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THE INDUSTRY STANDARD'S
B E A T S H E E T
A Weekly Report on the Convergence of Music and the Net
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| http://www.thestandard.com |
Tuesday, July 11, 2000
TOP STORY:
* Running Down a Dream (With a Big Corporation)
NET NOISE:
* Worldpop.com
BEATS:
* We're Here. We're Legal. (We Hope.)
* But Will They Come? Epitonic builds a Blackbox for music storage.
DOT DOT DOT:
* Artists Against Piracy ... She's asking for it ... LuxuriaMusic gets
even groovier ...
SOUND OFF:
* What rights would you sign away to possibly catch the ear of a major
label??
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TOP STORY
~~~~~~~~~
Running Down a Dream (With a Big Corporation)
By Julene Snyder
With all the hype about using the Net to mine new talent, it's easy to
think that labels' foray into this area is just a mindless, me-too
reaction to the startups that promise A&R bliss.
In some cases, it might be. Dreamworks Digital promises that its new
venture is not. The label says that any bands submitting a song will
actually be heard by someone in the A&R department. Unlike
Farmclub.com, a similar site launched by Universal, Dreamworks A&R
executive Luke Wood said that this program is more intent on culling
new talent than establishing itself as a destination. The site will
keep advertising to a minimum and doesn't hope to make money from the
site per se.
The site, www.dreamworksdigital.com, is breathtakingly simple. Just
read and sign the contract, upload an MP3 of your song and you're
done. If and when Wood hears something he likes, he'll dig around
online to hear more from the band before contacting them. Critiques
and suggestions aren't part of the service.
Wood - who brought Elliot Smith, Creeper Lagoon and Blinker the Star
to the label through more traditional A&R methods - said he actually
prefers this vehicle to other ways scouts come by music.
"It's much easier to manage my listening time with the MP3's," he
says. "It's not like you throw a pile of stuff in your car and listen
to it while you're on the phone."
The site might be efficient, but some bands aren't buying it. The fact
that contract artists must sign before submitting songs to DD has
prompted more than a few howls of protest. Houston-based John Wesley
Downey of Good Karma Management, who oversees singer/songwriter David
Marshall, posted his doubts about the contract on Dreamworks' bulletin
board the day the site launched.
"Even for a contract from a big conglomerate, it seems somewhat
Draconian," he wrote. "They want the material in perpetuity? And they
assign their rights to someone else? Gee, compared to the deal MP3.com
gives you, there's no comparison." He added, "It's a new day,
Dreamworks! It's the year 2000. Artists now think twice about this
kind of thing."
When others echoed Downey's concern about the clause in question,
Dreamworks did show it was listening. It changed the term from
permanent to 18 months. "We realized it was over-reaching," Wood says.
Downey has since decided to go ahead and submit a song to the Web
site. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the phone call to ring
with the news of the big break, right? Downey laughs ruefully. "You
would hope that either the exposure of being on the site would result
in something or that they would get interested in you. But really, all
this is, is another way to submit your material to a record label.
Your best method of getting a label's attention is to do everything on
your own so that they come to you."
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NET NOISE
~~~~~~~~~
Worldpop.com
As busy as a Hogwarts student boning up for O.W.L. exams, this
U.K.-based site is jam-packed with everything even remotely related to
the "global pop network." Music news from around the planet is
gathered every day, from Los Angeles to Scotland. Us Yanks will
doubtless be charmed by the British way with words ("Are you bored of
Eminem yet?"), but along with overflowing buckets of fluff and photos
of doe-eyed girls and sneering young men, you'll find the latest U.K.
charts, reviews of albums and live shows, catty gossip (this week we
learn that Metallica's James Hetfield makes his wardrobe girl do
really dirty deeds at every show), a spotlight focused on
"Ones2watch," interviews, a community forum and so much more you'd do
best to just pop on over for an eyeful and a cuppa. Cheerio!
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BEATS
~~~~~
We're Here. We're Legal. (We Hope.)
Last week's brief filed by Napster in its defense against the RIAA's
attempt to shut down the file-swapping application stated that federal
law that allows personal copying of music should also protect sharing
of MP3 files. Napster attorneys wrote, "Plaintiffs ask this court to
do what no court has ever done: to hold private non-commercial sharing
of music by consumers is unlawful; to hold that an Internet directory
service is liable for uses made by its users; and to extend judicially
copyright protection to stifle a new technology." The RIAA countered
that the point is moot, saying that "Napster cannot hide behind what
consumers might be able to do, individually and on their own, to build
its own commercial business." U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel
will consider arguments on both sides on July 26 and make a decision
on whether to shut Napster down completely until the trial.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,16593,00.html?nl=mg
But Will They Come? Epitonic builds a Blackbox for music storage.
