iLike Press Coverage

(VentureBeat) "iLike, Sony launch new music trivia app to boost song sales"

August 14, 2009 | Camille Ricketts

iLike, a platform for sharing music via social networks and other sites, took a step in a new direction today with the launch of its iLike Challenge application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Available starting now in the Apple App Store, iLike Challenge allows users to compete with one another (or just test their own knowledge) based on how any songs they can correctly identify during a timed session. All of the music is supplied by iLike’s partner Sony Music.

Featuring songs from well-known and Top 40 artists like Britney Spears, Santana, The Fray and Kenny Chesney, the app was designed with music discovery opportunities in mind. The idea is that users who download the app will explore and find new songs as they play along with the game, perhaps prompting them to buy the music. The app costs $2.99 in the App Store.

The competition aspect of the new app is believed to be a compelling marketing tool. Its developers even built in a two-player mode that allows two users to compete against each other on the same device. They are hoping that the emphasis on trivia will keep users hooked, looking to expand their knowledge and hopefully their music collection as well.

The app is in keeping with iLike’s core business as a music discovery and recommendation engine. Now with 50 million users, it is the dominant music sharing app on Facebook, iGoogle and other platforms. Its users can build playlists and concert schedules and encourage their friends to check out new music all via popular social networks. At the same time, artists can use the platform to maintain an online presence across social networks that puts them into closer touch with their fans.

(TechCrunch) "iLike Just Launched Its Own Music Download Store"

by Michael Arrington on August 14, 2009

Popular music recommendation service iLike launched a music download service this afternoon, offering users MP3 downloads for $0.89 to $1.29 per song. Previously the service only offered users the ability to sample 30 second clips of songs, or restricted full streaming via a partnership with Rhapsody (now phased out).

iLike says the first song purchased today was Get Away, Jordan by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound. Music is available from all four major labels and “hundreds of indie labels, enabled via MediaNet.”

Rumors of the music store were first reported by CNET’s Greg Sandoval last month. Until now iLike has offered downloads from Amazon and iTunes. Those options remain.

The service is rolling out now on iLike (I was able to purchase a song), and should be available to all U.S. users by end of day, says iLike. iLike applications on iGoogle, Facebook, Bebo and other platforms will also be available “soon” says the company for U.S. users.

In an email exchange, iLike CEO Ali Partovi said:

We’re enabling the millions of music fans who discover and share music on iLike to purchase songs in-page directly from iLike. Our solution provides a smooth, immediate in-page purchase experience. You can sign up, enter your credit card, and download the music you just bought — all without ever leaving the web page you were on when you discovered the song.

We’re making it easier and more immediate for music fans to buy MP3s as an online on-Web activity. iTunes already provides a great music buying experience inside a media player, and we’ll continue offering our users the option to jump off iLike to purchase from iTunes. At the same time, we’re filling a void by providing a faster way to make impulse music purchases on the web. Our social features and integration into all the major social networks will create a unique music discovery and purchasing experience for music fans across the Web.

The iLike in-page download solution was achieved via direct deals with major labels and a relationship with MediaNet to support the back end fulfillment and provide indie label catalogs. PayPal is providing billing support.

Going forward we’ll continue to enhance our download service, which is currently in Beta, as well as making it available on other leading third party websites where iLike is embedded. Our goal over time is to offer music fans the ability to impulse buy in-page from wherever they are.

See Screenshots

(Wired Magazine) "The Album Is Long Dead, Long Live The App"

The Album Is Long Dead, Long Live The App

In the iTunes music store, you can buy single songs at approximately the same price, and each artist is presented in more or less the same way.

Apple’s app store, however, is still somewhat like the wild west (at least as far as music goes), where the rules are being made up in real time. Artists and labels can sell music through the app store at whatever price they want, from zero to $999.99.

As we suggested last summer, this creates an opportunity for artists and labels to distribute a new type of product, especially because the app store concept is spreading to other mobile phone platforms.

Today, six of the 20 most recently submitted music apps to appear in the App Store feature a single artist: Jason Carver, Jessica Harp, Jimmy Cliff, John Butler Trio, Kadence, and The Cribs. Each showcases music videos, photos, news, photo-jumble games, concert listings, and/or community features that let fans share photos with each other. And all of them were made with iLike’s iPhone app toolkit — as was Ingrid Michaelson’s app, pictured to the right.

Since iLike launched the service in May, about 250 of the over 300,000 artists with access to iLike’s dashboard feature have launched customized iPhone apps through the system.

