archives

 events
 about us
 resources
 privacy
 news tips
 contact us
 home

Sign up for our free daily email briefing

Past Editions

===================================================
DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- October 31, 2000
===================================================
To Subscribe For Free: http://www.digitalmediawire.com

o Napster and Bertelsmann Form Strategic Alliance For File-Sharing
o Study Shows Napster Users Eventually Buy Less Music Online
o Manager of AOL Music's Spinner/Nullsoft Division Leaves Position
o Audience Management Technology Developer Reliacast Raises $35 Million
o CBS and Women.com To Co-Produce Segments For "The Early Show"
> Digital Media Wire Networking Event - Los Angeles
o Briefly Noted: "eMediatainment World," LicenseMusic.com - Milan
Entertainment, ActiveSky, RealNetworks - Virgin Records, Cox Radio
Interactive, Wild Brain - SCIFI.com, "Keeping Your Streaming Assets Safe,"
CNET Networks - Consumer Reports, IUMA - Speedera, "e-Book World"
_____________________________________________

o Napster and Bertelsmann Form Strategic Alliance For File-Sharing

Los Angeles -- Bertelsmann AG announced on Tuesday that it has formed a
strategic alliance with Napster, the start-up file-sharing service engaged
in a bitter lawsuit with the recording industry. The agreement will create
a paid, membership-based service for the sharing of songs from
Bertelsmann's BMG label. Bertelsmann said that the alliance would allow it
to use Napster's technology and user base of 38 million members to
distribute music in a manner that does not violate copyrights. In a
response to the announcement, Recording Industry Association of America
CEO Hillary Rosen said, "Today’s announcement of a strategic alliance
between Napster and Bertelsmann AG makes clear that Napster has come to
the same conclusion we have been urging from the start: that it is better
to work with the creative community than against it." Under the deal,
Bertelsmann said it will provide a loan to Napster to help build the new
service; Bertelsmann's music division BMG announced that it will withdraw
its lawsuit against Napster once the company successfully launches the new
membership-based service. Bertelsmann also encouraged other record
companies to join the service. "We invite other record and publishing
companies, artists and other industry members to participate in the
development of a secure and membership-based service," said Thomas
Middelhoff, CEO of Bertelsmann. Inside.com's coverage of the story
includes a memo from Middlehoff to employees about the deal. CNET provides
legal commentary from several attorneys on what effect the deal will have
on the major labels' pending lawsuit against Napster.
http://www.bertelsmann.com/press/press_item.cfm?id=2461
http://www.riaa.org/PR_story.cfm?id=346
http://www.inside.com/story/Story_Cached/0,2770,13357_9_12_1,00.html
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-3348061.html
_____________________________________________

o Study Shows Napster Users Eventually Buy Less Music Online

Reston, Va. -- Users of music file-swapping service Napster buy less music
from online stores than non-Napster users as they become more adept at
downloading music from the Internet, according to a study issued by PC
Data Online on Tuesday. The study said that online buying at web sites
such as cdnow.com remains the same after initially downloading the
software, but 90 days later -- as users become accustomed to Napster --
online buying plummets. However, the study also found that Napster users'
visits to online stores actually increased -- often, users will simply
visit online stores to look up album track lists, because Napster users
cannot get entire albums in a single download. "Apparently Napster users
visit online retailers to get information about music, and then use
Napster to download the music free of charge," said Ann Stephens, CEO of
PC Data. "Portable MP3 players and recordable CD-ROMs are simply too easy
and too cost efficient not to use."
http://www.pcdataonline.com
_____________________________________________

o Manager of AOL Music's Spinner/Nullsoft Division Leaves Position

New York -- Josh Felser, the general manager of America Online's
Spinner/Nullsoft music division, has left his position, The Wall Street
Journal reported on Tuesday. Felser was hired in December to handle music
programming and artist relations for the sometimes-controversial AOL
division. Since AOL's acquisition of Nullsoft last year, the company has
dealt with the unauthorized release and subsequent hasty removal of
Gnutella, a file-sharing program similar to Napster, by its programmers.
Spinner/Nullsoft released a controversial search engine, also subsequently
removed, that let users search for files including copyrighted MP3s on the
web. Felser was president of Spinner.com before its acquisition by AOL. He
will be succeeded by Chris Douridas, a former host of Los Angeles' KCRW-FM
music program "Morning Becomes Eclectic."
http://www.nullsoft.com
_____________________________________________

o Audience Management Technology Developer Reliacast Raises $35 Million

Herndon, Va. -- Reliacast, a developer of audience management technology
for live webcasting, announced that it has raised $35 million in its third
round of venture capital financing. SCP Private Equity and Generation
Partners led the round; Sun Microsystems, Viridian Capital Partners, Main
Street Advisors, Thomas Weisel Partners, executives of Thomas H. Lee & Co.
and First Union Capital Partners also contributed. Virginia-based
Reliacast develops software that allows businesses to measure, manage,
control, bill and scale mass audience events on the web, such as live
webcasts.
http://www.reliacast.com
_____________________________________________

o CBS and Women.com To Co-Produce Segments For "The Early Show"

