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A STORY ABOUT NAPSTER, WITHOUT THE WORD "LAWSUIT": Napster and Chris Blackwell's sputnik7.com, the online version of Palm Entertainment Music labels, have entered into a deal to try and bring exposure to Elwood, a new artist on Palm. MP3s of Elwood's first single, "Sundown," will be available for free at Napster. Blackwell said, "Our collaboration with Napster reflects our company's belief in the Internet as a vehicle to break new artists. Now, let's just hope that Napster is still up Thursday morning, or this will be the shortest promotion in history."

RECIPROCAL HAS A SECURITY SOLUTION: Digital rights management provider Reciprocal has announced that it has a secure solution for distributing streaming audio and video files. The secure streaming will first be used to support Windows Media Player 7, and will include other formats soon. In a related note, hackers in Denmark announced that they had cracked Reciprocal's new secure streaming solution.

MUSICMATCH HIRES THREE PEOPLE, SENDS OUT THREE RELEASES: In an effort to catch up with MP3.com's press-release-a-day campaign, MusicMatch, Inc., developers of digital audio software, announced the hirings of Jodie LeVitus-Francisco, Jonathan Gear and Daniel B. DeNigris with three separate press releases. LeVitus-Francisco joins as VP of Sales, Gear as VP of Marketing and DeNigris as VP of Content Development and Label Relations. The quotes from MusicMatch CEO Dennis Mudd and Senior VP Business Development Bob Ohlweiler went like this: "…we're very pleased to have him as a member of the MusicMatch team," "…is a perfect fit for this position and we're proud to have her on our team" and "His expertise is essential for MusicMatch to achieve success…" Since the Internet is supposed to be interactive, we'll let you match the quote to the employee.

JUPITER KEEPS PRAISING DIGITAL DOWNLOADS: Internet research firm Jupiter Communications has a big stack of numbers that suggest that the online music market in the U.S. will hit $5.4 billion in 2005. The report says labels "must" start licensing catalogs to meet demand. As you may have read here, Jupiter also has said that Napster sells records. Well… not directly, but you get the point. The company also claims to have data showing that hiring Internet research companies will get you laid more often.

BACKSTAGE G.A.S.: Broadband network Intertainer and Grand Royal have linked up to produce Web-based content around the Beastie Boys and Rage Against the Machine "Rhyme & Reason" tour. A 12-part daily episodic series, "Bananas 2000," gives a behind the scenes look at the tour, starting August 15. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a big deal, but viewers will also have a chance to win the 1972 Fleetwood Cadillac from the Beastie's "Hey Ladies" video. Now if only they'd give away the "Sabotage" mustaches.

YOU KNOW THE DRILL: Insound.com, an indie-skewing music and film e-commerce site, has launched a media planning and consultation service, Drill Team. The Team will provide corporate sponsors with access and insight into underground media platforms, events and marketing opportunities. That means they'll give big companies the hook-up with tiny little media opportunities, thus polluting their ethics and making them a slave to the almighty dollar. They'll also twirl batons and hang out with the marching band.

MEANWHILE, "YOU GET THE RECORD ADDED" WINNER GETS PROMO VP GIG: Tonos' "You Write the Hit" winner Damian Fontana has signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell. After winning the ultra-prestigious award, Fontana worked on the song "I Promise To" with Byron Gallimore. Gallimore then played the songs for Warner/Chappell Chairman and CEO les bider',390,400);">les bider',390,400);">Les Bider who signed Fontana. "When I found out that Tonos got me a deal with Warner/Chappell I was totally floored," Fontana said. "I wonder how many points I promised them."

IT'S EXCITING AS ITS NAME: Stop calling, stop e-mailing, stop showing up at our offices--we've finally got news about Liquid Audio's Liquid Player Five music software. It's now available. Are you happy now? Can you get on with your life? Claiming to make digital rights management and other encumbrances easier to deal with, the software enjoys endorsements from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Best Buy, CDNow, Musicland, Tower Records, Virgin JamCast and many others. Best of all, there's a grammatical error in the first sentence of the press release, where "it's" is used where "its" belongs. If we hear from the publicist in the next 24 hours, we won't say who's responsible.