UNIVERSAL FILES FALSE TAKE DOWN NOTICE FOR MEGAUPLOADS YOUTUBE SONG

Megaupload recently funded a song that features popular artists singing its praises. The artists, independent of their labels, signed agreements with the file sharing service to appear on the track. The song released on YouTube, grew in popularity, and was promptly removed due to a complaint by Universal. The only problem is that Universal is not the owner of the song and does not control the rights to it.

The promo, The Mega Song, features P Diddy, Will.i.am, Jamie Foxx, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Macy Gray, Chris Brown, The Game, and Mary J Blige cashing in on their endorsements. Even Lil Jon throws in a “YEA.” If not for its promoting a file-sharing service, the video would hardly be newsworthy. Filled with cringe-worthy lines like “M-E-G-A, send me a file today,” it’s nothing more than four minutes of repetitive marketing set to music.

Yet Universal thinks it has the authority to remove the song. It’s possible that one or more of these artists has a contractual agreement to seek Universal’s permission for such a promo. Megaupload doesn’t think so: the company is suing Universal for the illegitimate copyright takedown. Its founder, Kim Dotcom, believes that it was an attempt to sabotage the campaign.

GOOGLE UNVEILS ENHANCED GOOGLE MUSIC

Google on Wednesday took the wraps off a new and improved music service. Building onto “Music Beta by Google,” Google has launched Google Music, a publicly available cloud-based music services that will be free to users in the United States. Google Music users can add up to 20,000 songs from their local libraries to the cloud and stream them to any number of supported devices over the Internet. “Pinned” albums and songs are downloaded to devices and cached for local playback without the need for an Internet connection. Read on for more.

The service is integrated with the Android Market, allowing users to purchase 320Kbps songs from within the Market starting at $0.99 a track. Features include a curated music section, a recommendation engine, a name-your-own-price self-managed “artist hub” for independent artists, integration with YouTube for artists, music playback from within the Market, auto-transfer of purchases to your online locker, carrier billing (T-Mobile will soon become the first carrier to support carrier billing) and several sharing features that are integrated with Google+, Google’s new social network. Purchased tracks that are shared with users via Google+ can be played once for free, and then users can click through to purchase tracks they want to buy.

RIM'S BBM MUSIC NOW AVAILABLE IN US, CANADA AND AUSTRALIA

Research In Motion announced on Wednesday that its BBM Music service has launched in the United States, Canada and Australia. To begin, users can opt to sign up for a BBM Music Premium membership, which will allow them to access music and share with friends on their BBM contact lists. BBM Music Premium members will be able to select 50 initial songs from a library of millions. Members will then be able to view and play the 50 songs selected by other BBM Music Premium members in their contact list. A premium membership costs $4.99 per month after a free two-month trial. The free version of BBM Music only allows users to listen to 30-second previews of each song. RIM said the application is available for download from the BlackBerry App World.

RUMOR: GOOGLE TO LAUNCH MP3 STORE

The New York Times is reporting that Google is about to launch a new MP3 store, as part of its ongoing foray into the music business. According to sources within the industry, the platform, not surprisingly, would be directly linked to Google Music Beta and may launch within the next few weeks -- perhaps even before Apple unveils iTunes Match, at the end of this month. It remains to be seen, however, whether Big G will be able to finalize negotiations with record labels and publishers before launching the initiative in earnest -- a potentially major hurdle, considering Google's recent track record.

As you may recall, previous negotiations over a proposed locker-type storage service ultimately broke down earlier this year, amid concerns over licensing and illegal file-sharing. As one label executive told the Times, the recording industry desperately wants to "make sure the locker doesn't become a bastion of piracy." An MP3 store, of course, isn't exactly a radical proposal, but its future will likely hinge upon Google's ability to mend relations with a sector it recently characterized as "unreasonable and unsustainable."

MICROSOFT DROPPING ZUNE MUSIC PASS TO $10 PER MONTH

Microsoft will lower its Zune Music Pass from $14.99 per month to $9.99 per month beginning on October 3rd alongside the service’s launch in Canada. The service will now be priced in line with Spotify and similar services. Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace is home to 14 million songs and a Zune Music Pass subscription provides unlimited streaming access to the music. Unlike other services, Zune Music Pass allows subscribers to keep 10 songs per month. Microsoft’s move is no doubt an effort to attract customers who might otherwise but attempted to join a number of competing music subscription options including Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody and even Apple’s upcoming iCloud service. Zune Music Pass subscribers can access their playlists and library from any Windows Phone, a PC or from an Xbox 360 console.

