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BY KURT HANSON
One of the most successful rock bands in Canadian history, The
Tragically Hip has released ten records and sold millions
of copies since their first EP was released in 1986 — although
their fame has not spread south of the border in the manner of,
say, Alanis Morissette or Barenaked
Ladies.
For their first release on Rounder Records (after previously
recording on MCA, Atlantic, and Sire), the band has the benefit
of a phenomenal website that includes cool features from which every
U.S.
band (and, for that matter, every radio
station in the world) could probably learn much.
Most dramatically, the homepage of the band's website, www.TheHip.com
(see screenshot above), gives fans an almost-complete preview of
the album, with a full set of player controls (pause, rewind, fast-forward,
etc.) allowing fans to hear one-minute to full-length versions of
virtually every song on the album!
And as each song plays, the listener is treated to liner
notes from band frontman Gordie Downie (see example at right).
The site contains many more great features — enough to
keep a fan or potential fan entertained for hours. One example,
shown below, is set lists for
many of their recent shows.
Another feature of the site is a wide variety of relevant
links — e.g., if a song lyric has an allusion to author
Graham Greene, the site offers links to various Graham
Greene websites.
The site also offers background information on the album
cover art of the current album and most of the band's
previous albums. (An amazingly-cool page here
shows, step by step, precisely how the artist created the cover
art for their 2000 album "Music @ Work.")
And by exploring the site thoroughly, you can find lyrics
to almost all of the band's songs, past and current, song clips
of almost all of those songs, and much more.
Finally, to encourage CD sales, every copy of "In Violet
Light" is packaged with a membership card for The Hip Club.
Each card has a unique 16-digit PIN number, which will gives the
owner exclusive access to a second website, thehipclub.com,
which will have free bonus tracks of unreleased and live material,
exclusive merchandise only available to THC members, front-of-the-line
concert ticket access, and more. ("Right off the bat we'll
let you download two unreleased tracks from the 'In Violet Light'
sessions in MP3 format .")
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The Tragically Hip's website is a perfect example of
how the record industry can use the Internet to help grow
its business rather than damage it.
If you play around on the home page of the site (here),
you'll quickly learn that listening to medium-audio-quality
streamed audio of an album's music is not a substitute for a
CD purchase, but rather a sales tool
that makes you
more inclined to buy it!
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Thanks
to all the fine companies
who agreed to be part of our recent "RAIN
Vendor Guide (Ver. 2.0)" issue. You
can see the entire Guide here.
To be part of RAIN's Vendor Guide, please call
312-527-3879. ( "Recruitment advertising"
and "reporting tools" will be our next featured
categories.)
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| Promotion
(artists & records) |
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Net
Music Promotions
Net Music Promotions works with major and independent
record labels, managers, music publishers and artists
to promote their music online. Net Music Promotions' online
marketing specialty is promotion to online streamers and
marketing/promotion/ positioning with all major consumer
music sites. |
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RadioWebStuff
We have developed an extensive
eDistribution system targeted specifically to the radio
industry. We can help you reach radio decision makers
with rich media campaigns that showcase your artist. And
we can create and distribute content offerings that are
uniquely designed to reach music consumers via radio websites. |
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From the New York Times: "Testing out a tactic
to combat online piracy, a group of record companies asked a judge
yesterday
to order four major Internet service providers to block
Americans from viewing a China-based Web site that offers
thousands of copyrighted songs free of charge.
"The 13 record labels that filed the suit in Federal
District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan
say the site, Listen4ever
.com, is 'even more egregious' than the music-sharing service
Napster, which was shut by a court order.
"But in the Napster case, the recording industry sued
Napster itself. The new action is the first time record companies
have sought to compel the companies that control
the Internet backbone to intervene. The four companies
named in the suit are AT&T
Broadband, Cable
and Wireless, the Sprint
Corporation and UUNet
Technologies. The record labels in the lawsuit include Sony
Music Entertainment, the
Universal Music
Group and RCA Records.
"The lawsuit invokes an untested provision of a 1998
federal law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, that allows a
court to order Internet providers to take limited steps to block
offshore sites that violate United States copyright laws...
"Fred von Lohmann, a lawyer with the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group that monitors
digital copyright issues, said that the law allowed a court to refuse
the
copyright holder's request if it decided there was a less
burdensome way to prevent the copyright infringement.
"'Wouldn't it be better to get an injunction from a Chinese
court to punish the people behind this?' Mr. Von Lohmann said. 'Are
we going to have a situation where rather than going after the actual
wrongdoers we just go block all these sites?'"
Read this entire article from the New York Times online
here.
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This case may set an important precedent for webcasters
who are considering trying to avoid webcasting royalty fees
by setting up an offshore operation.
