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Microsoft is incorporating a fascinating new radio feature into its latest Windows Media Player that is sure
to raise some eyebrows, not to mention potential lawsuits. The new Windows Media Player will let users listen
to virtual broadcasts of their favorite local radio stations while at their computers with limited commercial
interruption.
The new feature will allow New Yorkers to listen to a virtual version of K-Rock with "fewer ads, no DJ chatter
and less repetition" according to their announcement. Figuring out the play lists of the leading radio stations
is no problem since they are obligated to publicly report the songs played on the station for royalties. So Microsoft
will just purchase these lists from a company like Neilsen, who tracks songs, and create their own "stations."
What makes this really interesting is Microsoft has the arrogance to use the real names and call letters of the
actual stations they're mimicking. So it will use both K-Rock and WXRK to promote their own virtual stations. So
far, about a dozen stations have made complaints to Microsoft and Clear Channel's legal team is reviewing the new
feature.
The Future: Microsoft will license the actual stations names and call signs if they start to feel legal
pressure. However, since Internet radio only takes in a couple of million dollars of advertising revenue per year,
as opposed to over $20 Billion for broadcast radio, no one's really going to care.
The Billboard Dance Music Summit was held this past week in New York City and featured some of the biggest names
in the business. Although, it doesn't have the biggest turnout of the yearly dance industry conferences, it's
easily the most intelligent and sophisticated gathering, and offers a plethora of valuable insights and observations.
Spearheaded by Michael Paoletta, Dance Music Editor of Billboard magazine, the conference covered a wide array of
pertinent industry topics from digital distribution to the Art of the Deal. Due to the fact that the panelists were
hand selected by Paoletta, each industry veteran was able to meaningfully contribute to the discussions and present
a wealth of knowledge based on their specific experience.
The Art of the Deal: Endorsements and Branding was one of the standout panels at the conference. Moderated by a
good-natured Tamara Conniff, Co-Executive Editor at Billboard, the panel showcased a wide variety of panelists from
artists to savvy marketing directors. Advertising, licensing and endorsement deals are becoming an extremely important
way for dance music artists and labels to supplement their revenues. With traditional revenue streams contracting due
to downloading, bootlegging, store closures and other circumstances, its very important for artists to explore every
facet of this substantial avenue.
Each panelist had their own specific view of this burgeoning industry, but Gary "Housewives" Salzman from BIG
Management provided the comic relief that gave the entire panel a nice levity. Salzman, mentioned, reiterated, and
then stressed again and again, the importance of the "housewives" market. Salzman felt this market was "not getting
enough attention" and that they were being "under serviced" by dance labels. While, this writer strongly disagrees
with this advice since we already have way too many cheesy dance music compilations that damage our industry by
misrepresenting the substantial and innovative dance music being created by our artists, Salzman's comments are
correct in the fact that there are many market niches that haven't been tapped.
DJ Rap commented that appearing in a commercial for Twix candy bars presented her to a whole new market that may
have been unfamiliar with her work. However, the most important comments came from Dana Dynamite, Entertainment
Marketing Manager for the UK's Ben Sherman brand, and Patrick Doddy, Senior Director of Marketing at Armani Exchange.
These two forward-thinking companies are constantly on the lookout for new music and artists who can represent their
brands to the vibrant underground market. It's not just the more established artists like Rap who are being solicited
by these companies, they're actively looking for new material.
Although dance music hasn't been as faceless as many contend, O'Loughlin, and others like him, often harp on the
lack of personalities as an excuse for the disinterest of mainstream America. However, the real hurdles for
wide acceptance are 1) DJing is visually boring and 2) the dance music being showcased on the radio is the
absolute worst representation of what the genre has to offer. Without a more compelling and memorable total sensory
experience at clubs and events (such as Roni Size), the DJ as artist will continue to remain a non-personality. As
far as NRG Radio goes (what they like to call Dance Music oriented stations), it's going to be an arduous task to
expand the listening audience when you consistently hear the same 15 unctuous songs, such as Jordan James' nauseating
cover of Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer," every hour. What radio needs is more adventurous shows like Jason Bentley's
Metropolis on KCRW that feature a wide range of advanced, yet accessible, electronic music.
