archives

o Fox Pulls Out of Movies.com Video-on-Demand Joint Venture With Disney
o Grammys President Greene Resigns Amid Sex Scandal, Gets $8M Severance
o Webcasters Plan May 1st 'Day of Silence' to Protest Music Royalty Rates
o Broadband Multimedia Router Firm Big Band Networks Raises $27 Million
o Liquid Audio Launches BurnItFirst Christian Music Service With EMI
o DVD Software Maker InterVideo Files for $49 Million IPO
o Midway Games Gets Interactive License for DC Comics' "Justice League"
o Ads.com Launches TV Commercial Viewing Website
o PC Maker Gateway Offering Free EMusic Downloads in Retail Store Promotion
> Digital Media Wire Wine Tasting Event: Los Angeles | May 9
o Briefly Noted: Warner Music - OneStopTrax.com, Sixth Annual Webby Awards
- nominations, MSN - "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," Fullplay Media
Systems - Trans World Entertainment, AOL Music - Tonos Entertainment,
"SimCity 4," Slate.com, Gateway - indie record label?
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o Fox Pulls Out of Movies.com Video-on-Demand Joint Venture With Disney

Los Angeles -- Fox Entertainment has withdrawn from its involvement in
Movies.com, an Internet-based video-on-demand joint venture with Disney,
Reuters reported. The Movies.com joint venture was announced shortly after
a group of five other studios announced their own venture for online movie
distribution, now known as MovieLink.com. Fox said in a statement that the
decision was made "after considering the potential regulatory process and
logistical issues and carefully examining technological and marketplace
developments." It is unclear whether or not Disney will go ahead on its
own and develop Movies.com as originally planned.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020426/wr_nm/media_fox_disney_dc_4
http://www.movies.com
http://www.movielink.com
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o Grammys President Greene Resigns Amid Sex Scandal, Gets $8M Severance

Los Angeles -- The National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences
(NARAS), which organizes the annual Grammy Awards for music, announced
that its president Michael Greene has resigned, The Los Angeles Times
reported. Greene faced an internal sexual harassment investigation and
other questions about his leadership of the organization. The Times quotes
Grammy sources as saying that the non-profit will pay Greene an estimated
$8 million severance package. Greene is noted in the digital media
community for his speech decrying online music file-sharing during this
year's Grammys broadcast, for which Greene commissioned a number of
college-aged students to download as many songs as they could in three
days to illustrate the ease of music piracy afforded by file-sharing
services.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-042802grammy.story
http://www.grammy.com
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o Webcasters Plan May 1st 'Day of Silence' to Protest Music Royalty Rates

Chicago -- A group of independent online radio stations are planning a
"day of silence" on May 1st, to draw attention to proposed royalty rates
for streaming music online that webcasters say could force them off the
air. A Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) convened by the U.S.
Copyright Office proposed a set of royalty rates that both commercial and
non-commercial webcasters must pay to record labels and artists in order
to stream copyrighted music on the Internet. Many small webcasters have
said that the proposed rates would be equal to 200 percent of their annual
revenues. For the day of silence, some webcasters plan to go entirely
silent, while others will replace their music streams with periods of
silence interspersed with public service announcements on the subject.
Webcasters planning to participate in one form or another in the day of
silence include Live365.com, Winamp Radio, Radio Free Virgin, KCRW/Santa
Monica, SomaFM, KING-FM/Seattle and Village Voice Radio.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/221190522&ticker=
http://www.saveinternetradio.com
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o Broadband Multimedia Router Firm Big Band Networks Raises $27 Million

Fremont, Calif. -- Big Band Networks, a provider of broadband multimedia
router devices to the broadcast TV industry, announced on Monday that it
has raised $27 million in its third round of venture capital financing.
New investor Charles River Ventures led the round, which also included
participation from new investors Lauder Partners and CommVest. Previous
investors Redpoint Ventures, Pilot House Ventures, Cedar Fund and
Evergreen Investments also participated. Fremont, Calif.-based Big Band's
product routes and integrates video, audio and data in their native
formats and enables service providers to deliver broadcast-quality content
as well as advanced, interactive services. The company claims its product
serves over 500,000 digital cable TV subscribers for its customers, which
include Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Rogers Cable and Blue Ridge
Communications. Big Band will use the funds to expand sales, marketing and
product development.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/221190165&ticker=
http://www.bigbandnet.com/
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o Liquid Audio Launches BurnItFirst Christian Music Service With EMI

