...Continued Napster, MP3.com and Metallica go to Congress and more from The Tuck Shop
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Napster, MP3.com and Metallica Go to Congress In a scheduled Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, entitled ''The Future of Digital Music: Is There an Upside to Downloading?', Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Napster CEO Hank Barry, Gene Kan of Gnutella, and MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson met alongside Republican Senator come composer Orrin Hatch to discuss the current state of affairs. Check it out. http://www.c-span.org/watch/exclusive.asp
For those wanting to see the stream of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, entitled ''The Future of Digital Music: Is There an Upside to Downloading?', Featuring Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Napster CEO Hank Barry, Gene Kan of Gnutella, and MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson met alongside Republican Senator come composer Orrin Hatch, then please go to this updated link of the file location-
MP3.Com Team Up With Fun E-Business MP3.com have announced a partnership with Fun e-business to provide taverns, restaurants and other retail establishments with local, regional and international digital artists and music catalogues which are available through MP3.com. The deal will integrate music access, management and e-commerce opportunities through a web enabled Wurlitzer jukebox, which will be placed in the given establishment.
Ed Bevilacqua, the CEO of Fun e-business, has stated that he intends to see the installation of some 2,000 of these jukeboxes over the next three years. Michael Robertson, CEO of MP3.com, sees this as an opportunity to expand their user base and will compensate content owners through the payback for the playback programme.
RecordTV Defend Against Lawsuit RecordTV have responded to the copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit filed against them by Plaintiffs which include, MGM Studios, Universal City Studios, Disney Enterprises, Time Warner Entertainment and Paramount Pictures. The RecordTV service allows users access to on demand TV programming through the web and is accused of the violation of cable television laws, unfair competition, as well as the obvious trademark and copyright infringement charges.
Chuck D still rapping about Napster et al Rapstation.com, founded September 1999 by Public Enemy frontman Chuck D., has introduced a section devoted to the technology. A fresh attempt by Chuck D., who has been an unabashed supporter of digital file-sharing, includes links to download software from Napster, Scour, Gnutella and FURI, and features reviews of each type of software.
Free MP3 Files From Digital Payloads Digital Payloads, a digital media promotions company, is in the process of marketing an application through which record labels and artists may be able to generate revenue from free MP3 files. Advertisements may be embedded into licensed MP3 files, thereby generating revenue for content owners and Digital Payloads alike. Embedded files display promotions as the music plays, and listeners are linked to artist or label web sites. The files are designed to work with MP3 players including Winamp, MusicMatch, Sonique and the Windows Media Player.
OnDigital To Launch TV-Web Portal This Autumn, Ondigital are set to launch their full internet service through the TV. This, the first portal of its type, will offer news, entertainment, shopping and direct links from TV programmes and advertisements to related web-sites. The partners in this venture include Abbey National, Cahoot, Co-op Travel, Iceland and Thomas Cook. This move sees the further expansion of OnDigital which noted some 774,000 subscribers at the end of June, a 15 percent increase in three months. This should see the company reach its target subscriber base of one million users by the end of this year and 2 million by the end of 2002.
Infogrames Offered Eidos Buyout Leading computer games company Eidos (Tomb raider/ Lara Croft etc) has been offered a buyout deal by French software company Infogrames valued at GBP 700million. The negotiations are understood to have reached the final stages, with Infogrames putting forward an all-share deal, making Eidos shares worth between 600p and 700pence each.
SkyB Attempt To Increase Stake in Open BSkyB has announced that it is in talks with Open, who supply set top boxes and digital internet services. BSkyB already hold a 32.5 percent stake in the company, which it plans to lift to 75 percent. If the talks are successful BSkyB will purchase the 20 percent stake currently held by HSBC and the 15 percent stake held by Matsushita. Having acquired this they plan to undertake a major cash injection into the company which would reduce BT's stake from 32.5 percent to 25 percent. The deal is set to cost BSkyB some GBP 1.5 Billion. If BSkyB are successful it would see an end to the controversial merger, which caused the groups unwanted attention from European Regulators at the formation of the company. The decision for this move comes in the wake of OnDigital (BSkyB's main rival) announcement of the roll out of its own internet service.
Open are currently making a loss, Investec henderson Crothswaite estimated that the end of June saw the group loosing some GBP 300 Million. This has arisen after the groups agreements to subsidise set top boxes, which are being given away to encourage its user base. The scheme would appear to be working well with the uptake of the service standing at some 2.8 million at present, a user base BKkyB are keen to get hold of.
AT and T Launch Ecosystem Network In a bold move, US telecom giant AT and T have announced a complete network solution for companies to create, manage, distribute and sell audio and video across the internet. The Ecosystem, like the similar project announced by I-Beam last week, will provide a complete end to end infrastructure, including secure transaction facilities. AT and T will also use its network to push forward and advance distance learning and conferencing, as well as broadband entertainment. AT and T is working very closely with Real Networks and Microsoft to provide the encoded formats for the files, as well as Inktomi who will manage the content delivery. The initial controlled initiative will begin in the first quarter of next year. Whilst AT and T are providing the initiative, the list of participating companies is wide, including Loudeye, Kodak, Dell, Audible and Hello Networks.
Vivendi Express Interest in Sky Global Vivendi have expressed their desire to obtain a stake in Sky Global, Rupert Murdoch's interactive service. Vivendi are rumoured to be in talks which would see them swapping their 20 percent stake in BskyB for a 10 percent stake in Sky Global. However, they have stated that they would only be willing to do this if they could have an operational role within its interactive services and multi-access web portal. The merger between Canal+, Seagram and Vivendi, to form Vivendi Universal, will be a direct rival to the Time Waner/AOL merger. If the deal with Sky global were to go ahead Vivendi Universal would be able to use their operational role within Sky Global to become a more active rival.
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