You Are A Frequent Traveler, You Are Going To Love Tripit

TechCrunch writes about social travel site Tripit:



It’s dead simple to use and it keeps you organized - all you have to do is forward confirmation emails to them when you purchase airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, etc. Tripit pulls the relevant information out of the emails and builds an organized itinerary for you. You can send emails in any order, for multiple trips, whatever. It just figures everything out and organizes it.



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Thursday, October 18, 2007

TripAdvisor Getting a Makeover

Mashable writes about social travel site TripAdvisor:



TripAdvisor is undergoing a makeover. Of course, this includes a cleaner, simpler look, that’s more organized and bears easier site navigation. While this is what every site aims for, it’s especially important for TripAdvisor, as some have complained about the cluttered homepage.



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Last.fm Coming to Moscow through Partnership with LiveJournal

Mashable writes about social music site Last.fm:



Last.fm is teaming up with blog network LiveJournal to help the social music service grow in Russia. Users of LiveJournal’s Russian site will now be able to easily embed Last.fm widgets onto their blogs, allowing them to share their playlists with friends. Additionally, the two companies plan a number of marketing initiatives designed to help bring more music fans in Russia on board with both services.



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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Extravigator Officially Launches Elite Travel Network

Mashable writes about social travel site Extravigator:



Extravigator, the online blogging and social network for discerning luxury travelers, has finally launched, emerging from private beta.



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Plan Your Road Trip with TripcartPlan Your Road Trip with Tripcart

Rev2 writes about social travel site Tripcart:



This is where a new breed of services such as Tripcart come into play. Tripcart is a service that helps you plan your road trip within the USA. If you have ever been to the states for an extended period of time you will know its a big place and there are a whole bunch of choices when it comes to things to do, places to see, activities and the like. There are not many other places in the world where you can stay in one country whilst experiencing a true ‘road trip’. Tripcart have obviously identified this and aim to help those of us who are keen to plan our USA road trip online.



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Social.FM Signs Microsoft Deal, Launches New Client

TechCrunch writes about social music site Social.FM:



Social.FM (formerly Mercora) has released a new version of its social music service platform for Windows Mobile and announced a new distribution deal with Microsoft.


The new Social.FM features improved application screens, sliding menus with transition effects, and an new white and green color scheme that is claimed to be “extremely fun-to-use for Windows Mobile customers.”



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Ezmo: Another Online Music Application Nibbling At iTunes

TechCrunch writes about social music site Ezmo:



Ezmo, like Anywhere.FM, is a clone of iTunes on the web that just came to the United States. Their Flash based player lets you upload your music to the web, organize it into playlists, and share with your friends (just 10). Unlike Anywhere.FM, Ezmo lets you not only pull music from iTunes, but upload music from your Windows Media Player and Winamp music collections too.



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P2P Music Sharing Service Grooveshark Ups Compensation

TechCrunch writes about social music site Grooveshark:



Grooveshark is an interesting service that we’ve not covered previously, but has been reviewed by CrunchGear. Users upload their music to Grooveshark, and any member can listen to those tracks for free. If they want to download a song, they can purchase it DRM free and the user who uploaded the song gets a cut of the sale; previously this was 10c and now its 25c. The remainer of the 99c sale goes to the record companies; the service is legal and Grooveshark has agreements with the record companies to provide the service and to cover copyright obligations.



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Google buys social mobile startup Jaiku

TechCrunch wites about the mobile social network Jaiku:



BREAKING NEWS: Jaiku, the Twitter (and Pownce)-like service from Finland, has been bought by Google.


Jaiku Founders Jyri Engeström and Petteri Koponen today posted this on their homepage:



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Mixaloo: Share Mixtapes and Make Money While Doing It

TechCrunch writes about social music mixtape sharing site Mixaloo:



Poughkeepsie, NY startup Mixaloo wants to make the experience of purchasing music online more social and rewarding, both emotionally and financially.


The company is taking a phenomenon - the mixtape - that has spanned several decades and media formats - 8 tracks, audio cassettes, CDs, and MP3 players - and bringing it to the web.



