More dots to connect. From Webnoize.
Webnoize-2 February 21, 2000
news . industry . companies . labels . ecommerce
EMI Using Supertracks Solution for Online Music Distribution
EMI Recorded Music announced today it has selected Supertracks Inc. to provide what the Big Five label called the final piece of its digital music retail puzzle. As part of the agreement, the Big Five label group has taken a minority stake in Supertracks, terms of which were not disclosed.
Supertracks develops a digital music delivery system that incorporates encryption technology developed by Preview Systems, as well as Lucent Technologies' ePAC audio compression format.
EMI also owns a stake in Preview Systems, and is using the company's technology as part of its Internet distribution strategy.
Currently, EMI is using "Internet music cards" developed by Supertracks as part of a limited commercial downloadable music sales program with web site Urocket. Designed to work like pre-paid phone cards, the card lets a consumer download songs only to a specific computer.
Of the major label groups, EMI has been perhaps the most publicly active in the digital commerce market. In addition to Supertracks and Preview Systems, the Big Five company maintains equity stakes in digital delivery technology company Liquid Audio, downloadable music and custom CD retailer musicmaker.com, online entertainment company Launch Media and downloadable music directory Listen.com.
Liquid Audio is digitally encoding tracks from the EMI catalog to sell online.
EMI's catalog includes David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Robbie Williams, the Spice Girls, Smashing Pumpkins, Chemical Brothers, Lenny Kravitz and Janet Jackson.
Supertracks' system lets online consumers buy both downloadable music and CDs in the same online "shopping cart," a feature EMI finds attractive because it is able to track "a unified audit trail...in real-time so that [the label] will be able to account fully for all the transactions," EMI Vice President of New Media Jeremy Silver said.
EMI is preparing to merge with fellow Big Five company Warner Music Group; the two will combine their new media assets to form a unified digital retail strategy.
EMI's new media partnerships could let Warner EMI Music enhance its "ability to realize the opportunities presented by the Internet and other new media, and it will allow us to deliver all of our main strategic objectives in a dramatically shorter timeframe," EMI Group Chairman Eric Nicoli said at a press conference announcing the merger.
The impending merger of Warner Music Group's parent, Time Warner, with America Online will open new distribution channels for Warner EMI Music. Through a direct tie to AOL's online distribution channel, Warner EMI Music puts pressure on competing majors, all of which are developing Internet distribution strategies of their own.
Sony Music has developed proprietary technology designed to facilitate secure online commerce of its music catalog. Recently, Sony Music began selling limited downloads at a Japanese web site.
Universal has realigned its ecommerce group, forming divisions that will develop in-house research and development, investment and digital music management businesses [see related items]. RealNetworks has agreed to market Universal music through the popular RealJukebox software.
BMG recently said it had formed a digital rights management company that uses tools developed by InterTrust Technologies and Reciprocal, as part of a strategy to secure commercial digital music [see related items]. |