San Mateo, Calif. -- Women.com, an entertainment and community site,
announced on Tuesday a partnership with CBS Broadcasting. Under the
arrangement, CBS News New York and Women.com will jointly produce and
market segments of CBS's "The Early Show." The television segments will
focus on entertainment, health and fashion, and will also include content
produced for a co-branded earlyshow.women.com web site. The site will
include features such as broadband video and chat. Under the agreement,
the two companies will split advertising revenue, which will include both
on-air and online components.
http://earlyshow.women.com
_____________________________________________

> Digital Media Wire Networking Event - Los Angeles

Digital Media Wire will host its first networking event on Wednesday,
November 8, 2000 in Los Angeles, for subscribers and those interested in
the convergence of entertainment, technology and the Internet. Please
feel free to spread the word to others who may be interested. Light hors
d'oeuvres will be served and there will be a cash bar. There is no charge
for the event and registration is not necessary.

Sponsors:
Netjammer
Red Road Foundation

Date: Wednesday, November 8
Time: 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Where: The Sunset Trocadero Lounge
8280 Sunset Boulevard - West Hollywood, CA

For additional details: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/dmw_event1.html
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(New York) "eMediatainment World," a digital media conference and
exhibition, will be held November 6-8 at the New York Hilton. Topics that
will be covered during the conference will include creating online content
and adapting traditional content for the Internet.
http://www.emediatainment.com

(Beverly Hills) LicenseMusic.com, a provider of licensed music downloads
for use in film, television and advertising, announced on Tuesday a
partnership with film score and soundtrack label Milan Entertainment.
Under the deal, Beverly Hills-based Milan will make its catalog of
soundtracks and film scores, as well as songs from its electronica
artists, available to San Francisco-based LicenseMusic.com for licensing
to its business-to-business customers.
http://www.licensemusic.com
http://www.milanrecords.com

(Redwood City, Calif.) ActiveSky, a developer of video distribution
technology for wireless devices, announced on Tuesday that its ActiveSky
visual media player won the "Best of Show" award at the recent Fall
Internet World trade show in New York. The technology allows streaming
video and animation to be sent at high resolution and speed, in black and
white, grayscale and color, to handheld devices. Redwood City-based
ActiveSky also demonstrated the technology's interactive capabilities,
sending multiple streams to a single handheld device, all running
simultaneously.
http://www.activesky.com

(Seattle) RealNetworks announced on Monday a partnership with Virgin
Records to create music videos that will be included on an enhanced CD
version of the Spice Girls' new album, "Forever." The CD will feature two
music videos encoded in RealVideo 8, and will be viewable on a computer
without an Internet connection. However, users must first download the
RealNetworks software onto their computer.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001031/wa_virgin_.html
http://www.virginrecords.com/spicegirls

(Atlanta) Cox Radio, Inc., the fourth largest radio company in the U.S.,
announced on Tuesday that it has formed Cox Radio Interactive to manage
its Internet assets and explore new media opportunities. Gregg Lindahl,
former president of
mp3radio.com, was appointed the division's vice president. Cox Radio
Interactive will assume day-to-day management of Cox Radio's web sites and
Internet commercial inventory.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001031/ga_cox_rad_2.html
http://www.coxradio.com

(San Francisco) Wild Brain, an online animation studio, announced on
Tuesday that the first "season" of its animated series "Space is Dum,"
created originally for wildbrain.com, will be syndicated on SCIFI.com, a
science-fiction entertainment site. San Francisco-based Wild Brain creates
animation for film, television, commercials and the Internet.
http://www.wildbrain.com
http://www.scifi.com

(San Francisco) News site Streamingmedia.com is currently running a
feature on the growing market for digital rights management (DRM) for
streaming media companies, entitled "Keeping Your Streaming Assets Safe."
The technology is used to secure and track the distribution of copyrighted
works. The article profiles companies that offer DRM services, including
InterTrust, Reciprocal, WideVine, SecureMedia and Vyou.
http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=6443

(San Francisco) CNET Networks announced on Tuesday that it has made an
agreement with Consumer Reports to feature the publication's unbiased
product information and ratings on its Computers.com web site. San
Francisco-based CNET's Computers.com provides information, reviews and
suggestions for consumers looking to buy computers and computer-related
hardware.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001031/ca_cnet_co.html
http://www.computers.com 

(Santa Clara, Calif.) IUMA, the Internet Underground Music Archive,
announced on Tuesday that it will use technology from Speedera, a provider
of content delivery and streaming services, to accelerate the music
downloads to users from its site. Redwood City-based IUMA provides
downloads from unsigned artists, and also syndicates its music to sites
including EMusic.com, Rollingstone.com and Listen.com
http://www.iuma.com
http://www.speedera.com

(New York) "e-Book World," a conference and exhibition on electronic
publishing, will be held on November 6 and 7 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel
in New York City. Michael Wolff, a writer for New York Magazine, and
founder of the now defunct Wolff New Media, will serve as conference
chairman.
http://www.e-book-world.com/ebook-fr.shtml
___________________

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