Digital services firm Trivone buys Godat Media

"The acquisition will enable us provide a full service offering in the digital space, ranging from content, design, application development, social media management to associated services, including inbound and outbound marketing," Trivone said in a statement here.

With a global client footprint across 20 countries, the Bangalore-based Godot provides digital content solutions, including development and distribution to help businesses build a strong online presence and engage their customers.

"We have long felt the need to complement our content offerings with associated services such as design technology and social media. As a technology-enabled content services platform, Godot strategically fits into our offerings," Trivone promoter L. Subramanyan said in the statement.

Godot, which pioneered the 'content as a service' concept in the US to serve its customers with its marketing solution, plans to offer additional content-based services worldwide.

"As we were looking to expand our footprint inorganically, we are excited to be a part of Trivone, which is an aggressive services organisation," Godot co-founder and chief executive Vishal Dutta said.

With capabilities to build digital media properties and offer managed services, Trivone is positioning to provide world-class content with Godot's domain expertise to customers of both entities in India and overseas.

"We believe that with our combined strengths, we will be able provide a gamut of digital content services," Subramanyan added.

As a market leader in providing content across online, mobile and social media platforms, Trivone manages seven digital media properties ranging from consumer tech, autos, movies, sports, small business, IT channel to CXO community.

Reference: http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2013/11/22/340--Digital-services-firm-Trivone-buys-Godat-Media-.html

InComm Digital Solutions Partners with Ibotta, 125th Business-to-Business Distribution Partner

InComm Digital Solutions today announced a partnership with its 125thbusiness-to-business distribution partner, Ibotta, Inc. Ibotta is a free mobile application that allows consumers to earn cash for learning about and buying products in offline stores.




InComm Digital Solutions offers partners a robust management toolset and a large portfolio of prepaid products, including closed-loop gift cards, wireless products, financial services products and content/gaming cards. Companies partnering with InComm Digital Solutions, such as Ibotta, can leverage hundreds of prepaid products to power ground-breaking programs.

From shopping rewards programs and gifting apps to survey companies and TV loyalty programs, InComm Digital Solutions works with companies in a variety of industries that creatively incorporate stored value into their programs. Additionally, InComm supports digital online malls for the world's largest retailers and delivers solutions for large banking institutions, offering point conversion programs and commerce for their consumers through web browsers and mobile wallets.

"We're excited to partner with InComm Digital Solutions to help deliver our eGift card reward program," said Bryan Leach, CEO of Ibotta. "Connecting to the InComm Digital Solutions platform was easy and gives us access to a large catalog of prepaid products. Since our product is a mobile technology, our users expect rewards to be seamlessly integrated within our app; digital gift cards allow consumers to be rewarded instantly and offer the convenience of redemption straight from a mobile device."

"Innovative technology is the cornerstone of our business, so I'm thrilled we're in a position to partner with programs like Ibotta that continually redefine the ways consumers interact with prepaid products," said David Nelsen, GM of InComm Digital Solutions. "These companies push us to continue improving our services, ensuring we maintain a robust platform and impressive catalog of brands and products."

Reference: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/incomm-digital-solutions-partners-with-ibotta-125th-business-to-business-distribution-partner-232660091.html

Gateway Newstands Expands Distribution of Free Publications and Digital Platforms

Gateway Newstands, the largest operator of newsstands in North America with more than 500 stores, today announced plans to expand its distribution of free publications and digital platforms at point of sale across its Canadian network.

The rollout will be initiated through the company's new division - Gateway Direct Media.

"We are delighted to continue with the 9 year tradition previously managed outside our company with the distribution of free publications to Gateway locations," said Arlene Shepard, Vice President Press Management at Gateway Newstands. "Our current and expanding client base will continue to access our high traffic TTC and GO transit locations with expansion to the best malls and office towers in early 2014."

The expansion will also include digital signage as the new platform.

