Citing the recent federal appeals court decision against Napster, CyberRadio.com has announced that they're stepping up their plans to introduce a subscription-based music download service. A company press release on the project, called Internet Music Library, Inc., gave no indication of a targeted launch date.

The company claims to have spent over two years developing proprietary software for a "copyright-friendly subscription system" which can already perform the functions of a "pay" music download system, such as proposed
by Napster.

In the press release, CyberRadio also claims to have "the additional leverage of having received 'provisional patents...' detailing the business process of digital downloading of music on a subscription basis."

Read the press release here.

From Newsbytes: "Streaming media company J. River said today it has tripled Napster's bid to record companies by offering $3 billion over a five-year period for unlimited access to content.

"J. River said it plans to build a subscription service based on Media Jukebox technology. The company added peer-to-peer networking and streaming capabilities to its online music player several months ago, but limited downloading to three simultaneous users to avoid following in Napster's ill-fated footsteps.

"'There have been over 1,000,000 downloads of our Media Jukebox software. When we surveyed our users, 48 percent were willing to pay $10 a month for access to the music they wanted. We think the current potential is about 10,000,000 subscribers now and will grow to 50,000,000 over the next five years,' said Business Development Director Brant Kingman."

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From Business 2.0: "Keen to extend their brand, big boys such as Capital and Virgin are ploughing millions into their new-media operations, wooed as much by the prospect of increased ad revenues due to better targeting and clever creative interplay between the audio and the visual, as by truly spontaneous e-commerce.

"New and exciting it may be, but the problem with Internet radio is no one quite knows how to use it yet, as even Jonathan Keen, media planner researcher at the Radio Advertising Bureau, admits. 'What we do know is that it can be useful, in some way,' he says. 'If you study the usage statistics carefully from the audience measurement system RAJAR, you'll see Internet radio already works well if you're targeting men aged 15 to 24, say. Another advantage of Internet radio is that it's complementary to PC usage: watching television is not.'

"Yet Keen cautions against deaf and blind faith in this new medium. 'Yes, there is scope for a huge number of different radio stations out there, and ultra-niche audiences. But if listeners are given a choice of 10,000 different stations, chances are they'll try out a few, and then lapse back into a more conventional listening pattern.'

"So why is Capital investing so much?...'Actually, we've been spurred on by our advertisers,' he (Mark Frost, managing director of Capital Interactive) continues. 'They were actually asking us when we were going to start doing this, as they had no vehicle to reach certain groups. The point is, the audiences do not mirror our broadcast ones. Broadcast is very good at getting at a swamp of humanity, but you can't narrow it down.

"'What we offer is better targeting and knowledge of our online listeners, knowledge which could be recycled to help hone broadcast ads. And whereas advertisers started out with a may-as-well attitude, they now realise there are distinctive differences between the two mediums. A lot of big consumer brands are working out how to get the most value from advertising on Internet radio.'

"As for which Internet stations will ultimately win out, Frost is pragmatic. 'At the end of the day, it's all about location or brand,' he says. 'The reason Yahoo!'s news service is so popular is not that it offers any better news, but because so many people happen to be on Yahoo! anyway.'"

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The WarpRadio Network says that at their current growth rate, they could be streaming 1,000 radio stations by the end of the year, and generating $2 to $4 million in advertising revenues.

The company announced today that they had reached an advertising "milestone" by streaming over 500 radio stations for barter. This total, they claim, pulls in to the network a 675,000 AQH (Average Quarter Hour listenership, or the average number of listeners tuned in at a given moment). This total should earn $950,000 to $2,000,000 in ad revenues, according to the company.

WarpRadio trades streaming services to radio in exchange for two minutes of on-air inventory per day, and two minutes on the stream per hour.

Read the press release here.

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February 26-28, 2001	Broadcasters Website Sales Conf. 2.0, Tempe, AZ