APPLE RELEASES iTUNES MATCH BETA FOR DEVELOPERS

Apple released a developer beta of the iTunes Match system this evening. The system is described by Apple as follows:

iTunes Match stores your complete music library in iCloud, allowing you to enjoy your collection anywhere, anytime, on any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or computer.

For the $25 yearly fee, iTunes Match will scan your existing iTunes music library and allow you to access it from any of your iTunes-linked Macs or iOS devices. Songs that already exist in Apple's iTunes music store will be streamed straight from Apple's master copy (at 256kbps bitrate) without a need to upload the songs yourself. Songs that don't exist in iTunes will be uploaded to iCloud. Either way, all your music (up to 25,000 songs) will be accessible from your various computers and iOS devices.

What wasn't clear before is the fact that music can be either streamed or downloaded locally to any of your computers or devices. While the video only shows the service on a Mac, we've confirmed it works the same way on iOS devices. So, essentially, you will have instant access to your entire music library from all of your Macs, iPhones, iPads, or iPod touches for only $25/year. This ability on your iOS devices means your music library won't need to take up valuable space on the device itself, as long as you have some sort of internet connection.

iTunes Match is expected to launch alongside iOS 5 this fall

RUMOR: BLACKBERRY MUSIC SERVICE TO COST $5 PER MONTH FOR 50 SONGS

According to All Things D the rumored Blackberry Music Service (BBM), that we reported on earlier this week, will cost $5/month for access to 50 songs. The BBM will run on top of the messenger service. Earlier reports have RIM in discussions with the big music houses and reportedly have already secured a deal with at least one of them.

The BBM is seen as a way for RIM to break out of the enterprise market, which they at one time dominated but in recent years have seen the iPhone and Android overtaking it, and into the consumer market.

WALMART PULLS PLUG ON ONLINE MUSIC STORE

According to Digital Music News, Walmart's MP3 store will shut its digital doors forever on August 28th.

Walmart's music store was seen as an "iTunes killer" at one time. By deeply discounting MP3s to only $0.88 Walmart hoped to dethrone the Apple king. However, Walmart, even with the discounts, could not overcome the power of the idevice's tight integration with iTunes.

A representative of Wal-Mart noted that older, protected files will still be supported. "We’ve made a business decision to no longer offer MP3 digital tracks as of August 29, 2011," the executive confirmed. In late 2008, the company finally secured licenses to shift away from DRM-protected purchased and towards MP3s. "We'll continue to provide support to our customers who previously purchased digital music through Walmart Music Downloads so they may continue to enjoy and manage their existing WMA files."

FORD DITCHING CD PLAYERS IN NEW VEHCILES

Fumbling around the car for a new CD to listen to on the road could soon be a thing of the past. Ford hopes to usher in a digital age for in-car entertainment by scrapping CD players in its new models. The company plans to help drivers to access their libraries of digital music via the internet.

It has become the first mainstream manufacturer to scrap the in-car CD multichanger.
The car maker’s latest Focus model will instead include a USB socket allowing digital music players to be plugged in.

The new cars will have the Sync ‘infotainment hub’ that lets drivers access their music library through the internet by plugging in a device called a dongle, which enables Wi-Fi.
This would facilitate using devices such as iPods, iPhones and other digital music players.
The in-car computer ‘hub’ can then access digital libraries stored on the internet, be it through Spotifiy or Apple’s iCloud.

Sheryl Connelly, Global Trends and Futuring manager at Ford, said the move was necessary if the company wanted to keep up with the needs of its customers. 'In-car entertainment technology is moving digital more rapidly than almost any other element of the vehicle experience,' she said. 'The in-car CD player - much like pay telephones - is destined to fade away in the face of exciting new technology.' Ford said sales of in-car CD players were declining rapidly, in line with falling sales of the discs.

SPOTIFY NOW AVAILABLE IN THE US

Spotify, the trendy music on demand service that has garnered tremendous media attention in Europe, has finally launched in the U.S. as rumored last week. Spotify announced earlier this month that it would become available in the U.S. “soon,” though open negotiations with Warner Music Group were reportedly preventing the company from setting a firm launch date. Apparently Warner finally came around. The Spotify service lets users stream unlimited music on demand, and also build and share playlists.

