archives

o Film Industry Files Suit Against Scour Inc.
o Bertelsmann Acquires CDNow For $117 Million
o Stephen King To Post Book Online Using "Honor System"
o Musicblitz Records, Wailing Souls To Support Trench Town Group
o Briefly Noted: The Harvey Entertainment Company, Mediadome,
RollingStone.com – RadioWave.com, Playboy.com, Sony,
Microsoft games, Sega, PlanetHollywood.com, Online Music Usage,
eMotion, eMarker.com, Weave Innovations, Medium4.com,
CastPro.com, Television.com, Tickets.com
_____________________________________________

o Film Industry Files Suit Against Scour Inc.

New York -- The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) today filed
suit against Scour Inc., a developer of a popular file-sharing site that
allows users to trade video files. Scour Exchange works much like Napster,
allowing individuals to trade audio and video files from their hard drive.
The MPAA, along with other leading entertainment industry organizations,
alleged that the web site facilitates the violation of studios’
copyrights. "This isn't a debate about the value of technology. It's about
stealing," said Jack Valenti, CEO of the MPAA. Scour, which is partially
owned by Michael Ovitz, responded in a statement: "We're very surprised
about this morning's MPAA and RIAA lawsuit, given our productive
conversations just this week with Sony, Warner and BMG regarding
establishing business relationships with these companies."
http://yahoo.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2302214.html?pt.yfin.cat_fin.txt.ne  
http://www.scour.com/ 
_____________________________________________

o Bertelsmann Acquires CDNow For $117 Million

New York -- German media group Bertelsmann announced today that it will
acquire struggling online retailer CDNow for $117 million. CDNow has faced
major cash flow problems since its proposed merger with Columbia House --
owned by Time Warner and Sony -- fell through in the spring. Since then,
CDNow has actively sought a buyer or a cash infusion. Once the deal with
Bertelsmann is complete, CDNow will become a subsidiary of Bertelsmann’s
electronic commerce group. Despite lofty predictions that it would
revolutionize the distribution of music over the Internet, in the end,
CDNow faced an extremely competitive market with slim profit margins.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ms/000720/2342.html 
_____________________________________________

o Stephen King To Post Book Online Using “Honor System”

Portland, Me -- Stephen King plans to begin an experiment in online
publishing next week when he posts the first installment of his newest
book on his web site. He will then ask readers to pay through the honor
system. Installments of "The Plant" will be posted on stephenking.com
beginning on Monday. In a letter on his site, King promises to post at
least two of the three installments of the book online. He wrote that if
at least 75% of the people who download the book pay for it, then he will
post the final installment. "Remember: Pay and the story rolls. Steal and
the story folds," King wrote on the site. "This ain't Napster. Take what
you want...and pay for it."
http://www.stephenking.com/download.html 
_____________________________________________

o Musicblitz, Wailing Souls To Support Trench Town Organization

Los Angeles -- Musicblitz Records today said it will work with the Wailing
Souls, a band it represents, to support the Trench Town Development
Association. The organization supports development programs in inner-city
Trench Town, Jamaica. The Wailing Souls said they will give a portion of
their profits from their new album, Equality, to the Trench Town
Development Association. Los Angeles-based Musicblitz said it will make a
donation each time a Wailing Souls song is downloaded from its website.
The label said users may download the band’s song at no charge.
http://www.musicblitz.com 
http://www.reggaeblitz.com 
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(Los Angeles) The Harvey Entertainment Company, a diversified
entertainment company, and Brilliant Digital, a digital content creator,
have announced an agreement to produce “webisodes” with the Casper The
Friendly Ghost character. The agreement gives Brilliant the online
production rights to at least 13 web shows with the Casper character.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000720/ca_harvey_.html  

(Santa Clara, CA) Mediadome, a provider of online digital content,
announced the launch of its first product, an application that integrates
traditional music players with Internet browsers. Santa Clara-based
Mediadome said it has received funding from Intel, Superscape and other
investors.
http://www.mediadome.com 

(Chicago) RollingStone.com and Chicago-based RadioWave.com, an
entertainment services company, today announced an agreement to create
music channels on RollingStone.com. Under the deal, the two companies will
create over 20 online music channels. RollingStone.com Radio is expected
to launch in late August.
http://www.radiowave.com 

