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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- November 20, 2002
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o Universal Music Offering 43,000 Tracks As $0.99 Downloads
o Major Record Label BMG to Overhaul Royalty Accounting Practices
o Sony Music Acquires Cell Phone Ringtone Provider Run Tones
o SEC Launches "Formal" Probe of Vivendi's Accounting Practices
o Copyright Office Calls for Participants in 2nd CARP Proceedings
o Game Developer Take-Two Acquiring Angel Studios for $28 Million
o Online Advertising Report: Sliding Billboards In, Floating Ads Out
o Ziff Davis, Electronics Boutique Launching New Video Game Magazine, GMR
> DMW Event: "Interactive Marketing Forum"
> DMW Publications: Special Rates for DMW Subscribers
> DMW Marketing: 2003 Events & New Holiday Classifieds Section
> Featured Section
o Briefly Noted: Pixar - RenderMan 11, MontaVista Software - InterVideo,
Salon.com "ultramercials," Coding Technologies - AACPlus, Xbox Live - mod
chips
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> Jobs: East Coast Sales Rep.
> Events: Storage Visions Conference
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o Universal Music Offering 43,000 Tracks As $0.99 Downloads
New York -- Universal Music Group, the major record label division of
Vivendi Universal, announced on Wednesday it will make 43,000 tracks from
its catalog available for purchase as downloads from a host of major
online retailers. The tracks -- costing $0.99 each or $9.99 for albums --
may be burned onto CD or transferred to portable devices, and will be
distributed in both Liquid Audio and Windows Media Audio formats. "This is
a watershed moment. Universal is committed to making every recording it
controls available for Internet distribution," said Larry Kenswil,
president of Universal Music Group's eLabs. "We have listened to the
public, and we are offering the music that people want at a reasonable
price that fairly compensates the artists, songwriters and the tens of
thousands of hard-working individuals who make their living in the music
industry." Websites including BestBuy.com, CircuitCity.com, MP3.com,
RollingStone.com and Tower.com will sell the UMG downloads.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021120/law035a_1.html
http://www.umusic.com/newformats/dmd
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o Major Record Label BMG to Overhaul Royalty Accounting Practices
New York -- BMG Entertainment, German media conglomerate Bertelsmann's
record label group, announced on Wednesday it will implement new royalty
accounting practices for its artists, in an effort to "bring clarity and
simplicity to a process that is outdated, inefficient and confusing," said
BMG CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz. Recording industry accounting practices have
long been derided by many artists, and were a subject of hearings in the
California legislature as well as a number of prominent lawsuits. BMG said
it will eliminate certain industry standard deductions from royalties paid
to artists, such as recouping packaging, standard free goods and
CD/technology fees from potential artist royalties. It will also now pay a
percentage of the wholesale cost of a CD to artists, rather than a
percentage of the current "suggested retail list price" (SRLP) of a CD.
The accounting changes will affect both physical and online sales of
music. "We are committed to doing what we can to foster and maintain
strong relations with our artists and hope the changes announced today
help them see clearly that our dealings are clear, unambiguous, and
demonstrate our respect for the creative process," added Schmidt-Holtz.
http://www.bmg.com/news/articles/artists_article_021120.html
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-royalty20nov20,0,3290571.story?
coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dbusiness
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o Sony Music Acquires Cell Phone Ringtone Provider Run Tones
New York -- Major record label Sony Music Entertainment announced on
Wednesday that it has acquired New York-based Run Tones, a distributor of
cell phone ringtones and other wireless entertainment. Financial terms of
the deal were not disclosed. In addition to ringtones, the company also
operates RUNpics, a personal photo service, Mobile Media Hub services,
offering private label wireless portals, and a mobile media production
division. Its customers and partners include Adobe, AT&T Wireless,
Ericsson, Nokia, Openwave, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment and Warner
Music Group. Sony also announced the creation of a new Mobile Products
Group, which will be part of the company's Sony Music Digital Services
(SMDS) area. Run Tones CEO J.J. Rosen was named vice president of the new
group, while Run Tones CTO Tim Nilson will additionally serve as vice
president, mobile technology for SMDS.
