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Tech
Briefs
Net
plays ball with music giants
Several big Internet companies have signed curious webcasting
and download retail deals with the Recording Industry Association
of America and the major labels over the last few months.
The agreements — which don’t appear to be big revenue-producers
for the Internet companies — have given a new twist to
that old adage, “publish or perish.”
In these cases, the prevailing belief among digital music
companies is a fear that if they don’t cooperate with
the music industry now — when new business models are
still in experimental stages — they will be left out
in the cold down the road. The latest to jump into the fray
is Lycos, which will now sell BMG downloads. Lycos will offer
100 singles and albums, with prices ranging from as low as
$1.98 for singles to $14.98 for CDs.The hook is that the music
will only be available in a digital-rights management system
that takes multiple steps to download, install, and listen.
Previous deals — such as ones by Sony Music, EMI, Universal
and Warner Music — have been criticized by music pundits
who are skeptical that consumers will pay retail prices for
digital music.
But the digital music companies might be looking at other
situations to motivate them in these deals. It might be a
coincidence that the music industry hasn’t reached settlement
agreements with Napster and MP3.com in their copyright infringement
suits, but the fact remains that both companies struck out
on their own without the approval of the major labels.
Canadians go soft on sharing entertainment
After the iCraveTv.com fiasco, Canadians have gotten a little
softer when it comes to “sharing” entertainment.
As the Napster case progresses through the court system (and
yes, we are all sick of the Napster case), small Canadian
companies are sprouting up like weeds, trumpeting what they
claim are solutions to the file-trading situation.
Of course, the “situation” as it stands now is that
sharing files is legal. And who knows what the Napster case,
and others, will bring. In the meantime, the Canadians are
promoting ideas they believe will be great for consumers,
protect the labels, and pay the musicians. Montreal’s
Essentially Electronic offers local musicians the chance to
post their music, which users can then download for a small
fee which goes directly to the band.
The Future License of Intellectual Properties Registry is
signing up independent bands for a similar peer-to-peer service,
which would charge users on a per-file transfer rate. At Mondo-Live,
users are invited to share songs protected by digital-rights
management with their friends. The billing component of the
system ensures that everyone along the line gets paid.
Apparently, Mondo-Live has been fielding calls from record
labels that might be interested in using the service - although
as any band can tell you, a call from a record label doesn’t
always mean you’re about to get signed.
Micro-Euro music invasion
If video killed the radio star, Microsoft and Sony are hoping
the Internet kills the television star (although those lyrics
aren’t quite as catchy). Sony Music Entertainment Europe
and Microsoft are partnering to develop a German streaming-music
video channel set to launch in November. The rollout will
happen in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and be available
through localized MSN and Sony Music networks.
It’s an interesting concept - but maybe a more important
issue is the fact that Sony will be offering its own music
content through its own network, which labels have said for
months that they didn’t want to do. It’s just a
foreign release, but it could be a test to see if people will
actually go directly to the label for their music.
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