Redwood City, Calif. -- Liquid Audio, a provider of digital music
distribution services, announced on Monday a Christian music subscription
service in conjunction with major record label EMI. The BurnItFirst
service will allow users to burn up to 20 songs from EMI's Christian Music
Group -- which includes artists such as Steven Curtis Chapman, Avalon and
dc Talk -- for a fee of $9.95 per month. The service will use Redwood
City-based Liquid Audio's proprietary security technology and will allow
subscribers to burn a song three times and transfer it to a total of five
portable devices.
http://www.burnitfirst.com
http://www.liquidaudio.com/company/press/2001/archive/11_14_01.asp
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-893707.html?tag=fd_top
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o DVD Software Maker InterVideo Files for $49 Million IPO

Fremont, Calif. -- InterVideo, a developer of DVD editing software for
consumers, announced in a recent SEC filing that it plans to raise up to
$49 million in an upcoming initial public offering of its shares. The
company plans to sell 3.5 million shares for between $12 and $14. Fremont,
Calif.-based InterVideo's WinDVD software is bundled with PCs made by
firms including Dell, Compaq, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Sony, Gateway and
Toshiba.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rt/020426/leisure_intervideo_ipo_1.html
http://www.intervideo.com
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o Midway Games Gets Interactive License for DC Comics' "Justice League"

Chicago -- Interactive software publisher Midway Games announced on Monday
that it has secured an agreement with DC Comics and Warner Bros. Consumer
Products to publish video games based on the "Justice League" comic book
franchise and animated television series. Featured in the Justice League
are superheroes including Batman, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green
Lantern, Hawkgirl and Aquaman. Chicago-based Midway plans to develop games
for all of the leading video game consoles as well as Nintendo's handheld
Game Boy Advance. The "Justice League" originated as a comic book series
in 1940. Hanna-Barbera Studios created "Super Friends," an animated TV
series based on the comic, in 1973 and Warner Bros. Animation currently
produces an animated "Justice League" series for Cartoon Network.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020429/290181_1.html
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/jl/
http://www.dccomics.com/directcurrents/comics/archives/1-56389-043-7.htm
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o Ads.com Launches TV Commercial Viewing Website

Seattle -- Ads.com, a site that lets users log on to view most current
network TV commercials, on Monday announced the launch of its site.
Created by MusicNet founder and CEO John Atcheson and backed by News
Corp.'s Epartners, WR Hambrecht and Co. and Odyssey Capital, the site will
contain links to products advertised in the commercials and provide an
outlet for viewers to provide feedback on the ads to their creators.
Seattle-based Ads.com has licensed all appropriate rights to rebroadcast
the ads through agreements with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). The company
also partnered with Microsoft Windows Media and ABC.com, which will
promote Ads.com on their respective sites.
http://www.ads.com
_____________________________________________

o PC Maker Gateway Offering Free EMusic Downloads in Retail Store Promotion

San Diego -- Computer manufacturer Gateway announced on Monday that it has
partnered with Vivendi Universal subsidiary EMusic to offer its customers
access to legal, downloadable music on the Internet. In all of its retail
stores, Gateway will promote EMusic's 30-day trial offer, which lets users
legally download up to 100 free MP3s from EMusic's catalog of over 215,000
MP3s from 10,000 artists. Users may keep the MP3s at the end of the trial
period regardless of whether or not they join the EMusic service.
Gateway's current marketing campaign focused on digital music has somewhat
irked the recording industry, which argued that the company was promoting
piracy with initiatives such as a free CD-R giveaway.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020429/lam047_1.html
http://www.emusic.com
http://www.riaa.org/PR_Story.cfm?id=510
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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE PRESENTS:
A Spring Celebration and Wine Tasting Honoring
Digital Media Wire Panelists

> Thursday, May 9, 2002, Los Angeles

To register:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=22553&Referrer_id=4074

Join us and a distinguished group of our past panelists for a Spring
celebration featuring fine wines, delicious Asian appetizers and
networking.

WHEN: Thursday, May 9, 2002 (6:30PM - 8:30PM)
WHERE: Lucky Duck Restaurant (NE corner of La Brea and Wilshire)
PRICE: $25 (pre-registration); $30 (at the door)

Tasting and wines by Beaulieu Vineyard. Since 1900, BV has been a
benchmark of excellence in Napa Valley wines. Appetizers including crispy
Vietnamese spring rolls, chicken and beef satay, shrimp summer rolls and
vegetable dumplings by Lucky Duck Restaurant. For more information,
contact Ned Sherman at esherman@digitalmediawire.com or visit

http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=22553&Referrer_id=4074.