“We’re encouraged by the positive response our create-your-own-app platform has generated, and this is only the beginning,” said iLike CEO Ali Partovi. (The company also announced a new version of its Local Concerts app on Tuesday, with concert listings based on your music library, push notification for shows, maps to venues, and concert information sharing.)

These artist-specific apps, which labels also develop in-house, place a constantly-updating tattoo on fans’ phones. It’s like having a music subscription, but in the sense of a fan club, rather than in the sense of subscribing to music in general as one would with Rhapsody.

iLike’s music apps are free and promotional. Other apps contain full songs, and cost money.

Dave Dederer, former singer and guitarist for the Presidents of the United States of America and current Melodeo business development vice president, released one of the first of these, which charged $3 for four albums plus exclusive material. His company sells another $3 app containing streaming versions of top 100 hip hop songs in the iTunes store (iTunes link).

The app store broke the rules for selling music through iTunes, and the ramifications of that are beginning to be felt. Now that iLike has allowed app creation to scale across hundreds of thousands of bands, and other mobile platforms are emulating Apple’s modular app concept, the artist-specific app could — in addition to being the new MySpace page — become a formidable music format in its own right.

If that happens, the idea of buying a bundle of music won’t die with the album — it will survive with the app.

(LA Times) "Bringing iPhone Apps To The Masses: iLike Launches Custom Tools For Artists"

Bringing iPhone Apps To The Masses: iLike Launches Custom Tools For Artists

Bands on the prowl for a quick and reasonable way to commission a custom iPhone app finally have a place to go. Music discovery service iLike, which gained a large following with its Facebook app, is providing musicians with an automated system for creating and managing their own downloadable iPhone applications.

Mobile apps have been all the rage recently. Some larger artists were quick to buy into "app fever." Death Cab for Cutie, along with dozens of other high-profile bands, have basic programs that closely mirror their websites, offering videos, tour dates and music samples.

Other bands have gone above and beyond. Nine Inch Nails, for example, released an iPhone app that, in addition to the normal media, has a sort of locational Twitter. The additional features make the software more "sticky," providing users with more incentive to return.

Although iLike offers more complicated, custom apps at a premium, the majority of the ones it will churn out are more like the former. They contain song samples, concert info, photos, videos, tweets and Facebook wall posts.

Already, more than 300,000 musical acts use iLike to manage their website profiles or Facebook app pages. The iPhone piece ties in with that system, meaning once a band uploads a tour date, it's blasted out to all three platforms.

Musicians pay $99 up front and, if they decide to charge for it, split the revenue 50-50 with iLike. Want to go the more altruistic route? The company says it reserves the right to place ads in apps for ...

... bands that give away their software free. Most recognizable groups are electing to charge for their apps, an iLike spokeswoman said.

If you don't buy into the idea of filling your iPhone or iPod Touch with a separate app for every band, iLike also announced a much-improved version of its Local Concerts software.

The app currently displays all of the upcoming shows in your area, but has no easy way to filter. Soon, the software will scour the music on your iPod, and give custom alerts based on bands youLike.

This is the first time the company is formally announcing the app to the public. Before, "we didn't feel like it had all the right features to be really proud of it and announce it to the world," said iLike Chief Executive Ali Partovi.

It will also push notifications to your phone even when you don't have the app open, so no matter what you're doing, you will instantly be alerted when No Doubt adds another tour date. (Even if you're walking in spiderwebs.) Additional features include the ability to preview and purchase songs, mark favorite venues and purchase tickets.

The new version was submitted to Apple Inc. about a week ago and will be available as soon as Apple completes the approval process. No timetable was available. While you wait, here's a video demonstration of the new features.

(TechCrunch) "iLike's Pushtastic iPhone App Lets You Know When Your Favorite Bands Are Coming To Town"

iLike's Pushtastic iPhone App Lets You Know When Your Favorite Bands Are Coming To Town

iLike is launching a new iPhone application today that takes advantage of the iPhone 3.0 update’s new features in some of the best ways that we’ve seen yet. Dubbed “Local Concerts”, the application lets you follow any artist you’d like and receive alerts whenever they announce that they’re coming to a local venue. For anyone who has ever tried to keep tabs on their local music scene, this is going to be a must-have. You can grab the free app here.

Using the app is pretty straightforward: it allows you to view all venues in your area, with concert listings for events that are going on in the near future or further down the line. But it also includes a number of nifty features that the iPhone didn’t previously support. One of these is automated personalization — the application can look at your iPhone or iPod Touch’s library, and determine which artists you should probably be following (though you’re free to adjust the list on your own). Once you’ve found a concert you’d like to attend, the app includes links to sites where you can purchase tickets. Whenever you’ve got an alert, you’ll see a message pop up on your iPhone (much like an SMS message would) regardless of if you have the application open.

