Nick: What are your impressions of this from WS Journal/ ZD NET:
This article talks about a new way to market those old fashioned CD's. Digital read out (with online software) from your local radio station of the current song in play, CD cover, samples etc. and the ability to place an order (purchase) that selection.
Are you on LAVA NET , Road Runner or what? Lava dude checked out early this morning. Hey, I probably would have lost money trying to buy something this morning any way. Who is your ISP and how is the service? Usually Lava dude works for hours and hours. Heard anything about PIXI net? I suggest everyone who trades frequently to get a back up ISP.
This would be great for Radio Free Hawaii when they get back on the air as a world wide net radio super star. Hear that obscure cut, find out what you heard and order it, (buy) based on a single play.
The only tie in to a pick is Ticketmaster which did well today:
June 8, 1999
Radio Stations May Venture
Into Sales of Music Online
By MARGARET KANE
ZD Network News
Everyone has had the experience -- you hear a great new song
on the radio, only the DJ never tells you what it is.
A San Jose, Calif.-based company is trying to solve that
problem with technology that allows radio stations to display
their playlists online in real time. GetMedia Inc.'s software will
also let those stations become e-commerce players by letting
users order CDs online.
GetMedia will announce a deal Wednesday with
WebRadio.com to add its technology to WebRadio's streaming
audio player, which allows stations to Webcast their
broadcasts.
CEO Robert Goldman says
GetMedia has the capability to
handle online music distribution,
such as MP3 downloads, and will
begin selling them as soon as
licensed content is available.
A $1.6 Billion Business?
Online music sales are big business -- Jupiter Communications
predicts they will hit $1.6 billion by 2002 -- and while Mr.
Goldman acknowledges that concurrent buying isn't new
online, he says his technology lets radio stations get in on the
business.
"Radio drives all music sales, effectively. You hear a song and
you decide to buy it," he said. "What's very common is people
come into record stores and actually sing the song for the
clerk."
Greg Verdino, vice president and general manager of Arbitron
NewMedia, a division of the Arbitron Company in New York,
said that radio has never benefited from music sales, although
it is one of the -- if not THE -- key driver of such sales.
"You take what WebRadio is doing on the broadcasting side
and marry that [with what GetMedia is doing] on the
commerce side, and all of a sudden radio becomes the store
for the music that they're driving sales of," Mr. Verdino said.
With GetMedia, radio stations can capitalize on that impulse,
he said. The radio stations get 30 percent of profits from the
sales, he said. GetMedia handles fulfillment and customer
service, and it's up to the radio stations to promote the sites.
Users scroll through a playlist and can view CD covers of the
songs. An info button links them to a song list with audio
samples. Once users register their names and credit card data,
they can purchase CDs by entering an ID and password, and
they can use the same ID for multiple radio stations.
Telephone-Friendly, Too
The IDs and passwords can also be used over the telephone.
GetMedia allows radio stations to set up toll-free numbers that
users can call to find out what a certain song was, and to
order it over the phone as well.
The WebRadio deal covers roughly 90 radio stations.
GetMedia has also signed a deal with Ticketmaster Online
CitySearch Inc., which will make the technology available to
about 40 additional radio stations.
The Ticketmaster deal will also allow the company to add
ticket-buying capability to a future version of the software, said
GetMedia CEO Robert Goldman.
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