From Wired News: "A group of music veterans has launched a network of community Web sites that cater to specific musical tastes. On Monday, Santa Monica-based Enigma Digital said it is bringing together diverse elements of the music industry -- publication, retail, distribution, broadcast, licensing, merchandising, and live events -- into an intertwined network of sites...

"Each site will have a range of services, including editorial content, 24-hour broadcasts with on-air personalities, chat rooms, music downloads, tour and ticket information, and contests and promotions. The first community-oriented sites will be KNAC.com for heavy metal heads, GrooveRadio.com for electronic dance music, as well as sites geared toward underground hip-hop and Christian contemporary music. Future sites will center on opera, blues, jazz, classic rock, and world music...

"Bob Ezrin, co-CEO of Enigma, has produced artists such as Pink Floyd, Rod Stewart, Peter Gabriel, and Monty Python. Co-CEO William Hein was founder of Enigma Entertainment and Restless Records..." Read full story in Wired News here.

Why wasn't it someone from the RADIO industry who thought of doing this? It seems so obvious...like such a great opportunity! -- KH



From Media Central: "Barnesandnoble.com Inc. has launched bnRadio, an Internet radio service linked to its e-commerce website that allows customers to listen to full-length songs and excerpts from audio books, the company announced today.

"As part of the bnRadio tuner, customers will be able to listen to more than 25,000 songs from 16 music styles, and three-to-five minute selections from hundreds of audio books, the company said in a press release. Customers can also access barnesandnoble.com content about the song, including artists' biographical summaries... Through bnRadio, customers can purchase the CD or audio book directly from barnesandnoble.com...

"Barnesandnoble.com partnered with RadioAMP to create the bnRadio application, the company said in the press release. As part of the agreement, RadioAMP will also build co-branded tuners for barnesandnoble.com's Affiliate Network, as well as third-party sites from which barnesandnoble.com provides the product fulfillment through the tuners...."

Read the story in Media Central here.

More on RadioAMP in tomorrow's edition of RAIN.


WBCN and Feed the Monster Launch
New Web Site with `Melt-Down` Teaser
From BusinessWire: "FTM ("Feed the Monster") Media announced Monday that it and Boston-based, Infinity Broadcasting-owned, alternative rock radio station WBCN-FM have successfully launched WBCN's new Web site, www.wbcn.com. Thanks in part to the collaboration's creative teaser and strong on-air promotion, the site recorded huge viewer activity in its first week.

"Anne Yang, FTM's associate producer for the project, explained that WBCN's existing Internet following gave the creative team an excellent opportunity to advertise the new site prior to launch. 'Starting January 7th," she said, 'viewers who logged onto the site thought the homepage was loading as usual. After a few seconds, though, the screen started to break down. 'The browser would shake, and then the old site dissolved in flames at the bottom of the screen.' Following the 'blow up,' an error box appeared with the message, "This website can no longer handle all the games, music, downloads, band info, sports and other coolness coming from WBCN...'

Find the press release on the BusinessWire site here.

WBCN.com is the third site launched by this 75-person website design firm in Pasadena. Click here for a story on their recent hiring of former KKSF GM Dave Kendrick.




From Radio SonicNet: "The Bacon Brothers earned considerable attention long before they ever released an album; singer/guitarist Kevin Bacon already enjoyed a successful career as one of the most prolific screen actors of his generation, with starring performances in films including Diner, Footloose, JFK, The River Wild and Apollo 13. He originally formed the Bacon Brothers with his singer/guitarist brother Michael in 1994 to perform at a charity event in their hometown of Philadelphia, although the two siblings' collaborative musical history in fact dated back to their childhood; while Kevin later explored acting, Michael forged his own musical career fronting the 1970s folk-rock band Good News, subsequently recording a pair of solo albums..."

"Artists you'll hear include Johnny Cash, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Shirelle, The Ronettes, Cream, The Temptations, The Beatles, The Standells, Chuck Berry, The Band, James Brown, Roy Orbison, The Platters, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Gordon Lightfoot, Jimi Hendrix, Dwight Yoakam..." and Alvin & the Chipmunks.

As a Baby Boomer from the Upper Midwest with vaguely classic-rockish tastes, I love this station. It's a tight playlist -- too tight for broadcast radio -- but it has great song selections. And the artist list is WIDER than any broadcast classic rock station.

It's hard to find on the SonicNet site, however -- it's been pulled from the primary list of featured "Guest DJ Stations" and you have click around for a while to find it. Actually, I've found it for you: Click here. -- KH

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