Now, iLike has previously offered a more basic application on the iPhone but it was much more basic — if you forgot to check the application manually, you wouldn’t know that your band was coming to town or their tickets were about to go on sale. And the old app didn’t have the automatic artist detection, either.

The one thing I wish the app did have was an option to not only determine which artists you’d like to follow based on their appearance in your music library, but also to take into account the number of times you actually listen to those artists. Obviously this would make things a bit more complicated, but there are plenty of artists I have on my iPhone simply because I feel obligated to fill the device’s storage space to the brim. In any case, iLike’s current suggestion system will be plenty helpful for most people. You can see it in action in the video embed below.

Alongside today’s launch, iLike is also releasing some of the initial stats for its custom iPhone app platform, which it launched in May. Over 250 artists have now used the platform to build their own applications, including Reba McEntire, Ingrid Michaelson, and Rusted Root. The applications allow artists to build rich iPhone apps — including music, video, concert listings, and Twitter feeds — with a minimum of effort It also taps into iLike’s syndication platform, which means content can be delivered to iLike’s 50 million fans easily.

(Billboard Magazine) "Jackson Fans Flood Digital Music Services"

Jackson Fans Flood Digital Music Services:

It's not unusual for artists to see digital sales and streams spike after being featured in the news. But like everything else he did in life, Michael Jackson took this to a new level in his death.

As word of the pop superstar's passing spread, fans both old and new flocked to digital music services to snatch up his most popular tracks and albums. Whether it was out of nostalgia or curiosity, sources close to several digital retailers say they saw an unprecedented jump in sales in the hours following the tragic news.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the most noticeable impact came on iTunes, the dominant digital retailer, which featured an image from Jackson's "Thriller" era at the top of its homepage. Jackson now holds the top seven of the 10 best-selling albums list, with "The Essential Michael Jackson" ($16.99) weighing in at No. 1, followed by "Thriller" ($9.99) another best-of album "Number Ones" ($9.99) , "Off the Wall" ($9.99), the 25th anniversary reissue of "Thriller" with the zombie cover ($13,99) , "Bad" ($9.99), and digital box set "Michael Jackson: the Ultimate Collection" ($34.99).

In all, Jackson albums represent 10 of the top 15, and 21 of the top 100. "Dangerous comes in at 11 ($9.99), "Michael Jackson Greatest Hits: HIStory Vol. I" ($9.99) at 11, "Jackson 5: The Ultimate Collection" ($11.99) at 14, and the special edition of "Off the Wall" ($9.99) at 15. Sony Music says prices of Jackson's catalog were not altered after his death.

As for songs, Jackson has 13 of the top 25 songs sold on iTunes, and 54 of the top 100.

They include:
2. Man in the Mirror (99-cents)
4. Thriller ($1.29)
5. The Way You Make Me Feel (99-cents)
6. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough ($1.29)
9. Smooth Criminel (99-cents)
12. Billie Jean ($1.29)
13. Black or White (99-cents)
17. Beat It ($1.29)
18. P.YT. ($1.29)
20. Rock With You (99-cents)
22. I'll Be There ($1.29)
23. Bad (99-cents)
24. I Want You Back ($1.29)

Similar results are apparent on iTunes rival Amazon, which features a Jackson tribute on not only the MP3 store homepage, but also on the main page for the entire service, linking to every album in stock, both CD and MP3, along with a list of his best-selling MP3s. The service also added a link for users to share their thought, memories and condolences.

On Amazon, Jackson is listed as the No. 1 artists of the day, has 13 of the top 25 songs sold, and 11 of the top 25 digital albums.

Top Songs:
2. Thriller ($1.29)
3. Man In the Mirror (99-cents)
5. Billie Jean ($1.29)
8. Beat It ($1.29)
9. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) ($1.29)
10. The Way You Make Me Feel (99-cents)
12. Smooth Criminal (99-cents)
15. Rock With You (99-cents)
17. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (99-cents)
20. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (99-cents)
22. Black or White (99-cents)
23. Bad (99-cents)
24. Remember the Times (99-cents)

Top Albums:
3. "Thriller" ($9.99)
4. "Essential Michael Jackson" ($16.99)
5. "Number Ones" ($9.99)
7. "Thriller 25th Anniversary" ($9.99)
8. "Off the Wall" ($9.99)
9. "Bad" ($12.99)
12. "Dangerous" ($8.99)
13. "Off the Wall Special Edition" ($12.99)
14. "The Ultimate Collection: Jackson 5: ($9.49)
21. "Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection" ($34.99)
24. "HIStory-Past, Present And Future" ($16.99)

While Jackson was always a top catalog seller, he never held this many top sales positions on either service in the past, nor has any other artist commanded as many positions in an individual service's sales lists to date.

