Online music piracy starting to slow

Illegal file-sharing declined through 2008, from 22% of web users in December 2007 to 17% in January 2009, according to research by The Leading Question and Music Ally. The report found the fall was more dramatic among 14-18-year-olds as 42% used illegal file-sharing sites once a month in 2007 but just 26% did at the turn of this year. The decrease in the use of illegal sources to obtain music comes as legal music streaming services such as YouTube and Spotify have increased. Some 65% of teens are streaming music every month from a legal source and 31% each day, according to the research. Full Story : NMA.co.uk….

New Research Reveals How Playing Music Results in Breakthroughs for Inner City Youth

According to research conducted at the Bethesda Children’s Home in Meadville, Pa., adolescents who participated in a structured recreational music making (RMM) protocol as part of their rehabilitation process demonstrated statistically significant improvements in school/work performance and behavior toward others, with less depression, negative self-evaluation, anger and interpersonal problems than a control group who did not participate in the music making activities. A total of 52 adolescents were comprehensively evaluated in the research study, which spanned more than a year and incorporated the use of drums and a Clavinova computerized keyboard. Full Story : PRNewswire.com…

Twitter Users More Likely to Buy Music

Record labels looking for customers should focus their efforts on the Twitter faithful, according to new data from NPD Group. About 33 percent of Twitter users have purchased a physical CD and 34 percent have bought a digital download in the last three months, the report said. About 23 percent of non-Twitter users bought a CD and 16 percent purchased digital downloads. Users of the micro-blogging site are also less likely to conserve their cash - people on Twitter purchased 77 percent more digital downloads than those not on the site. Full Story : Appscout.com…..

Music a ‘mega-vitamin’ for the brain

Researchers in Finland have demonstrated that listening to music for several hours a day can enhance the rehabilitation of stroke patients. In another study, stroke patients who were taught to play the piano or drums made speedier progress in their general recovery than patients who received only traditional therapy. Doctor Wendy Magee, International Fellow in Music Therapy at London’s Institute of Neuropalliative Rehabilitation, describes music as a “mega-vitamin for the brain,” capable of influencing and improving motor function, communication and even cognition. Full Story : CNN.com…..

YouTube and Universal to launch premium music site

Google’s YouTube and Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, said they will launch a premium music video website. The new advertiser-supported site, featuring professional videos, will be called Vevo and is expected to launch in coming months, the companies said. Full Story : Reuters.com…

YouTube blocks UK users from watching music videos

Google Inc. said Monday it will block U.K. users from watching music videos on its popular video-sharing site YouTube after negotiations with Britain’s music royalty-collecting body broke down. It was not clear how long the music videos would stay blocked. Full Story : AP…..

Apple shrinks its iPod Shuffle

Apple today introduced the new iPod shuffle, the world’s smallest music player at nearly half of the size of the previous model. The device has a new feature called VocieOver which enables iPod shuffle to speak your song titles, artists and playlist names. iPod shuffle can speak 14 languages including English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. iPod shuffle is now shipping and comes in silver or black for a suggested price of $79 (US).

Michael Jackson announces 10-concert comeback

Michael Jackson will perform 10 concerts in London this summer in a thrilling comeback. “I will be performing the songs my fans want to hear. … This is the final curtain call,” Jackson said, followed by a chorus of boos from the crowd.

Inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984, Jackson has had a notable impact on music and culture throughout the world. Referred to as the “King of Pop”, five of his solo studio albums have become some of the world’s best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).

Obamas praise Stevie Wonder at White House

Stevie Wonder was presented with a Gershwin Award for lifetime achievement during concert and award ceremony in White House. The president told guests at the White House that Wonder’s music was also the soundtrack to his youth and marriage. Full Story : CNN.com……

Ways to celebrate Bob Marley’s birthday

Bob Marley, born February 6, 1945, is internationally recognized as the Godfather of reggae. While he did not invent this timeless form, he became reggae’s seminal figure. Kick back, mon, and relax to the sounds of reggae in celebration of Marley’s birthday. Full Story : eHow…..