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Monday, October 8, 2007

Joost signs ITN News

TechCrunch UK writes about social tv service Joost:



As Internet P2P broadcaster Joost begins going public with its beta software and signing deals with broadcasters, the latest is with number three UK news network ITN which will provide Joost with short news, sports, business and weather bulletins.



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UK-based Dopplr has launched its blog badges

TechCrunch UK writes about social travel site Dopplr:



UK-based Dopplr has launched its blog badges, previously announced at the FOWA conference last week. The badge shows your future trips on your webpages in as much or as little detail as you’re comfortable with. You can change what’s shown using privacy settings. You can also just have the badge show on your site to those you’re already sharing information with on Dopplr.



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Sunday, October 7, 2007

Joost Set To Ink Deal With ITN

Mashable writes about social tv service Joost:



As the net broadcaster finally is opening their doors to the public at large, they seem to be signing deal after deal for content.  The latest one appears to be they are about to sign on the dotted line with UK news network ITN.



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inTune.fm - The Hottest Music on Facebook

Go2Web2 writes about social music site inTune.fm:



inTune.fm allows you to discover and listen to music on Facebook, in your Network and from your friends. inTune.fm is very much resembles to anywhere.fm, which is a Web based player that allows you to listen to lots of free music online, the only change is that inTune.fm is an application that works ONLY on Facebook.



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Saturday, October 6, 2007

iLike Launches New Tools for Artists

Mashable writes about social music site iLike:



iLike, the music service that has exploded thanks to their Facebook app, is launching a tool to let musicians manage their social network marketing. The new software, called the “Artist Services Platform” allows artists to upload songs, add events, and communicate with fans.



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Pandora Remains Blocked to International Users

Mashable writes about social music site Pandora:



Internet radio service Pandora doesn’t have any good news for international users yet, five months after being forced to shut off the site to non-US members. According to the company, the royalties that are required to be paid to artists and their labels in the UK and elsewhere make providing an ad-support web radio service infeasible.



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Grooveshark: Legal P2P Trading, Everybody Gets Paid

Rev2 writes about social music site Grooveshark:



The way that Grooveshark works is that, in typical P2P manner, you download their software and specify the folder where your existing music collection exists (i.e. iTunes’ My Music folder). Your music is made available to other Grooveshark users to purchase through their website for $0.99, from which you get purchase credits for sharing based on a unique contribution-ranking system of theirs, and the record label and artists get a cut out of.



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Wednesday, October 3, 2007

TIOTI’s Social TV Guide Officially Launched

Mashable writes about social tv site TIOTI:



TIOTI, which stands for Tape It Off The Internet, is officially launching tomorrow. What started early last year as a TV guide meets YouTube meets BitTorrent, TIOTI has been laying pretty low for nearly a year.


A lot has changed within the industry since then, from social search engines and bookmarking sites to video-specific search engines and network-driven web communities. But, we liked TIOTI a year ago, and we like it still today. It’s still got a sleek design that’s easy to use and easy on the eyes. Social features, tracking tools and exportable widgets help you find shows that are interesting to you, and stay up to date on all the things you love.



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MOG Relaunch Includes Full-Length Tracks

Mashable writes about social music site MOG:



MOG is gearing up for a complete site redesign, which will include better page load time, a new color scheme, and easier ways to consume music. More importantly however, there will be full-length tracks available on MOG, which will also be available for your music widgets and playlists. Instead of the 30-second samples that currently on MOG, full-length tracks give you better ways to enjoy your music.



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Tuesday, October 2, 2007

TIOTI To Launch Tuesday

NewTeeWee writes about the public launch of social tv service TIOTI:



The social TV download guide Tape It Off The Internet (TIOTI) will finally open to the public tomorrow. As one of the first sites to combine online TV with social recommendations, wiki features and tagging, TIOTI got some rave reviews when it first appeared late last year for a private beta test. The fact that it offered easy access to torrent downloads of your favorite shows didn’t hurt either.



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Monday, October 1, 2007

Joost Launches: Video Interview With Mike Volpi

NewTeeVee has a video interview with Mike Volpi behind social tv service Joost:



Joost, the impeccably pedigreed, funded, and hyped Internet TV platform is releasing its software to the general public on Monday. For those of you beta testers (like us) who’ve griped about the reliability and usability of the application, the company promises a significantly upgraded client, including a new navigation system, search, and an open API for third-party widgets. It is seeding the open API with widgets of its own, including synchronized watching and video markup tools.


