Music industry group SoundExchange said Tuesday that small Internet radio broadcasters could pay royalty rates from 10-12% to stream traditionally-licensed music online through 2010.

Qualified Webcasters ‚Äî those earning $1.25 million or less in annual revenue ‚Äî have until Sept. 14 to accept SoundExchange’s offer. The agreement covers streaming recordings of SoundExchange members.

SoundExchange represents more than 20,000 recording artists and 3,500 record labels, including the major recording companies.

Much of the music released using Creative Commons licenses, an alternative to mainstream music licensing, allows for free commercial use, including copying, distributing and transmitting the work.

Logitech today announced its Pure-Fi Dream Premium Bedroom Music System for iPod, which, according to the company, establishes a new category of iPod speakers for the bedroom.

Here’s what Logitech’s Jef Holove has to say about their new bedroom system: “Though people use their iPods in the bedroom more than anywhere else, until today, a high-quality, iPod bedroom speaker system did not exist….the Pure-Fi Dream will make listening to iPod music in a bedroom a great experience any time of day. And at night, with its innovative light- and motion-sensing technology, as well as its alarm clock, the Pure-Fi Dream is the ideal bedroom system for iPod lovers.”

Here are the details….

New company Bexy Corporation today announced its iMirror Wireless Remote Control Docking Station for iPod that remotely displays content data while it controls and plays music and video connected to entertainment systems.

The iMirror is designed to put your iPod at the center if a music and video home entertainment system. With the iMirror’s wireless remote control and LCD display user interface, users can remotely navigate, control and play their media via the docking station connected to their big screen TVs, AV receivers, powered speakers, and stereo systems. The iMirror automatically loads all iPod title information into the wireless remote upon initial docking, making the content navigable and controllable remotely throughout a home.

The wireless remote control operates from up to 150 feet away and includes a lithium battery that recharges when placed on the dock.

The iMirror model number BR100 is available immediately via Bexy’s Website at for $149.95 and will be available at retailers in September.

Sony today announced the Go! branded Video Download Service for PSPs. The service is a joint venture with British Sky Broadcasting (Sky) to offer PSP (PlayStation Portable) owners in the UK and Ireland the ability to watch video on demand and on the move.

The service will not be a direct competitor to open Internet video options, but will be a mobile on-demand video service.

The Go! service will launch in early 2008, and will be the first official PSP video download service in Europe. The choice of programs available will include a diverse mix of Sky content, spanning sports, entertainment, movies, music and animation. In addition to a selection of some of the best content from its own channels, Sky plans to work with third-party channel brands and content owners to create an even more comprehensive service.

Customers will be able to download their choice of programs direct to their PSP via a Wi-Fi connection or, alternatively, transfer content that they’ve downloaded to their PC.

Movavi today announced that it had added new tools to Movavi Online, a web-based service that lets users download and convert video from one format to another for use with iPods, mobile phones and other devices.

Where the first version of Movavi Online gave users the ability to upload video stored on a PC, the service upgrade now you download video from YouTube, Google, MySpace, MetaCafe and other video-sharing sites. You can also download and watch Flash videos, convert video from the Internet to AVI, MP4, MPG, 3GP and other formats for use with iPod, iPhone, PSP, cellphone and other devices, and merge several videos into one large movie.

In addition, at a companion site, Movavi now offers new free widgets for Facebook, iGoogle, MacOS, and the Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera browsers.¬†Movavi’s widgets let¬†you offer video conversion services from their own Web sites, blogs, social networking pages and browsers. Here’s an example:

 

A new IBM survey of consumer digital media and entertainment habits shows that audiences increasingly replacing time spent with traditional media with Internet time.

“The Internet is becoming consumers’ primary entertainment source,” said Saul Berman, IBM Media & Entertainment Strategy and Change practice leader. “The TV is increasingly taking a back seat to the cell phone and the personal computer among consumers age 18 to 34. Just as the ‘Kool Kids’ and ‘Gadgetiers'(1) have replaced traditional land-lines with mobile communications, cable and satellite TV subscriptions risk a similar fate of being replaced as the primary source of content access.”

Among consumer respondents:

• 19 percent stated spending six hours or more per day on personal Internet usage, versus nine percent of respondents who reported the same levels of TV viewing;
• 66 percent reported viewing between one to four hours of TV per day, versus 60 percent who reported the same levels of personal Internet usage.

To effectively respond to this shift, IBM sees advertising agencies going beyond traditional creative roles to become brokers of consumer insights; cable companies evolving to home media portals; and broadcasters and publishers racing toward new media formats. Marketers in turn are being forced to experiment and make advertising more compelling, or risk being ignored.

“Consumers are demonstrating their desire for both wired and wireless access to content: an average of 81 percent of consumers surveyed globally indicated they’ve watched or want to watch PC video, and an average of 42 percent indicated they’ve watched or want to watch mobile video,” said Bill Battino, Communications Sector managing partner, IBM Global Business Services. “Given the rising power of individuals and communities, media and entertainment industry players will have to become much better at providing permission-based advertising and related consumer-driven ratings services.”

