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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- March 14, 2001
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To Subscribe For Free: http://www.digitalmediawire.com

o BMG Looking to Sell Stake in Joint Venture GetMusic to Universal
o Amazon Launches Website for Indie Label Bands
o Artists' Rights Foundation Launches Online Film School for Teens
o Salon.com Lowers Salaries, Puts Off Syndicated Radio Show
o Music Site Vitaminic to Acquire French MP3 Sites
o Interactive Video Firm LiveWave Gets Investment from Snider Capital
o Online Sheet Music Retailer Net4Music Lays Off 28, Closes Office
o WorldNet Acquires Stake in Film Distributor EnterTech Media Group
o Streaming Media Server Firm MidStream Raises $14.5 Million
> Digital Media Wire: NYC & DC Interactive Games Panels
o Briefly Noted: Konami, "Pay for Play," Harcourt - goReader,
AssignmentEditor.com, Liquid Audio - Hard Rock Cafe - Handleman Company,
360Merch.com - ASCAP
_____________________________________________

> Job Postings: Account Executive, Asst. Marketing Mgr./Internet, Music Titler

> Events/Services: "Artesia Digital Asset Management Seminar"

Full Job/Event descriptions listed below "Briefly Noted" section or at
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/postings.html

To Post a Job: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html
To Post an Event: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html
_____________________________________________

o BMG Looking to Sell Stake in Joint Venture GetMusic to Universal

New York -- BMG Entertainment is looking to sell its stake in GetMusic, a
joint venture online music site the company started with Vivendi
Universal's Universal Music Group, the Wall Street Journal reported on
Wednesday. The two companies have reportedly invested less than $50
million into the site that offers music news, videos and downloads from
BMG and Universal artists. At issue is how much content BMG will guarantee
to release to GetMusic in the future. BMG parent company Bertelsmann is
currently working with Napster to develop a paid subscription service for
music file-sharing. In another sign of distancing between the two
companies, Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Middlehoff said on Tuesday that he will
step down from his seat on the board at Vivendi Universal, Reuters
reported. "Middelhoff and (Vivendi Universal CEO) Jean-Marie Messier both
decided that because of possible conflict of interest that Middelhoff
would leave the board, but there is still tight cooperation between the
two companies," said a spokesman for Bertelsmann.
http://www.getmusic.com
http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=25836&pod_id=11
http://www.vivendi.com
http://www.bertelsmann.com
_____________________________________________

o Amazon Launches Website for Indie Label Bands

Seattle -- Amazon.com announced on Wednesday the launch of a dedicated
website for independent label music artists. The launch coincides with the
South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas this week, and pulls
together into one area Amazon offerings from indie labels like SST,
Rounder and Kill Rock Stars. The site also features indie artist news,
downloads and editor's picks.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010314/0233.html
http://www.amazon.com/indie
_____________________________________________

o Artists' Rights Foundation Launches Online Film School for Teens

Los Angeles -- The Artists' Rights Foundation (ARF), a non-profit founded
by the Director's Guild of America, announced on Wednesday the launch of
AdmitOne.org, an online film school for teens interested in the business
of making movies. ARF vice president George Lucas and Global Crossing are
funding the project, which aims to inform teenagers of the importance of
artists' rights while showing them how to make movies using interactive
lessons. The site also offers educators directions on how to teach an
8-week filmmaking course to students. The Artists' Rights Foundation
addresses issues surrounding "the rights of film artists who want to
protect their work from alteration and ensure their vision remains intact
for future generations to enjoy."
http://www.admitone.org
http://www.artistsrights.org
_____________________________________________

o Salon.com Lowers Salaries, Puts Off Syndicated Radio Show

San Francisco -- Online magazine Salon.com has cut employee salaries up to
15 percent and stalled plans to launch a syndicated radio show, CNET
reported on Wednesday. The move comes as the company's stock has traded
around the $1 mark since October and it struggles to become profitable.
"We're doing everything we need to do to become profitable in what's
become a very lousy ad market," Salon.com spokeswoman Dayna Macy told
CNET. The company has also put off previously announced plans to launch a
syndicated radio show that would have been broadcast to over 100
terrestrial stations, citing its discontent with a pilot for the program.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5126282.html?tag=cd_mh
http://www.salon.com
_____________________________________________