"We know that digital signage is expanding, and that advertisers are finding this media incredibly effective in marketing to consumers," said Noah Aychental, Gateway's Vice-President of Marketing and Promotions. "Our newsstands serve millions of people every day. Through Gateway Direct Media, advertisers can capitalize on this high-traffic, key priority market."

Gateway also announced Gateway Direct Media and Dovetail Media Group have established a joint venture, to represent both Canadian and U.S. projects. Carol Peddie, Former Vice President & Group Publisher of Star Media Group and Irene Patterson, Former Associate Publisher Metro (Toronto & London editions), combine for over 30 years of industry experience and will lead Dovetail Media Group. Arlene Shepard, Vice President Press Management at Gateway Newsstands, has more than 30 years experience in the publishing industry, will represent Gateway Media Direct in this joint venture.

About Gateway Newstands

Gateway Newstands is the largest operator of newsstands in North America, with more than 500 stores in transit - including subways, bus stations, train stations, other transit venues, office towers, shopping centres, hospitals, and other institutional venues. Where we are located, we pride ourselves on being a trusted and reliable partner.

Reference: http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1261543/gateway-newstands-expands-distribution-of-free-publications-and-digital-platforms

Google Wins Dismissal of Suit Over Digital Books Project

Google Inc.’s (GOOG) project to digitally copy millions of books for online searches doesn’t violate copyright law, a federal judge ruled, dismissing an eight-year-old lawsuit against the largest search-engine company.

Google Books provides a public benefit and is a fair use of copyrighted material, Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan ruled today. The project, which has scanned more than 20 million books so far, doesn’t harm authors or inventors of original works, Chin said.




“Google Books provides significant public benefits,” Chin wrote. “It advances the progress of the arts and sciences, while maintaining respectful consideration for the rights of authors and other creative individuals, and without adversely impacting the rights of copyright holders.”

Chin’s decision comes more than two years after he rejected a proposed $125 million settlement in the case filed by The Authors Guild, which represents writers. The group sued in 2005 alleging that Google, owner of the world’s most popular search engine, infringed copyrights by scanning and indexing books without writers’ permission.

Paul Aiken, the Authors Guild’s executive director, said in a statement today that the ruling is a “fundamental challenge” to copyrights and that his group plans to appeal.
Fair Use

“Google made unauthorized digital editions of nearly all of the world’s valuable copyright-protected literature and profits from displaying those works,” Aiken said. “In our view, such mass digitization and exploitation far exceeds the bounds of the fair use defense.”

If upheld on appeal, the decision may help Google retain its leadership in Internet searching, which has allowed it to become the world’s largest online advertiser. Google has more than 70 percent of the ad revenue tied to online searches in the U.S., according to researcher EMarketer Inc.

“This is a huge victory for Google, which had previously tried to resolve legal issues regardingGoogle Books by class action settlement,” Mark P. McKenna, a law professor specializing in intellectual property at the University of Notre Dame, said in an e-mail today. “This decision vindicates Google’s project entirely on fair use grounds, making unnecessary the elaborate structure the parties had proposed for compensation.”
Important Tool

Google Books digitizes books and transforms expressive text into a comprehensive word index that helps researchers and others find books, Chin, an appeals judge sitting in U.S. District Court, said in his opinion.

The project has become an important tool for libraries because it makes millions of books searchable by words and phrases, he said.

“Google Books does not supersede or supplant books because it is not a tool to be used to read books,” the judge wrote. “Instead, it adds value to the original.”

Google doesn’t sell the scans it makes of books or sell the snippets of books it displays although the company does benefit from users drawn to the site, Chin wrote. Writers also benefit because the scanning project could enhance the sales of books, he wrote.
Getting Noticed

“Google Books provides a way for authors’ works to become noticed, much like traditional in-store book displays,” according to the opinion. “Many authors have noted that online browsing in general and Google Books in particular helps readers find their work, thus increasing their audiences.”

Google, based in Mountain View, California, in October 2012 reached an agreement with five publishers to end their objections to the digital scanning. The accord allows U.S. publishers to choose whether to make their books and articles available for scanning or have them removed.