Joost is seeing 50,000 beta downloads per week, and with open access hopes to receive between two million and three million users by the end of the year (for this figure the company counts unique user IDs, not downloads of every upgrade of its player), CEO Mike Volpi said in an interview last week (see the video below).



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Ad-Supported “Free” Music Plays On: SpiralFrog, Imeem, QTrax

GigaOm writes about alot of deals in the social music space:



As Apple (APPL) and Amazon (AMZN) duke it out in the MP3 price war, music publishers are still trying to figure out how to cash in on a crowd that will go to great lengths to get its music for free.


Imeem, a San Francisco-based music discovery startup, said it has signed a content agreement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment that gives users access to the Sony(SNE)-Bertelsmann joint venture’s digital catalog of music and video for ad-supported, “free” streaming of these files.



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Sony now streaming music for free on imeem

Venture Beat writes about a deal between Sony and social music site Imeem:


Sony BMG has become the latest music label to offer its entire music and video catalog for free streaming on imeem, a Web site focused on letting users share music playlists.


Warner Music Group did the same in July (our coverage). The deal is significant because it represents one more fissure in the once united stance among music labels to stick with a paid model and digital rights management. Increasingly, music is being streamed for free, supported by ads.


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Sunday, September 30, 2007

TripMatch Offers Trip Planning Tools For Facebook Users

Mashable writes about a social travel service on Facebook:



Trip Match is a new Facebook application for planning trips with your friends. It’s fairly comprehensive, offering features for sending invites, keeping track of who’s going, and options to add trip details like restaurants and places to go. The application was developed by TripWiser, who operates an independent web site for trip planning as well.



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Internet TV Growing in the UK

Mashable writes about a report saying that internet tv is growing:


Screen Digest has conducted a survey that indicates the UK market of online TV will grow considerably in the coming years, reaching $362 million by 2011. This is an important consideration, because online TV in the UK is still relatively new, but the forecast for the growth of this sector means a lot for Internet TV companies, studios, and marketers.


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Last.fm Launches “Campaign for Better Music”

Mashable writes about social music site Last.fm:



Last.fm is launching a new program designed to help independent musicians use the Internet to jump start their careers. The campaign will focus on teaching up-and-coming artists how to produce, promote, and distribute their music on the Web.



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Imeem Partners with Sony BMG to Legally Stream Music

Mashable writes about social music site Imeem:



Imeem, an online community that aims to connect artists and fans, has reached a deal with Sony BMG to legally offer their music to users. In exchange for allowing Imeem users to stream Sony BMG music on the site and in their widgets, the record label will get a cut of the advertising revenue.



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Microsoft to Launch Internet TV for Media Center

Mashable writes about a new social tv service from Microsoft:



Microsoft has announced that starting tomorrow users of Windows Vista will have access to a new feature called Internet TV within Media Center. The update will allow users to view streaming video such as episodes of Arrested Development, sports clips from FOX Sports, and news from MSNBC. Video will include advertising from YuMe, a video advertising network



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TripIt Officially Launches with New Features

Mashable writes about social travel site TripIt:



With the launch, TripIt has added a couple of improvements to the site. There’s a useful calendar integration for Google, Outlook and other iCal standards, which is a very useful automation tool that goes along with TripIt’s service. Sync your personal calendar with your TripIt plans, as well as the plans of your friends and coworkers, too.



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Joost Beta Version 1.0 Now Live

Mashable writes about social tv site joost:



Joost has just released the latest beta, version 1.0 for Macs and Windows. A few changes include the new “spoon” UI, which looks cool enough, and sports a new transparent gray theme instead of the previous all black. There’s also a re-designed Channel Guide, which has been renamed Explore. This gives you an animated, interactive list of channels according to your category selection from your left hand menu bar.



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Saturday, September 29, 2007

Google Acquires Zingku Mobile Social Network

Rev2 writes about mobile social network Zingku:





The rumors that Google have a mobile phone handset on the way have evolved into an inevitability as far as industry experts are concerned. However, in the meantime Google have decided to strengthen there mobile social networking presence by acquiring Zingku.



