IBM enlists RealNetworks to join online music fray
By Scott Hillis
LOS ANGELES, April 12 (Reuters) - International Business
Machines Corp. <IBM.N> said on Monday it had enlisted online
multi-media company RealNetworks Inc. <RNWK.O> to help its bid
to create a universal standard for sending music over the
Internet.
The partnering of the computer industry stalwart with the
Internet start-up is the latest development in the race to
market a consumer-friendly way of distributing music online
while guarding against piracy.
Other contenders in the online music battle include
software giant Microsoft Corp. <MSFT.O>, which is expected to
unveil the latest version of its own music downloading format,
MS Audio 4.0, this week.
Under the agreement with IBM, RealNetworks will develop
consumer software based on IBM's Electronic Music Management
System (EMMS), one of several music delivery formats competing
for the recording industry's blessing.
"RealNetworks is the first and I may say a quite important
relationship in this collaboration, primarily because they are
the technological leader in this," Richard Selvage, general
manager of IBM Global Media and Entertainment Industry, said in
an interview.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
RealNetworks, based in Seattle, Wash., is already a leading
force in enabling computer users to enjoy video and audio
online, with an estimated 55 million people using its
RealPlayer software.
"The Internet has precipitated a revolution in the way
people are accessing music for their personal use," Rob Glaser,
chief executive officer of RealNetworks, said in a statement.
Internet users can already retrieve thousands of songs from
Web sites for playback on their computers or pocket-sized
digital devices by using downloading formats, the best known of
which is MP3. Record companies oppose existing versions of
these formats because they allow unauthorized copying of songs
for which no royalties are paid.
Alarmed that formats like MP3 could threaten profits of the
$40 billion-a-year industry, music companies have launched a
Secure Digital Music Initiative to hammer out a secure format
for Internet music.
IBM's effort so far has the backing of several major record
labels, including BMG, EMI, Sony Music, Universal Music, and
Warner Music. The company plans to launch a pilot phase of EMMS
for Web surfers in San Diego in June.
Officials with RealNetworks, which has worked on its own
secure music format, said the company was throwing in its lot
with IBM because it believed the industry giant was leading the
online music pack.
"They are driving what the industry wants to see as far as
security and setting up a rights clearing house," said Maria
Cantwell, senior vice-president for consumer affairs and
electronic commerce, told Reuters.
Cantwell said the envisioned software would plug into
RealNetwork's existing programs and would be available by the
third quarter of this year.
"We want to be aggressive about this," she said.
IBM's Selvage said he believed the industry would boil down
to a single, unified standard but added, "The model really has
not been determined yet".
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