The biggest highlights of the Billboard Dance Summit came in the form of Michael Paoletta's one-on-one interviews
with Paul Van Dyk and Tiesto, two of the top five DJ's in the world. Paoletta stated to Futuremusic that interviewing
artists "is one of my favorite parts of the job" since he "loves to get inside an artist's head to see what makes then
uniquely creative." Paul Van Dyk, currently on tour with Rock The Vote, flew in especially for the evening. Paoletta
asked a variety of intriguing questions to Van Dyk that focused on his East German background and his current political
involvement in the upcoming US election. Van Dyk, without openly committing to a particular candidate, stressed the
importance of voting. "It's important that the youth get involved with politics so they can help shape their own future."
Described as one of the more "peaceful" dance music artists, many in the audience were astounded when Van Dyk hinted
that he may collaborate with Linkin Park in the near future.
Tiesto, voted the number one DJ in the world by DJ Magazine two years running, is a full fledged rock star in
Europe. In fact, he's so big that the organizers of the Olympic opening ceremony tapped Tiesto to compose music
specifically for the event and perform the first ever Olympic DJ set. "Having 4.6 billion people listen to my music
at the Olympics was an incredible experience for me," Tiesto reflected. "This has been one of the best year's for
me professionally." Tiesto also revealed that his recent DVD release, "Tiesto In Concert," is going to be a series
that incorporates many different styles of music including live instrumentation. In addition, he just acquired a
Pioneer DVJ-X1 DVD DJ deck and will be "getting into VJing" in the near future. When asked by Paoletta about what
he likes best about DJing, Tiesto stated that it was the ability to "control the crowd."
However, Tiesto was forced to watch from the side lines as Sasha, Paul Van Dyk, DJ Rap, and others played Crobar
New York for the Billboard/NARAS event. Not usually known for a blow out club night with the industry's best talent,
this year's Billboard Dance Music Summit showcase was incredible. Outstanding sets from Sasha and Van Dyk got
everyone in the packed main room grooving. The vibe was so great that even Tiesto commented on how much he "really
wanted to play." Hopefully next year they'll be able to squeeze him into the lineup.
The Future: Only once the DJ incorporates visual elements into his/her performance, and dance music radio
begins to challenge the listener with a variety of provocative music, will the genre move forward as a widely
accepted art form in the US.
Napster will be the first online digital download store to debut the new subscription portability feature in
the updated version of Microsoft's Windows Media Player when it launches "Napster To Go" sometime this fall.
Interestingly, the new version of Windows Media Player, dubbed "Janus," did not debut in Microsoft's own
MSN Music service which launched earlier this month (see story below).
Napster-To-Go will cost consumers $14.95 per month for access to Napster's complete library of music and will
allow customers to transfer songs to any Janus empowered portable device. Samsung and Creative are slated to
debut Janus portable music players in October followed by Rio and iRiver later this year.
The Future: Microsoft's election to rollout Janus with Napster instead of their own MSN Music service
further reveals their strategy to "own the online music operating system." With cellular phones becoming the
next portable music player market, Microsoft intends to use their leverage with Janus to back door their way
into the cell phone operating system field, where they've previously been turned away by the major manufacturers.
Unless Apple is willing to license the iPod's technology to a concern like Nokia, or come out with the
iPhone, they're going to fade into the sunset.
Microsoft has quietly launched its new Download Music store on MSN without the multimedia fanfare that usually
accompanies such debuts. MSN Music states that it has one million tracks for download and will sell album only
downloads from such artists as Madonna, Radiohead and Metallica, something Apple's iTunes has refused to do.
First the Facts: MSN Music has the same pricing structure as industry leader iTunes, 99 cents for a download and
$9.99 for most albums. Personal usage rights are also similar, song library transfers to five computers, seven
burns per playlist, and an unlimited number of portable devices can be supported by one library.
MSN Music will support over seventy different MP3 players that support Windows Music Audio, but not the iPod.
The iPod has over 50% of the portable digital music player market and iTunes has a dominating 70% of the digital
download market. However, Microsoft's Windows operating system is on 95% of personal computers which all have a
copy of Windows Media Player already installed. And this is exactly how Microsoft will slowly strangle its competition.