The publishers are McGraw-Hill Cos., Pearson Education Inc., Penguin Group USA Inc., John Wiley & Sons Inc. (JW/A) and Simon & Schuster Inc., which is owned by CBS Inc.

“This has been a long road, and we are absolutely delighted with today’s judgment,” Google said in an e-mailed statement. “As we have long said, Google Books is in compliance with copyright law and acts like a card catalog for the digital age, giving users the ability to find books to buy or borrow.”

While Google Books is a small part of the company’s services, today’s decision helps Google stay in the forefront of search technology, said Danny Sullivan, founding editor of SearchEngineLand.com.

“I don’t think anybody would want to go back to a card catalog system that some will remember,” Sullivan said. “Google Books allows us to search books in the same way we can search across the entire Web and who wouldn’t think that that’s a benefit for everyone?”


Reference: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-14/google-wins-summary-judgment-in-digital-books-copyright-case.html

Team 17 and Digital Distribution

Over a decade ago, Team17 digitally distributed its first PC game. The same year also saw the launch of its first mobile game and the live beta launch of its first online-only game – in South Korea of all places.

At the time, this generated probably less than one per cent of the business’ yearly revenue. Fast forward to the current day and over 90 per cent of Team17’s games revenue for 2013 will be generated by digital distribution via mobile, PC and consoles.

Developers, like Team17, that took that early leap-of-faith into the digital space have radically changed the way they make games and run their business. Team17 has grown from being an indie developer, transforming its business into that of a digital publisher. Sales, marketing, legal, finance, operations, QA, localisation and community support are just a few additions that have been made in the last five years.

The whole process has left Team17 ahead of the curve, allowing the business to open up its expertise in digital publishing and to work with fellow indie studios that are new to the space.

The Digital Shift

Here’s just a few of the high-level changes digital distribution brings:
Who needs focus groups when we can now make our games with the community involved? In fact, we can involve them before the game is even being made.
Funding has never been so easy. It’s now possible to release an early version and monetise from the start of the project.
PR finally means what it should: ‘public relations’, not just ‘press relations’.
Who cares about day one sales? Now it’s about lifecycle management and, yes, I can see worst case for my daily sales by region.
Gold Master: what’s that? All I hear is Minimum Viable Product – I hate this term, by the way. Games are a service, no matter what platforms you release on.
Price write-downs and sale-or-return. Anyone who’s published into retail knows these are the dreaded phrases when uttered by retail buyers. Now we promote our games by country or globally for the day, weekend, week and so on, at the flick of a switch. I know only about half of the platforms can do this, but the others will catch up.
We know we’re going to get paid and in almost all cases it’s monthly. This is a biggy – I think every dev has a few horror stories. No waiting until 45 days after the quarter’s end, 60 days after the end of the month or when your third-party can actually pay you.
Increase your fanbase. On Worms alone, we’ve seen the core age range drop in the last few years due to the game being introduced to a new audience. Digital distribution simply offers more promotion opportunities than traditional retail.


A new era of distribution

A few years ago the industry talked about the sales levels of triple-A, A, B and C grade games. Today, I believe there’s triple-A (retail and digital distribution) and “everything else” (digital distribution only). If you’re in the “everything else” camp and not digitally distributing your games, you’re more than likely struggling as a business, never mind making a profit. I can’t begin to tell you just how important it is for the survival of many development and publishing firms that they get into and understand the digital space.

Digital distribution has ensured more games than ever are being made. Team17 would not have remade Alien Breed or Superfog without the existence of digital distribution, and I certainly wouldn’t have greenlit the third-party games or new IPs we’re working on.

I recently asked Sony’s Shahid Ahmad just how many of the game deals he’s done in the last few years would he have done if there was only retail. His response was telling: just one.

Competition is fierce for visibility across all digital platforms and it’s never guaranteed. Getting digital publishing right takes hard work and lots of time. It took the failure of a non-Worms game that cost a seven figure sum to make us realise we had to change how we approached everything, building our own publishing firm in the process.

