Voices » digital music

Napster to Holders: Ignore Dissidents, Re-Elect Board; Says It Has Hired UBS to Consider Strategic Alternatives

Eric Savitz — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:08:34 +0000

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

This morning, Napster (NAPS) mailed a letter to shareholders advising them not to vote for three dissident investors–Perry H. Rod, Thomas Sailors and Kavan P. Singh–who are seeking seats on the company’s board, and to instead back the three incumbents seeking to keep their seats. Not a big surprise; did you think the board was going to say otherwise?

Still, the venom Napster spews in the direction of the dissident group is quite impressive. Napster notes that the dissidents have never served on a corporate board before, “meaning they would require on-the-job training.” They also note that their work experiences “are irrelevant to a company in the highly competitive digital music business.”

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No One Likes the Music Labels. Who Cares?

Peter Kafka — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:00:09 +0000

By Peter Kafka, Managing Editor, Silicon Alley Insider

Newsflash, courtesy of PR agency Edelman: Young people don’t feel warmly about the music industry, presumably because they are harshing their mellow and trying to stop them from pirating music. Leave aside the dubiousness of a PR agency telling other people they have a PR problem, and take a gander at these supposedly damning statistics …

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Who’s Really No. 2?

David Pakman — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:01:33 +0000

By David Pakman, CEO, eMusic.com

Wednesday morning I read with some surprise in USA Today that Amazon is “No. 2 in digital [music] sales since opening nearly six months ago.” Amazon’s entry into this market last year was an important milestone in the continuing irrelevance of DRM and the overly restrictive and anticonsumer policies that the music industry has foolishly wielded in this new, digital age. But let’s get one thing straight: outside of iTunes, no one sells more music digitally than eMusic, and we don’t plan on giving up that title anytime soon. So how is it, we wondered, that USA Today came to name Amazon No. 2?

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Wal-Mart Wants $10 CDs

Warren Cohen — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:00:23 +0000

By Warren Cohen, Contributing Writer, Rolling Stone

Wal-mart wants every CD you buy to cost less than 10 bucks. And the nation’s largest retailer–which moved a quarter of a trillion dollars’ worth of goods last year–usually gets its way. Suppliers who don’t accede to Wal-Mart’s “everyday low price” mantra often find their products bounced from the chain’s stores, excluded from being sold to the 138 million people who shop at a Wal-Mart store every week.

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