I am amazed at the recent run-ups of internet related music stocks. If you are truly brave, take a look at the fundamentals of the music stock in your portfolio. Not for the faint of heart. If I recall properly, KTEL earned 1.5mil last year on 5mil total revenues. That is not surprising, considering they do not sell the records you hear on the radio. They make their own remakes of the hits, using studio musicians. That is what is on the records that KTEL sells. If you did not know that prior to buying their stock, then shame on you for not doing your DD, but congratulations on your recent profits. As for future earnings, well...
According to the JBRD press release, consumers will have access to "nearly 35 tracks that will be made available for download over a six-month period." You might want to read that again. It says that 35 songs will be available after 6 months. But I guess that if you are a "Lovechild and Sugarpop" fan, it will be worth the wait.
N2K [NTKI] has some interesting developments with embedding your own identification into the music's digital stream. If it shows up as a bootleg, you are in deep do do. They are also developing as a distributor of independent labels. AT and T `s subsidiary called a2b claims to have the quickest and most secure downloads in the industry, but are just now getting off the ground.
TCI Music [TUNE] is the real sleeper. With TCI as its parent corporation and At Home Network [ATHM] as a relative of sorts, [TCI owns much of At Home Network] it is only natural for TUNE and ATHM to come to terms in selling high-bandwidth music over the internet. TCI Music already owns Digital Music Express, the largest provider of commercial-free music since MUZAK. Other high-tech and internet companies owned by TCI Music include The Box Worldwide [interactive video channel], Paradigm Music Entertainment, Paradigm Associated Labels, SonicNet and Addicted to Noise. TUNE also just penned a deal with Real Network.
Navarre Corporation [NAVR] is putting radio stations on the internet. Now if you have a radio station and an ego the size of Cleveland, you've just got to be broadcasting on the internet. It's a vanity issue. They have built a complete network of radio stations on the internet. When high-bandwidth [such as cable modems and At Home Network] kicks in, these radio stations will be available worldwide with no antenna. Major ad revenues. Navarre Corporation is also America's top distributor of independent record labels. [JBRD being just one of many dozens of independent labels represented by NAVR].
With EMI, BMG and SONY being slow to adapt to these radical changes in the way we get our music, companies like N2K, NAVR and TUNE may just become the new `big three' music labels.
Sonic Solutions [SNIC] is perhaps the leading company in preparing music to be recorded to DVD. They are a well respected leader in digital audio. Liquid Audio [private corp. from what I can find - darn it] has developed a terrific interim standard for downloading music over the internet. Www.musicmaker.com claims to be the largest World Wide Web site for creating custom music Cds using the Liquid Audio technology.
There are countless other smaller companies selling, marketing and distributing music in high-tech ways, with or without the internet. Let's see how many we can find, then evaluate them on the basis of their technology, customer acceptance and potential revenue stream.
Rande Is
~~~NOTE: These are my opinions as a private investor. |