(Chicago) Playboy.com today named Lawrence Lux as its new president. He
will replace Kevin Mayer, who "decided to leave to pursue other
opportunities." Lux is a former CEO of Sudden Industries, a digital
studio, and Pseudo Programs, a creator of online programs. For 12 years,
Lux worked at National Geographic Interactive.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000720/il_playboy.html 

(Los Angeles) CNET reported today that Sony Electronics is planning to
launch its own Internet access service in the fall. CNET also reported
that Sony is partnering with Listen.com to provide music down loads for a
new site called Sony Music Club.
http://yahoo.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2302846.html?pt.yfin.cat_fin.txt.ne 

(New York) Microsoft announced today a deal with a new start-up company
founded by Peter Tamte to convert Microsoft games to the Macintosh
platform. Tamte previously founded MacSoft, a well-know Macintosh game
developer. The name of Tamte’s new start-up company has not been released.
http://www.maccentral.com/news/0007/20.tamte.shtml 

(San Francisco) In an effort to block the counterfeiting of its video
games, Sega of America announced today that it has shut down more than 60
web sites and 125 auction sites that sold illegal copies of its games.
Sega said it is working with Yahoo!, Lycos, Excite, eBay, and Amazon on
anti-piracy measures.
http://www.sega.com  

(New York) Bruce Willis, a partial-owner of the Planet Hollywood
restaurant chain, today launched Planethollywood.com, an entertainment
site that focuses on Hollywood.  Planethollywood.com will offer live
celebrity chats, footage of celebrity events, merchandise, and news.
http://www.Planethollywood.com 

(New York) The number of adults accessing music online grew by 48% from
December 1999 to March 2000, according to a study by New York-based Cyber
Dialogue. According to the study, the media attention given to companies
such as Napster and MP3.com was partially responsible for the growth.

(Vienna, Va.) Virginia-based eMotion, a digital media management company,
announced today that its footage.net division, a library of online video,
was among the most highly rated "footage" web sites tracked by Alexa
Internet.
http://www.footage.net 
http://www.emotion.com 

(San Francisco, Ca.) Sony Electronics today announced the creation of an
Internet division, called eMarker.com. Sony said the first application of
San Francisco-based eMarker.com will allow users to "bookmark" favorite
songs from online radio sites and then purchase the corresponding CD
later. Sony said eMarker will also be used to monitor airplay data for
over 1,000 radio stations across the U.S.
http://www.emarker.com/ 

(Santa Clara) Weave Innovations, Inc., a Santa Clara-based Internet
product and design company, announced an agreement today with
Seattle-based Getty Images, an online provider of pictures. Under the
deal, Getty Images said it will provide images of some of the world’s most
famous paintings to
Weave’s Storybox Network. 
http://www.storybox.com 
http://www.gettyimages.com 

(New York) New York-based Medium4.com, Inc., a company that offers
Internet-based television, today announced an agreement with El Sitio,
Inc., an Internet media company providing content aimed at Latin America.
Under the terms of the deal, Medium4.com will provide streaming video from
its Medium4Latino network to El Sitio.
http://www.medium4.com 
http://www.elsitio.com 

(Los Angeles, Ca.) Los Angeles-based CastPro.com, a company that develops
live webcasts, today announced that it has been approved to list its stock
on the OTC Bulletin Board. The company also announced a three-for-one
stock split.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000720/ca_castpro.html 
http://www.castpro.com 

(Santa Monica) Santa Monica-based Television.com announced today that it
will launch on August 16. Television.com said the site will feature
original programming including "In Bed with Rob Nelson," hosted by Fox
News political commentator Rob Nelson.
http://www.television.com 

(Costa Mesa, CA) As part of its movement into the motor sports market,
Costa Mesa-based Tickets.com announced today that it has reached an
exclusive ticket-selling partnership with Pikes Peak International
Raceway. Tickets.com has locked up ticket selling deals with a number of
race tracks, including California Speedway, Daytona International
Speedway, and others. Tickets.com has seen its stock price drop by nearly
90% since going public last year.
http://www.tickets.com 
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