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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- September 19, 2000
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o Forrester: Record Labels, Publishers Will Lose Sales To Digital Media
o RIAA Report Reveals Sharp Increase in Copyright Violations
o Online Programming Guide Yack.com Raises $10.2 Million
o OracleMoblie and ScreamingMedia Partner For Wireless Distribution
o DBOTV.com Launches Interactive Entertainment Site
o MP3.com To Translate Site For European Market
o Briefly Noted: Urbanfetch.com, Supertracks, Listen.com - WiredPlanet,
Britannica.com - Dennis Miller, RIAA, Juno - iEntertainment Network,
Kids in the Hall - Comedy World, Two Way TV - BBC  
_____________________________________________

o Forrester: Record Labels, Book Publishers Will Lose Big to Digital Media

Cambridge, Mass. -- In an ominous report for traditional media companies,
Forrester Research forecasted today that record labels will lose $3.1
billion -- and the publishing industry $1.5 billion -- to the digital
media industry by 2005. In a report released report today, Forrester
predicted that entertainment industry efforts to reduce piracy through
lawsuits and digital rights management will fail, and control of the
distribution of content will shift more back into the hands of musicians
and authors. "It only takes one person to break down the security barriers
and share content on the Net," said Eric Scheirer, an analyst at
Forrester. "Lawsuits will only succeed in driving consumers to underground
Internet services like Gnutella and Freenet." The report said the film
industry can avoid potential losses by developing video-on-demand services
that would preempt file sharing of video. Forrester estimated that digital
distribution will allow musicians to gain $1 billion, authors $1.3
billion, and third-party service companies $2.8 billion over the next five
years.
http://www.forrester.com/ER/Press/Release/0,1769,397,FF.html
_____________________________________________

o RIAA Report Reveals Sharp Increase in Copyright Violations

Washington, DC -- A mid-year report by the Recording Industry Association
of America (RIAA) released today showed that the organization has
increased the number of warning notices sent to Internet sites that link
to copyrighted material. The organization also said that it is
increasingly focusing its enforcement and educational initiatives on
college campuses. The report said that the number of commercial sites in
the U.S. that received notices that they were in violation of federal
copyright law increased by 200 percent over the last year. The RIAA said
that it is has grown its anti-piracy campaign, called Soundbyting, from 10
to 350 universities over the last two years. Reuters reported on Monday
that the RIAA helped Oklahoma police arrest an Oklahoma State University
student who allegedly had over 1,000 illegal music files on his computer.
Campus authorities seized the student's computer and CD recorder. The
student may face felony charges for copyright infringement.
http://www.riaa.org/PR_Story.cfm?id=331
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,38863,00.html 
_____________________________________________

o Online Programming Guide Yack.com Raises $10.2 Million

New York -- Online programming guide Yack.com announced today that it has
raised $10.2 million in its third round of venture capital financing. The
investment round was led by Trans Cosmos USA; other investors included the
Mayfield Fund, Waterview Partners, Blue Chip Ventures, Infinity Capital,
and Weiss, Peck and Greer Venture Partners.  New York-based Yack.com
provides an online listing of live webcasts and celebrity chats. Last
week, Yack.com announced the creation of Yacksters.com, a web site for
teen-related content that is part of the company's strategy to provide
more specialized guides.
http://pst.yack.com/editorial/company/yack_press_35.html
http://www.yack.com
_____________________________________________

o OracleMoblie and ScreamingMedia Partner For Wireless Distribution

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- OracleMobile, the wireless division of Oracle
Corp., and ScreamingMedia, a provider of syndicated Internet content,
announced today that they are partnering to develop wireless services for
web sites and content providers. The companies said that The Industry
Standard will be the service's first customer. New York-based
ScreamingMedia syndicates content in a variety of formats to thousands of
web sites.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000919/ca_orcl_sc_5.html
http://www.screamingmedia.com
http://www.thestandard.com
_____________________________________________

