OCTunes: Oceanic's Local Music Download Service

[Konaguy]

http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2006/08/28/daily21.html?jst=b_ln_hl

Oceanic Time Warner Cable has gotten into the music business with the launch of an online digital music store. This is the first full week of the service.

OCTunes, as the service is called, is billed as offering 2 million tracks from the world's largest record labels, including EMI, Warner, SONY/BMG and Universal.

With more than 3,000 island tunes, the OCTunes library has Hawaiian artists such as Na Leo, Henry Kapono, Kealii Reichel and Don Ho as well as pop favorites like Hoonua and Kalealoa.

http://octunes.com/

[Hellbent]

<Individual songs are priced at 99 cents.>

[Konaguy]

99 cents is a pretty fair price for individual songs. I got no complaints :)

[pzarquon]

Strike one? Windows Media based. Ugh! DRM plus WMV is adding insult to injury! :p

Strike two? No Mac support.

Strike three? It looks like a BurnLounge setup (http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/19/burnlounge-still-ripping-consumers-off/). Ick.

In fact, I don't think this has anything to do with Oceanic. With the (http://netmix.com/wordpress/burnloungecom-launches-viral-marketing-effort-in-new-york-city/) whole (http://www.indiemusician.com/music_business/2006/02/burnlounge_ponz.html) BurnLounge (http://spinme.com/2006/08/nobody-here-is-hating-on-burnlounge-yet/) MLM (http://burnloungescam.blogspot.com/) thing, I certainly hope it doesn't. Sounds like someone is aiming to imply that link (OC16?), or may be involved with an OC16 show, but I sincerely doubt Oceanic or Time Warner would touch BurnLounge with a 10-foot pole.

Of course, if Pacific Business News says it's Oceanic back there, then I guess it is. They must be more hard up for money than I thought!

[808shows.com]

Well, not only do I work at konaguy's favorite airline, but i also work for Oceanic and I got a company email about this OcTunes thing. Quite frankly, when i saw it was burnlounge, i was embarassed for us all. I've yet to meet anyone that uses it, but no less than two dozen people trying to sell me on it. Only one problem, it looks super shady and lame to me.

aloha

[Hellbent]

im no fan of wmv, but itunes w4p isnt great either. walmart has songs for 0.88 but I cant remember what format it is.
is burnlounge bad? auggie was trying to get me to sign up.

[mel]

Unless these services have DRM less MP3's for Macintosh users NONE are compatible if using WMA, Atrac or whatever Windoze formats there are. As far as legal music downloads go, NOTHING beats the Apple iTunes music store if you are a Mac user. And Windows users can use iTunes too!

[pzarquon]

I don't like DRM of any kind, whether Apple's AAC/Fairplay version or Microsoft's. Compression is not a friend of music, either, again whether AAC or WMA. But as far as ease of use and compatibility goes, Apple wins for me. I was a heavy user of their music store even in a Windows-based house, and transitioned to Macs with no trouble at all. Can't say the same for WMA.

But, like I said, the third strike that knocks this thing out is the Burnlounge link. It's seriously like the Amway for geeks. I don't know how many friends tried to sell me on it, even some people I otherwise trusted. When the solicitations were coming hot and heavy, I was beginning to regret being so accessible on social networking systems! :p

Augie being a Burnlounge agent I can understand. The man works too hard for too little money. An MLM pitch is annoying, but somewhat understandable. But Oceanic? They have the resources and talent to build their own solution with Mountain Apple and other music publishers directly, or at least the ability to make deals with more credible partners than Burnlounge. It makes 'em look desperate, cheap, and horribly uncool -- which is probably opposite the reason that they tried to get into digital music sales in the first place.

[Palolo Joe]

And this (http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/29/features/story02.html) showed up in today's Star-Bulletin.

According to OCTW's VP of marketing:

"One of our core philosophies is to promote island talent. A lot of people watch OC-16, so (OC Tunes) is an extension of that. First it was island TV, now it's island music."

[pzarquon]

Peter Kay's involved somehow, too. Ve-r-r-r-r-ry interesting.

The only real way to make money in the BurnLounge model is to get other people to set up their own independent stores. I'm pretty sure we'll see that angle amped up by OCTunes in the very new future.

[Paul Ogata]

In the instructions, it says:

"If you downloaded your music outside of the Download Manager, you will need to play each track to retrieve the music license before burning the CD."

Huh? Seems like a waste of time to me. Play each track before you can burn it?

[Kahalu'u_Chrome]

Peter Kay's involved somehow, too. Ve-r-r-r-r-ry interesting.