Dave Winer, one of the fathers of podcasting, is calling out video podcasters and vloggers for becoming “everyday papparazzi”:

The video cameras are so cheap and so are Internet connections, we’re heading to a place where even the most casual of encounters may be captured and broadcast.I want to just be a normal schlub, sitting in the audience, maybe contributing something once in a while, and publishing my art on the Internet, for my own pleasure, and that of anyone who happens to be looking in.

Why mention this now? Why should you care? Because soon you’re going to have to decide whether you’re a celebrity or a schlub. And you may not have a choice but be a celebrity.

My request: If you point a camera at someone, ask for permission before you start recording, and if they say no, don’t turn it on, smile and say “No problem.”

While we’re strong advocates of the power and importance of indie media creation, we also understand Winer’s desire to be allowed to go to an event and just be a schlub (A person regarded as clumsy, stupid, or unattractive.)

Winer’s comments bring up an important issue for podcasters to be aware of. Podcasters have to balance a person’s natural desire to control how they are portrayed with the legitimate need to cover events. Colette Vogele’s excellent Podcasting Legal Guide provides some guidelines for dealing with the issues this raises…..

It looks breaking Apple’s lock on digital music downloads is so important to the music industry that¬† record companies are willing to not only offer DRM-free tracks, but offer them at lower prices.

Wal-Mart announced today the launch of DRM-free MP3 music downloads. At 94 cents per track and $9.22 per album, they are undercutting Apple’s prices for both singles and albums with DRM. Wal-Mart’s offerings should be compatible with virtually any music player, including iPods, Zunes, iPhones and computers. Wal-Mart is one of the first major retailers to offer MP3 digital tracks with music content from major record labels such as Universal and EMI Music.

“Our new ‘DRM-free’ MP3 digital tracks give them the ease and flexibility to play music on virtually any device at a great value,” said Kevin Swint, Wal-Mart’s senior director and divisional manager for digital media. “Also, we’re excited to launch our MP3 catalog with major record labels such as Universal and EMI Music that includes music from popular artists like The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, KT Tunstall, Amy Winehouse, Maroon 5, George Strait and Nelly.”

Wal-Mart is also offering something that both record labels and customers have said they wanted – variable pricing. Wal-Mart is currently offering discounts on digital versions of some older album releases, including Come Away With Me by Norah Jones, Be Here by Keith Urban, Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi and Get Rich or Die Tryin’ by 50 Cent at prices as low as $5.88 per album. Wal-Mart isn’t pricing new releases at a premium yet, though, something that the labels ultimately want.

Wal-Mart will continue to offer its existing WMA-format music downloads. Thus, customers may select the option of MP3-format downloads at 256 kbps for $0.94/track and/or WMA-format downloads at 128 kbps for $0.88/track.

RealNetwork, MTV and Verizon Wireless today announced they are teaming to create a “digital music experience” that consumers can access via their PC, portable music device or mobile phone. According to the three companies, the service promises to unite the best of RealNetworks’ Rhapsody service and MTV’s URGE music service. Verizon Wireless’ V CAST Music will become the mobile platform for the integrated Rhapsody service.

MTV Networks and Real are forming a new company, Rhapsody America, whose offering will be the exclusive digital music service for Real and for MTV Networks’ brands in the United States. Real and MTV Networks, through their Rhapsody America venture, have formed a long-term, groundbreaking and exclusive relationship with Verizon Wireless, in which the companies will be partners in bringing consumers digital music to their PCs and over the air to their mobile phones. Through the relationship with Verizon Wireless, Rhapsody will be fully integrated with VCAST Music, delivering a superior music service across multiple consumer devices.

While the triumvirate brings together major players, it’s not clear that by combining they will be able to offer something that can compete with iTunes. People haven’t shown much interest in MTV’s URGE “digital music experience”, and the mobile music supergroup faces a stiff challenge trying to provide the tight integration that Apple provides with its iTunes/iPod/iPhone system.¬†

iLive has announced the formation of its Studio Series business line, designed to fill the growing need for high-end iPod accessories and peripherals.

The Studio Series includes the iHT8817DT DVD Home Theater System with 5.1 surround sound, an on-board slot-loading HDMI DVD player and a motorized iPod docking drawer. This fully self-contained home theater system will be available in October and features the first ever SRS HD4 for home theater and plays audio with True 3D sound enhancement and SRS TruBass. The Home Theater Solution includes AM/FM radio, powered iPod dock and audio/video inputs. The speaker was designed as a partner for flat panel TVs to create an elegant, simple, complete home theater system.

The Studio Series iHT3817DT Flat Panel Bar Speaker, with a motorized iPod docking drawer and AM/FM Radio, is shipping and consists of two self-contained high-performance, high-power speaker enclosures featuring True 3D sound, SRS acoustical enhancement and 2.1 speaker systems with a built-in subwoofer. The system has audio and video switching and is designed to sit on a counter or, for maximum style impact, mounted underneath a flat panel TV on the wall (wall mounting bracket included).