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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Go2Web2 writes about social music site meTracks:


meTracks is an innovative web based audio player, allowing you to listen to your music, when you want it, and from any computer. meTracks is designed to take away the headache of owning and transporting your audio everywhere by giving you an easy to use web based music player, on demand.


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Find Locally Playing Bands with Gruvr

Rev2 writes about social music site grüvr:


Are you one of those people who seems to always miss the show? I’m talking about those times when your friend asks you what you thought of that Pearl Jam concert and you are like ,”There was a Pearl Jam concert, when?”


Unfortunately I happen to be one of these people. The aforementioned Pearl Jam example actually happened to me back in 1994, man I was not happy. Living in New Zealand limits one’s opportunities to see big name bands locally. Those days are over for me now with the help of Gruvr.


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FIQL Avoids Copyright Trap Through Music Videos

Techcrunch writes about Social Music site FIQL:



FIQL is a nice niche social network focused on music playlists. Users upload, categorize and share their playlists with others. People who view the playlists can buy songs through links to iTunes and other music services. But for the most part they can’t simply listen to the songs online, other than through somewhat cumbersome links to Napster and Rhapsody, which allow people to listen to songs for free with certain restrictions.



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3jam Lands Virgin Mobile Tie-In

Techcrunch writes about Social Mobile Network tool 3jam:



Multi-person SMS startup 3jam has launched a new tie-in with Virgin Mobile USA: 3jam SMS 2.0.


The new service provides an improved level of text messaging by allowing friends and family to connect by multi-party text-message conversations. The 3jam application is free and requires no subscription, however standard text messaging rates apply.



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Sling Media Sells Out to EchoStar

Techcrunch writes about Social Tv company Sling:



EchoStar’s $380 million purchase of Sling Media once again raises the question of whether a consumer TV-device company can exist as a standalone entity. History has not been kind to such companies trying to break out from the startup field. Akimbo anyone? TiVo has also certainly seen its share of ups and downs (mostly downs). Even the attempts of larger tech companies at combining TVs and computers, such as the Apple TV or Microsoft’s various efforts over the years, haven’t fared any better at gaining massive consumer acceptance. The consumer-electronics giants and cable companies simply dominate this market. Given that reality, selling to EchoStar may have been Sling Media’s best option.



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Sling Media Sells Out to EchoStar

Techcrunch writes about Social Tv company Sling:



EchoStar’s $380 million purchase of Sling Media once again raises the question of whether a consumer TV-device company can exist as a standalone entity. History has not been kind to such companies trying to break out from the startup field. Akimbo anyone? TiVo has also certainly seen its share of ups and downs (mostly downs). Even the attempts of larger tech companies at combining TVs and computers, such as the Apple TV or Microsoft’s various efforts over the years, haven’t fared any better at gaining massive consumer acceptance. The consumer-electronics giants and cable companies simply dominate this market. Given that reality, selling to EchoStar may have been Sling Media’s best option.



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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Blyk launches ad-based mobile network

Techcrunch writes about Mobile Social Network Blyk:


Blyk, the mobile virtual network operator offering free phone call minutes and messaging in return for sending customers advertising, launches in the UK today. Renting airtime from France Télécom’s Orange network and targeting only 16-to 24-year-olds, the network will target the ads based on a detailed profile customers will fill out on their website. It’s ironic timing. MySpace is today announcing an ad-supported mobile version of its site to get on the new mobile advertising bandwagon.


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Mig33 Moves to the US

Techcrunch wrote about Mobile Social Network Mig33:


We’ve been keeping an eye on the mobile social networking world covering companies such as Zyb, Mocospace, Aka-aki, imity, meetmoi, mobiluck. See our roundup post here. Most of the innovation is occurring outside of the U.S., particularly in Europe. That’s why it’s no surprise to see yet another success story, Mig33, originate outside of the U.S. (the company was founded in Australia). The company has over seven million registered users, nearly all outside of the U.S. Today, however, the company is launching their service in the U.S. They’ve also moved the company here - it’s now based in San Francisco.


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