RAIN was unable to load the Listen4Ever website. -- PM
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From The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Almost
all American college radio stations have listeners who call in to
make song requests. But few have people calling in from Israel.
"At the University of Akron, however, WZIP-FM
reached a worldwide audience by transmitting its music over the
Internet at the same time it broadcast a traditional radio signal
locally. At its peak, the station's Webcasts of hip-hop and dance
music attracted up to 300 online listeners an hour in places as
distant as the Middle East and
Australia. Song requests from
Jerusalem and Sydney were common.
"But in March, WZIP ended its Webcasts. Station officials
estimated that WZIP would have to pay more
than $10,000 a year under a new royalty-fee plan that
was then being considered by James H. Billington,
the librarian of Congress. Mr. Billington oversees the US Copyright
Office...
"So far, few college radio stations have attracted hundreds
of online listeners -- most Webcasts pull in an audience of a couple
dozen at most. But officials at college stations say the new fees
discourage success. If a Webcast
becomes too popular, the station soon
wouldn't be able to afford to stay in business.
"Many radio stations, both Webcasting and traditional,
argue that the fees are unreasonably high. They say a flat
rate of about $200 per year would be fair for all parties...
"But Amanda Collins, a spokeswoman for the Recording
Industry Association of America, says stations could one
day make lots of money from playing music online. 'Webcasting is
in its earliest stage of development,' she says. 'The fact that
they're using
our members' works to create a business,
that means our members should be compensated.'
"Ms. Collins says the recording industry is willing
to continue negotiating with college stations to reach
a conclusion that satisfies both sides. 'We're hearing the concerns
that the college radio stations are raising, and we're prepared
to work with them,' she says."
Read the complete article here.
Below the article are a comprehensive rundown of the webcasting
fees as proposed by the Librarian of Congress, and a list of college
stations that have gone silent in response to those fees.
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"If
you manage a credible amount of revenue...you'll have to pay..."
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Upon reading up on the articles, I finally came to this
conclusion:
Why not have the big radio conglomerates pay the "per-song-per-listener"
rate? They are the revenue-making webcasters. As for small webcasters,
who plan to be a commercial station one day, let them pay a flat
royalty fee. If the number of commercials played on the air exceed
a certain amount, they would then need to move to the "per-song-listener"
rates. This means that, if you want to become one of the big guys,
you can. But if you manage to reach a credible amount of revenue
(by calculating the number of commercials played on the air), you'll
have to pay up.
This flat fee should be applied to noncommercial, educational
and college radio stations. It also applies to the group of webcasters
who plan to be a commercial station.
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Faizal Pahmee
DreamRadio247 |
This regards RAIN's lead story from Wednesday, titled "Music
downloads don't hurt, and may help, CD sales, says study" here...
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"All
the more reason for them to clear the field..."
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Although I enjoy seeing articles that point out that Internet
music actually helps promote sales, I honestly believe
these pieces still miss their mark.
The RIAA, though loathed, is not stupid. Trust me, they
KNOW the Internet is a tremendous vehicle for sales...all the more
reason for them to clear the field of all the small webcasters.
It's about CONTROL..not about dollars, and they'd rather shoot off
their own toes than see it done better by someone else.
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Michael Monahan
Atlanta Blue Sky |
This is in response to Kurt Engelhardt's Reader Feedback on Friday
(here)...
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"Perhaps
the difference is in the processing..."
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I just wanted to respond to the user who posted that XM
Radio sounds "superior to any radio signal or even
CD. "
It's not possible to take something that's CD quality and
INCREASE the quality. The only way their signal is superior to CD
audio is if they're getting all of their music on DAT or some other
format.
I will admit that it does sound great. Perhaps the difference
is in the processing. Nevertheless you'll never get better-than-CD
results when you're starting with audio from a CD.
Public stations
now off line
This is from the SOS:
Save Our Streams website, which focuses the struggle
against thewebcasting royalty rates as they pertain to independent
educational and noncommercial stations. |
| KTAI-TX; KNHC-WA; KAPU-CA; WMUA-MA; WEBR-VA; WDCE-VA; KWJC-MO;
WERS-MA; KTSW-TX; WSUM-WI; WSTB-OH; WONB-OH; WXOU-MI; WZIP-OH;
WUTK-TN; KETR-TX; WRMC-VT; KSDS-CA; WNYU-NY; WSUW-WI; WEVL-TN;
KRCL-UT; WSRN-PA; KXCI-AZ; WUVT-VA; KDHX-MI; WPTS-PA; KBCS-WA;
WMHW-MI; KBVR-OR; KXRJ-AR; WDWN-NY |
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