MP3.COM: FIVE YEARS OLD, AND ALREADY THE ATTACKS
Why, it seems like just yesterday the scrappy online music provider was taunting the industry with its vibrant model of digital distribution and unmediated artist-audience commerce.
And it seems like mere hours ago that the dot-com was forking over millions in legal restitution to the Big Five before being purchased by Vivendi Universal, which envisioned the netco as the backbone of then-chief Jean-Marie Messier’s ambitious new-media strategy.
Whew! Memories, huh?
Anyhoo, have some cake. Because it’s time to celebrate! MP3.com is rolling out a major redesign and features like CD-burning, Internet radio and reviews of hardware, software and, conceivably, wares that are neither soft nor hard.
More to the point, the company is proud to announce "MP3.com's New Track Attack," which—despite sounding like something John Ashcroft would warn you about in the most ambiguous way possible—signifies rare and previously unreleased music from major labels. Five major labels will split the daily spotlights on Monday-Friday.
The spotlight begins with Warner Music Group, which rolls out an exclusive mix of Madonna’s "Die Another Day" (from the forthcoming James Bond flick of the same name) as well as goodies from Craig David, Matchbox 20, Sean Paul, Bjork, Flaming Lips and Glassjaw, among others.
The "attacks" will continue through 11/15. Wed., 11/6 marks a "special tribute" to the Country Music Awards, which air that evening. You can learn more about "New Track Attacks" and how to prevent them with proper diet and exercise by clicking here.
In addition to all the groovy new features for artists, MP3.com is hoping to draw attention to advertising opportunities for folks who want to get in front of all those musicians and downloaders and such, trumpeting the campaigns it has "launched and hosted" for outfits like Twix, Levis, Hewlett Packard, Hyundai and ATT Broadband.
"MP3.com originally launched in November 1997 with a handful of independent musicians looking to promote themselves on the Web," proclaimed Derrick Oien, who heads parent company Vivendi Universal Net USA’s music and media group. "Since then, MP3.com’s music collection and online audience have both grown explosively, to be among the Internet’s largest. We recently added our 250,000th artist, and now feature emerging acts side-by-side with chart-toppers and Grammy winners. For millions of music fans and recording artists, MP3.com has become synonymous with digital music itself."
To celebrate this happy occasion, we’re sending Derrick a dictionary with a yellow sticky on the page with the definition of "synonymous."
