archives

o Napster Close to Licensing Deal with Warner, EMI, BMG for MusicNet
o Nevada Online Gambling Bill Passes in State Senate
o Digital Video Services Provider Grass Valley Group Raises $36 Million
o AtomShockwave President Steps Down
o CD Burning Software Firm Roxio Gets Investment from EMI
o Gracenote to Sell CD-Listening Data to Music Industry
> DMW & socalTECH Seminar: Digital Asia -- June 20 | Los Angeles
> Digital Media Wire Seminar: iTV -- June 27 | San Francisco
o Briefly Noted: JumpTV - Quova, RespondTV - House of Blues, RioPort -
BestBuy.com, Philips Consumer Electronics - Martin Scorsese, NT Media
Corp. - Yahoo Broadcast, Apple Final Cut Pro vs. Avid, "The Music Men Are
Out Of Tune"
_____________________________________________

> Job Postings: New Media Designer, Product Manager, Director of Product
Management, Writer/Editor, Web Producer

> Events/Services: "Wireless 2001," "Loyola Marymount MBA in the Media,"
"Investing in Early Stage Deals," "Tickets On-Sale for Sensory Circus"

Full Job/Event/Services 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/Service: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html
_____________________________________________

o Napster Close to Licensing Deal with Warner, EMI, BMG for MusicNet

Redwood City, Calif. -- Napster is close to negotiating licensing
agreements with three major record labels to license music, technology, or
a combination of both for its planned paid subscription service, according
to several published reports. AOL Time Warner's Warner Music, BMG
Entertainment and EMI Group -- the three companies partnered with digital
media delivery provider RealNetworks on a licensing service called
MusicNet -- are the labels reportedly close to a deal with Redwood
City-based Napster. The licensing deals would have no effect on the
labels' current lawsuit against Napster for copyright infringements;
Napster is still potentially liable for damages on all of the copyrighted
songs traded on its service up to this point. Webnoize reported that it is
unclear whether or not the deals will include licenses for the labels'
music, or solely for the technology enabling MusicNet. BMG Entertainment
parent Berltelsmann provided Napster with approximately $60 million to
develop a secure subscription service for downloading music on the
Internet, in return for the right to buy a majority stake in the company.
Both MusicNet and Napster's paid service are still scheduled to launch
this summer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/05/technology/05MUSI.html
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6190220.html?tag=tp_pr
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,26900,00.html
http://news.webnoize.com/item.rs?ID=13257
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o Nevada Online Gambling Bill Passes in State Senate

Las Vegas -- A bill to legalize online gambling in the state of Nevada
passed a vote in the State Senate on Monday, leaving it to Governor Kenny
Guinn to sign the bill into law. Currently, federal law prohibits online
gambling, but states such as Nevada and New Jersey are expected to
challenge the law through the courts. The Nevada bill would charge a
$500,000 two-year licensing fee to any companies that want to provide
interactive gaming, which could effectively give the major casinos in
Nevada control over the nascent industry. The companies would pay a 6
percent tax on the gross winnings from online gambling sites. State
legislators said that any company offering wagering services would have to
include technology that prohibits minors and residents of states that
prohibit online gambling from participation. New Jersey is proposing
similar legislation that would legalize online gambling.
http://www.leg.state.nv.us/71st/Reports/history.cfm?ID=4559
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Jun-05-Tue-2001/news/16248746.html
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,44302,00.html
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o Digital Video Services Provider Grass Valley Group Raises $36 Million

Nevada City, Calif. -- Grass Valley Group, a provider of digital video
services like encoding, storage and video servers for broadcast networks,
announced that it has raised $36 million in its latest round of venture
capital financing led by investment bank Lazard. Individual investors
including Grass Valley chairman Dr. Terence J. Gooding also participated.
Nevada City-based Grass Valley Group provides software for editing and
managing online video content, and also develops routers, switches and
servers for Internet video. The company will use the funds to market its
eight new software products, make strategic acquisitions and enter new
markets. Grass Valley recently signed a three-year, $25 million agreement
with NBC to provide technology for news production, media asset management
and high-definition playback of video.
http://www.grassvalleygroup.com/news/2001/20010604-Funding_Release.html
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o AtomShockwave President Steps Down

San Francisco -- Short films and online games provider AtomShockwave said
on Tuesday that company president Matt Hulett will step down from his
position. No replacement was announced. Late last week the company laid
off 120 of its 170 employees, and said it would no longer aggressively
seek to acquire new film content. AtomShockwave also said it will close
offices in Los Angeles, New York and London, while maintaining its
operations in San Francisco and Japan.
http://www.atomshockwave.com
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o CD Burning Software Firm Roxio Gets Investment from EMI

Milpitas, Calif. -- Roxio, a developer of software that lets consumers
make copies of CDs and record MP3s onto CD-Rs, announced on Tuesday that
it has received an undisclosed equity investment from major label EMI
Recorded Music. The companies will work together to develop "secure"
technology that will allow EMI music to be burned onto CDs when approved
by copyright holders. Milpitas-based Roxio's Easy CD Creator software for
PC and Toast for Mac are widely used by consumers to create CDs on
computers equipped with recordable CD drives.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010605/sftu031.html
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6192319.html?tag=cd_mh
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svtop/roxio060501.htm
http://www.roxio.com
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o Gracenote to Sell CD-Listening Data to Music Industry

