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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- August 2, 2000
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To Subscribe For Free: http://www.digitalmediawire.com
o Universal Acquisition of Rondor Partially Tied To Internet Strategy
o WSJ: Olympics Blocks Internet Broadcast of Summer Games
o Napster-Type Site For Video Games Gaining Popularity
o Unsigned Band "Red Delicious" Gains With Free Downloads
o Entertaindom.com Launches "15 Seconds of Fame" Show
o Briefly Noted: Spiderdance, CDNOW, Listen.com -
Trans Cosmos, SealedMedia, VoiceAnimations.com,
Gizmoz - FILMSPEED, Internet Underground Music Archive
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o Universal Acquisition of Rondor Partially Tied To Internet Strategy
Los Angeles -- Universal Music Group executives said Wednesday that their
decision to buy Rondor Music for $400 million is partly tied to
Universal's Internet strategy. Yesterday, Universal announced that it
would begin testing a new music downloading service that will allow
Internet users to download a limited number of Universal-owned songs from
various music web sites for a small fee. Company officials said today that
Rondor's collection may be integrated into the Internet strategy. "This
(acquisition) signifies the high value that Universal places on the
importance of songs and the Internet, which will provide more music to
more people and will afford those who have the rights to the songs all
sorts of new and exciting opportunities to generate revenues,'' Zach
Horowitz, president and chief operating officer of Universal Music, told
Reuters. Rondor has a catalogue of over 60,000 songs from artists
including Al Green and Tom Petty.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000802/n02634290.html
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o WSJ: Olympics Blocks Internet Broadcast of Summer Games
Syndey, Australia -- Today's Wall Street Journal reported that the
television companies broadcasting this summer's Olympic games have forced
Olympic organizers to ban all Internet broadcasts of the games. Because
traditional television broadcast rights account for more than half of the
Olympic Committee's operating budget, organizers have moved cautiously
into the digital arena, despite interest from a number of Internet
companies to broadcast certain parts of the games. The article said that
the International Olympic Committee asked international television
networks if they would approve of online broadcasts of the events; the
stations reportedly said they did not want such rights granted. "Bringing
the world together every two years, the Olympics seem ideally suited to a
global medium, such as the Web," the article said. "But television, with
its expensive contracts and extensive viewers, is omnipotent among the
five-ring crowd."
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o Napster-Type Site For Video Games Gaining Popularity
Philadelphia, Pa. -- CNET reported today that a site created last month
called RomNet, which allows users to exchange software copied from video
game cartridge chips in a similar manner as Napster, is gaining in
popularity. "While sites already exist from which people can download
games, RomNet offers the same sort of flea market ambience that Napster
brought to MP3 music files," the story said. "Instead of only being able
to find games at a central server, people can browse for games located on
any and all of the computers hooked into RomNet." The site was created by
Jeffrey Freeman, a 17-year-old programmer from Philadelphia. "Sure, it is
a concern that they may try to shut us down, despite the fact that we
don't permit piracy, but I am confident in the law and believe we will
prevail," Freeman said in the article.
http://yahoo.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-2417632.html?pt.yfin.cat_fin.txt.ne
http://romnet.zophar.net/
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o Unsigned Band "Red Delicious" Gains With Free Downloads
San Diego, Calif. -- MP3.com, a San Diego-based digital music storage and
delivery company, announced today that digital artist Red Delicious has
reached over 100,000 "listens" since the band first posted music on the
site in March of 1999. MP3.com officials said that Red Delicious, which
was named "Best Unsigned Band Online" at this year’s Yahoo Online Music
Awards, is a prime example of the marketing potential of online music.
MP3.com said the band receives compensation from the company's $1 million
per month "Payback for Playback" program that pays artists who allow their
songs to be downloaded.
http://www.MP3.com
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o Entertaindom.com Launches "15 Seconds of Fame" Show
Glendale, Calif. -- Entertaindom.com today launched a new online show
called, "15 Seconds of Fame" that will broadcast short 15-second video
clips on just about any topic. Rick Rockwell and Joey Buttafuoco will host
the show. Entertaindom.com said the submissions will not be permitted to
exceed 15 seconds in length and will include comedy, original songs,
poetry, animal tricks, or "whatever will attract the attention of the web
audience." The various submissions will be judged, with winners receiving
prizes and cash.
http://www.entertaindom.com
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o Briefly Noted:
(Los Angeles, Calif.) Spiderdance, Inc., a developer of content delivery
technology, announced today that it has recieved $3 million in financing
from Comdisco Ventures. LA-based Spiderdance said it develops technology
to deliver interactive content and advertising over the Internet. Its
content tightly integrates with TV broadcasts. The company said the
funding will allow it to build an interactive TV studio.
http://www.spiderdance.com/
(Ft. Washington, Pa.) CDNOW, the struggling online music retailer that was
recently acquired by Bertelsmann, announced today the launch of a
streaming media service called CDNOW Radio. The radio service will include
14 different channels targeted at different demographic or "psychographic"
markets.
http://www.cdnow.com/radio
(San Francisco, Calif.) Listen.com, a San Francisco-based online music
guide, and Trans Cosmos, Inc., a Japanese venture capital firm, today
launched Listen Japan KK, a directory service for legal online music in
Japan. The service features links for downloading streaming audio and
video from a variety of artists. Japan is expected to have nearly 26
million Internet users by the end of this year, making it second only to
the United States in total Internet users. "The Japanese people have
always been enthusiastic consumers of all kinds of music," said Rob Reid,
founder of Listen.com. "We look forward to the quick growth of Japanese
music content online."
http://www.listen.com
(San Francisco, Calif.) SealedMedia, a San Francisco-based provider of
applications for securely packaging and selling multimedia content, today
was chosen to provide its service to Peermusic’s Digitalpressure.com. "As
our industry moves to a digital marketplace, we want to be sure all the
right protections are in place, for both consumers of our music and the
artists and composers who create it," said Jonathan Kehl,
Digitalpressure’s vice-president of development.
http://www.digitalpressure.com
http://www.sealedmedia.com
(Santa Clara, Calif.) MessageBay Inc. announced today the launch of
VoiceAnimations.com, a new site that demonstrates the company's software
that "instantly lip-synchs a user's voice with an animated character."
http://www.voiceanimations.com/
(New York) Gizmoz, Inc., a New York-based content distribution company,
and FILMSPEED, a Venice-based online syndicator of Hollywood film content,
today announced an agreement for FILMSPEED to use Gizmoz’ viral marketing
program to deliver feature film content on the web.
http://www.gizmoz.com
http://www.filmspeed.com
(Redwood City, Calif.) The Internet Underground Music Archive, a musician
community on the Internet that merged with EMusic.com last year, has
announced a partnership with idealive to fund the production and
development of music from unsigned artists. San Francisco-based idealive
is an online marketplace for investing in the arts and entertainment.
Under the deal, idealive investors will have early access to IUMA artists.
http://www.idealive.com
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