The only real way to make money in the BurnLounge model is to get other people to set up their own independent stores. I'm pretty sure we'll see that angle amped up by OCTunes in the very new future.

from the article:

People can sign up with BurnLounge via virtual storefronts such as OC Tunes to simply purchase music from their favorite artists, or take things a step further and open their own online music stores.

:rolleyes::D

[Konaguy]

ITunes rocks big time over this. But I posted about this, as I thought some people might be interested in all the Hawaiian Music that can be downloaded.

[pzarquon]

I'd love to see what music turns up in the Burnlounge network that isn't already available in iTunes. Burnlounge derives its inventory from the same large publishers. However, there is a channel within Burnlounge to have indy musicians send in their music to be featured on the network, and presumably at this point it's a bit easier than getting accepted in iTunes. Depending on the quality of musicians this adds to the overall catalog, this could be a good thing or a bad thing!

I'd still strongly urge people to read up on Burnlounge's underlying business model. You can get music, yes, just like you can get laundry detergent through Amway/Quixstar. But the underlying motivation is to get you to sell, too, not just to buy the product.

Reading up on Burnlounge, it's interesting to see that there have been some other significant regional launches of reseller stores, i.e. local business or tech leaders in a city creating a "team" and basically blanketing the area. Sometimes they're all respected, legitimate businessfolk, sometimes it's a hui of B-listers. :D I'll leave it to you to determine the stature of the folks behind OCTunes, but anyway, the OCTunes shop is obviously now Hawaii's biggest affiliate, by virtue of the sheer investment made in promotion and getting recognizable names attached.

It should be noted that Lanai Tabura (and Augie T.?) was previously one of the more high-profile pushers of Burnlounge. Noted in Midweek here (http://www.midweek.com/content/columns/blondehighlights_article/blonde_highlights20/) and here (http://www.midweek.com/content/columns/menage_article/menage39/), and in the Star-Bulletin here (http://starbulletin.com/2006/01/24/features/genegabus.html) (wonder if the papers knew they were boosting an MLM affiliate?). Is he part of the OCTunes "team" leadership? Or was his hold on the "next big thing" just swallowed by bigger fish?

The only head-scratcher for me remains Oceanic's involvement. Is Oceanic really the "team leader" in the Burnlounge MLM model here? Again, it seems odd for them to get into a business like this.

[808shows.com]

Actually, it's got Lanai's email address somewhere in that mess...

bottom of the "tunes up" page i believe.

I'm still embarassed by it all.
'We' could have done something much better that's for sure...

aloha

[Hellbent]

thats right, it was lanai, not auggie.
i dont like that you cant burn itunes as mp3 and have to burn and re-rip, but oh well, i dont use it much.

[jkpescador]

It's been a year since I was pitched. Anyone know any burnlounge millionaires?

[pzarquon]

BurnLounge (the engine behind "OCTunes") is still fighting the "MLM" and "pyramid scheme" labels people are slapping on it (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_45_28/ai_n16865978). I'd imagine the number of people who've gotten rich off of it is similar to the number of people who've gotten rich with Amway/Quixtar or other "network marketing" operations.

OCTunes seemed unusual to me, as it had the backing of a big company and some legitimate bands. I am curious, though, if it's actually benefitted anyone. Sounds like a follow-up by the local media is in order. :p

[pzarquon]

Well, the inevitable has happened: BurnLounge, the system behind Oceanic's "OCTunes" music store (and plugged by Peter Kay and Lanai Tabura, among others), has been flagged by the FTC as a pyramid scheme (http://www.charlotte.com/205/story/153722.html):Federal authorities filed suit Tuesday, claiming that that Burnlounge is a pyramid scheme and that its largest retailers have misrepresented the income investors have made, DeBoer said.Of course, while it seems everyone here knew it was a MLM, the detail was woefully absent from the local media coverage (http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/29/features/story02.html) of the OCTunes launch. (Well, not all coverage (http://www.hawaiinews.com/archives/business/000413.shtml). Heh.) And we sure as heck haven't heard much out of the local BurnLounge hui in a while. At least, it's been a few months since someone pitched me...

If the FTC doesn't shutter BurnLounge, here's hoping an outbreak of common sense out there does the job.

[mel]

How many people here who buy digital music actually used this OCTunes service? I certainly didn't. Last I checked I spent more than $200 in downloads at iTunes. For a very short time even spent $25 on eMusic since their stuff was DRM-free. OCTunes. Not. Never. I don't think anyone will miss it if it goes away.

[Random]

Does iTunes have all Hawaiian music (both traditional and contemporary) offered to us customers?

If OCTunes offer DRM-free MP3 and I can pick up OCTunes download [gift] card at my local Foodland, I might give it a try.

[jkpescador]

iTunes has Mountain Apple Records music. I haven't looked in a while.