Why can’t CD packaging be greener and cheaper? That’s the question that Emthelo, a supply chain consultancy specialising in the entertainment industry asked itself last year. The result of their deliberations is the MINTpack, a new, green, economical CD sleeve, as Emthelo Managing Director Olivier Durand explains to Emma Beddington.
arvato UK & Ireland has expanded its existing supply chain agreement with Universal Music UK to include e-commerce fulfilment and customer service direct to consumers. “The level of service and support arvato continues to provide are faultless,” said Steve Partridge, Head of E-Commerce, Universal Music UK. “As the music industry continues to evolve, we’re confident that arvato’s innovative and cost-effective approach will support our ambitious future e-commerce targets.”
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Red Bee Media has announced a deal with FX UK to create and produce the network’s first ever companion app, developed to support the return of the critically acclaimed series, The Walking Dead, using Civolution’s digital audio watermarking technology. Cecilia Parker, General Manager, FX UK commented: “The Walking Dead is such a fertile property online already that developing that discussion further on to the next level of engagement without compromising the viewing experience was a natural next step for us. Red Bee Media were the ideal partners given their wealth of experience in second screen activity.”
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Futuresource Consulting, specialist research firm and Intellect, the trade association for the UK's technology industry, have announced a new event designed to help shape the future of digital entertainment. The Future of Entertainment Summit, chaired by Rory Cellan-Jones (pictured), the BBC's highly influential technology correspondent, will take place at the Grange City Hotel in London on 20 June.
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The MEDIA-TECH Association (MTA) has launched two initiatives geared at easing the increasingly pressured arena of disc manufacture. First, in an open letter to the physical media industry, Bryan Ekus of the MTA has pointed out the need to examine closely the various bodies who claim to be one-stop shops for Blu-ray licensing. “The BD manufacturing arena requires immediate and urgent clarity on the cost of royalty and fees to be added to the material manufactured cost of the BD disc,” Ekus said.
Continue reading »Cinram has announced that they have signed a new multi-year manufacturing agreement with Beckmann Group, extending their long term partnership with the UK based content distributor. Speaking about the renewal, Jo White, Group Managing Director of Beckmann said she was “delighted to be able to depend on Cinram’s great service levels for another term. They are always available and have been very helpful to us and deliver a great service”.
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Technicolor has announced that it has renewed its multi-year agreement with WWE (formerly World Wrestling Entertainment), a leader in global sports-entertainment, for DVD and Blu-ray replication and packaging services. “As a customer for approximately 10 years, we are proud to renew our agreement with WWE to provide DVD and Blu-ray Disc services,” said Quentin Lilly, President of Technicolor’s Home Entertainment Services division.
Continue reading »Licensing body One-Blue has announced that Sharp Corporation has joined the One-Blue product licensing program as a licensor. “We are pleased to announce that Sharp has joined our licensing program as a licensor and is now making available their essential patents via the One-Blue program,” said Roel Kramer, CEO of One-Blue.
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According to IFPI’s Digital Music Report 2012, the digital music business saw unprecedented global expansion in 2011, now overtaking formats to become the primary source of revenues for record companies in the US. “As we enter 2012, there are good reasons for optimism in the world of digital music,” commented Frances Moore, CEO of IFPI. The report states that globally digital music revenue surpasses the film, newspaper and book sectors, and music subscriptions have risen dramatically.
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Polar Mobile, a platform provider for digital media distribution, has announced a $6 million funding round led by Georgian Partners, and being used to expand globally and launch MediaEverywhere, a new product line which, says CEO Kunal Gupta (pictured), will “transform the media industry”. The new funding joins more than $3 million invested to date from private investors. MediaEverywhere will launch later in 2012 and be first rolled out to existing Polar customers.
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Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp will cease production of Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, according to a report in Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. This comes against “a backdrop of declining profitability globally due to competition with low-priced BDs and DVDs manufactured overseas”. “The time has passed when Japanese companies produce optical discs,” a Mitsubishi Chemical official is reported as saying. Blu-ray sales are not compensating for the declining DVD market.
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Second screening is the new way to consume broadcast content, with companies beginning to look at ways to control the way consumers second screen - and how to make money out of it. George Cole provides an overview of this 21st century viewing trend.
Second screen is making waves in the broadcast, social media and video worlds. In essence, second screen involves using a second display device, like a smartphone, laptop or tablet, while watching television. Many people are now second screening: research by Nielsen found that 70% of tablet users and 68% of smartphone owners used their device while watching television. “There are a lot of stats that show that a very large percentage of people who watch TV are doing it with a second screen on their lap,” says Chuck Parker, former Chief Commercial Officer of Technicolor.
Fingerprinting or watermarking? Is there a difference and does it make a difference? Anti-piracy specialist Richard Atkinson explains what they are and how they work but, most of all, why they are important for content management – and leveraging it for monetization – as much as content protection.
In comparing watermarking and fingerprinting, some aspects are similar and some are different. But, more importantly, as they continue to evolve, those differences are becoming less important. The main issue will be how it is used, because the business is driving things: it’s not just about content protection anymore, but about content leverage. With these capabilities, I can know exactly what the content is (whether there’s a mark in it or whether there’s metadata about it)...and leverage that knowledge in real-time.
Following the best Christmas sales ever for Amazon.com’s Kindle devices, the total e-reader category is expected to once again deliver double-digit growth this year, Jill Bilzi learns, as she looks at how it continues to revolutionize the publishing industry and forever change ‘books’ as we know them.
The exploding demand for digital reading devices and downloaded e- books during the fourth quarter of 2011 brought a flurry of news among the leading suppliers in the market.
Music on CD dead? Not so, say the fans - retro continues to be cool and collectors continue to collect. Debbie Galante Block talks to designers and artists who listen to fans and give them what they want in terms of desirable physical media.
Like vinyl, music packaging was scaled back by major record labels way before consumers were ready to let it go. Also, like vinyl, it’s back! With the advent of digital music, it originally seemed that designers were doomed to designing postage size pictures for iTunes, but artists and their true fans have clamoured for more.
The concept of the interactive documentary as something controlled by the producer is changing, as Michael Mascioni reveals.
Interactive documentaries have traditionally been conceived as a genre allowing users to select and explore different informational segments, elements, and themes in a framework largely circumscribed by the producers. Now, that concept is expanding significantly with the rise of ‘collaborative documentaries’ that have adopted crowdsourcing elements and extensive use of user-generated content.