However reaction was mixed on other digital services, with much of the data still unavailable for analysis. Rhapsody's Web-based service has a "Remembering Michael Jackson" promo on the main page, but it does not appear on the Rhapsody program subscribers download to their PC.

Interestingly, Jackson appears nowhere on Rhapsody's featured artists/music bar, nor does his music appear anywhere on the top songs, albums or tracks Top 10 lists. He does appear on Rhapsody's Top Playlists list at No. 9, where a user created an "RIP Michael Jackson playlist." Napster meanwhile leads its streaming Web service with a "Best of Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009" image and link, but none of his music appears on the top 10 artists, albums or songs charts for the service.

Personalized radio service Slacker put together a Michael Jackson Tribute channel that includes not only Jackson's greatest hits, but also covers from the likes of Justin Timberlake, Usher, Ne-Yo, Alicia Keys, and others. The company says it has become one of the most popular channels, but has not yet compiled specific data. Project Playlist, which settled a copyright infringement lawsuit with Sony Music last December and now licenses the label's catalog, created a huge "Remembering Michael Jackson" splash on its front page, complete with a staff playlist as well. And Pandora is reporting a massive spike in users creating Jackson-themed radio stations, as well as a flood of comments in the Backstage community section of the service.

In addition to a rash of planned on-air coverage, MTV is posting artist call-ins, Twitter messages and other user-generated comments, MTV has covered the news online and made available most of Jackson's back catalog of videos and special MTV appearances. According to data provided by MTV, the company's Web site saw its third highest unique visitor totals for one day ever at more than 1.7 million, up almost 80% from the week prior. Visits to Jackson's artist page on MTV skyrocketed 12,043%. Six of the top 10 streaming videos for the day were Michael Jackson's.

Video streams on MTVMusic.com jumped 123% from Wednesday, with Michael Jackson videos representing almost 60% of all videos streamed. VH1.com is also generating traffic, with visits up 35% over a week ago.

iLike is inviting fans to create memorial playlists on Facebook. More than 1,200 fans responded within 10 minutes of the promotion, and as of 8 a.m. EDT that number grew to more than 6,200.

Mobile operator Verizon Wireless added a special tribute section to its VCast Music page and is developing addition features to go live next week. A spokeswoman says the operator has seen a noticeable uptick in both ringtone and ringback sales, but it's too early to provide specific data.

The interest in Jackson's work is not limited to authorized channels either. According to P2P tracking firm BigChampagne, there has been a significant spike in both tracks and albums from the artist.

Music aside, Jackson's death also dominated the conversation on Twitter. Trending topics overtook that of the Iranian Election and Farrah Fawcett's death before the mainstream media even officially confirmed Jackson's passing, and Facebook updates saw similar spikes as members posted eulogies to their profiles.

Most digital services are only getting their tributes and special promotions live today. More information on their results and feedback will likely become available after the weekend.

(People Magazine) "Michael Jackson Posts Thriller Numbers After His Death"

Michael Jackson Posts Thriller Numbers After His Death:
http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20287787_20287946,00.html

Since Michael Jackson's shocking death <http://www.people.com/people/package/0,,20287787,00.html>  Thursday, legions of fans have been scrambling to purchase lasting memories of the pop star.

Only two hours after Jackson's passing was confirmed, his hit album Thriller reached number one on iTunes. As of Friday afternoon, Jackson albums occupy nine of the top ten slots, with the iTunes Essential Michael Jackson as the top-seller. In addition, a quarter of the top 100 songs purchased on the site are either by Jackson or the Jackson Five. On Amazon, it's all Michael Jackson all the time, as the top 15 albums all belong to him.

News of the pop icon's death quickly spread across social networking sites including Twitter and Facebook. More than 7,000 fans even created memorial playlists featuring their favorite Jackson songs and videos on Facebook and iLike.com.

With round-the-clock coverage on the King of Pop ˆ all of the morning shows devoted their programming almost exclusively to Jackson, and MTV has been running his videos non-stop ˆ a summer sale by Julien's Auctions, featuring 21 items from his career and personal life is sure to generate intense interest. A few gems include hand-written lyrics to his number one hit "Bad" (estimated value $500-$700) and a pearl-and-Swarovski-crystal-studded shirt from The Jacksons' "Victory" tour in 1984 (estimated value $1,000-$1,500).

