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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, November 21, 2000
TOP STORY:
* Netcos, Tell Me What I Like
NET NOISE:
* FindSounds.com
BEATS:
* Scour, We Hardly Knew Ye
* For EMusic, No More Mr. Nice Guy
* Dot Dot Dot: EMI/BMG rumors ... MP3.com's latest suit ... MTVi
partners up ... EMI and who?
SOUND OFF:
* Which digital music goodie do you want to find in your stocking?
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TOP STORY
~~~~~~~~~
Netcos, Tell Me What I Like
By Julene Snyder
Your days of querying a body-jewelry sporting, attitude-oozing,
yawning music snob behind the record store counter may be over.
Some day in the not-too-distant future, record stores may have
high-speed Web connections where shoppers can query an Internet
service for music recommendations. And there's a mini-wave of startups
competing to be the Net company that provides that service, remaking
the way people discover new music online.
Although it's unclear whether technology can successfully take the
place of the human ear when it comes to recommending music to a
particular listener, the players in the space - which include
Gigabeat, Music Buddha (aka MuBu.com), MoodLogic and MongoMusic - are
responding to the music industry's tendency to hype proven acts at the
expense of lesser-knowns and the increasing irrelevance of radio when
it comes to turning listeners on to fresh sounds. Each has a different
way of making recommendations, but they're all basically in the same
business: Turning music fans on to cool new stuff.
And they're betting that the time is right to start. "Even though
Napster shows that people are so into music they'll go through a lot
to get it, what consumers want is to go someplace where they can find
music from any source," says Louise Velazquez, interim president of
the music recommendation site Gigabeat.
The technology behind Gigabeat's system may be complex, but the
interface is simple enough. Key in the name of an artist you like -
say, Neil Young - and you'll find yourself looking at a "gigaspiral"
that lists musicians in ascending and descending orders of relevance.
For example, in Mr. Young's case, you're pointed toward Bob Dylan and
Joni Mitchell at the more famous end of the scale and directed toward
Colleen Peterson and Tony Joe White at the more obscure end of the
spectrum.
But, can the Internet be better at steering you toward the good stuff
than that sneering store clerk could if she or he took the time to
help the likes of you? It's possible, though there's bound to be
glitches when it comes to something as subjective as musical taste.
Gigabeat works well enough when you're dealing with big-name artists,
but when you start getting more esoteric, it's easy to get no return
at all. (That was the case, for example, with my search for music like
the late, lamented Alice Donut). Like Gigabeat, MongoMusic doesn't
involve much in the way of human ears in ranking music and
occasionally it pops up with some howlers. For example, Mongo suggests
that Neil Young fans might like the Flying Burrito Brothers and Bob
Weir (say no more).
But given the clear message that people are hungry for music (Napster,
anyone?) and a sense that the music industry's traditional star-making
machinery is fatally flawed, there's plenty of room for companies that
can figure out how to gain consumer trust. Last week's Wall Street
Journal ran a piece about the move to reshape the way people discover
new music online. A particularly provocative quote came from Music
Buddha CEO John Adams, who said that companies like his are hoping to
take the role of a well-informed friend: "It's like the mix tape that
the boyfriend gives the girlfriend," he said to WSJ reporter Don
Clark. "That is the oh-wow moment we are trying to replicate."
In other words, if it turns you on to something new - as Music Buddha
did right off the bat for me by recommending an artist named Thea
Gilmore, who's described as "a smidge Joni, part Alanis with a dash of
Ani thrown in" - then you're happy. And if you're happy enough to buy
the record, then the artist is happy.
And as for the companies, well, tune in this time next year to see
who's still happy just to be in the game.
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NET NOISE
~~~~~~~~~
FindSounds.com
There's something about FindSounds.com that harkens back to the olden
days. Maybe it's the bare-bones look of the place, or maybe it's the
option of grabbing ".wav" files. Perhaps it's just the ridiculously
simple ease with which one can pull up sounds ranging from yelps to
babies crying to Xena howling. Whatever it is, I'll wager that a visit
may entice you into changing all of the sound options on your
computer, so system shutdowns prompt a werewolf howl and errors are
announced by a rudely flatulent blat. FindSounds brings me back to
that magic time in 1997 when I could spend hours looking for just the
right sound file to make my monochromatic computer as annoying as
possible to co-workers. Just don't expect to find naughty words at the
self-described "leading Web search engine for finding sound effects
and sample sounds on the Web," because FindSounds is billed as
kiddie-friendly; audio files containing obscenities are filtered out
"so this site is safe for children." Sure, four-letter words may have
never actually injured a minor, but Johnny and Susie are protected
from computer potty-mouth just the same. Squeaky clean fun beats the
taste of a mouthful of soap any day.
