Fascinating(IMO) post from engine38 on RB
=======================================
By: engine38
Reply To: 226701 by annpayt Thursday, 24 Feb 2000 at 4:00 PM EST
Post # of 226849
annpayt/cksla...notes from Supertracks seminar in December in Santa Monica. I mentioned in December that I thought Supertracks has it going on...nice to see the notes in retrospect. This may help you understand how this all works.
Supertracks is the first company to license and pilot the digital music distribution solution from Preview
Systems, a leader in digital goods e-commerce network solutions. Preview?s solution integrates Intel©
Software Integrity System into Preview?s proven and powerful e-commerce engine. Additionally,
Supertracks announced it has licensed the use of the highly-regarded ePAC compression/decompression
algorithm (CODEC) from Lucent Technologies.
?Preview?s DDM solution, with embedded Intel content protection technology, gives Supertracks a proven
system for e-commerce, security, and rights management,? said Charles Jennings. ?We are extremely
pleased to have this technology, along with Lucent?s ePAC CODEC, become a part of the Supertracks
solution.
Universal exec I talked to said any PR from UMG will be fluff for the
shareholders, not much else. He added that EPAC was the codec of choice for quality
in his opinion. His opinion was that they were possibly a couple of months from putting
content out. How's that for a different perspective???
Supertracks audio engineer, who happened to mention that Liquid Audio doesn't
even have an audio engineer, told me EPAC sounded the best. He answered all my questions.
I got his card and he is happy to take a call if I have more questions. Supertracks,
IMO, is WAY ahead of Liquid Audio. All their people are either from labels, former
Intel, industry insiders, etc, who have a very focused plan to market.(but what the
hell do I know?) I talked with Charles Jennings after the roundtable and he was very
open. He is quite involved with Trustee, which is like the equivalent of the Good
Housekeeping Seal for the secure handling of personal data on the I-net. He is very
concerned with privacy issues. That's where the music card can come in handy.
It's like a phone card. If Daddy doesn't want Johnny to use his credit card online,
then Daddy can go get the brat a music card at Blockbuster,etc., and now Johnny has
whatever amount on the card and it debits until Johnny has no more.
The panel talked about the MP3 fiasco and why we came to where we are today. They
also talked about CD's to bring people up to speed on emerging formats of music play.
I then commented (hoping for their input)that when a person buys a CD, they can play
it in their car, their home, their portable device without ever considering if that
CD is compatible with device. How is the consumer going to be able to accomplish
the same with so many codecs/drms if not all sites support all codecs? Jennings answer
was a multi-codec player,"and there's already one developed that I am aware of".
He also alluded to the Lydstrom player for home (unless there is another I'm not
aware of).
Native tongue. Right now EPAC, Windows Media Player, and coming up shortly AAC.
All codecs will be in native tongue. He cringed when I asked about transcoding! He
said, "We are not first to market. However, we intend to be the best of market."
Jennings had two World-known Philharmonic Conductors A/B test download vs. CD, and
"they were very impressed, and I'm sure you will be, too." He said cheesy sites will
transcode, but Supertracks is codec-agnostic and all will be available in codec's
native tongue.No loss of quality in content.
Jennings took us through the start to finish of how content chain works. I scribbled
a chart. There are many 'keys' that have to fit together, or music will not get downloaded
to client. Many layers of security. Five-year proven technology for layering encryption,
he said.
According to Jeremy Silver (EMI), it will take a couple years to shake out the
dominant codec. David Bowie was actively involved in his last release. It was available
for distribution online 2 weeks before release to record stores. He selected EPAC.
Silver said he expected that to be an artists personal preference.
Apparently, due to union issues with recording artists, there remains to be decisions
on whether a streaming downloading is a 'performance' vs. a download which is mechanical,
and construed as a difference in revenue to artist. Legal issues....
Everyone concurred that Labels are idiotic when it comes to marketing. They still
believe 'air time' is the only way. Until now. Tori Amos changed things w/ her last
few releases.
I have a couple more thoughts from last night's meeting:
1. Arthur Spivak, who represents Tori Amos, said artists will continue to get screwed by the labels (I found that interesting since most of the people there were label people). There seems to be sticking points here because the artists feel there is no longer need for labels to assess them costs for packaging (were you aware they did?) and other related debits from their agreements with label. Average take for an artist is $1.42 per CD. The labels responded by saying that they still have 95% of sales in stores and can't ignore the infrastructure costs for new distribution channel. Until they reach a break-even point, artists and consumers will have to 'pay the man'. But it was clear that this new market will be absolutely gigantic. And an eventual reduction in pricing.
The guy from Universal mentioned that I should remember that while I live in Southern California, someone in Minnesota cannot just hop down to the music or video store and rent or buy something they desire at the moment. Climate was not something I had thought of. Convenience was, and that's the other big plus. Jeremy Silver mentioned how when you notice people on airplanes taking a stack of CD's with them on a flight, it would be much more convenient to have a small player and music stored on flashcard, while listening with "wireless headphones". Seems we're all on the same wavelength here. Just a matter of time.
2. If you follow the path from label to consumer, the most important element is the "key server". It is here that content is held under 'lock and key(s)'. When an album is cut, the production center (mastering) prepares the BOB, or Bag of Bits, as he called it. Then on to encryption and then on to key server then to PC, then to portable device.
Interesting to note that the key server also contains all variable business rules specific to the label/artist/retailer that does business with it. For instance, even 1 retailer may have any number of promotions, that may depend on geographical location of consumer, or buy 3 get 1 free, etc....so it is here that the real flexibility lies in the new marketplace. AND it is here that the artist/label/retailer can track how their marketing is performing. He described it as dynamic, in that it can be changed, or rearranged as much as desired. "Catastrophic loss protection" is also contained at the key server. If your PC crashed, and you lost all data, it is designed to restore all your content without paying for it again.
3. Supertracks calls themselves an "unbranded service provider". Middleware, I suppose. They are label-agnostic. As an example, Charles Jennings mentioned retailers like "Amazon.com, CDNow,Barnes and Noble, Tower Records". (you can speculate).
4. Supertracks' relationships with Preview Systems, Intel (Software Integrity System),and Lucent's "highly-regarded ePAC codec tells me good things about our investment in e.Digital. It seems we all may be playing in the same ballpark someday.
Looks like the timeline is not too far off. This event was December 14, '99.
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