The really good news is we now have many platform choices with lots of different business models. The spirit shared between the indie developers and publishers is something I’m incredibly proud to be part of.

Be it mobile, PC or console, we work to help each other and care about each other’s success, often cross-promoting in some capacity – whether through social media or in-game.

Reference: http://www.develop-online.net/opinions/team17-how-digital-distribution-turned-us-into-a-publisher-again/0185883

Digital Distribution in Gaming

With the increased accessibility of high-speed internet and consequential rise of digital distribution within the last console cycle, odds are good that this an upward trend we will see continuing through the release of Sony's and Microsoft's next-gen hardware.

Analytics firm IHS projects that digital will account for up to 34 percent of games spend on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One by 2017. It sees this as a natural continuation of digital's growth through the lifespan of the PS3 and Xbox 360, shooting from 7 percent in 2008 to its current, considerable share of the market.

"it's clear that next-gen consoles will be more aggressively aligned to digital distribution and services than previous cycles," says IHS games director Piers Harding-Rolls. With the growing popularity of 'day and date' digital releases coinciding with packaged retail launches, Harding-Rolls says, "By 2017 new releases could be enjoying up to 18 percent digital sales depending on geography."

There are five key factors behind the growing adoption of digital distribution, according to the report.

Content and services: The increased availability of day-one digital releases for console games, as well as the prevalence of DLC, in-game purchases and free client software through which to deliver these, will continue to drive adoption of digital. "While digital distribution of full games will drive the transition as it has in the PC sector, experimentation with new content and service models... will help accelerate the switch to digital consumption," says the IHS report.

Pricing: "The nature of the 'closed' console platforms means that competition on pricing is inevitably less developed, but this is slowly changing," says Harding-Rolls. With digital marketplaces now beginning to price games aggressively against packaged retail, it seems natural this will be an ongoing and growing trend, leading to lower list prices for consumers.

Accessibility: "Especially relevant for high-end games, the ability to access content rapidly or even instantly would accelerate digital adoption significantly," says the report, citing in particular the PlayStation 4's ability to stream PlayStation 3 titles. "How these are built and rolled out will impact digital distribution adoption."

Discoverability: With more populous digital marketplaces, the inevitable issue of discoverability will crop up, as it has done on popular mobile platforms such as Apple's app store. On this vector, Sony and Microsoft's ability to build "effective discovery tools and recommendation engines" will deeply affect adoption rates by both customers and developers.

Monetization: While the outgoing console generation has seen DLC become a normalized fixture of games' business model, IHS foresees the adoption of mobile-styled microtransactions and hybrid retail/digital models to propel spending on next-gen consoles.

"There is no doubt that this is by far the most competitive consumer electronics climate that Sony and Microsoft have launched consoles into," concludes the IHS report. "However... the shift to digital consumption coupled with lower up-front investment in console hardware design and custom components will lay the foundation for stronger profitability for the platform holders [Sony and Microsoft] across the next generation."

Reference: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/204427/Digital_on_track_to_comprise_34_percent_of_console_market_by_2017.php

Free Digital Distribution And 90% Royalties To Artists & Labels

AMAdea Music is a UK registered company that provides an optimum solution for digital distribution of your music content.

We at AMAdea believe that we should not only work as a standard service company but help artists, labels and distributors adapt to and develop in the ever-changing music industry.

Our team consists of people who like to work in the world of music. This motivates them to give their best to make our customers happy and well taken care of.

Digital Distribution General Points:

- Free distribution, no hidden cost, no upfront cost, no annual cost
- 90% Royalties of all sales through all stores
- 97% coverage of the world, over 70 countries
- more than 500 stores
- you can manage stores where you want to go your music
- delivering to mainstream portals - iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Emusic, Rhapsody and etc.
- delivering to all important dance portals - Beatport, Traxsource, Juno, Trackitdown and etc.








Reference: http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=168987