DOT DOT DOT COM
MCY.com has responded to statements by Osbourne Management regarding the broadcast rights of OZZfest 2000. As you may recall, MCY.com Webcast one date of the tour and DirecTV offered a pay-per-view of the show. Osbourne Management filed suit for $20 million and offered some, um, colorful comments, quoting MCY CEO Larry Stessel as saying, "Sue me, I don't care. By the time this suit comes to court, MCY will probably be out of business anyway." Mitchell Lampert, MCY's General Counsel says, "MCY and its counsel firmly believe that the claims made against MCY are completely without merit. Additionally, statements attributed to MCY's senior management by Osbourne Management have been fabricated and are completely false." An Osbourne rep replied to the statement by declaring, "Black Sabbath was never as good as Iron Butterfly."
BETTER RED THAN DEAD
Virgin Entertainment Group has solved all of your gift-giving problems with its Holiday Guide 2000, an online gift-giving recommendation guide. It has an "Artists Recommend" section, where Kid Rock, Alice Cooper, Christina Aguilera and Korn tell you what music to buy as gifts. The artists will be manning the customer-service desk and handling returns as well.
MUSICMUSICMUISC MAKES MONEYMONEYMONEY
Vermont-based Musicmusicmusic has signed a $2 million deal with Canada's Future Shops to install the hardware and software for its Web Bar Listening Posts, which allow customers to hear any music in the store as well as receive information on the music or artist. Shares of Musicmusicmusic jumped 7% on the news on the Neuer Market. The company believes it can cut costs by a third by changing its name to... a wave of ennui prevents us from finishing this joke.
WHAT ABOUT THE BEAVER BROWN BAND?
Answering the question, "Whatever happened to the guy who wrote ‘Baker Street' and ‘Stuck in the Middle With You'" (on the off-chance that someone might ask that question), Gerry Rafferty is releasing his new album Another World via the Internet only. A press release describes this move as a result of Rafferty's decision to "shun" the traditional music business, which long ago returned the favor.
CDNOW SPRINTS TO WIRELESS WEB
Eager as they are for something else to do when they're driving and blabbing away on the cellular other than paying attention to the road, Sprint PCS users with an Internet-ready Sprint PCS phone can now search and buy music from CDNow using their phones. The one drawback to the service is that users will have to wait for the CDs to be delivered, meaning they may have to talk to the UPS guy face-to-face.
MADONNA NAVIGATES NAVISITE
The Webcast of Madonna's concert Tuesday (11/28) from London's Brixton Academy will be handled by NaviSite. Despite the fact that the press release misspelled "Brixton," NaviSite is confident that it will be able to offer the Webcast in Windows Media format at 700 kbps, "near-DVD-quality," as well as in 300 kbps, "near-VHS-quality" and an audio-only stream of 28.8 kbps, "near-HITS-quality." The Webcast is expected to be one of the largest Internet events since the Victoria's Secret online wingding earlier this year, though there will be far less "pausing" of the Madonna concert.
DIGITAL SATELLITE RADIO TO HIT THE ROAD
Time goes on and things change, but nothing satisfies the way research on digital satellite radio growth does. Mmm-hmmm. The Gartner Group's data on the subject shows that consumers (or "people") primarily listen to the radio in their cars (!) and do so "five to seven days per week" (!). And not just because TV is too hard to watch while driving. According to the Group, a big potential growth area for digital satellite radio will be in automobiles. It's really much more interesting if you replace "listen to the radio" with "wear seatbelts."
NAPSTER STILL BAD
In the most timely manner possible, British Music Rights (BMR) has decided that it's time to strike against "the use of controversial free online music-swapping services, such as Napster and MP3.com." The BMR launched an "Awareness Week" today, with its "Respect the Value of Music" campaign, which apparently does not include raising awareness for the fact that MP3.com doesn't offer music-swapping.
BOWIE SLIPS INTO STREAM
Apparently, David Bowie is one musician who doesn't think MP3.com is a threat. The Thin White Duke has become the first high-profile artist to allow his entire catalog to be streamed via My.MP3.com, the controversial service that cost the netco a few dollars recently. There are a handful of bonuses for My.MP3.com users who add Bowie CDs to their accounts, including an alternate live version of "Ziggy Stardust' and a live version of "All the Young Dudes." Said Bowie, "It's an amazing testament to the Net that MP3.com technology allows someone to have their record collection at their fingertips wherever they are in the world. And it's an amazing testament to my age that I still call them ‘records.'" In a related story, a recent survey in UK mag New Musical Express named Bowie the biggest influence on participating artists. Or the second, if you count a potent combination of warm lager and hashish.
