digital

The majority of music sales still come from CDs, but digital music sales are making up an ever- greater share of the U.S. market, according to NPD MusicWatch. CDs accounted for 65 percent of all music sold in the first half of 2009 compared to paid digital downloads, which comprised 35 percent of music sales. By comparison, paid digital music made up 20 percent of sales in 2007 growing to 30 percent of the music market last year.

Brian Fetherstonhaugh, the chairman and CEO of OgilvyOne Worldwide, gave a presentation at SES San Jose today titled "The Adaptive CMO: A New Paradigm for Digital Marketing."  In it, Fetherstonhaugh stressed that marketers do indeed need to get online.

Gannett has announced it will launch an e- edition of its USA Today newspaper. The e-edition will launch Monday August 3 and will be a replica of the print version of USA Today but will feature additional interactive content. The e-edition will also include a Saturday-Sunday version called USA Today Extra, the first ever-regular weekend product from USA Today.

Barnes & Noble has announced the launch of its own ebookstore and it will make content available on a variety of devices including the iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry, as well as most laptops and desktop computers.

The Boston Globe announced today the launch of GlobeReader, a new digital version of the newspaper that can be read offline or online. With GlobeReader the content of the Globe is downloaded daily to a subscriber's desktop, laptop or netbook, in a format aimed at resembling the look and feel of the print version of the Boston Globe.  A preview edition is currently available to Globe subscribers. Plans for further expansion are in the works.

Growing your in-house database should be at the top of every marketers list. Why? When done correctly, it will house your most qualified and responsive prospects.  Though organic list growth may take time and effort, you will definitely see a high return on your investment.

“Digital terrorism” isn’t a phrase one hears often. There might be good reason for that: it’s not abundantly clear what digital terrorism entails. Is it hacking into air traffic control to give dangerous instructions to pilots? Is it using YouTube to promote a violent, hateful cause? Is it setting up a Facebook group to give members a chance to voice a yea in favor of something offensive? Is it trolling comment areas and flaming an author?

 Perhaps if labels make it easier for fans to purchase, they will buy more music; or so the theory goes.  MySpace Music, imeem and Spotify are just a few of the sites adding buy buttons.  Now some new players who each already have millions of website visitors are entering the online music retailing game.