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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, December 12, 2000
TOP STORY:
* Beyond Yadda Yadda
The Future of Music Policy Summit could transcend the usual
schmoozefest.
NET NOISE:
* BeSonic.com
BEATS:
* Scour Sells to CenterSpan
* A Good Week for MP3.com
* Sayonara, Riffage
* Dot Dot Dot: New Napster hire ... Suit filed against Universal's
Farmclub.com ... DiMA setback?
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TOP STORY
~~~~~~~~~
Beyond Yadda Yadda
The Future of Music Policy Summit could transcend the usual
schmoozefest.
By Julene Snyder
Like most digital conferences, music trade shows will pretty much
guarantee a few things. You'll be given a laminated ID or wristband.
Panelists will use words like paradigm and monetize. Everybody will be
looking for the next big thing, but no one will actually find it. You
will receive a goodie bag, and it will generally contain one or more
of the following: A box of mints, a dozen CD samplers, a handful of
bumper stickers and - if you're in California - a frisbee.
That the Future of Music Policy Summit probably won't hand out any
goodie bags is the first sign that it isn't your typical music trade
show. The conference, scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., on
Jan. 10 and 11, is shaping up to be an event that transcends
schmoozefests like CMJ Music Marathon or South By Southwest. Unlike
those events, you won't find a hall filled with companies hawking
their products and competing for loudest and/or flashiest display.
Instead, the idea behind the Summit is to bring together disparate
voices who "represent the full spectrum of viewpoints on music,
business and technology," with an eye toward influencing legislation
that could affect artists and their rights. "We didn't know the right
way to put on a conference," said Brian Zisk, technology director of
the nonprofit Coalition for the Future of Music, "so we just went out
and got the most amazing hall we could find and the most phenomenal
list of panelists we could find."
Phenomenal might be an exaggeration, but not a huge one. Confirmed
panelists include Recording Industry Association of America President
Hilary Rosen, EMI's Ted Cohen and ASCAP's Chris Amenita along with
usual suspects like MP3.com's Michael Robertson, the Electronic
Frontier Foundation's John Perry Barlow and Artists Against Piracy's
Noah Stone. Not to mention "Singer/songwriter/senator" Orrin Hatch,
R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who is confirmed
as keynote speaker. Hatch's appearance should validate the group's
promise "that those at the conference will have the eyes and ears of
those with the ability to make a major difference regarding evolving
digital copyright legislation."
Founded less than a year ago, the Coalition for the Future of Music
- whose board of directors includes activist/musician Jenny Toomey,
entertainment attorney Walter McDonough, lobbyist Michael Bracy and
Zisk - exists to keep the dialogue flowing regarding hot-button issues
ranging from intellectual property to piracy to SDMI to the role of
the RIAA.
"This is largely a labor of love," Zisk said. "It's not like a lot of
the other conferences, where people are in it to raise money by
running conferences. Our aim is to make the musicians' voice more
visible in Washington, D.C." Of course, working with the legislature
has its challenges these days, given the intense focus on the
presidential race. "It's been difficult," Zisk admitted. "We've been
going after (Sen. Patrick) Leahy (D-Vt.) and after (Rep. Rick) Boucher
(D-Va.), but they say, 'We think we're doing it but we can't actually
commit.'"
Much has been written about the value - or lack thereof - in
conferences that focus on music and technology. The New York Times'
Jon Pareles called this October's CMJ Music Marathon "primarily an
exercise in rumor propagation." A month later, CMJ Network cut most of
its events staff due to the "seasonality of events," even though a
Silicon Alley Reporter story quoted a source close to the company as
saying that CMJ was "retreating from an overextended conference
schedule that continued to pile up losses."
Nonetheless, the Coalition has high hopes for its summit. For one
thing, it's hoping to raise enough to not only pay for the event but
to fund the organization itself for the entire year after that. "God
knows if we're going to be able to do it," Zisk said. "But it has
given us opportunities, like people coming to us and saying, 'If you
apply for this grant, then you'll have a good shot.'"
The mix of panelists promises to provide at least some memorable
moments. For instance, the SDMI's Leonardo Chiariglione will share the
dais with Princeton University's Edward Felten, the computer science
professor who says he and his team successfully hacked the SDMI's
attempts at music protection technology. It was actually
Chiariglione's team who suggested that the Coalition contact Felten.
"They said, 'He won't return our calls, but if you call him, maybe
he'll return your calls,'" recalls Zisk. "So what we're seeing is not
that people are living in a vacuum and saying, 'My view is right and I
don't even want to hear the other side.' People are really looking
forward to the opportunity to have their views heard in an impartial
setting." Who needs goodie bags, anyway?