o DBOTV.com Launches Interactive Entertainment Site

Hollywood -- Digital Box Office, a start-up company, announced today the
launch of its interactive entertainment site called DBOTV.com. The
Hollywood-based company said the site will offer comedy, news, sports,
music, talk and reality-based interactive entertainment targeted at 18- to
34-year-olds. Frank Bigham, president of DBOTV.com, said Digital Box
Office, which is privately funded, is currently seeking investors for its
first round of funding. Bigham also said that the company is currently in
talks with Dunk.net and Los Angeles Laker Shaquille O'Neal for possible
programming and content syndication deals. Other talent signed on with
DBOTV.com includes Joseph Guinan, a former reporter for CNN.
http://www.dbotv.com
_____________________________________________

o MP3.com To Translate Site For European Market

Paris -- MP3.com said it will translate its web-based directory of
downloadable music into French, German and Spanish; currently the website
is only available in English. Michael Robertson, CEO of MP3.com, said the
move is part of an initiative to target the service to European users.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000918/bs/mp3_europe_1.html
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(New York) New York-based Urbanfetch.com, an Internet home-delivery
retailer, today said it has discontinued its movie rental service, saying
it was unprofitable. Urbanfetch said in a statement that movie rentals
comprised less than 5 percent of its business. The company recently
instituted a $10 minimum on orders.
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/419347l.htm

http://www.urbanfetch.com

(Portland, Ore.) CNET reported today that Supertracks, a provider of
secure online music distribution services, has laid off 40 employees,
which represents about a third of its work force. "The music industry
isn't moving as quickly as we had expected" to embrace online music
distribution, said spokesperson Kelly Stremel in the article. In March,
Portland-based Supertracks announced that it raised $18 million in venture
capital from Mohr Davidow Ventures, Entertainment Media Ventures and Craig
Berkman. EMI is currently using Supertrack's music distribution software.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2817796.html?tag=st.ne.1005.thed.ni

(San Francisco) Listen.com, a company known primarily for providing a
directory of links to downloadable music on the Internet, today announced
that it has acquired audio streaming company WiredPlanet. Terms of the
deal were not disclosed. The acquisition will allow listen.com to provide
users with streamed music on its site, in addition to pointing users to
other locations.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,38883,00.html
http://www.listen.com
http://wiredplanet.com

(Chicago) Britannica.com, the online version of the encyclopedia company,
is providing a weekly interpretation of the obscure references in comedian
Dennis Miller's Monday Night Football commentary. Today's edition of "The
Annotated Dennis Miller" contains explanations and interpretations of
references Miller made during last night's broadcast to Dante's Inferno
and to Bruce Ismay, the head of White Star Line, a 100-year-old cruise
ship company.
http://www.britannica.com

(Los Angeles) "The Digital Distribution and the Music Industry USA 2000"
conference will be held from Sept. 20 to 22 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
http://www.ddmiglobal.com

(Washington, DC) The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
announced that Bruce Block has been named its new senior vice president of
technology. Block's previous position was CTO of MusicMaker.com, which
sold custom CDs online. The RIAA said that Block will be responsible for
supporting technology that protects musical property rights of artists,
songwriters, publishers and labels.
http://www.riaa.org/PR_Story.cfm?id=329

(Research Triangle Park, N.C.) Juno Online Services, an Internet service
provider, and iEntertainment Network, a provider of online entertainment
content, today announced that they will partner to create an online gaming
site. Juno and iEN said they will share the revenue generated by the
games, which will be supported by advertising. The games will be available
on Juno's homepage, which is viewed by Juno's 3.38 million subscribers.
http://www.juno.com/corp/news/ient.html
http://www.ient.com

(Los Angeles) Comedy World, an online comedy site, today premiered a new
animated and live action series created by The Kids in the Hall, a
Canadian comedy group. The site also launched a series created by Eddie
Griffin, from the television show "Malcolm and Eddie."
http://www.comedyworld.com/about/?tab_sel=press

(London) London-based Two Way TV said it will create interactive games for
digital television in conjunction with BBC Worldwide. The games will be
created for popular British shows including "Mastermind" and "Antiques
Roadshow." Viewers will be able to participate using a special remote
control created by Two Way TV. The company's games will be compatible with
OpenTV, MicrosoftTV, Liberate, and other interactive television services.
http://www.twowaytv.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk
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