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BEATS
~~~~~
Scour, We Hardly Knew Ye
As expected, Scour, the company backed by Hollywood mogul Michael
Ovitz, shut down its peer-to-peer file-sharing program Thursday in
keeping with a deadline set by a U.S. bankruptcy court earlier in the
week. A sad missive on the site tells visitors that the decision to
shut it down was made with "heavy hearts," no doubt made a tad heavier
by the months of legal wrangling, that pesky bankruptcy and staff
layoffs. A surreal woe-is-us tone hangs over the epistle: "At every
point on the Scour journey, from the dorm room, to our apartment, to
our offices, we did everything we could to build relationships with
the creative community in Hollywood and to show the world how new
technologies could make entertainment as we know it even better ...
Obviously, things didn't work out as we had hoped." Bidding procedures
for the company's assets, which include its file-swapping technology,
a multimedia search engine and other software were spelled out by
Judge Kathleen P. March; companies interested in bidding must come
forward by Dec. 5. As The Industry Standard reported last week, the
online music company Listen.com recently announced a plan to buy
Scour's assets for $5 million in cash and about 500,000 shares; if
another company outbids that offer, Listen has a week to counter.
Read more at
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,20190,00.html
For EMusic, No More Mr. Nice Guy
Redwood City, Calif.-based EMusic.com, the MP3 distribution site,
issued a press release this morning detailing a new initiative
designed to prevent the illegal distribution of EMusic songs using
Napster. "EMusic will use internally developed software that includes
innovative 'acoustic fingerprinting' technology to continually
identify songs on the Napster service that infringe on the rights of
EMusic's artist and label partners," the statement said. EMusic had
attempted to work with Napster to come up with a "consumer-friendly"
way to halt distribution of songs licensed to EMusic, according to the
statement, but Napster "refused to consider technical solutions that
would prevent users from accessing and downloading EMusic content.
Napster has suggested only one option; to provide the names of Napster
users who are distributing EMusic tracks so their accounts can be
blocked." EMusic's software application will search for Napster users
who are illegally distributing EMusic tracks. Infringing users will
receive an instant message from EMusic saying they have a 24-hour
grace period to stop distributing the track. If the user doesn't stop
after 24 hours, EMusic will notify Napster of the infringement and ask
that the user's account be blocked.
Dot Dot Dot
EMI/BMG rumors ... MP3.com's latest suit ... MTVi partners up
... EMI and who?
Those mysterious folks who seem to know everything but coyly won't
reveal their names told the Los Angeles Times late last week that the
EMI Group is "on the verge" of accepting a merger offer from German
media conglomerate Bertelsmann. An announcement could come as early as
Wednesday. ... Man, MP3.com just can't seem to catch a break some
days; witness the news last Thursday that Unity Entertainment and
others have filed a copyright infringement suit against the oft-sued
San Diego-based company. This on the heels of reports that Sony and
Warner have requested more money in the aftermath of the $53.4 million
in don't-call-it-a-settlement bucks that Universal waltzed away with,
along with rumors that EMI and BMG aren't happy campers about their
paltry take of $15 to $20 million. But, hey, in lighter MP3.com news,
Tommy Boy Records - home to artists like De La Soul and Everlast - has
entered into a licensing/marketing agreement with the company. ...
In the never-ending quest to combine every company in the world into
one big corporate blob comes the recent announcement that MTVi
partnered with Excite@Home to launch Excite Music, featuring content
from MTV and VH1, "including MTVi's popular Sonicnet.com digital music
network." Be still, my heart. ... In other breathtaking news,
Reuters reports that EMI cut a nonexclusive deal "to provide its
recorded music to U.S. partner Streamwaves," a Dallas-based firm that
no one I know has ever heard of. And on that note, we'll leave you to
join the ranks of those who've put their e-mail on auto-reply and hit
the road for Grandma's house to give thanks and stuff themselves.
Gobble gobble hey.
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SOUND OFF
~~~~~~~~~
This week's question: Which digital music goodie do you want to find
in your stocking?
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.
FEEDBACK:
Last week's question: What makes for a good music community online?
My band's site has an interesting feature that I have yet to see on
many other indie band sites. We are able to access a back page from
anywhere in the world to write daily journals. The journals talk about
personal issues, daily habits and happenings, or the frustrations
and/or rewards of the music business. On a daily basis, we also
receive replies from fans who religiously or randomly read the
entries. As a matter of fact, we have some fans who have our journal's
page as their homepage, so every time they sign on, they read our
journals for the day. We have found a way to maintain an online
community of sorts, where fans and we can communicate and "get to know
each other." They are also able to live the "rock-n-roll" lifestyle by
keeping in touch through the site.
- Ginger Leigh
Gingerandsarah.com
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ERRATA
~~~~~~
Last week's top story should have listed the title of David
Greenfield's book as "Virtual Addiction." We regret the error.
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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