o Music Site Vitaminic to Acquire French MP3 Sites

San Francisco -- Online music site Vitaminic said on Wednesday that it
will acquire Eurekan Multimedia S.A., the French company that owns music
sites FranceMP3.com and MP3France.com for $1.2 million. The French
websites feature over 35,000 tracks from 315 record labels. San
Francisco-based Vitaminic has launched music websites for smaller labels
and independent artists in European countries including Italy, France,
Spain, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Ireland.
http://www.vitaminic.com
http://www.francemp3.com
_____________________________________________

o Interactive Video Firm LiveWave Gets Investment from Snider Capital

Newport, R.I. -- LiveWave, a developer of live interactive video
programming for TV and the Internet, announced on Wednesday that it has
received an undisclosed investment from Snider Capital as part of its
third round of funding. The round is expected to close in the second
quarter of 2001, and the company says it expects to be profitable by the
end of the year. Rhode Island-based LiveWave's technology allows users to
control camera angles of online video from their computers.
http://www.livewave.com/company/press/press14.asp
_____________________________________________

o Online Sheet Music Retailer Net4Music Lays Off 28, Closes Office

Minneapolis -- Net4Music, a digital sheet music retailer, said on
Wednesday that it will lay off 28 employees, or about 19 percent of its
staff. The layoffs stem from redundancies created by its merger with Coda
Music Technology in October 2000. The company will also consolidate its
U.S. operations, closing an office in New York that supported marketing
and accounting. Minneapolis-based Net4Music sells downloadable sheet music
and also offers music lesson and notation software for students and music
educators.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010314/2508.html
http://www.net4music.com
_____________________________________________

o WorldNet Acquires Stake in Film Distributor EnterTech Media Group

El Segundo, Calif. -- WorldNet, an operator of film and music websites,
announced on Wednesday that it has acquired 65 percent of EnterTech Media
Group, a film production and distribution company. The two companies said
they will launch a network of websites at IGo.tv -- where they will
distribute their media properties. Los Angeles-based EnterTech was founded
by John Daly, a producer of movies including "Platoon," "Terminator" and
"Hoosiers."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010314/0114.html
http://www.entertechmedia.com
http://www.wnrg.com
_____________________________________________

o Streaming Media Server Firm MidStream Raises $14.5 Million

Bellevue, Wash. -- MidStream, a manufacturer of streaming media Web
servers, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $14.5 million in its
second round of venture capital financing. New investors Fluke Ventures,
Imperial Bank and Xilinx joined previous investors ARCH Venture Partners,
Cascadia Capital and Polaris Venture Partners in the round.
Washington-based MidStream develops and manufactures Web servers for
streaming audio and video that can send multiple streaming media formats
simultaneously from the same box. The investment will be used for product
development and to increase its staff.
http://www.midstream.com
_____________________________________________

> Digital Media Wire: NYC & DC Interactive Games Panels

New York City -- "Interactive Games on the Internet"
MODERATOR:
-Billy Pidgeon, Analyst, Jupiter Research

FEATURED SPEAKERS:
-Greg Costikyan, Founder & Chief Design Officer, Unplugged Games
-Frank Lantz, Sr. Game Designer, gameLab
-Joseph Varet, VP BizDev & Strategy, The Groove Alliance
*Additional panelists TBA.

Date: Wednesday, March 28th, 2001
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCgames.html

------------

Washington, D.C. -- "Interactive Games on the Internet"
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
-Phillip Campbell, Chief Creative Director, Quantic Dream
-Larry Cotter, CEO, Sandbox.com
-David Levine, CEO, Butterfly.net
-Doug Lowenstein, President, Interactive Digital Software Association
*Additional panelists TBA.