For the time being, the free ad-supported version of Spotify that allows streaming to Windows and OS X PCs only is available as an invite-only service in the U.S. Those who don’t want to wait, however, can pay: a premium $9.99 per month subscription will let users stream ad-free music to mobile devices, share playlists and cache music for offline playback. A $4.99 intermediate plan will remove ads from the stream, but it doesn’t support streaming to the company’s mobile apps, which are already available for iOS devices in the App Store and for Android devices in the Android Market.

SPOTIFY FINALLY COMING TO US

The music streaming service that has won over the collective heart of Europe is finally making the puddle jump that we've been waiting for. Spotify just threw up a US landing spot, inviting eager Americans to jump in line for a table at the party. Meanwhile, we just received confirmation on our own end that things are finalizing for testing here in the States, and we'll be sure to report back just as soon as our credentials clear. We should note, however, that there's still no definitive time table to report, but it's fairly obvious that those final record deals are close enough to done to call this thing a victory.

BEST BUY PUTS MUSIC IN THE CLOUD; PLAYS CATCH UP TO EVERYONE ELSE

Best Buy has rolled out its aptly (if uncreatively) named Music Cloud service that lets you upload your audio to its servers and stream it wherever you go. You can also save songs locally, plus there are apps for Androids, Blackberrys, and iPhones to manage and play your music. There are two flavors of Music Cloud, Lite and Premium. The former is free, while the latter costs $3.99 a month, though Best Buy hasn't said what the difference is (other than price) between the two. The catch? It's currently only capable of grabbing songs from iTunes, so no uploading from file folders.

APPLE TO CHARGE $25 PER YEAR FOR iCLOUD

Apple will offer paying iTunes customers a free introductory offer that makes its new iCloud service free for a limited time, Los Angeles Times reports. Apple will then begin charging about $25 per year for the service, the report claims, and it will also serve advertisements to iCloud users.

Apple is said to have signed deals with each of the four major U.S. music labels as well as some larger music publishers, which will reportedly allow the company to store music on cloud servers and stream songs to customers who have purchased them previously.

Apple announced earlier this week that it will unveil iCloud alongside iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion next week during its WWDC keynote on Monday, June 6th.

APPLE'S iCLOUD MUSIC SERVICE WILL MIRROR YOUR iTUNES LIBRARY

There's been so much chatter about Apple iCloud that you'd think the streaming music service had already been announced and the deals inked. But it's still just a rumor until an Apple executive takes the stage and unleashes the Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music competitor in a spate of superlatives. That hasn't stopped Businessweekfrom stepping up with a good summary of all that is "known" thus far, while giving us some insight into the particulars of how the service will work and the motivations to make it happen. One revelation, sourced from three people in the know, claims that Apple will scan customers' iTunes libraries (hello, LaLa) and quickly mirror the contents on Apple's own servers -- no massive DSL-choking upload required. And Apple will do you the solid of "replacing" any low bitrate tracks with the "high-quality" versions it stores in its fully licensed music locker for streaming to your connected devices.

LEAK: FACEBOOK AND SPOTIFY TEAM UP FOR MUSIC SERVICE

Facebook has partnered with Spotify on a music-streaming service that could be launched in as little as two weeks, sources close to the deal have told Forbes.

The integrated service is currently going through testing, but when launched, Facebook users will see a Spotify icon appear on the left side of their newsfeed, along with the usual icons for photos and events.

Clicking on the Spotify icon will install the service on their desktop in the background, and also allow users play from Spotify’s library of millions of songs through Facebook. The service will include a function that lets Facebook users listen to music simultaneously with their friends over the social network, one of the sources said.

The partnership is another indication of how Facebook is moving towards becoming a hub for media like movies and music. Last March for instance, Warner Bros. announced it would make movies available to stream and rent through Facebook using Facebook credits.

It has yet to be decided if the new service will be called “Facebook Music” or “Spotify on Facebook,” but it will only be available for Facebook users in countries where Spotify has a presence, excluding the all-important United States.

RIAA GOING AFTER BOX.NET USERS

In a somewhat unusual case, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is seeking legal action against Box.net. The RIAA normally goes after peer-to-peer file sharing sites, like Limewire, which it just won a $105 million settlement from. So it’s a bit unusual that its going after a site like Box.net, which is primarily used to share files within small to medium-sized businesses.