95% of the Music downloads are illegal

After a three year study in 16 countries,IFPI has determined that almost 95% of the music downloaded on internet are illegal. A staggering 40 billion music files were illegally file-shared in 2008 alone. On the positive side, digital music expanded last year by 25% to $3.7 billion in trade value. Singles track downloads which grew by 24% to 1.4 billion in 2008, drive the online music market. The growing consensus toward DRM-free music makes future of the industry little brighter. DRM(Digital Rghts Management) refers to technologies which attempt to control use of digital media by preventing access, copying or conversion to other formats by end users.

@ a glance : Off the airwaves, Chinese hip-hop grows

Although American rappers like Eminem and Q-Tip have been popular in China since the 1990s, home-grown rap didn’t start gaining momentum until a decade later. The group Yin Ts’ang (its name means “hidden”), one of the pioneers of Chinese rap, is made up of global nomads: a Beijinger, a Chinese-Canadian and two Americans. Full Story : IHT.com……..

Zunes Freeze Up

I don’t know whether there is a W2K8 bug, but widespread freeze up of Zune players allover the world makes me think so. Microsoft’s 30GB Zune players stop, reboot themselves, and when the start-up status bar reaches 100 percent, they freeze. The Microsoft Zune support Web site reports the company is aware of the problem and working to fix it.

Unlimited Music Service by Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson today announced the launch of PlayNow™ plus, which will offer users download, play and recommend unlimited amounts of music wherever they are and whenever they like. The service, PlayNow plus, will first be offered in Sweden with a global launch to follow next year, according to Sony Ericsson. The music service will cost 99 Swedish kronor (US$15) per month. Wireless operator Telenor will offer the service with a W902 Walkman phone for 2 year contract.

Listen Music on Yahoo Search.

Yahoo launches a new feature on its search pages which allows users who search for an artist with available content on Yahoo! will be able to listen to songs by the artist right on that page. The Yahoo Search music playback is powered by Rhapsody and offers full-song playback for more than 5 million tracks. Each user can listen to 25 free full-length tracks every 30 days. Once 25 songs have been played, users can subscribe to the Rhapsody Unlimited streaming service or continue to listen to an unlimited number of 30-second samples until the next month begins. Yahoo!’s FoxyTunes Player enables the on-demand, web-based playback of music within Yahoo! Search and throughout Yahoo! Music.

Apple Surpasses Walmart

According to an NPD MusicWatch Survey, Apple surpasses Walmart to become the number 1 music retailer. Apple’s iTunes Store leads with 19 percent market share, Walmart comes to second with 15 percent,BestBuy and Amazon and in third and fourth places.

Madonna’s 4 minute music Video

“4 Minutes,” a debut single from Madonna’s 11th studio is available on iTunes for 48 hours beginning April 3rd.The music video is featuring a propulsive performance by Madonna along with appearances by Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. “4 Minutes” is already Top 3 across Europe in airplay and Top 10 around the world. In Canada it broke the record for the fastest selling song in the history of the Canadian music charts.

4 Minutes Lyrics

50 Cent sued by ex Girl Friend

50 Cent is being sued by Shaniqua Tompkins, 50 Cent’s ex-girlfriend and mother to his ten year old son Marquis who claims the hip-hop superstar is trying to evict her and their 10-year-old son from their multimillion-dollar home. In her lawsuit filed in Manhattan court Thursday, Tomkins claims that 50 Cent promised to buy her the Long Island home but put it under his name when it was acquired.

Music prevents from Stroke

Daily doses of one’s favorite tunes are shown to help speed up recovery from debilitating strokes, according to a study published last week by a group of researchers in Finland. The study shows that stroke patients displayed a significant improvement in verbal memory and mood after listening to music for a few hours per day as compared to those patients who did not listen to music. When the blood flow to the brain is obstructed stroke happens. Although it is not certain why stroke patients react to music the way they do, many researchers have their own theories.

(Photo Source:http://ww2.heartandstroke.ca)

MP3 player turns 10

The first commercially released personal music player capable of handling MP3 files MPMan F10 was launched in March 1998 by Korea’s Saehan. The first player has a 32MB of Flash storage, and stored songs encoded at 128Kb/s. After 10 years today’s iPod comes with almost 1 000 times larger storage.