http://www.runtones.com/cgi-bin/run.cgi?siteid=v9&lang=&page=newne
ws.html&dbmode=onenews&newsid=19
http://usa.sonymusic.com/home/index.html
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o SEC Launches "Formal" Probe of Vivendi's Accounting Practices
New York -- The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) has upgraded
its investigation into accounting practices at Franco-American media giant
Vivendi Universal into a formal probe. The announcement comes two weeks
after the company admitted that it was the subject of a preliminary SEC
investigation. Vivendi already faces a probe by the Office of the United
States Attorney for the Southern District of New
York. The company is also under investigation by French stock exchange
regulators.
http://www.vivendiuniversal.com
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o Copyright Office Calls for Participants in 2nd CARP Proceedings
Washington -- The U.S. Copyright Office has issued a call for notices of
intent to participate in the second Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel
(CARP) proceedings, to set rates and terms for digital music royalties for
the 2003-2004 period. Rates established with the controversial first CARP
proceedings, initiated in 1998, were still being negotiated as late as
last week, with the passage of the Small Webcasters Amendment Act. Notices
of intent to participate in the second CARP are due by Dec. 23, while
comments and proposals on the scheduling of the CARP proceedings are due
by Dec. 2.
http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2002/67fr70093.html
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o Game Developer Take-Two Acquiring Angel Studios for $28 Million
New York, N.Y. -- Building on previous partnerships, New York-based
Take-Two Interactive Software on Wednesday announced the acquisition of
San Diego-based Angel Studios, a developer of interactive entertainment
software, for $28 million in cash and stock. Angel Studios will be renamed
Rockstar San Diego and become a subsidiary of Take-Two. The two companies
have partnered on several video game projects over the past few years,
developing titles for Sony and Nintendo platforms. Take-Two subsidiary
Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" is currently the top-selling
console video game, having sold 1.4 million units in October alone.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/021120/202175_1.html
http://www.angelstudios.com
http://www.take2games.com
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o Online Advertising Report: Sliding Billboards In, Floating Ads Out
San Mateo, Calif. -- Readers of USAToday.com prefer sliding billboard ads,
while they detest floating animation ads, according to a new study by San
Mateo, Calif.-based Vividence, a developer of software that measures
customer behavior. The study surveyed 200 USAToday.com readers by using a
special browser companion that tracks users' attitudes and behavior. The
sliding billboard, an expandable large rectangle ad that appears open and
automatically closes, received the highest customer satisfaction. Floating
animation, conversely, was considered the most intrusive, and had the most
negative effect on an advertiser's product or service. Readers also did
not like ads that physically covered content or forced them to click to
skip to content. USAToday.com said that it will use the results to shape
its advertising policy.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021119/dctu023_1.html
http://www.vividence.com
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o Vivendi's Moviso to Sell Prepaid Ringtone Cards At 7-11, Other Retailers
Los Angeles -- Moviso, a division of Vivendi Universal Net USA that
provides wireless entertainment, announced on Wednesday that it will begin
selling prepaid cards containing licensed cell phone ringtones at a number
of retailers. Each $4.99 card will contain three ringtones from a variety
of musical genres. Universal Music and Video Distribution and Delconn
Wireless will handle sales and distribution for the cards, which will be
sold at 7-Eleven, Wherehouse Music, 1000 wireless carrier stores and other
locations beginning in January 2003. Los Angeles-based Moviso said it
plans to expand the prepaid cards to include graphics and celebrity
voicemail greetings.
