From the Wall Street Journal: "In the latest step toward developing online music subscriptions, three big record companies are negotiating to license their music to RealNetworks Inc. for use in its planned subscription service, tentatively called MusicNet.

"According to people familiar with the talks, AOL Time Warner's Warner Music Group, Bertelsmann AG's BMG Entertainment and EMI Group each are negotiating with Seattle-based RealNetworks...

"One of the proposals under discussion is for MusicNet to be made available to other online services. In what is likely to be a controversial aspect, the companies also are discussing giving renegade Web site Napster an opportunity to license the service under certain strict conditions...

"RealNetworks has been trying to negotiate a music licensing deal with most of the big music companies for more than a year. It was proposing to keep a big stake in MusicNet but to share ownership with each of the music companies that licensed their music. Warner Music already has taken a stake in MusicNet of an undisclosed size, the people familiar with the talks said."

Read the article here.

From Bloomberg.com: "Vivendi Universal SA and Sony Corp. may take on a third partner in their joint venture to sell music on the Internet, an analyst said, citing Vivendi Chairman Jean-Marie Messier.

"Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and their prospective third partner have a combined 70 percent share of the world's music market...

"The joint venture, known as Duet, is one of several efforts by the world's biggest music companies to sell records online. They're trying to keep as much as possible of the billions of dollars in sales that analysts have said they could lose to free online music-sharing services like Napster Inc.

"(Analyst Edouard Tetreau) speculated that AOL Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Music Group might be the prospective third partner. The other two major music distributors are EMI Group Plc and Bertelsmann AG's BMG Entertainment, which have been in merger talks this year."

Read the entire article here.

...

... It's pretty widely accepted that to succeed, an online music service will have to have full cooperation of all the major labels (and then certainly most of the independents would follow suit). But is it necessarily a race to be "the one?" Will there be a single company or service that "plants the flag," while all others fail? Certainly there are numerous chain and independent "brick and mortar" record retailers with plenty of room to compete. But does the Internet allow for the coexistence of such similar companies? The advantages of location and convenience of a physical store don't play a role on the Internet. So how many of these services would the market support? And how would they differentiate themselves (if it's given they all have access to the same product)? ...

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BY PAUL MALONEY
Personal growth, alternative medicine, social consciousness, spirituality, relationships, and global issues. Such is the realm of the discussion on Wisdom Radio (at WisdomMedia.com).

One-third of a media "triumvirate" (with Wisdom Internet and Wisdom Television), Wisdom Radio is a live, 24-hour station of back-to-back talk shows focusing on the affairs of the heart, mind, and soul. It's also available on C-band satellite, and will become part of the Sirius Satellite Radio network later this year.

The Wisdom "family" was created by founder/president Bill Turner, who launched the media group in 1998 from his company satellite marketing company Turner Vision. According to information on the site, Turner Vision has grown from 2 to 500 employees since its founding in 1986.

The shows themselves seem to be pretty straightforward, talk radio style. The host, usually themselves somewhat of an expert in the matters at hand, introduces and interviews a guest (live or via telephone) for input on a particular topic. We listened to the "Jill and Friends" program, hosted by Jill Lawrence (pictured). The guest was Debbie Ford (an "Oprah" regular, we're made to understand), who spoke about two of her books (Debbie and her sister Arielle call themselves "Mystical, Metaphysical Angels" on their site FordSisters, by the way. Arielle runs a PR firm and is author of the "Hot Chocolate For The..." book series).

The site is very well organized, stylish, and professional looking. But possibly the most impressive feature is the amount of archived material available. There's a ton! It makes one wonder how much storage it takes up on the Wisdom servers. Twenty different shows, with nearly as many hosts, every day...and any time you miss an even somewhat recent one, chances are it's right there on the site to listen to on demand.

They even have an extensive list of what looks to be hundreds of guests that have appeared on the various shows, many with links to photos and biographies. And then at the bottom of such pages are even more links to Wisdom pages organized by different topics. For example, on the bottom of guest Dr. Bruce Goldberg's page are links to a related news item, two related products available in the Wisdom Store, and links to a pertinent Wisdom Radio and Wisdom Television show. Plus, two more links to "Wisdom's Guide To...," topical resources put together within the Wisdom site. Very smart.

In fact, it's arguable that Wisdom Radio represents the early evolution towards a new media model that couldn't really even be possible without the Internet. Here we see content and usability beyond what often passes for a website for television or radio stations. It's apparent that the construction and design of the radio and television were done with the Internet in mind, and vice versa.

We wonder as well if non-musical radio formats will lead the way to an eventual breakthrough for Internet radio. First, not unlike AM radio, the sound quality limitations of streaming audio are much less of an issue for talk-based topics. Streaming at 20 Kbps doesn't really cut it for music, but it's fine for talk. Perhaps this is a reason why talk radio has performed well in the first Internet radio ratings we've seen. Regardless, the ability to hold an audience while streaming at lower bit-rates is an opportunity for the station to save money.

Second, all original, live programming may be costly on the "talent" end. But with some of the outrageous fees the record industry has been rumored to be demanding to stream copyrighted musical performances, that expense may be a wash.

Very few music-driven shows have reached the level of popularity that national exposure is warranted (we'd argue that shows like "American Top 40" are at least as much Casey Kasem's presentation as the music). However, with the obvious nationwide demand for the likes of Dr. Laura and Art Bell, the talk "Wisdom" format would seem to have some momentum.

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From the press release: "Muzak, LLC, the leader in creating audio experiences for businesses, announced that it has entered into a strategic marketing relationship with theDial, the Internet's leading creator of private-labeled interactive audio. Both companies have agreed to collaborate in creating a new Internet audio product bringing music to the web sites of retail and hospitality companies.

"The partnership will combine the audio content of Muzak and the interactive streaming technology of theDial to provide a private-labeled audio experience that interacts with and entertains the Internet user. The service will offer music, audio advertising, messaging and a graphically branded player created specifically for the client's web site."

Read the story here.

From the press release: "The Internet's foremost Music Service Provider is making available hundreds of thousands of songs found on MP3.com to business locations around the country, with the help of partners like StoreTunes, LLC, a full service producer of audio marketing atmosphere services for businesses. MP3.com, Inc. today welcomed StoreTunes as a partner to further capitalize on the multi-million dollar business music industry...

"StoreTunes' production services, in conjunction with MP3.com Business Music Services, give businesses more control and versatility than traditional music services available today. These offerings allow MP3.com customers to select their own in-store music, advertising and promotional messages and customize those music playlists and messages via the Internet by utilizing a user-friendly and password-protected administration page."

Read this entire release here.

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March 30-April 4	MOBE: Universal City, CA
April 2, 2001	Digital Media Outlook: New York, NY
June 20-22	Streaming Media West 2001: Long Beach, CA