Yahoo’s New Artist Pages Aggregate Online Music From Across the Web

The Web has transformed and spread around music content – people can find music at Last.fm, iTunes, and YouTube, among dozens of other services. MySpace has become the epicenter of the music scene and the preferred platform for artist web pages, but it doesn’t bring together all of the platforms for music distribution available on the Web.

Yahoo’s relaunched Artist Pages, however, do just that. From one webpage, users have access to a dashboard filled with content related to their favorite artists. YouTube videos, the iTunes music store, Pandora, Last.fm, concert information, and Flickr photos are all available in one simple and clean interface.

It may not be as flashy or image-heavy as a MySpace Music page, but it certainly gives MySpace a run for its money in terms of functionality and customization, and Yahoo’s plans to open it up to third-parties makes it an even more appealing option to music artists.

The Yahoo Artist Page Interface

The interface bares no resemblance to the old Yahoo Music artist page or even the MySpace Music page. Instead, Yahoo seems to have opted for a cleaner, simpler interface that boxes up the key content.

The top links users to videos, discography, tracks, photos, or concert information, although all of that content is available from the start page. Concert information is viewable via a Yahoo Upcoming widget and vdeos are available in the center column, both from Yahoo and from YouTube, just for starters.

See the full article at Mashable.

Boxee Continues To Innovate With API And New Alpha Version

Free entertainment hub Boxee keeps on getting better and better. A couple of hours ago, the venture-backed startup released a full API that allows developers to build applications for the open-source platform using a set of API calls in Python and writing the GUI using XML. At the same time, the company is laying the groundwork for a richer App Box, which it refers to as an open application store where they are not the gatekeeper (like Apple for its iPhone App Store) but rather a facilitator.

Heck, they’re even prepared to act as middleman for connecting freelance web developers with companies looking to leverage their API. Hard not to love that type of company.

Boxee is today also introducing a new test version of the Boxee alpha version for Mac and Apple TV (get it here for Intel Mac OS X 10.4+), adding two applications that were built using the brand new API. The new Boxee alpha comes with a lot of music goodness as it includes both Pandora, the popular music streaming service, and RadioTime, which enables their users to access over 100,000 traditional radio stations from across the globe.

This comes right off the heels of the introduction of a (basic) iPhone application.

See the full article at TechCrunch.

Loudcrowd Marries Gaming And Music In A Virtual World

Startup Conduit Labs has launched Loudcrowd, a online community that integrates a virtual world with social gaming and music. Loudcrowd users can create their own virtual world with avatars and access music playlists while playing a series of music-themed games with friends. Loudcrowd is launching with 50 artists and over 250 songs featured on the platform, including music from the Indie rock bands Justice, Phoenix, Santigold, and Friendly Fires.

Loudcrowd wants to create the feel of an online concert or dance club for users. The site will feature social games that will be played simultaneously with music tracks as well as daily playlists from guest DJs. Loudcrowd’s feature Dance game is similar to the popular game Dance, Dance Revolution and is pretty innovative. Loudcrowd says that the dance game has been played more than one million times since they entered private beta, with over 25 percent of users visiting the site more than 100 times a month. The games are all built on Flash and the animation is disarmingly good.

See the full article at TechCrunch.

Music that makes you… dumb?

Virgil Griffith, a CalTech grad student did a study to see how SAT scores and music preferences correlated to each other. Obviously SAT scores aren’t a true measure of intelligence, and really not too much about this chart is overly scientific – yet it still remains interesting. [ed]Where did I put that Beethoven CD? [/ed]

See the full chart at Virgil’s site.

MySpace Music v. YouTube: Who Really Drives More Impressions…

The music video is enjoying a newfound renaissance, thanks largely to YouTube.  Once upon a time, music videos were played on MTV, VH1, and BET, and that was that.  Now, music fans are calling the shots online, and the music video is arguably bigger than ever before in its history.

But how many views are we talking here?  Universal Music Group is the most viewed channel in the history of YouTube, with 3.4 billion views on a stock of more than 9,200 clips.  Sony Music and Hollywood Records own the second and third-place slots, respectively, and ChrisBrownTV, JonasBrothersMusic, RCARecords, and even michaeljackson are not far behind.

Suddenly, the brouhaha between Warner Music Group and YouTube makes more sense.  People love music, and even a diversified site like YouTube draws serious traffic from music-related clips.  But take a look at MySpace Music, and something interesting emerges.  Because it turns out that listening levels on MySpace Music eclipse comparable viewing levels on YouTube, often by a factor of 7-to-1.

Full story at DigitalNews

The Holt Vision: Get Ready for My Space Music 3.0

MySpace Music features virtually every band in existence, yet it also features a cluttered interface, bottom-scraping CPMs, and an uncertain monetization path. Sound like a site worth heading? A number of prominent executives turned the offer down, based on a confusing success path, divisional reporting structure, and other negatives.

But ex-MTV and Interscope executive Courtney Holt accepted, and is now sinking his teeth into a tough challenge. So, can this site win? The challenge is undoubtedly difficult, though during a keynote interview at EconMusic in Los Angeles on Thursday, Holt displayed ample amounts of acumen and surprising levels of candor.

For example, why is the MySpace Music interface so cluttered and confusing? On that question, Holt admitted to layout-related issues. At a top level, MySpace Music revolves around four components: the user page, artist page, front door, and search. “Each one of them is somewhat of a cul-de-sac, you [follow] what you’re looking for and then you’re stuck,” Holt shared. “If I find an artist then I have two options: out or back, and that’s not a good user experience. But we have all of this great data,” Holt continued.

And data, according to Holt, is a critical part of the strategy moving forward. That includes the ability to understand who is listening to what, and how those listening experiences are connected to other bands and friends. That information opens the possibilities, and theoretically allows MySpace Music to tighten connections with fans and bands. “My goal is not only to provide that data back to the consumer, but also back to the artist.”

For the full story Digital News

Use Your Fingers to Tap Out The Jams [Music]

For some reason, rhythms I produce by nervously tapping my fingers do not translate well to musical instruments. However, this “Jam” concept could help fidgety individuals like myself become musical virtuosos.

A central hub wirelessly links the Jam finger taps together allowing one, or several people to play sound clips by tapping their fingers on a solid surface. The harder you tap, the louder the volume. You could even change the pitch by dragging your finger along the playing surface. Unfortunately, Jam is only a concept at the moment, so it looks as though I will have to stick with some finger drums to express my deep feelings and thoughts musically. [Yanko]

See the original article at Gizmodo