Buzz Out Loud 678: Buzzkill Tuesday

EPISODE 678

It's Official: Hulu Opens Up on Wednesday
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/10/its-official-hulu-opens-up-on-wednesday/

Ars: Buzzkill
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080311-restrictions-distribution-rifts-may-hamstring-hulus-launch.html

Kentucky lawmaker wants to make anonymous Internet posting illegal (thanks, Jim!)
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080310-lawmakers-attempt-to-criminalize-anonymous-posting-doomed.html
http://www.wtvq.com/content/midatlantic/tvq/video.apx.-content-articles-TVQ-2008-03-05-0011.html

Michael Jackson’s company denies Beatles coming to iTunes
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9890124-7.html

Lionsgate adding iTunes digital copy to some DVDs
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/03/11/lionsgate-adding-itunes-digital-copy-to-some-dvds

EU clears Google-DoubleClick’s $3.1 billion merger
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080311-eu-clears-googledoubleclicks-3-1-merger.html

Cable firms join forces to attract focused ads
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/business/media/10cable.html

Sprint phone gets speed boost with EVDO Rev. A--It’s about time
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/006625.html

Wal-Mart ends test of Linux in stores
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080310/ap_on_hi_te/wal_mart_linux_computer
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/03/middle-america.html

VOICE MAIL
Sterling: Cable company: busted!

E-MAIL

MacBook Air and the buried lead

Seems to me the real story isn’t that the TSA staff were stumped by a MacBook Air, it’s that it took nearly two months for an Air to find it’s way through this particular security checkpoint. The guy doesn’t say which airport it was, but either it had to be somewhere far away from civilization, or the MacBook Air isn’t selling very well.

- Waldron in Boston

Beatles and Tom’s memory

Tom, tom, tom:
The Beatles' song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is on "Abbey Road", not "Sgt. Pepper's". How could a fellow Cardinal's fan make such a mistake?

Okay, the two aren't related, but I'm ready for baseball! Go Cards!

Mark Larson
Salt Lake City, UT

Student accused of cheating on Facebook faces expulsion

Hi JaMoTo

I have been listening for a couple of years now. Listening to you guys when I drive, commute, and run. For some reason I run faster when Molly gets her rant on.

I thought you might be interested in this. Frankly I am ready for a rant on this myself. Its disappointing and embarrassing. Now I have to start thinking that this is not the kind of university I want to send my kids if they have this backward attitude.

The opening paragraph said it all…….

“What is the difference between a group of students brainstorming chemistry problems around a table in a library or a coffee shop, and the same group brainstorming online via Facebook? The answer so far is if you do it on Facebook, you risk being accused of academic misconduct and being expelled from school, at least if you go to Ryerson University in Toronto.”

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=5d4b792c-f521-4954-8b39-b92af48ccfc1

BTW: I hate the show and never listen

loi

Lindsay

iPhone copy and paste?

http://www.biocow.com/iCopy/index.php

Jacob

Second generation iPhone

Hi guys, just thought id take a stab at guessing at when the new iPhone is coming out. I'd say, that since the SDK is being released in june/july (not quite sure) its probably safe to say that there will be a shiny new iPhone to accompany that shiny new SDK. You guys probably already picked up on this, but I haven't heard anyone say anything about it.

Regards,

Jake UK

70/30 iTunes split from Ep. 676

Hi buzz crew,
Just a bit of pushback about your “Isn’t that HIGH?!” remark when commenting about the iTunes 70/30 revenue split with record labels…..

Typically, the model for old fashioned physical music distribution (starting at the retail level) for labels looks like this:

1. MSRP (That’s your retails store selling…)--$13 (a GREAT price for a new release)
2. Price the store paid the distributor--60-65 percent of MSRP (roughly $7.80-$8.45 per copy)
3. Price the distributor paid the label--roughly $2.00-$2.50 below the the price sold to retail stores (depending on the distributor/label relationship)
4. Price the label “pays” their artists (by the way…the label only has about $5.30-$7.45 at best to divvy up at this point)--30-50 percent or roughly $1.59-$3.73

Here is the end result of the physical distribution chain of power…

Retail Outlet: Roughly $5.00
Distributor: Roughly $2.25
Label: Roughly $3.83
Artist: Roughly $2.55

Obviously, the biggest winner there is the Retail Outlet! That’s outrageous right?

Here’s how it works with digital distribution:

1. MSRP (iTunes album price)--$10
2. NO DISTRIBUTOR (The label usually acts as it’s own distributor)
3. Price the Label pays to iTunes--30 percent
4. Price the label “pays” their artists--same as physical typically, but not always (deals vary for digital distribution.)

Now how does that math break down you ask? I’m glad you asked!

iTunes: $3.00
Distributor: N/A
Label: $4.20
Artist: $2.80 (Often higher, depending on the deal with the label)

My point is…iTunes is far more fair than the old fashioned physical distribution chain, and I think that when Steve Jobs said that the iPhone application price is the same as the label price, he must have assumed everybody already knew how all this worked. So the real question is…

WHY WOULD ANYONE KNOW THAT STUFF, STEVE?

Now, just as a demonstration as to how good distribution to iTunes can be for indie label artists (like myself), here’s how my deal is broken down…

1. My album is $7.99 on iTunes (a price set by…you guessed it…ME, the ARTIST) 2. iTunes pays my (indie) label 4.79 per album.
3. My label keeps only 9 percent, so in the end, I receive $4.33 per album sold at $7.99. If I sold my album at $9.99, I would receive $6.37.

Never in history has the indie artist been able to put out a product to the masses that is so readily available, and receive so much return from it.

Now let me get this straight….iTunes is actually good for the indie artist? Wow, who woulda thunk it?

NOW GO BUY MY ALBUM ON ITUNES.

Love the show!

Grant Richard

Hello Buzzards,

I have a podcast at podwatch.org where I review other podcasts, and I was unable to find anything wrong with Buzz Out Loud, forcing me to give it my first 10/10 ever. I don’t like giving 10/10s, so if you could kindly give me a list of things wrong with Buzz, I’ll be happy to reduce the score

cheers,

Tom
Adelaide, South Australia

(Seriously, though, thank you for a great show, )