Now the Strategy: Instead of using MSN Music as a loss-leader for a portable music player like Apple does with
iTunes and the iPod, Microsoft will use its MSN Music site as a persuasive argument for customers to utilize the
latest Windows Media Player technology. Again, Microsoft wants to "own" the online music store operating system
and license the technology to the many online music stores. This strategy is revealed by the simple fact that the
new version of Microsoft's Window's Media Player (WMP) will allow users to purchase from several different online
stores including WalMart, MusicNow, Napster and Yahoo's MusicMatch, from inside the single WMP interface.
The new version of the Windows Media Player will also feature the Janus digital-rights-management technology that
will enable online stores to offer portable subscription services. (see Napster A-Go-Go story above) Microsoft is
banking on these new features to chop the mighty iTunes tree down over the coming year.
So why not come out with a splashy advertising campaign to signal the launch of MSN Music? Microsoft can certainly
afford it. Well it makes sense if you look at MSN Music as an advertising vehicle for the Windows Media platform.
Why advertise the advertisement?
The Future: Microsoft plays full contact ball and has a long history of making its competitors look sissy
real fast. They know that the iPod can only be a media darling for so long, especially with portable video just
around the corner. Microsoft is focusing all its engineering muscle on making Windows Media the multimedia operation
system of choice. And with a plethora of manufacturers coming out with audio/video gadgets that run on Microsoft's
Windows Media based Portable Media Center, they're once again, ready to deliver Apple, the death blow.
Gibson gets set to introduce their next-generation electric guitar
The Gibson Les Paul guitar revolutionized music with its introduction fifty years ago. From Jimmy Page and
Neil Young to Slash and Joe Perry, the Gibson Les Paul has long been the industry standard. The technology
behind that guitar - magnetic pickups converting string vibrations into electrical impulses - has remained
largely unchanged over its lifetime.
Led by CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, Gibson is preparing for a product launch that could send shockwaves throughout
the music business. The Gibson Digital Guitar will be made available to the public later this year, and it is
expected to provide guitarists with unparalleled control over their sound. In a 45-minute interview with
Juszkiewicz, I learned a tremendous amount about the Digital Guitar, and came away with the conclusion that
it has the potential to revolutionize the guitar industry.
The idea behind a MIDI guitar is that a musician can "plug it into their Proteus and make it sound like a tuba."
The Digital Guitar is different in that the entire focus was to improve the process by which the performance is
captured and transmitted to amplifiers, effects processors and recording devices.
Juszkiewicz explained that Gibson's production process for the Digital Guitar essentially "does things that pros
have done to their instruments for years. The electronics is just a circuit board and some connectors. We are
concentrating on what the player does and preserving it as authentically and with as much precision as possible."
Unlike the MIDI guitars, Gibson's digital guitar is designed to sound like a guitar. It is not a MIDI controller,
but is instead a traditional guitar that possesses some revolutionary new functionality. While it's certain that
software will make it possible for the guitar to sound like a tuba, that's not Gibson's focus. Instead, they looked
for ways to increase the scope of what a guitar player can do during performance.
For one thing, it will be possible for guitarists to alter sound on a string-by-string basis, thus exponentially
increasing the possibilities for unique sounds. It will also be possible to perform in surround sound by assigning
each string to a different speaker. If done astutely, it will make the listener feel as though he's inside the
guitar.
Juszkiewicz also accentuated some important improvements in the actual sound production process. "In a typical
guitar/mic/amp set up, only a small percentage of frequencies are actually captured, while the rest is harmonic.
We are 0-20khz, and you hear the full range of frequencies."
Though many of those frequencies aren't technically audible to the human ear, their presence does alter the overall
quality of sound. Just as musicians can hear "air" inside their recordings, so too can they hear the impact of sound
compression.
Juszkiewicz explained some of the technological differences as well. "The pickup is right on top of the bridge,
picking up a really strong fundamental frequency, as opposed to a traditional electric guitar that uses the pickup
off the bridge. The fundamental is a half-wave (goes up and down like a jump rope). At the bridge, that's the node
of the frequency. As you get away from it, you're out of phase with the frequency (cancellation effects with the
harmonics), and as you move the pickup across the string, you'll get tonal differences (like a phase effect)."
