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Discover New Music

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Once More, with Feeling

    • 10 out of 10
    • Various Artists
    • Most musical episodes of TV shows frankly stink. They are usually little more than ill-conceived vehicles intended to let the stars show off what musical talent they have. Once More, With Feeling,

  • Abnormal Anonymous

    • 8 out of 10
    • Congo Norvell
    • Very few albums manage to capture snapshots of a quality of life in the manner that Congo Norvell's sophomore record, "Abnormals Anonymous," does.

      Comparisons to the Velvet Underground are

  • Spilt Milk

    • 10 out of 10
    • Jellyfish
    • The second and final album from this power-pop group makes me wish Jellyfish had been able to make just one more record together. The album is best enjoyed as a whole piece, flowing from one track to
  • Pretty Hate Machine

    • 8 out of 10
    • Nine Inch Nails
    • For years I wanted to make music that sounded like something between Love and Rockets and Ministry. In 1989, Trent Reznor beat me to it with this genre-defining album, and it smacked me upside the hea
  • King James Version

    • 4 out of 10
    • Harvey Danger
    • The sophomore effort from Harvey Danger, I was really looking forward to this followup to "Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?" Unfortunately, "King James Version" failed to deliver any of the bri

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News

Universal Music Will Try Novel Approach Against iTunes

Using a novel business model, Universal Music, with the help of Sony BMG and possibly others is planning a new service, Total Music, that will seek to wrest control of the online music market from Apple, according to Business Week.

Doug Morris, chief of Universal Music, is aiming to join forces with Sony BMG and possibly Warner Music to develop a new subscription music service. Those three companies would control about 75 percent of the music sold in the U.S. However, this plan has a new wrinkle.

Business Week reported that the new business model involves the hardware manufacturers or cell carriers absorbing the cost of a US$5/month subscription fee. The customer gets an unlimited subscription service for free and the manufacturers sell more players. "Doug is doing the right thing taking on Steve Jobs," said former MCA Records Chairman Irving Azoff.

At one time, Doug Morris were allies. In time, however, Mr. Morris realized that Apple had gained too much control. According to people who were in a meeting with Mr. Morris, he said, "We got rolled like a bunch of puppies."

With the new Total Music plan, music becomes like a utility. After the buyer purchases one of the players, all the music is free. "You know that it’s there, and it costs something," said an executive who saw Mr. Morris’ presentation. "But you never write a check for it."

The big problem seems to be whether the music player makers can charge enough for the phone to cover the cost of the [free] subscription. "If the object is to wrest control of the market from Steve Jobs," said Gartner analyst Mike McGuire, "this is a credible way to try it."

Meanwhile, Universal continues to do business with Apple on a month by month basis. Sales need a boost, and they can’t afford to drop out.

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