Spotify Update Enables MP3 Downloads, iTunes Integration, Better Android Sync

spotify mp3 download packages as low as 50 center per track
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Last Friday Spotify rolled out an ambitious software upgrade, making its biggest charge yet in both monetizing its platform and putting the heat on Apple’s iTunes.

Spotify announced the software update on its blog, Twitter, and elsewhere.

The big news: Sweden-based streaming music application Spotify is now selling downloads: $1.29 for one; or purchase 15 downloads for $0.87 each, 40 at $0.63 per, or 100 downloads at $0.50/track. The mp3s are delivered via a partnership with UK-based 7digital.

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Interview: Ooyala’s Chris Wong on Trends in Online Video and Advertising

Digital Hollywood took over the Ritz at Marina del Rey for its Spring 2011 conference, a nice change of scenery for the hundreds of studio execs, advertising and entertainment execs, online video creatives, technologists, SAG members and agents in attendance. (Members of the Dallas Mavericks, who could be spotted in and around the pool area, apparently enjoyed their stay as well).

Between absorbing the latest trends as discussed by multiple panels we managed to interview a few executives from top online media companies.

In the video below, Ooyala’s Vice President of Biz Dev, Chris Wong, explains the importance of streaming video solutions providers, why most companies require DRM (digital rights management) to control copyright, and ponders the meteoric rise of Netflix and the potential impact of its competitors.



Click here to view on YouTube.

Flaming Lips to Perform The Soft Bulletin and Dark Side of the Moon at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

the flaming lips dark side of the moon at hollywood forever cemetery
It’s likely that The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne will one day be buried inside that bubble (photo by chasingfun via flickr)

The Flaming Lips is coming to town this summer for two special nights at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Bouncing in on a tagline from the single “Do You Realize” — “Every One You Know Some Day Will Die” — the Lips’ wildly entertaining psycho-pop shenanigans will attempt to bury you on June 14th and 15th.

And there’s a bonus: On the 14th the band will play its [mainstream] breakthrough 1999 release “The Soft Bulletin” in its entirety and the following night will perform Pink Floyd’s breathtaking 1973 album “Dark Side of the Moon” from front to back.

flaming lips the soft bulletin dark side of the moon hollywood forever cemetaryTickets for the performances go on sale this Friday at 2 p.m. (2-night package for $80) and Saturday at 2 p.m. (single nights at $40) and will sell out quickly. Hollywood Forever is a bring your own blanket, wine, and picnic kind of place. But be sure to leave no trace, for there are zombies.

The concert takes place on the cemetery’s Fairbanks Lawn. Gates are at 7 p.m., wickedly brilliant guitarist and songwriter Marnie Stern opens.

The Flaming Lips tweeted evidence this week that a live version of “The Soft Bulletin” is forthcoming, allegedly with bonus tracks.

In the last week of 2009 the band digitally released “The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon.” The Flaming Lips’ 12th studio album (since 1986), “Embryonic,” was released in October 2009.