Vixy.Net Allows Any Video To Be Copied

With the huge amount of video being uploaded online it’s important to realise what can be done with it. A popular misconception is that users can only download a video if you choose by clicking ‘Downloadable’ (or equivalent). Or, by placing a file on your site either in Flash or as a streaming MOV or [...]

HMV: A Lesson In How NOT To Do It

iTunes, the biggest digital music retailer in the world is based on an Apple Mac platform.
So, try to visit the HMV Digital store using a Mac running Firefox, and you get this page:

This site relies on ActiveX technology to download music to your machine; at this time you need Internet Explorer version 6 or greater [...]

Update On Burnlounge, Under Investigation By FTC

We reviewed Burnlounge in April. It has since come under investigation in the US by the FTC, their equal of the OFT in the UK. The FTC are accusing the site of pyramid selling, which notoriously brings riches to the people at the top but very little for the people at the bottom, who are [...]

Review of Madonna.com

We take a look at some of the online innovations being adopted by the major artistes, this week, Madonna.com
Cool ideas of note:

RSS & send option (where you enter a mate’s email addy to fwd URL)
Poll section in news, eg, should Madonna’s performance on NBC be cancelled? No – 92% Yes 8%
Every music video playing on [...]

MyStrands.com Takes On Last.fm

MyStrands.com is competing on similar ground to Last.fm, providing a music discovery engine powered by it’s users playlists and preferences. Subscribers are encouraged to download the free MyStrands plug-in which monitors your music habits, and based upon your playlist history, will recommend new tracks, artistes and friends with similar tastes. It also provides charts and [...]

New Music Strategies: 20 Things

Very good thought piece from Andrew Dubber on his blog, New Music Strategies. In it he gives artistes, labels and managers 20 pieces of advice on how to succeed in the online environment. Million agree with it, and will simply add Gerd Leonard’s advice that there should be a transaction button at every point where [...]