By focusing on the fundamental sound of the guitar, imperfections and impurities are removed. As a result, the
performance that's captured is a much more accurate representation of what the musician actually played. Rather
than thinking of the Digital Guitar as some kind of new-fangled synthesizer, guitarists should instead look at it
as a super high-resolution instrument geared for performance and recording.
When asked to describe the fundamental sound of the Digital Guitar, Juszkiewicz said "High-end pickup has a very
unique tone, but it's quiet and has a huge dynamic range. 'Hi-fi' is not technically correct, but that's what it
sounds like. I've never heard that much fidelity in an instrument before."
In addition to the enhanced fundamental sound, the Digital Guitar also possesses the traditional Les Paul pickup,
enabling the guitarist to utilize that classic sound in its traditional setting.
The technological innovations are not limited to sound creation, however. There are some very practical applications
that could make the Gibson Digital Guitar the ultimate performance guitar.
"Any person who's played an electric guitar has been zapped," said Juszkiewicz. Amplifiers carry massive amounts
of electricity, and all it takes is one puddle of water for that to be surging through your body.
"Less life threatening - but also very important - is the fact that because there is an integral circuit, many
ground loops develop. The hum of electric lights and giant electro-magnetic currents normally impact your sound, but
with the digital guitar, those effects are negligible. It's the equivalent of pops and clicks from a primitive
electrical system that are eliminated."
By cleaning up the sound capturing process, the Digital Guitar will be a much-improved tool for home studios,
particularly in places where electrical power is inconsistent. "The guitar is linked by digital stream, so it
doesn't receive high-voltage streams," Juszkiewicz continued. "Everything is shielded, so the external environment
does not impact you. You can really prevent many of the things that happen in high impedance systems that electric
guitars are typically affected by."
If you've ever attended a performance where you've had to wait for the guitarist to tune his instrument (sometimes
before each and every song), you're going to appreciate Gibson's "tuning on the fly" functionality. "With the
Digital Guitar, musicians can have algorithms where as the guitar goes out of tune, you can maintain tuning,"
Juszkiewicz explained.
"The signal is a digital stream and can be processed so that it stays in tune, and can introduce new tunings on the
fly. Also, a lot of players will play various tunings (lowering the E string, Nashville tuning, etc.), and the Digital
Guitar will make it possible to do that instantaneously on the fly, even for just a couple of bars or a lead riff.
This has been attempted in the past with motors, but now it's easy with digital processing."
The technology behind the Digital Guitar was developed by their MaGIC (Media-accelerated Global Information Carrier)
division, an initiative backed by Juszkiewicz that has received its share of heckling from the industry. In an interview
in Wired magazine back in 2001, the CEO of a rival company told Greg Milner, "If you can figure out what Henry is
trying to do, let me know." And Peter Swiadon, a product manager for the Roland Corporation, said, "No disrespect
to Henry, but Magic looks like a solution in search of a problem."
Of course, the first naysayer emerged shortly after the arrival of the first inventor, and that's not likely to
change anytime soon. The real challenge for Gibson lies not with product development, but with marketing. How to
convince guitar players that the essential elements of the Les Paul have not been sacrificed? How to convince them
that the guitar is a legitimate instrument rather than a high-priced novelty?
At a likely retail price of $3000, the Digital Guitar requires a substantial financial investment on the part of
the musician, and Gibson is going to great lengths to ensure that customers are comfortable making that purchase.
"We have made it such that the board - and its enormous complexity and functionality - is the size of a credit
card and can be easily removed," explained Juszkiewicz. It is essential that Gibson make the upgrade process both
seamless and affordable. If they fail, they'll run the risk of damaging their excellent reputation.
The Future: If Gibson succeeds both with the launch of this product and the development of subsequent upgrades,
the Digital Guitar could become one of the music industry's most effective loyalty products. Gibson has directed their
focus in the right place - they're a guitar company producing an advanced version of the guitar - and more likely
than not, guitar players will welcome the technological breakthroughs it offers. If the product meets the approval
of the musicians' community, look for a similarly revolutionary piano to be released under Gibson's Baldwin piano
division.
