Napster may have received the most crushing blow yet. Judge Marilyn Patel's revised injunction against the file-sharing service, handed down earlier this afternoon, requires the company to remove all copyrighted files from its system. Record labels are to supply a list of the infringed titles, and Napster then has "three (3) business days" to rectify the situation.

This measure effectively forces Napster to share the burden of "policing" the illegal trade of copyrighted song material. Patel gave Napster five business days to show that they are complying with the order.

The order also requires Napster and the record companies to go to "reasonable measures in identifying variations of the filename(s), or of the spelling of the titles or artists' names," to block their trade over the service -- preventing users to "cheat" around the filename filters.

Additionally, the ruling allows the record industry to provide "advance notice" to Napster of as-of-yet unreleased material from artists likely to be popular on the service. This eliminates the "free ride" for file traders during the time it takes for the record companies to identify files newly introduced to the system.

According to MSNBC coverage of the story, analysts are calling the injunction "a worst case scenario" for Napster. It's believed that Napster will file an appeal and ask for a stay of the injunction -- but won't likely get it. Patel's ruling allows for an appeal if Napster believes it can't feasibly live up to the requirements, but explictly states such a request "will not operate to stay this injunction or afford relief from it."

For the text of the ruling, click here. Read the MSNBC report here.

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Reprinted from today's early edition...

From the press release: "Cybereps, an Interep Company, announced that the Discovery Channel, a client of the Creative Media agency, has added streaming advertising to its overall media plan, which includes network and spot radio.

"This marks a high-profile example of a so-called 'traditional' advertiser, meaning not a dot-com or Internet-related company, allocating additional media dollars to streaming media.

"The Discovery Channel's current campaign is to promote an upcoming documentary on the network entitled 'Land of the Mammoth,' premiering March 11. The campaign, scheduled to run March 5-March 11, is targeted toward Adults 25-54, with a male skew. Audio spots, identical to the broadcast radio copy, will run on two of Cybereps sites, Radiowave and TheDial."

Read the press release here.

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From the press release: "Tonos Entertainment, Inc. announced that President and CEO, Matt Farber has resigned but will remain in place until a suitable replacement is named. Farber cited a strong desire to move back to his hometown of New York to pursue other opportunities, as the primary reason for his resignation...

"Tonos was founded in October 1999 by Oscar and Grammy - winning lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, Grammy-winning producer/composer David Foster and Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. The company has raised $19.4M in venture capital to date.

"Tonos is the only music company providing a platform for music industry aspirants, professionals and fans to create music together, obtain guidance and collaborate with accomplished 'Hitmakers' and access the information, contacts and tools they need to further their music interests and careers."

Prior to joining Tonos, Farber worked at iCast, CMGI's entertainment company, where he was chief operating officer, and at MTV, where he was executive vice president of MTV Networks Online.

See RAIN's coverage of Farber's arrival at Tonos here.

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From the press releases: "MeasureCast today released its February Internet radio report. The analysis shows that the total time spent listening (TTSL) to on-line broadcasters tracked by MeasureCast increased 12 percent over January (numbers adjusted to account for fewer days in February).

"Among the Internet radio broadcasters with the most significant increases in TTSL were several stations from OnePlace.com, a leading provider of Christian audio content on the Internet. Its Solid Gospel station saw a 617 percent increase in TTSL, while its Black Gospel Network enjoyed a 109 percent jump in TTSL.

"MeasureCast (also) announced today that the top 25 stations for the week of February 26 - March 4 experienced a 13.5 percent increase in total time spent listening (TTSL) compared to the previous week."

To see the results of the MeasureCast studies, and the accompanying press releases (in Microsoft Word format), click here for the month of February, and here for February 26 - March 4.

March 6, 2001	The Digital Download: Washington, D.C.
May 3-4, 2001	Streaming Media Asia 2001: Hong Kong