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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, October 31, 2000
BEATS:
* Say What?
Bertelsmann and Napster shock the industry by making a deal.
* Dot Dot Dot
Musicbank hooks up with Warner ... EMI adds online songs ... Kids rule
.... Chumbawamba says "Pass It Along"
NET NOISE:
* 13thTrack.com
SOUND OFF:
* What are the implications of the Bertelsmann-Napster deal?
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BEATS
~~~~~
Say What?
Bertelsmann and Napster shock the industry by making a deal.
Who'd a thunk it? The news that German media and publishing giant
Bertelsmann has formed a strategic alliance with Napster is as
surprising as an 80 percent voter turnout next week. A joint press
release explains that the two companies will "seek support from others
in the music industry to establish Napster as a widely accepted
membership based service and invite them to participate actively in
this process." The deal involves Bertelsmann making a loan to Napster
to "enable development of the new service"; in return, the company
will "acquire a portion of Napster's equity." The key players sat down
this morning to answer questions about the deal - which promises to
provide "payments to rightsholders" - from a phalanx of reporters.
Although it's hard to always tell exactly who said what from listening
to an audiocast, a few sample quotes follow: Andreas Schmidt,
president and CEO of Bertelsmann eCommerce Group responded to a
question about the pending lawsuit against Napster by saying that once
the partnership is implemented, "we'll withdraw the lawsuit and make
our catalog available; that's the spirit of this agreement." Another
corporate representative assured file-sharing aficionados that the
Napster experience will remain intact, saying, "This process where
people take files, put them on their PC and share them, is going to
continue. We're going to let Napster be Napster; that's the essence of
what this community's all about." When asking about the possible
scenario of other major labels not taking part in the service, a
Billboard reporter was assured by a representative: "We're very
optimistic. There's always hypothetical situations, but we've got a
great set of principals (principles?) in place, and we want to work
with them and come up with an overall solution to this problem."
To read more, click here:
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,17173,00.html?nl=bts
Dot Dot Dot
Musicbank hooks up with Warner ... EMI adds online songs ... Kids rule
.... Chumbawamba says "Pass It Along"
Well, everything else feels like old news in the wake of this Napster
bombshell, but we may as well go through the motions and trot out a
few items. Yesterday, Sony Music announced that it has jumped on the
Musicbank bandwagon, joining BMG, Warner and Universal in cutting a
licensing deal with the still-unlaunched online tune locker. The
service sounds quite a lot like MyMP3.com and will enable users to
stream music over the Net so long as they can prove ownership of the
CDs in question. ... It's hard - hard, I tell you - to get excited
about news like this, but here goes: EMI announced the addition of 60
songs to its North American digital download trial last week,
"including albums simultaneously released offline." ... The surprise
success story with an "awww" factor comes from the kids at Anne
Darling Elementary School who are marketing their "School Kids" CD at
MP3.com. Thus far, the budding musicians have raked in more than $500
in "payback for playback" earnings, with more than 3,500 listens of
their songs, which have titles like "Boogers" and "Girls Rule." For
your reading pleasure, the lyrics to "Girls Rule" are reproduced here
in their entirety: "Girls Rule! Boys, boys think they're cool. But
after all, they're just a bunch of fools! Girls, girls think they're
ugly. But after all, they're lovely! Girls Rule!" ... Chumbawamba
probably wishes it had come up with its new song, "Pass It Along," a
few months ago; the tune samples Eminem and Metallica and urges
Napster-like file sharing. Too late, guys, the deal's been done, and
it looks like maybe, just maybe, we won.
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NET NOISE
~~~~~~~~~
13thTrack.com
Want to just scare the bejesus out of any trick-or-treater who gets
too close to your computer speakers tonight? Easily done: Just drop by
13thTrack's site, click on a variety of streaming radio stations
powered by Live365.com (helpfully broken down into categories like
"sound effects," "classics," "ghost stories" and, for the wee
ghosties, "kids"), pump up the volume and watch the little folk run
shrieking for home. The always-popular easy navigation is a plus, as
is the relative high quality of the files chosen. For example, the
screaming and growling about five minutes into Haunted Horror Sounds:
Spooky Sound Effects is creeping me out in spite of the fact that I'm
a full-grown adult, and it is, after all, daytime. Anyway, along with
the audio offerings, Pumpkinland Studios has compiled some spooky-ooky
links that prove that Halloween need not just come once a year; for
some people, it's a cottage industry. (Did you know there was a
Hallowebring?) Happy haunting.