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o Briefly Noted:

(Los Angeles) Warner Music Group's music publishing division,
Warner/Chappell Music, and recorded music licensing arm, Warner Special
Products, announced on Monday a new online music licensing service. The
OneStopTrax site allows film and television music supervisors, festival
and student filmmakers, and producers of industrial in-house presentations
to find and purchase licenses to pre-cleared music -- with both music
publishing and recorded music rights -- from Warner Music artists.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020429/nym138_1.html
http://www.warnerchappell.com/
http://www.warnerspecialproducts.com
http://www.onestoptrax.com

(San Francisco) The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences on
Monday announced the nominees for The Sixth Annual Webby Awards. Members
of the 350-member Academy including Francis Ford Coppola, David Bowie and
Julia Child have nominated the best Web sites in categories including
Activism, Finance, Community, Film, Travel, Personal Web Sites, Sports,
Spirituality, and Weird. Three new awards will be handed out this year,
including The Rising Star Award, which recognizes the fastest-growing
site, Top U.S. Site, and Top Global Site -- as determined by
Nielsen//Netratings' Internet audience rankings for May 2002. The Sixth
Annual Webby Awards will be held on June 18th, 2002 in San Francisco. A
full list of nominees is available through a link below.
http://www.webbyawards.com/main/webby_awards/nominees.html
http://www.iadas.net

(Redmond, Wash.) Microsoft's MSN network of Internet services announced on
Monday that it has partnered with NBC to launch the official website for
"The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." In addition to video clips with
highlights from each evening's show, MSN Music will provide coverage of
each show's musical guest, including interviews, album reviews and audio
clips.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020429/sfm042_1.html
http://tonightshow.msn.com/

(Bellevue, Wash.) Fullplay Media Systems, a developer of multimedia
merchandising systems, said on Monday that Trans World Entertainment,
which operates a chain of music retail stores, will install 16,000
Fullplay Listening and Viewing Stations in its 650 FYE (For Your
Entertainment) retail stores. The kiosks allow users to scan the barcode
of any CD or DVD in the store and hear or view samples of its contents,
streamed using Microsoft Windows Media 8.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020429/290027_1.html
http://www.fullplaymedia.com
http://www.fye.com

(New York) AOL Music and Tonos Entertainment, which operates an online
musician's network, on Monday announced a strategic marketing agreement
for AOL members trying to gain exposure for their music. Tonos offers
music industry resources such as access to record label searches for new
artists, radio station requests for new songs and searches by popular
artists for new material to record. Tonos will develop contests and
promotions for AOL members, like the Michael Jackson Songwriting Contest,
where a winning song submission will be recorded by Jackson on an upcoming
album.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020429/292170_1.html
http://www.tonos.com

(Redwood City, Calif.) Game developer Electronic Arts said on Monday that
the next sequel in its SimCity line of PC games, "SimCity 4," is currently
being developed by Walnut Creek, Calif.-based game studio Maxis. The game
will be previewed to the industry on May 22 at the Electronic
Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. Redwood City-based Electronic Arts did
not announce a consumer release date for the game.
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/020429/041303.html
http://simcity.ea.com/

(Redmond, Wash.) Online magazine Slate.com announced on Monday that Jacob
Weisberg will take over as editor of the site, replacing founding editor
Michael Kinsley, who will step down from the position while continuing to
advise and write for the site. Weisberg has written for Slate since 1996
and is the author of several books including "In Defense of Government"
and "Bushisms." Previously, Weisberg worked at Newsweek and the New
Republic.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020429/nym103_1.html
http://www.slate.com

(San Francisco) CNET recently reported on PC maker Gateway's possible
plans to enter the music business as an independent distributor of CD
albums. "We are actively in discussions with major and independent labels
and talking with established acts about bringing the music-business model
into the present day," Gateway spokesman Brad Williams told CNET. Gateway
operates a nationwide chain of retail stores, and recently launched an
advertising campaign geared at informing PC users about digital music. The
company said it may eschew the established music industry in any planned
venture. "We have retail stores that aren't beholden to the music
industry," Gateway senior vice president of sales and marketing David
Turner told CNET. "There are a lot of artists out there."
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-893463.html?tag=fd_top
http://www.gateway.com/home/deals/offers/music/dmz.shtml
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