Date: Thursday, April 5th, 2001
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/DCgames.html
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(Tokyo) Japanese game developer Konami said on Wednesday that it will
focus its efforts on developing games only for Sony's PlayStation 2 and
Nintendo's GameBoy Advance, Bloomberg News reported. The company said it
did not have plans to produce many games for Microsoft's upcoming Xbox
game console, scheduled for release in the fall.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-5135041.html?tag=mn_hd
http://www.konami.com

(San Francisco) Salon.com ran a feature story on Wednesday detailing the
role of the independent record promoter in today's radio industry. The
"indie" is paid by record labels to promote their artists to radio
stations, often times paying radio stations to play the label's songs. The
article raises the issue of whether or not this practice is a form of
"payola," or outright payments by labels to radio station programmers that
were outlawed in the 1960s.
http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2001/03/14/payola/index.html
http://www.history-of-rock.com/payola.htm

(Chestnut Hill, Mass.) College textbook publisher Harcourt said on
Wednesday that it has partnered with Chicago-based goReader to publish
e-book versions of textbooks, CNET reported. Initially, the companies will
create business and science titles, but also plan to publish law texts and
other graduate titles.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5136090.html?tag=mn_hd
http://www.goreader.com
http://www.harcourt.com

(Chicago) AssignmentEditor.com, a website featuring amateur video, on
Wednesday announced plans to launch a service to broker the sale of its
user-submitted video to news organizations. Amateurs who think they have
newsworthy video can submit it to the site, where news organizations can
then preview a streaming version and purchase a satellite-fed version of
the footage. Chicago-based AssignmentEditor.com said the service will
launch in April.
http://www.assignmenteditor.com

(Redwood City, Calif.) Downloadable music retail network Liquid Audio
announced on Wednesday that Hard Rock Cafe International will use its
digital distribution network for its Hardrock.com website. In a separate
announcement, Redwood City-based Liquid Audio said that Michigan-based
category manager and music distributor Handleman Company will syndicate
the company's 150,000 track offerings to its own online retail network.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010314/sfw086.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010314/sfw037_2.html
http://www.hardrock.com
http://www.handleman.com

(Boston) Online promotional goods retailer 360Merch said on Wednesday that
it has partnered with performing rights organization ASCAP to offer ASCAP
members deep discounts on customized merchandise orders. Boston-based
360Merch will give ASCAP's 110,000 songwriter members access to a means of
making T-shirts, posters and other promotional materials.
http://www.360merch.com
http://www.ascap.com

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Job Postings:
===================================================
To Post Jobs: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html

> World Wrestling Federation, Account Executive - New York City

Internet advertising sales candidates will possess strong entrepreneurial
work habits, at least two plus years media sales experience (including at
least one year selling ".com" advertising), and have established
advertising contacts at both the advertiser direct and agency level. Send
resumes to:
resume@wwfent.com
http://www.wwf.com
______________________

> Forbes Magazine, Asst. Marketing Mgr./Internet - New York City

Opportunity to work on Forbes Magazinešs Internet subscription programs.
You'll have reporting & analysis responsibilities and assist in creating
internet promotions. Proficiency in Excel required. Strong analytical,
organizational and planning skills, plus 6+ months consumer marketing
preferred. Send resumes to:
jobs@forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com
______________________

> BuzzHits, Inc., Music Titler - San Francisco

BuzzHits is a technology & services provider that delivers mobile impulse
response solutions for advertising purposes. Quickly & accurately identify
title and artist of songs played on Country or R&B/Oldies format. Ability
to "Name the Tune" in 5 notes or less - 100% accuracy. 2 years radio, DJ
and/or music background preferred. Send resumes to jobs@buzzhits.com
http://www.buzzhits.com

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Event Postings:
===================================================
To Post Events: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html

> Artesia, Digital Asset Management Seminar -- SF, LA, Atlanta, NY, DC

Did you know that the average ROI for an enterprise Digital Asset
Management solution is between 9 and 18 months? Artesia Technologies
invites you to a free seminar on digital asset management. Our discussion
will include up-to-the-minute analysis presented for the first time and
speakers from The GartnerGroup, analyst Frank Gilbane and PwC. San Fran
on 3/8, LA on 3/9, Atlanta on 3/13, New York City on 3/14, and DC on 3/16.
Send inquiries to personalseminar@artesia.com
To register go to http://www.artesia.com/seminar/index1.html
______________________

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