archives

o IFPI Blames Drop in Worldwide Music Sales on Free 'Net Music, CD Piracy
o Sega Laying Off 28% of Workers, Will Sell Some Assets
o Federal Judge Denies Company Permission to Webcast McVeigh Execution
o Quokka Sports Lays Off Most of Staff; Trading Halted on Nasdaq
o Wireless Media Delivery Firm Plazmic Raises $5 Million in Third Round
o Picture-Based Search Engine Ereo Lays Off 75% of Staff
o Streaming Media Services Firm Streamedia to Merge with HOA Networks
> Digital Media Wire Seminar: The Future of Digital Entertainment - LA
o Briefly Noted: Europolitan Vodafone - LunarStorm, Intel - OradNet,
SightSound - Woodhaven Entertainment, PacketVideo - Mindport Sentriq,
Fandom.com - CMI Holding Group, Liquid Audio - indie labels
_____________________________________________

> Job Postings: General Manager/VP of Client Development, Research
Associate, Ad Sales Exec., Development Associate, Media Planner

> Events/Services: "GW Technology and Business Expo"

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 IFPI Blames Drop in Worldwide Music Sales on Free 'Net Music, CD Piracy

London -- The International Federation for the Phonographic Industry on
Thursday released worldwide sales figures for albums during 2000, and said
that the overall 1.2 percent drop in unit sales can be attributed to the
availability of free music online and CD piracy. These figures are "the
first evidence of the impact of free online music, as well as the damage
being done by unauthorized CD-R copying in some major markets," said Jay
Berman, IFPI chairman and CEO. Despite the overall decline, sales of CD
albums in 2000 grew by 2.5% to 2.5 billion units worldwide. The IFPI
report also pointed to increased CD-R piracy -- made possible through
inexpensive CD burners -- as part of the reason for sluggish sales in Asia
and European countries like Italy, Germany and France.
http://www.ifpi.org/press/20010419.html
_____________________________________________

o Sega Laying Off 28% of Workers, Will Sell Some Assets

Tokyo -- Game developer Sega will lay off 28 percent of its workforce and
sell off up to half of its 58 group companies in an effort to save and
raise funds, the Associated Press reported on Thursday. All layoffs will
come in the company's Tokyo headquarters, which will be left with about
700 employees. The company recently said it would pull out of the console
market and stop manufacturing its Dreamcast console in favor of developing
games for others like Sony and Nintendo. Sega expects the staff reduction
and sell-offs to help it achieve profitability by next March.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-5666267.html?tag=mn_hd
http://www.sega.com
_____________________________________________

o Federal Judge Denies Company Permission to Webcast McVeigh Execution

Terre Haute, Ind. -- A U.S. District Court judge on Wednesday ruled
against Florida-based Entertainment Network, which had sued under the
First Amendment to be granted the right to webcast the execution of
Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. The judge said that the law allows
the media to be present during an execution, but does not extend the right
to provide audio or video coverage. A closed-circuit broadcast of the
execution will be available to families of the bombing victims, but not to
the general public. Entertainment Network -- which said it would donate
fees it planned to charge to access the webcast to victims' families --
said it will appeal the court's decision.
http://207.41.16.152/opinions/BK0760O1.PDF
http://www.entertainmentnetwork.com/
_____________________________________________

o Quokka Sports Lays Off Most of Staff; Trading Halted on Nasdaq

San Francisco -- Online sports news and events coverage provider Quokka
Sports has laid off almost all of its 220 employees and will file for
bankruptcy, The Industry Standard reported. The Nasdaq halted trading of
the company's stock on Thursday, and requested "additional information"
from the company. The last sale price for Quokka was $0.23. San
Francisco-based Quokka completed a stock split on Monday in an attempt to
keep itself above the Nasdaq's $1 minimum trading requirement, but its
shares were still trading below $1 after the split. Despite partnerships
with NBC and the Olympics, the company will likely shut down and join
other online sports coverage providers such as Broadband Sports.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,23795,00.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010419/2367.html
http://www.quokka.com
_____________________________________________

