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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- August 4, 2000
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o National Writers Union and Contentville Reach Royalty Agreement
o Paul McCartney Invests In Magex
o Universal Begins Download Trial At $1.99 Per Song
o Disney Internet Group Buys Remaining Stake of Soccernet
o Online Ad Company Advertising.com Raises $57 Million
o Briefly Noted: GlobalMedia.com, Go.com – The Disney Internet Group,
Soapbox.com, Media Metrix – Napster, Lizard Music
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o National Writers Union and Contentville Reach Royalty Agreement
New York -- The National Writers Union, a union of freelance writers, and
Contentville.com, a new website selling a wide range of published material
online, have reached an agreement to compensate writers for works that are
downloaded from the site. New York-based Contentville, which has received
$120 million in backing from CBS, NBC and Primedia, provides downloadable
magazine archives, legal documents, doctoral dissertations, speeches,
screenplays and other material. The company was founded by Steven Brill,
the publisher of Brill’s Content magazine. The two parties said the
agreement is the first contract of its kind between a major Internet site
and the National Writers Union. Under the deal, writers will receive about
30% of the price paid by consumers for the download of their works.
http://www.nwu.org/
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o Paul McCartney Invests In Magex
London -- Magex, a developer of online payment services for Internet
content, said today that Paul McCartney has made an investment in the
company. The amount of the investment was not disclosed. The company,
which provides Internet companies with transactional services for online
content, also announced that it would move its headquarters to New York
City from London. In April, Magex raised $80 million in private equity
funding. The company’s CEO is W. Patrick Campbell, the former president of
Columbia/Tristar Pictures Home Video unit. Magex’s technology is currently
being used by Universal Music Group’s downloadable music program.
http://www.magex.com/resource_centre/press/press_individual_release.asp?ID=1536
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o Universal Begins Download Trial At $1.99 Per Song
Los Angeles – Universal Music Group officially began its foray into online
distribution on Friday as a number of web sites began offering downloads
of 60 songs from Universal’s library for $1.99 per download. Lycos.com was
one of the first web sites to sell the Universal downloads, offering songs
from artists such as George Benson and Luciano Pavarotti. A Red Herring
article on Friday noted that there is skepticism in the music industry
about whether consumers will be willing to pay for downloaded music from
Universal and EMI, which is launching a similar program. “There’s a big
problem,” the article said. “All the songs Universal and EMI are selling
online are available free through Napster.” Universal executives have said
that the download program is a trial initiative to gauge interest from
Internet users. Other major record companies have hinted that they will
begin a digital download program later in the year.
http://music.lycos.com/mp3/premium/tracks.asp
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o Disney Internet Group Buys Remaining Stake of Soccernet
Los Angeles -- As part of an international expansion strategy for
ESPN.com, Walt Disney’s Internet Group, formerly called GO.com, announced
late Thursday that it would acquire the remaining 40% stake in Soccernet.
Disney said it will purchase the remaining stock from The Daily Mail and
General Trust. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Soccernet focuses on soccer in Europe.
http://www.soccernet.com/
http://www.go.com
http://www.espn.com
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o Online Ad Company Advertising.com Raises $57 Million
Baltimore, Md. -- Baltimore-based Advertising.com, a start-up company
providing advertising services on the Internet, said today that it has
received $57 million in venture capital. The round was led by Reuters
Group, and also included America Online, WPP Group, WorldCom Venture Fund,
Grotech Capital Group, New Enterprise Associates, Blue Chip Venture
Capital, Wheatley Partners, Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity and
Access Technology Partners. Advertising.com, which changed its name from
TeknoSurf.com earlier in the year, focuses on Internet-based advertising
services and is developing technologies for delivering advertisements over
wireless devices.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,17329,00.html
http://www.advertising.com/
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o Briefly Noted:
(Vancouver, BC) GlobalMedia.com, a Vancouver-based Internet broadcasting
company, today announced that it has purchased certain assets from
Magnitude Networks, a subsidiary of iCast Inc, for $6 million. Magnitude
Networks is an online media and streaming application provider for
broadcasters.
http://www.globalmedia.com
http://www.icast.com
(Los Angles, CA) GO.com, Inc., the Internet division of the Walt Disney
Company, changed its name this week to The Disney Internet Group.
http://www.go.com
(Alexandria, Va.) The Motley Fool, a leading personal finance site, has
launched Soapbox.com, an online marketplace for financial information
aimed at opening up the financial research market to new players outside
of the major securities firms. The site allows individuals to write their
own in-depth financial or stock reports and sell them online.
http://www.soapbox.com/
(San Francisco, CA) According to a Media Metrix report issued today, more
Internet users visited Napster.com last week than Amazon.com. While Media
Metrix only calculated 4.7 million visitors for the Napster site in the
month of June -- compared to Napster’s own estimate of over 20 million
visitors -- Napster climbed from the 31st most visited site to the 19th
most visited site. Most analysts attributed the jump to the media
attention focused on Napster last week. “It’s like a clearance sale.
Everybody wanted a good deal while it was occurring,” said Bruce Ryon,
senior vice president at Media Metrix.
http://www.mediametrix.com
http://yahoo.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2429238.html?pt.yfin.cat_fin.txt.ne
(San Francisco, CA) Lizard Music, Inc., a San Francisco-based online site
for independent musicians and fans, said today that it will launch its
service on September 1. The company said it is currently registering
independent musicians for its site.
http://www.LizardMusic.com
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