Berkeley, Calif. -- Gracenote, a provider of technology that identifies
the CD a user is listening to on a PC, announced on Tuesday that it will
offer a service that can track PC-based music listening habits. The
company will market the data to record labels, radio stations and others
in the music industry. The software can track listeners geographically
through zip codes, but does not share any other identifying information
with third parties, according to Gracenote. The service does not count
MP3s or Web radio station in its analysis of listening habits; only CDs
listened to on a PC will be measured. Berkeley-based Gracenote said that
beta testers of the service include Warner Music, EMI, Sony Music, Arista
and TVT.
http://www.gracenote.com/press/
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6196599.html?tag=cd_mh
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> Digital Media Wire & socalTECH Present a Panel Discussion:
"Digital Asia: Recent Developments & New Business Opportunities"

Los Angeles | Wednesday, June 20th at the Wyndham Bel Age

SPONSORS:
Jones Day Reavis & Pogue, Loyola Marymount Int'l MBA in Media

This panel of executives, investors and professionals will discuss the
latest developments in digital media, with a focus on business
opportunities, strategies and ventures being created between the United
States and China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.
For more information and to register:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=14674&Referrer_id=4074

SPEAKERS:
Ravin Agrawal - Partner | EastWest VentureGroup
James Hsu - Attorney | Jones Day Reavis & Pogue
Stuart Levy - Co-Founder & CEO | TOKYOPOP
Beth Minehart - SVP Business Development | Universal Studios Television
***Additional panelists TBA***

MODERATOR:
Stephen Liu
Co-Founder & President | Reelplay, Founder & Chairman | APEX

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS:
Asian Business League, AINT, Asian Professional Exchange, Asia Society,
larta
_____________________________________________

> Digital Media Wire Presents a Panel Discussion:
"iTV: Defining the New Face of Television"

San Francisco | Wednesday, June 27th at The City Club

SPONSOR: UBS Warburg

This panel of players ranging from content developers to investment
bankers will discuss the new face of television, which will include an
amalgam of services like email, IPGs (interactive program guides), PVRs
(personal video recorders), enhanced TV, etc., and what it means for
Hollywood, the tech industry and most importantly, the consumer.
For more information and to register:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=14770&Referrer_id=4074

MODERATOR:
Michael Kline - Senior Manager | Deloitte Consulting

SPEAKERS:
David Higley - Exec. Director Technology Investment Banking | UBS Warburg
Bill Niemeyer - Director of Strategic Development | Spiderdance
Nicholas Wodtke - SVP Interactive Television | Sony Pictures Entertainment
***Additional panelists TBA***
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(Redwood City, Calif.) Canada-based JumpTV, which provides rebroadcasting
of live network TV programming online, announced on Tuesday that it will
use technology from Redwood City-based Quova to ensure that only Canadian
users can view the programs. Canadian copyright law currently permits the
retransmission of over-the-air TV signals. Quova's software identifies the
location of a user based on their IP address, a unique number assigned to
each computer that connects to the Internet.
http://www.jumptv.com
http://www.quova.com/pressrelease.cfm?ID=18

(San Francisco) Interactive television developer RespondTV announced on
Tuesday that it has partnered with House of Blues to create an interactive
live music TV channel. The channel will offer schedules for performances
at local venues, webcast schedules, online pre-sale ticket information and
other information. The service will not initially offer any live music,
but the company plans to offer pay-per-view concerts through interactive
television in the future. House of Blues currently offers pay-per-view
live webcasts and on-demand concerts on its website.
http://www.hob.com/business/publicity/pressreleases/010605respondtv.asp
http://www.respondtv.com

(San Jose, Calif.) RioPort, a provider of digital music distribution
services to retailers, said on Tuesday that it will distribute paid
downloads to retailer BestBuy.com. San Jose-based RioPort has deals with
all five major record labels to sell selected downloads of songs from
their artists to online retailers -- which, along with Best Buy -- also
include MTVi and House of Blues.
http://www.rioport.com/RioCorpPressReleases?article_id=1000561
http://www.bestbuy.com

(New York) Philips Consumer Electronics said on Tuesday that director
Martin Scorsese will help to educate consumers on the benefits of
widescreen television through a media campaign called "See What You've
Been Missing." Most movies are formatted to fit TV screens when shown on
television, in a process known as "pan and scan;" others are shown in the
shrunken "letterbox" format. "A director works painstakingly to set up a
shot or scene -- the whole meaning of which is lost when a film is cropped
or panned and scanned to fit a standard television screen," said Scorsese.
Philips, as well as several other companies, manufacture and sell the
widescreen televisions that eliminate the need for these processes when
viewing feature films.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010605/attu002.html
http://www.ce.philips.com