http://www.moviso.com
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o Ziff Davis, Electronics Boutique Launching New Video Game Magazine, GMR
San Francisco -- Publisher Ziff Davis Media announced on Wednesday that in
January it will launch a new monthly video and PC game-related magazine,
called GMR. The title, a joint effort between Ziff Davis and game retailer
Electronics Boutique, will report on games for PlayStation 2, Xbox,
GameCube, PC and Game Boy Advance. Current Ziff Davis Media Game Group
creative director Simon Cox will serve as the editor-in-chief of GMR. "We
plan to create a new type of magazine that will appeal to a large portion
of those 20 million core video and computer gamers who aren't regularly
reading magazines right now," said Cox. "Our news and previews will cover
a shorter time frame as well, creating buzz about games shipping over the
next few months, not years." GMR will have an average rate base of 225,000
for 2003, and will be marketed in Electronics Boutique's 1,000 retail
stores.
http://www.ziffdavis.com
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DMW Presents. Interactive Marketing Forum
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DMW Marketing: 2003 Events & New Holiday Classifieds Section
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We are pleased to announce New 2003 Events & Marketing Information:
* 2003 EVENTS SCHEDULE - 4 Full-Day Industry Forums on Cutting-Edge
Topics
Forum Agenda:
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FEATURED SECTION
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Briefly Noted:
(Emeryville, Calif.) Pixar Animation Studios, producer of
digitally-animated feature films including "Toy Story" and "Monsters,
Inc.", announced on Wednesday the release of the latest version of its
Academy Award-winning visual effects software, RenderMan 11. The company
said advances in the new edition include technology for ray tracing,
global illumination and deep shadows.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021120/sfw049_1.html
http://www.pixar.com
(Sunnyvale, Calif.) MontaVista Software, a provider of Linux-related
applications, said on Wednesday that digital video software firm
InterVideo has released LinDVD, a software-based DVD player validated and
optimized for MontaVista Linux. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based MontaVista said
that LinDVD can also support hardware MPEG decoders for set-top box and
digital video recorder applications.
http://www.montavista.com
http://www.intervideo.com
(San Francisco) The Associated Press on Wednesday reported on online
magazine Salon.com's unique new means of raising money from advertisers,
by waiving subscription fees for premium content for users willing to sit
through a new ad format called an "ultramercial." The interactive ads from
companies including Mercedes-Benz require users to click through a series
of panels, which takes about ten seconds. Users who navigate through the
ads receive a 12-hour subscription to premium Salon content.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Salon-Ads.html
http://www.salon.com
(San Francisco) CNET News.com recently reported on the Moving Picture
Experts Group's (MPEG) announcement that it would recommend adding
Sweden-based Coding Technologies' AACPlus digital technology to its
existing audio guidelines. The technology is a combination of MPEG's AAC
(Advanced Audio Codec) and Coding Technologies' SBR (Spectral Band
Replication) technology, which enables audio codecs to deliver the same
quality at half the bit rate.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966471.html?tag=fd_top
http://www.codingtechnologies.com/news/assets/20021119_mpeg4_eng.htm
(London) U.K. news site TheRegister reports that Microsoft is attempting
to identify users that have installed Xbox "mod chips" on their video game
consoles when signing up for its recently launched Xbox Live online games
service -- and permanently banning those machines' unique IDs from the
service. Microsoft has attempted to outlaw the import of such mod chips,
which can allow pirated games to play on the console. The article cites a
posting to a mod chip enthusiast site, chronicling one Xbox owner's
support call with Microsoft and confirmation that his machine had been
banned from the service because of its installed mod chip.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/28180.html
http://www.xbox.com/live
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CLASSIFIEDS - JOBS
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East Coast Sales Rep - Imaging and Music Software Firm
Imaging and music software firm is seeking an independent, East Coast
sales representative. We have great products - you have strong
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CLASSIFIEDS - EVENTS
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Storage Visions 2003 Conference, January 7 & 8 before CES in Las Vegas
Take advantage of the $300 discount on Storage Visions 2003 registration
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