A nifty little tool was added to Epitonic.com last week. The new
Blackbox feature lets you browse through tracks from an eclectic
family of smallish labels like K and Nettwerk, along with largish
labels like Sub Pop and Touch and Go. You can also click a button and
store tracks in a locker so that you can listen in anywhere. Unlike
the notorious My.MP3.com, sharing and downloading files is all on the
up-and-up since the only songs you can access are those you've added
from the Epitonic stable. Rather than hook up with Myplay or I-drive,
Epitonic told The Standard that they decided to build the "locker"
feature themselves. It turns out that the technology is relatively
simple and the company found it easier to set their own programmers on
the task rather than deal with working out a deal. Who'd a thunk it?
Dot Dot Dot
~~~~~~~~~~~
Artists Against Piracy ... She's asking for it ... LuxuriaMusic gets
even groovier ...
Today's media blitz from the newly announced Artists Against Piracy
coalition kicked off with full-page ads in USA Today, the Wall Street
Journal, the New York Times and others who put their names under the
plaintive query, "If a song means a lot to you, imagine what it means
to us." Those who want to "choose the way their music is distributed
on the Internet" include big names like Alanis Morissette, Christina
Aguilera and Garth Brooks, along with somewhat less luminaries like
The Dandy Warhols, Dr. John and Barenaked Ladies. ... Courtney Love
put her music where her mouth was last week when she put up dozens of
tracks on her band's Web site, www.holemusic.com, for free download.
As Ms. Love said in the anti-record industry manifesto that she
delivered at the Digital Hollywood Conference in June, "(I will) allow
millions of people to get my music for nothing if they want and
hopefully they'll be kind enough to leave a tip if they like it."
Currently, the tip jar is nowhere in sight, so cheapskates can nab
stuff for free. ... It's getting almost unbearably groovy over at
LuxuriaMusic.com. As if streaming radio of lounge, psychedelia, surf
and cheeseball obscurities weren't enough, you can get a free download
of Brian Wilson's "'Til I Die," taken from the former Beach Boy's new
album, "Brian Wilson Live At the Roxy Theatre," starting this week.
SOUND OFF
~~~~~~~~~
This week's question: What rights would you sign away to possibly
catch the ear of a major label?
E-mail your opinions to julene@well.com with "sound off" in the
subject line, and we'll print a selection of the responses in next
week's newsletter. Letters may be edited for clarity and length, so
keep them short and include your name and affiliation, if any.
Last issue's question: How much would you pay every month to be able
to listen to anything you wanted online? Why would it be worth it?
"I wouldn't pay anything, you shouldn't have to! Everybody should be
able to share music! The big corporations have already gotten their
share! Music should always be free and always on hand! Besides, I
don't have the money to buy all the new releases! Long live
Napster.com!"
- John Berres
" I'd be willing to pay somewhere between $10-$20. Probably $14.95 or
so."
- Dave Perry, Webmaster, New Phase Media
"I'd rather pay an annual subscription of $49.95 or so than a monthly
fee. That's like one bargain-matinee movie ticket a month. If the
'unlimited' service also has a new release-hot item info feature,
turning me on to stuff I might otherwise have been too busy to miss,
then it could be very fun and provide an easy format for keeping up
with the musical Joneses."
- Carol Peters
"I don't deny that subscription models will eventually begin to
proliferate on the net. However, in the long run I'm not sure how that
will hold up, when the cost of subscription is going to go down and
down and down. I mean, hypothetically why should I subscribe to Lycos
music subscription if I can get the same music via Yahoo who charges
me less, or Napster who charges me nothing? What would make anything
worth paying, is the product or service bundling that will make people
like me go back. Such a service will be compelling enough to a point
that I can't live without it. Now that's value."
- Jui Hong Teoh
"Er, hello! I wouldn't. Quality music will only come from the big
labels and independents who are serious about selling digital music on
the Internet. Is anyone actually going to sign up to a flat fee
subscription service with no guarantee on quality? No, the real future
lies in per track fees or pay-per-play using safe and secure payment
systems and rights management technology to protect the artists too."
- Susie James
"I enjoy music, and I buy CDs to hear all the music a band makes.
(I'll even skip the 'hit' songs when I listen to the CD.) So, if what
I get is a make-your-own, top-40, all-the-hits-all-the-time mix tape
then no thanks at any cost! On the other hand, if I could actually
pick and choose from the B-sides and obscure artists that I enjoy
most, and listen to new and emerging artists like some giant CD
shuffler in the sky, then I would certainly pay. How much? I don't
think $9.95 would be too much: I spend several times that on new CDs
each month. In fact, I would pay $9.95 to explore new music, and then
still buy CDs of music that I enjoyed most!"
- Jim Gracely
STAFF
~~~~~
Written by Julene Snyder. Send news tips and press releases to
julene@well.com.
Edited by Steven Zeitchik (szeitchik@thestandard.com).
Copyedited by Elese Veeh (eveeh@thestandard.com).
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