archives

o Universal Music Group To Test Digital Download Service
o Sony, DoCoMo To Start Wireless Video Game Service
o NBC, Tribune Company To Invest In Online Broadcaster The FeedRoom
o Reuters: eMusic In Talks With Napster
o Briefly Noted: Venture Capital - Napster Case,
"Red Herring/Hollywood Reporter Report," SpeechWorks,
VOD, Showtime Networks - "Starship Regulars,"
Entertaindom, "Metal Search 2000," iPublish,
CNET Asia, Macromedia University, AOL Moviefone,
MTVi - Madonna
_____________________________________________

o Universal Music Group To Test Digital Download Service

New York -- After years of bucking Internet distribution, Universal Music
Group announced Tuesday that it will soon begin offering customers the
option of purchasing songs in a digital format over the Internet.
Universal said it will begin offering the digital download on a trial
basis this week with about 50 songs from artists ranging from George
Benson to Luciano Pavarotti to Smash Mouth. The songs will be available at
various online music sites including ARTISTdirect, audiohighway.com,
Excite@Home, LAUNCH.com, Lycos Music, Music.com, and RollingStone.com.
"Gaining insight into consumer preferences for accessing and enjoying
legitimate digital music is an important first step in being able to
develop other new and compelling products," said Heather Myers, an
executive in charge of the digital download program.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000801/ny_univera_2.html
_____________________________________________

o Sony, DoCoMo To Start Wireless Video Game Service

Tokyo -- Sony Corp. and NTT DoCoMo said Tuesday that they will form a
partnership to allow Japanese users of DoCoMo's wireless-Internet phones
to play Sony video games. The service would link wireless users to Sony's
Playstation video game sets. The companies said they have not decided
which Playstation games will be made available for wireless use. Sony did
not say whether the service will be made available outside of Japan in the
near future.
http://yahoo.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-2405702.html?pt.yfin.cat_fin.txt.ne
_____________________________________________

o NBC, Tribune Company To Invest In The FeedRoom

New York -- CNET reported today that NBC and the Tribune Co. have agreed
to make their broadcast feeds available to The FeedRoom, an online news
service expected to launch later this month. NBC and the Tribune Co. also
are part of a group that invested $30 million in New York-based The
FeedRoom. Under the terms of the new agreement, NBC and the Tribune Co.
will make video available for The FeedRoom to broadcast on its web site.
Peter Lund, former CEO of CBS Television, is the head of the start-up
company.
http://www.thefeedroom.com/
_____________________________________________

o Reuters: eMusic In Talks With Napster

New York -- Reuters reported yesterday that online music company
eMusic.com Inc. was in discussions last week with Napster Inc., over
possible co-marketing and other partnership possibilities. The talks were
reportedly complicated by Friday's appellate court ruling that allows
Napster to remain in operation during the appeals process. "There have
been some very preliminary discussions between eMusic and Napster,'' an
eMusic spokesman told Reuters. "We have been looking at things like
business development deals and possible co-marketing arrangements.'' Last
week, Gene Hoffman, CEO of eMusic, told analysts that his company would be
interested in a number of Napster's assets, including its user lists and
its e-mail lists.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000731/wr/napster_emusic_dc_2.html
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted: 

(Los Angeles) Dbusiness reported today that many venture capital firms are
avoiding investing in any "Napster-type" start-ups because of fear of
potential legal problems. "You're flying in the face of the powers that
be," the article quoted Gene Lowenthal, a partner in Sanchez Capital
Partners in Austin, as saying. "Investing is tough enough. So why deal
with those (legal) issues?"
http://www.dbusiness.com/Story/0,1118,WAS_278002,00.html

(Los Angeles, CA) According to the "Red Herring/Hollywood Reporter Report
on Convergence in Hollywood," three out of four film and television
producers believe that copyrights can be protected on the Internet,
despite the threat of online piracy. While the "creative elite feel
copyrights will be protected online, the underlying message was that they
simply must be, in order for the industry to further embrace digital
media,” said Robert J. Dowling, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter.
http://www.redherring.com/industries/2000/0801/ind-survey080100.html

(New York) SpeechWorks International Inc., a company developing
speech-recognition software, saw its share price climb by over 180% on
Tuesday after its initial public offering. The company's stock price
closed at $56.75.
http://yahoo.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-2410108.html?pt.yfin.cat_fin.txt.ne

(Los Angeles) A Red Herring article today casts doubts on the popularity
of video on demand service (VOD). The article said the traditional video
rental companies such as Blockbuster have continued to see their sales
grow despite predictions that VOD would cut into their revenue. "VOD
trials are dribbling out in places like Cincinnati, Honolulu, Atlanta, and
Los Angeles. Well under 50,000 homes actually use the services," the
article said. "Meanwhile, pay-per-view movies, which rack up slightly more
than $1 billion in revenue every year, have failed to put much of a dent
in Blockbuster's bottom line, as the company garnered $4 billion in movie
rentals and sales in 1999."
http://www.redherring.com/industries/2000/0801/ind-video080100.html?id=yahoo

(New York) Showtime Networks, Inc. today announced that it has licensed
"Starship Regulars," a comedy series from Icebox.com, an online
entertainment site.  The companies said that "Starship Regulars," is the
first online series that was produced for the Internet and then migrated
to a major television network. "Starship Regulars" will appear as a
half-hour series on Showtime.
http://www.showtime.net
http://www.icebox.com

(Glendale, CA)  Entertaindom, the online entertainment network of Warner
Bros., today launched “Li’l Green Men”, a web-based 3-D animated series.
"Li’l Green Men" was developed by Pulse Entertainment, a San
Francisco-based developer of applications for Internet-based 3D animation.
 The series highlights the adventures of two one-inch alien scouts looking
for Earth’s weaknesses.
http://www.entertaindom.com/pulsecomix
http://www.wb.com

(San Diego, CA)  MP3.com, Inc. and Metal Blade Records, a heavy metal
record label, today announced the launch of "Metal Search 2000," an online
contest rewarding a "digital artist" with a recording contract. The
contest will begin accepting submissions posted to the MP3.com site in
September.
http://www.mp3.com
http://www.metalblade.com

(New York) iPublish.com, Time Warner Books' recently launched electronic
publishing division, today unveiled its first list of monthly book
releases, including titles by Nelson DeMille, David Baldacci, and Nicholas
Sparks. These titles will be available for purchase in September.
http://www.ipublish.com

(Mumbai, India)  CNET Asia, a joint venture between San Francisco-based
CNET Networks, Inc., a provider of technology information, and
Asiacontent.com, a producer of online content and media properties, today
launched India.CNET.com. The National Association of Software and Service
Companies (NASSCOM) estimates that India’s Internet population will grow
from its current 4 million to 23 million by 2003.
http://www.cnet.com
http://www.asiacontent.com

(San Francisco) Macromedia, Inc. and Element K, a provider of corporate
online education, today announced the launch of "Macromedia University."
The companies said the site will help users "master" Macromedia products.
http://macromedia.elementk.com/

(New York) AOL Moviefone today announced that twice as many moviegoers
used Moviefone.com during June of this year than compared to the same time
a year ago. The company said that Moviefone.com was the number one movie
site during the month of June based on statistics from Media Metrix.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000801/ny_aol_mov.html

(New York) MTVi announced today that its MTV.com, VH1.com, and
Sonicnet.com web sites will feature Madonna’s new single, "Music," on
Wednesday.  All three sites will provide re-mixes of the single and allow
users to download the single until August 16, 2000.
http://www.MTV.com
http://www.VH1.com
http://www.Sonicnet.com
____________________

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