Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Liquid Audio Inc - (Nasdaq- LQID) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: R Hamilton who wrote (623)	6/9/2000 11:05:00 AM
From: R Hamilton	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 674

(found on liquid's web site): Source: Billboard billboard.com BMG Names Partners In Digital Distrib. Strategy (Billboard - 500 words - April 15, 2000) BY BRIAN GARRITY NEW YORK-BMG Entertainment on April 6 became the first major label to unveil a complete infrastructure framework for its digital distribution strategy, naming a half-dozen strategic partners that will facilitate the pending rollout and promising the release of content, both current hits and catalog, by summer. The approach aims to create a vehicle for widespread consumer acceptance of downloadable music files sold over the Internet. "As we begin to build a legitimate market for commercial downloading, it is critical that we support multiple technologies to ensure that our artists will be widely accessible to music fans around the world," says Kevin Conroy, BMG senior VP, worldwide marketing and new technology. "That's really the anchor." Still to be decided: just how much content will actually be released into the marketplace and from which artists. The thinking, according to BMG, is to ramp up the number of titles made available via digital distribution as the year progresses, with the goal of having a "substantial amount" of music available for sale for the holiday season. Also to be seen are decisions surrounding content hosting, compression formats-or codecs-and participating retailers' pricing models. Under the strategy, BMG will support three digital rights management (DRM) formats: IBM's Electronic Media Management System, the DRM from InterTrust Technologies Corp., and Microsoft's Windows Media DRM. It will also support two clearinghouse platforms: Reciprocal Inc. and Bertelsmann AG's Digital World Services. Assigned to integrate all these independent technologies into one system that BMG and its participating retailers can use is Liquid Audio. Under the BMG plan, the label will be promoting not only multiple technology formats but also ubiquitous distribution via retail. Executives stress that the new framework is an invitation to retailers to participate in an open network of partners. For many of the back-end music technology companies-including IBM, which provided the test pilot technology in the industry-sponsored download experiment known as the Madison Project-the announcement is particularly significant. "It's kind of like, "Gentlemen, start your engines,' " says Rick Selvage, GM, IBM Global Media and Entertainment Industry, of the BMG announcement. However, no BMG partner should get too comfortable just yet. The record giant says it plans to narrow the number of technologies it supports in the future. Such decisions will be based on market performance in areas like security, flexibility of business models, reach, and retail and consumer response. Under the new arrangement, InterTrust, Microsoft, and IBM will each supply their own rights-management systems-technologies that dictate content-usage rules. Meanwhile, Reciprocal and Digital World Services, as the clearinghouses, will be responsible for packaging, account and customer information management, financial clearing, and systems integration. Liquid, on its end, will provide software that allows BMG to manage all its digital music assets on one system, regardless of the technology platform. It will also supply online retailers with a software application that funnels different DRM and clearinghouse technologies into their own existing systems.