It's been 25 years since Jackson enjoyed this kind of commercial buzz. After selling nearly 750 million albums worldwide, reports claim the singer died nearly $400 million in debt. Of course he was hoping to put a dent in that figure, as he was about to embark on a sold-out 50-show concert series, all of which was to take place in London. It is still uncertain whether the $85 million in sales will be refunded. While, some reports estimate Jackson was to make a $1 to $1.5 million per appearance.

(VentureBeat) "With iPhone App Upgrade, iLike Moves Towards Front of Live Music Business"

With iPhone App Upgrade, iLike Moves Towards Front of Live Music Business

iLike is one of the larger music startups to survive the recession (and music-licensing issues). It has managed to become a “self-sustaining” business through its iTunes plugin and its popular social networking applications. Today, the company is expanding while most of the industry struggles, introducing an upgrade to its “Local Concerts” iPhone application, plus more than 250 musicians’ customized apps for iPhone and iPod Touch.

The new concerts app has already become the 15th most popular free music app on the iPhone, because of two main features: Lists of upcoming local shows and links to buy tickets. The upgrade lets you sync concert listings with your music library on your iPhone or iPod so you can get listings about the groups you’re already listening to. It also takes advantage of new “push” feature that Apple introduced to the phone earlier this year — you can choose to get notifications whenever a group in your collection is playing near you. Personally, I’ve installed the app and given all the obscure bands I’ve collected on iTunes over the years, I’m interested to see who shows up to do a local show.

Meanwhile, iLike has spent the last couple of months building customized iPhone apps for more than 250 musicians. The apps can include photos, videos, blog posts, concerts and other information from the bands. But this effort is ongoing, as not all of these apps have been approved for the App Storey by Apple.

In terms of making money, iLike is trying to become the sort of digital middleman in music promotion that street promoters have been up until now. It has already been making money from driving affiliate digital sales to Amazon and iTunes, and ticket sales to Ticketmaster and other concert companies. Over the past year, it has seen its advertising revenue grow to become the single largest portion of its revenue, chief executive Ali Partovi tells me. While the company has brought in some Madison Avenue-style brand sales, “our core competency is in the live music industry.” ILike’s Facebook application, for example, shows you what concerts are nearby based on your location — and helps you see what local concerts your friends are also going to. Bands can buy ads that specifically target users based on their location, musical tastes, and more.

Seattle-based iLike’s expansion onto the iPhone could drive more advertising affiliate sales due to people discovering new songs and nearby shows on the go. It has managed to keep costs lower than other music startups. While other music startups, like imeem, have spent time and pounds of flesh on negotiating streaming music deals with major record labels, iLike has kept its costs down by only licensing portions of songs.

The company has 50 million total users, including more than 10 million monthly active ones on Facebook, but iPhone will be a main focus for some time to come. It is also tying in bands’ Twitter accounts with their presence on iLike’s Facebook apps and other locations. Partovi says the company is focusing on the iPhone and Twitter for now, but will continue to tie new services back in with the old ones. So presumably, you’ll one day be able to share your activity on the iPhone concert app with your friends on Facebook.

(Digital Music News) "iLike Grabs Dead Weather Exclusive"

iLike Grabs Dead Weather Exclusive

The recently-created supergroup Dead Weather has now fed iLike a tasty exclusive.  The group, spearheaded by Jack White, features Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs) and Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age).  The first album, Horehound, is being exclusively primed by iLike on Wednesday, a 24-hour window. 

The album, produced by White on his Third Man Records imprint, officially releases on July 14th.  "I feel it, you feel it – we're all struggling with the trouble that this industry is in right now," said White.  "And it's not about sales; it's about beauty and romance and a relationship to art that's turning invisible, and it's affecting people's perception of music. It's affecting whether they think of it as a viable art, because it's so disposable."

(Spin Magazine) "Listen To The Dead Weather's New Album on iLike"

Listen To The Dead Weather's New Album on iLike

Jack White may be launching a paid subscription service through his new record label, but that doesn't mean he's forgotten the value of free.

For the next 24 hours fans can hear Horehound, the debut album from White's new band the Dead Weather, one week in advance of its July 14 release by visiting their iLike artist page. The tracks are available in the "Featured Songs" are on the left hand side of the page.

The supergroup -- also featuring the Kills' Alison Mosshart, Queens of the Stone Age's Dean Fertita, and White's fellow Raconteur Jack Lawrence -- appeared on the cover of SPIN's June issue, and expectations for their debut have been building ever since the quartet's first concert back in April.