o Wireless Media Delivery Firm Plazmic Raises $5 Million in Third Round

Toronto -- Plazmic, a developer of technology that helps content providers
distribute multimedia over wireless connections, has raised $5 million in
its third round of venture capital financing. Ventures West 7 Fund and the
Eastern Technology Seed Investment Fund participated in the investment
round. Toronto-based Plazmic said it will use the funds to continue
developing its Java programming language-based technology for the Japanese
mobile market.
http://www.plazmic.com/en/mc_press.html
_____________________________________________

o Picture-Based Search Engine Ereo Lays Off 75% of Staff

Denver -- Ereo, a developer of search engine technology that uses images
as the primary search criteria, has laid off 75 percent of its staff,
VentureWire reported on Thursday. Thirty of the company's forty employees
were laid off as part of a restructuring aimed at cutting costs and making
the company more attractive to investors. Denver-based Ereo will continue
to seek additional financing, as well as partnerships with portals. The
company's technology returns descriptions of image files when users search
for a particular image; it plans to expand the service to include audio
and video. Ereo's customers include Excite@Home and Minden Pictures.
http://www.ereo.com
_____________________________________________

o Streaming Media Services Firm Streamedia to Merge with HOA Networks

New York -- Streamedia Communications, a provider of streaming media and
Web design services, announced on Thursday that it will merge with HOA
Networks, a communications and entertainment company. Terms of the
all-stock transaction were not disclosed. New York-based Streamedia was
about to be delisted from the Nasdaq -- its stock had been trading below
the $1 minimum since October. "Together [Streamedia and HOA Networks will]
cover a vast range of information and entertainment production and
distribution, traditional voice and digital data transmission, and
Internet services including broadband connectivity," said John
Velasco-Mills, President of HOA Networks.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010419/2488.html
http://www.hoa-networks.com
http://www.streamedia.net
_____________________________________________

> Digital Media Wire Seminar: The Future of Digital Entertainment - LA

"The Future of Digital Entertainment: What's Next After Napster?"

Los Angeles | Sponsored by Jones Day Reavis & Pogue
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/LAcopyright.html

MODERATOR:
- Jim Griffin, CEO of Cherry Lane Digital, Founder of Evolab,
Co-founder of the 'pho' list

PANELISTS:
- Scott Dinsdale, EVP of Digital Strategy,
Motion Picture Association (MPA)
- Russell Frackman, Attorney, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP,
Lead counsel for the RIAA in their litigation vs. Napster
- Robin Gross, Attorney, Fair Use & Intellectual Property,
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
- Jonathan Potter, Executive Director, Digital Media Association (DiMA)
- Noah Stone, Executive Director, Artists Against Piracy
*Additional panelists TBA.

Date: Wednesday, April 25th, 2001
CLE credit has been applied for with the California State Bar.
CLE credit may be available in other states as well.
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(Stockholm) Swedish mobile operator Europolitan Vodafone announced that it
has partnered with youth Web portal LunarStorm to create a version of its
site for wireless devices. The joint venture will be called LunarMobil
Sverige and will target LunarStorm's 500,000 regular users.
http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/04/18/20010418BIT00090/04180009.htm
http://www.lunarstorm.se

(Santa Clara, Calif.) Intel Corporation and Israel-based OradNet, a
developer of sports webcasting technologies, announced on Thursday the
availability of their jointly-developed TOPlay Soccer software. The
program creates a 3-D graphical representation of actual soccer matches
that can be viewed by fans online. Fans have control of how they view a
soccer match, from zooming in and out of plays to watching the game
through the eyes of their favorite player.
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20010419tech.htm
http://www.oradnet.com/

(Los Angeles) Digital media distributor SightSound Technologies said on
Thursday that it has partnered with entertainment distributor Woodhaven
Entertainment to encode, encrypt and distribute 24 of Woodhaven's videos.
The videos include extreme sports titles and live music performance videos
from artists including Blink 182 and MXPX.
http://www.sightsound.com
http://www.intermediavideo.com/