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SOUND OFF
~~~~~~~~~~
This week's question: What are the implications of the
Bertelsmann-Napster deal?
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 week's question: What's the story behind the best mix tape you
ever made or received?
I got something to say about this issue. First and foremost, you need
to correct the terminology. What you are referring to is not a "mix"
tape, it is a "compilation." If you listen to house, techno, hip-hop
or any of the DJ-driven music genres, then you get a "mix" tape, where
the songs are mixed continuously over each other nonstop. But the
point is, they are mixed. When you put a variety of songs together
(but still keeping them separate with pauses in between), that is
compiling, hence the term, "compilation." Anyone can put a CD into
their player, hit shuffle and press record on their tape deck and
create their own "mix," but it is merely a comp tape, which usually
only holds meaning for the one person who made it and cannot really be
judged against anything for skill, progression, technique or any of
the qualities that make a mix good.
- Christian Clark
My favorite "mix tapes" are the mix CDs by the D.C.-based dance
remixers Deep Dish (coincidentally, they'll be dj'ing Madonna's show
in NYC next week). Interestingly, most of those dance compilations
happen because the label pays a one-time licensing fee for the track,
with the implied understanding that there probably won't be any
royalty - ever. (I mean, if you licensed a track to a small label in
Portugal, would you expect to see more money based on their goodwill
and upstanding accounting???) This is sort of the royalty plan that
the Atlantic Monthly article on digital rights discussed as a
throwback to the original days of publishing.
My next favorite "mix tapes" were label compilations that were
promotional vehicles, some for sale, some not. I won an amazing "Best
of Island Reggae" LP at a 6th grade dance (1976), and then I bought
various LPs (Twin/Tone's "Big Hits of Middle America, Vol. III,
Virgin's "Methods of Dance" compilations, the incredible OC Punk stuff
from the 1980s, IRS' various things, Two-Tone various artist releases,
A&M's promos, etc. etc. etc.). The common thread is that discovering
music was the main joy. For years, I've exhorted labels to emphasize
this, but they never do. Oh well.
- David Millman
I started becoming obsessed with music in the early 1980s. Susan, one
of my best friends, always seemed to know the newest underground
bands. Starting in 1983 or so, she would make me mixed tapes with a
combination of obscure songs - she introduced me to bands including
Cabaret Voltaire, Jazz Butcher, Sisters of Mercy, Screaming Trees,
Fields of Nephilim, Skinny Puppy, Everything But The Girl and masters
from Cole Porter to Leonard Cohen. Each of the tapes also included a
poem or song lyrics that she wrote in the card inside. When I pick up
one of the earliest cassettes, I am always nostalgic for the time it
represents. Each one is a snapshot of a specific moment in our lives
as friends.
- Andre Lawless
A mixed tape is a very powerful form of communicating a message to
someone. I think one of the best mixes that I have made lately was for
a friend's birthday earlier this year. I had discussed with her
earlier in the year the idea of creating a business out of compilation
mixes to sell - although lately it doesn't seem like a very profitable
business, if you want to have access to good music. So I decided that
I wanted to show her my "skills" and create a special mixed tape for
her birthday. She was turning 50 - I wanted to introduce her to some
new music that would appeal to her taste (which I was taking a major
guess at), but at the same time not offend her. It was a very delicate
procedure, but I put together a mix that was very hard to let go of -
it included music ranging from Chet Baker to Smashing Pumpkins to Joan
Armitrading to Moby. And you know what, she absolutely loved it! My
biggest problem is that I never save any of the song lists that I put
together for the mixed tapes I make. I throw them away without
thinking that I might want to replicate the mix. I've regretted it.
- Mary Devine
STAFF
~~~~~
Written by Julene Snyder (julene@well.com).
Editor: Steven Zeitchik (szeitchik@thestandard.com).
Deputy Editor: Michele Keller (mkeller@thestandard.com).
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