Box.net is a cloud-based service that lets you store content online. Though it is aimed towards businesses, anyone can use Box.net, and a free account starts you off with 5GB of storage. Your content can be private, or parts of it can be shared with the public. It seems that the RIAA has found evidence of a number of Box.net users sharing copyrighted files on their accounts, some of which are music files that have yet to be publicly released.

Because of this, the company filed a declaration in California federal court this week requesting that it can subpoena Box.net. An RIAA spokesperson told Ars Technica that with a subpoena, it could obtain the identities of the users. The spokesperson said these individuals are reproducing and distributing its members’ copyrighted material without their permission.

The RIAA made sure to clarify that it’s not a lawsuit exactly, but just part of a routine pre-release investigation. The spokesperson said it’s too soon to tell what the company might do with the information when it obtains it.

The spokesperson also said that the fact Box.net is a cloud service has nothing to do with the investigation. Although we’d like to say that other cloud services can rest assured the RIAA won’t be coming after them next, it seems like they are looking and finding new venues in which to take legal action and make some money.

APPLE STRIKES DEAL WITH SONY MUSIC; CLOUD SERVICE ON ITS WAY

Apple has now reportedly signed three of four major U.S. record labels as it prepares to launch a new cloud-based streaming music service in the near future. According to Bloomberg, Apple has inked a deal with Sony that will allow the label’s massive catalog to be used alongside a forthcoming streaming product Apple will likely unveil next month. The news comes just one day after Apple is said to have finalized a similar deal with EMI.

Google recently unveiled its Music Beta by Google service and before that, Amazon launched its Cloud Drive and Cloud Player products. Neither service is accompanied by deals with record labels, however, so their utility is reduced to providing users with a means to upload music they have purchased elsewhere and then stream it to a variety of devices.

With the support of major labels, Apple will be able to introduce a paid service with a great deal of added functionality. “Streaming iTunes” has been rumored to be in development for years, and it looks like Apple is finally ready to make it a reality.

SPOTIFY LAUNCHES iTUNES COMPETITOR

Companies like Apple and Google are doing their best to put together music products that compete directly with Spotify’s Web-based music streaming product. While reports suggest record labels are making the process as difficult as possible for these giants, Spotify just took the fight to their home turf. The company on Wednesday launched a new music download service that attempts to make Spotify “the only music player you’ll ever need.”

Spotify users can now purchase and download full playlists comprised of any songs from the company’s 9 million-track catalog for as low as £0.50 per song. And as an extra little slap, Spotify’s new feature allows playlists to be synchronized with the iPod classic, iPod nano or iPod shuffle right from within the Spotify desktop app.

Spotify still isn’t available in the U.S., but rumors suggest the company is closer than ever to striking deals with record companies that will allow it to launch its popular service stateside.

RUMOR: SPOTIFY GETS CLOSER TO LAUNCHING MOVIE SERVICE

Spotify continues to negotiate with Facebook over its long promised U.S. launch. But that isn’t the only thing the music streaming service has been up to. They’ve negotiated a number of deals with major movie studios to offer users streaming movies as well as music, a source in the industry tells us.

Earlier this week we reported that YouTube plans a similar service (something we first wrote about last year). As with Google/YouTube, we’re not sure when Spotify will launch the new service. But our best information suggests this Fall.

And these aren’t your standard Netflix/Amazon/iTunes type movie deals, either, we’ve heard. Spotify is aiming to offer users much earlier access to movies. Similar to the release dates that hotel’s get for premium in-room movies. They’re expensive, but users can often see them just a couple of weeks after they’ve been in theaters.

We believe the studio deals being negotiated are for worldwide rights, so Spotify users anywhere would have access.

Spotify's CEO, Daniel Ek, is denying the rumor, however he has denied a number of past rumors that turned out to be true.

APPLE SIGNS WARNER MUSIC TO STREAMING SERVICE

Need another sign that iTunes will soon be floating your library up to the cloud? Look no further than confirmation of Apple signing Warner Music, a deal that should see the label's music available in its upcoming streaming iTunes service. This is in addition to last week's confirmation that two major labels signed on, though its unclear whether Warner is part of the pair or is, indeed, a third. That might leave only one of the major labels left unsigned -- or maybe Apple's already locked down all four but doesn't want to kiss and tell.