(Los Angeles) NT Media Corp., parent company of youth-oriented
entertainment site Neurotrash.com, said on Tuesday that it has signed a
distribution agreement with Yahoo to feature its content on the Yahoo
Broadcast site.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010605/latu026.html
http://www.ntmediacorp.com
http://www.neurotrash.com

(San Francisco) Salon.com featured an article on Tuesday that compares the
pros and cons for filmmakers using Apple's relatively inexpensive Final
Cut Pro rather than industry standard software and hardware produced by
Avid to edit their films. Apple acquired the Final Cut software and
development team in 1998 from Macromedia, the company that also developed
Flash and Shockwave.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/06/05/final_cut/index.html

(New York) The latest edition of Fortune magazine features an article
("Music Men Are Out Of Tune") that criticizes the digital music services
being created by the major labels -- MusicNet and Duet -- that will offer
fewer features and ask consumers to pay for them. "We gave content for
free to radio, free to MTV," senior vice president for new media at EMI
Recorded Music Jay Samit told Fortune. "We're not going to do that again."
http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=202774

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

> CCBN, New Media Designer - Boston

Designer needed to conceptualize, design and develop visual interfaces
utilizing user-centered design principles. Ideal candidate will be
detail-oriented, extremely organized, highly creative and aware of tight
deadlines. BA or BFA -or- 2-4+ yrs. exp. in related field. Proficiency in
Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, DreamWeaver, as well as graphic design
principles. Send resumes to: jobs@ccbn.com
http://www.ccbn.com
______________________

> Aleron, Product Manager - McLean, VA

The successful candidate will be responsible for defining, launching &
supporting Aleron's product suite of on-net and private line services, in
addition to interfacing with Engineering, Marketing Communications,
Finance & Sales groups, as well as vendors. Must have proven track record
in product mgmt., 3-5 yrs. exp. in telecommunications - preferably in
Internet, data and/or private line services.
Send resume to: resumes@aleron.com
http://www.aleron.com
______________________

> About.com, Director of Product Management - New York City

The ideal candidate will be responsible for managing product design,
planning, testing, documentation and implementation of company products
and sales integrations. This person will report to the SVP of Product
Development and will be managing a team of top notch dedicated HTML
Producers, Project Managers and Designers.
Send resume and cover letter to Kevin Donovan at kdonovan@about-inc.com
http://www.about.com
______________________

> Penthouse.com, Writer/Editor - New York City

PENTHOUSE.COM -- the official website of Penthouse Magazine -- is seeking
a full time copyeditor. An ideal candidate has strong writing and editing
skills, but more importantly loves to copyedit and work with text.
Experience with BBEdit, FTP, Web Editing etc. a major plus. This is a
great opportunity to make real contributions on a small, energetic
editorial staff.
Send resume to: editor@generalmedia.com
http://www.penthouse.com
______________________

> Screen Actors Guild, Web Producer - Los Angeles

Must have strong visual design skills and be able to work both
independently and as part of a team. Responsibilities will include but not
be limited to Web page creation (HTML), Graphic design / web graphics,
Information design / web architecture, Animation / Flash design, CGI
programming / Java script & Database front-end design. 3-5 years in web
design & scripting OR pertinent degree. Send resume and cover letter to:
jobs@sag.org
http://www.sag.org

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

> Wireless 2001, June 13-14 - New York City

PLATORMS * PARTNERSHIPS * CAPITAL: Wireless 2001 - NYC speakers include James Balsillie, RIM; Thomas Dolby Robertson, Beatnik; Ikuo Nishioka,
Mobile Internet Capital (Japan); and James Brailean, Packet Video. SAVE
$100: REGISTER ONLINE TODAY! Visit www.wireless2001.com/register.asp  and enter "EMKTRCOMB2" for an exclusive $100 discount.
http://www.wireless2001.com
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> Loyola Marymount University, International MBA in Media - Los Angeles

Loyola Marymount's International MBA in Media is a unique 1-year program
for individuals who are interested in the business aspect of the growing
entertainment and media industries. In cooperation with the Center for
Asian Business at LMU, this innovative program is offered through LMU's
famous College of Business Administration and the School of Film and
Television.
For more information, please visit: http://www.lmu.edu/acad/cab/immba/
______________________

Investing in Early Stage Deals, July 23-24 - Boston

With the dramatic changes and new developments affecting venture capital
investing, how are venture capitalists strategizing and doing business in
uncertain markets? Hear discussions from top industry leaders as they
explore the opportunities, as well as the pitfalls, of early stage
investing.
For more information, please email ipakoys@srinstitute.com
To register: http://www.srinstitute.com/cx375
______________________

> Tickets On-Sale for Sensory Circus, June 9 - Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Times calls Sensory Circus a "cool event" and the LA
Weekly says it will be a "Pick of the Week". Proceeds from the event
benefit non-profit, Red Road. To purchase tickets for the event, please
visit
http://www.acteva.com//booking.cfm?bevaID=14341
For more information about the event, please visit
http://www.sensorycircus.com
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