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NET NOISE
~~~~~~~~~
BeSonic.com
As noted elsewhere in this issue, Riffage.com is no more. It get props
for going out with good grace; on its sign-off Web page, there's not
only a brief farewell and FAQ, but an invitation to check out another
site: "If you're interested in continuing to explore the new world of
emerging music, whether you're a band or a fan, check out besonic.com
- they have a great site with lots of state-of-the-art features and a
vibrant band and fan community." If you take Riffage up on it, over at
BeSonic, you'll find that "newcomers can promote themselves to an
international audience and quickly generate a large fan base. A break
on BeSonic is the first important step on the way up. The next step is
taken via the BeSonic partner network of which MTV, major and
independent labels belong. As a starting point for new music projects,
BeSonic delivers a never ending supply of fresh music and will very
quickly become the 'Silicon Valley' of the European music scene."
While that last one seems like a strange goal - isn't the European
music scene infinitely more sexy than Silicon Valley? - there is a
vast amount of music to download here in a variety of genres. The
level of categorization is impressive; for example, you can search for
groups hailing from areas of the U.K. that range from Aberdeen to
Warwick. The BeSonic community appears active and numerous, including
nearly 20,000 musicians, singers and bands, as well as almost 2,000
DJs and 284 self-described groupies. Also you can find a number of
radio stations, including "Mood Radio," along with tools that let you
find new artists similar to others that rock your world. And you can
choose your preferred language - the site's available in English,
French, German, Italian and Spanish.
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BEATS
~~~~~
Scour Sells to CenterSpan
As we went to press, it was announced that CenterSpan has won an
auction for the assets of Scour, the bankrupt multimedia search and
file-exchange company that was sued by the entertainment industry in
July. The little-heard-of CenterSpan, a former maker of videogame
controls, clocked the winning bid of $5.5 million in cash plus $3.5
million in stock. Please check in with TheStandard.com for more.
A Good Week for MP3.com
It had to be a pretty good feeling to show up for work at MP3.com last
week, what with the one-two punch of having My.MP3.com sanctioned by a
major label and the announcement that CEO Michael Robertson signed a
deal with Tower Records, giving My.MP3.com members immediate access to
streams of albums they purchase at TowerRecords.com. Our Standard
colleague Andrew Morse says it's reasonable to assume that the deal
will drive traffic and money to the company, with the added benefit of
"allowing the company to harvest detailed data about how people listen
to music over the Web. It can then sell that data to the labels so
they can do better marketing." It sure looks like a spell of clear
weather has blown MP3's way - a music analyst told Morse that even if
My.MP3.com doesn't make any actual money, the company looks to be
right on track to profitability by the end of next year.
Read more at:
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,20718,00.html?nl=bts
Sayonara, Riffage
Riffage.com has joined the ranks of the fallen. On Friday, the
company, which specialized in selling digital downloads and
merchandise for unsigned artists, shut its doors for good. A message
on the firm's Web site says, in part, "Pioneers enjoy the thrills of
new frontiers, but must also deal with the risks inherent in uncharted
territories ... Having reached out to a million fans and tens of
thousands of bands, we cannot continue to service these fine
communities in the current economic marketplace." A spokeswoman told
Standard colleague Hane Lee that employees of the indie label 1500
Records, which Riffage acquired in July, were also "affected by the
closure." The same spokeswoman said that the staff at the grand old
Great American Music Hall venue will remain intact, although both the
label and the concert hall are up for sale.
Read more at
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,20746,00.html?nl=bts
Dot Dot Dot
New Napster hire ... Suit filed against Universal's Farmclub.com ...
DiMA setback?
Providing proof that Napster is a credible company with lots of
experienced employees on staff, last week the firm announced its
newest addition, the seriously monikered Manus Cooney. Mr. Cooney's
previous position was as chief counsel and staff director to the
Senate Judiciary Committee as well as chief policy and political
advisor to Sen. Orrin Hatch. His new title is VP for corporate policy
and development. Digitrends quotes Cooney as saying, "It's time for me
to explore new challenges where I can help advance the interests of
music listeners and artists. Napster's at the epicenter of the digital
media revolution, and I'm eager to represent the interests of the
entire Napster community." ... We'll have to ask Alanis if it
qualifies as irony, but news that prominent songwriters and publishers
have filed suit against Universal Records' streaming-music site, Jimmy
and Doug's Farmclub.com, and are seeking up to $150,000 per recorded
song does seem well, ironic, given Universal's hard-line stance
against MP3.com for what appears to be the exact same thing. ... All
this legalese makes our head hurt, but there's no rest for the weary
when it comes to the digital music space. Some sort of decision was
handed down from the U.S. Copyright Office on Friday regarding
Webcasting, and according to Inside.com, "(I)t now appears that the
Digital Media Association (DiMA), a trade group that represents
webcast and digital-download companies, may in fact have suffered a
substantial setback" and that "the office essentially ruled for the
RIAA, and against the webcasters."
Find the whole story, exhaustively reported by Roger Parloff, at
http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=17621&pod_id=9.
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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