(San Diego) Wireless media delivery developer PacketVideo announced on
Thursday that it has partnered with Carlsbad-based Mindport Sentriq, which
will provide digital rights management security to its wireless delivery
technology. The two companies will also jointly market the service to
their partners and customers.
http://www.packetvideo.com/press/view.asp?id=128
http://www.sentriq.com

(Santa Monica, Calif.) Genre entertainment site Fandom.com said on
Thursday that it has given an exclusive license to sell inventory from its
online store to CMI Holding Group, a company that also runs e-commerce
site TheComicStore.com. Santa Monica-based Fandom recently spun off its
sci-fi convention property Creation Entertainment.
http://www.fandom.com
http://www.thecomicstore.com

(Redwood City, Calif.) Downloadable music distributor Liquid Audio
announced on Thursday that Bar/None Records, Emperor Norton Records,
Kung-Fu Records, Milan Entertainment, Oh Boy/Blue Plate Music/Red Pajamas
Records and Om Records will distribute songs online through the company's
network of partner retail sites. The agreement adds artists such as John
Prine, Willie Nelson, Olivia Tremor Control and the soundtrack to the Jim
Jarmusch film "Ghost Dog" to the company's offerings.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010418/sfw007b.html
http://www.liquidaudio.com

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

> Blast Radius, General Manager/VP of Client Development - New York City

The GM/VP Client Development is responsible for guiding a client
development and operations team towards meeting revenue and operations for
the New York City office. Identify and qualify solid business
opportunities, conduct sales presentations to potential clients,
effectively manage client development and operations team.
Send resumes to vhowell@blastradius.com
http://www.blastradius.com
______________________

> Ziff-Davis Publishing, Research Associate - San Francisco

Research Associate for Ziff-Davis Smart Business Magazine is responsible
for ensuring that all business-technology stories we publish are timely
and accurate, as well as assist the editorial staff with research, and build &
maintain a contact list of sources & companies. This is perfect for recent
college grads interested in publishing and high-tech! Previous writing and
editing experience a plus.
Send resume to careerscal@ziffdavis.com
http://www.ziffdavis.com
______________________

> emap usa, Advertising Sales Executive - New York City

Publishers of specialist & general interest lifestyle magazines is
currently seeking candidate with relentless drive and enthusiasm for
FHMus.com, the online version of men's magazine FHM. Focusing on
optimizing advertising and sponsorship revenue, you will create strategic
promotional programs and implement web initiatives. Require advertising /
sales exp. in dot-com environment.
Send resume and cover letter to digitalresume@emapusa.com
http://www.emapusa.com
______________________

> iNetNow, Development Associate - Los Angeles

Developer needed to enhance both internal and external web-based
applications, data synchronization and CRM products. Will perform in-depth
programming in a Microsoft development environment. Architectural and
design experience with relational database systems and experience with
NT/Win2k networks required. Must be able to work under minimal
supervision. Send resume to employment@inetnow.com
http://www.inetnow.com
______________________

> Circle.com, Media Planner - New York City

Leading Internet solutions provider to Fortune 1000 companies and emerging
Internet businesses seeks a Media Planner to assist in development of
online media plans and review online advertising reports by placement, by
creative, by site - to provide analysis and optimization recommendations.
Online advertising experience is required.
Send resume to nyjobs@circle.com
http://www.circle.com

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

> Fast Forward 01 - GW Technology and Business Expo

The George Washington University will host "Fast Forward 01," the GW
Technology and Business Expo at the GW Virginia Campus in Ashburn, on
April 25 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The one-day conference features 14
panel presentations by academic and industry experts on a wide range of
technology and management issues of interest to the Northern Virginia
technology community, including such topics as Wireless Web, Collaborative
CRM, Internet Privacy, Information Security and Ubiquitous Internet, and
High Tech Philanthropy. To register: http://www.gwvirginia.gwu.edu/expoFF
______________________

To subscribe, go to:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com

Questions or comments? Send email to:
mark@digitalmediawire.com

News tips, press releases. Send email to:
editorial@digitalmediawire.com