An out of court settlement is currently in the works between Apple Computer and Apple Corps, the parent company of the
Beatles. The two Apple's are currently in a legal battle surrounding a signed agreement stating that Apple Computer
would never enter the music market.
Enter iTunes. The Beatles feel that iTunes and the iPod breach the 1991 agreement stating that Apple computer would never
utilize it's trademark for any entity "whose principle content is music." Apple Computer went so far as to spin off
iTunes as a separate company in Europe, but that didn't stop the Beatles from filing suit.
Apple VS. Apple. Apple Computer and Apple Corps have battling each other for years over the trademark. In 1991, Apple
Computer paid Apple Corps $26.5 million in an out of court settlement when they came out with their Quicktime multimedia
technology.
The legal community is salivating over the possibilities of the biggest settlement in legal history. Some are even
speculating that Apple Corps will become a major shareholder in Apple Computer with Paul McCartney becoming a board member.
Show me the money. The Beatles split up in 1970! Nobody associates Apple Corps with music in 2004. The only reason that
Paul McCartney and company are suing is for more money. This is a showcase for why the current trademark laws are really
lacking. However, Apple Computer is so due for a swift punch in the gut. Their arrogant attitude has finally come back to
haunt them. Signing that idiotic settlement in 1991 will go down in their history as their second biggest mistake, just
behind not licensing their operating system.
The Future: Pay day for the Beatles. Paul McCartney definitely needs six or seven new estates across the globe.
One upside for Apple Computer is that they'll probably score the Beatles catalog for iTunes...for a mere half a billion
dollars.
Focusrite Audio has agreed to purchase Novation Electronic Music Systems, Ltd. effective immediately. As reported
earlier in Digihear?, Ian Jannaway, Novation's Managing Director, had been shopping Novation for some time with
little interest. Several US and Japanese suitors were initially courted, but Jannaway was unable to put a realistic
value on the company that he grew out of a barn in the English country side.
Focusrite, also located in Buckinghamshire, ended up being the best exit strategy for Jannaway who will continue
with the new subsidiary. "We have admired the Novation brand for some time and are delighted to have the opportunity
to give our backing to the brand and to bring our business skills to the Novation business," stated Phil Dudderidge,
Chairman of Focusrite. "Focusrite and Novation's customers are increasingly converging with the evolution of the digital
music studio and the acquisition of Novation's great name and heritage combined with Focusrite's should promise some
outstanding new products."
Novation must have been a steal for Focusrite. The two companies couldn't be farther apart in terms of product lines
and Focusrite has built a solid tradition of quality whereas Novation's products, such as the DrumStation, have often
been plagued with quality issues. In addition, expensive hardward synths, the bread and butter of the Novation line,
have fallen upon hard times. However, Dudderidge may have seen an opportunity in Novation's software synths and MIDI
controller keyboards after Digidesign snapped up M-Audio last month.
The Future: Ian Jannaway will probably not last too long at Focusrite. Building a company up from scratch with blood,
sweat and tears just to watch someone else give it a lobotomy for profitability will be too much for Jannaway to bear.
Focusrite will most likely dump the unprofitable hardware synth line and use the technology for processing and software
emulations. They'll then initiate a strategy to extend Novation's MIDI controller line for the red hot project studio
market.
Yahoo! has agreed to purchase MusicMatch for $160 million in an all cash deal. The move gives Yahoo! a prominent position
in the digital music download and subscription space which is predicted to grow from a $271 million dollar industry today to
$1.7 billion in 2009 according to Jupiter Communications.
The acquisition makes Yahoo! instantly competitive in two key areas, an online music store and a sophisticated Windows-based
jukebox. MusicMatch's online music store offers both a-la-carte downloads of individual songs and albums as well as a $7.99
dollar per month subscription service. According to reports, about 225,000 customers are currently enrolled in the unlimited
access subscription service. MusicMatch's store contains over 700,000 individual songs for download. Futuremusic regards
MusicMatch's jukebox as the leader in the field for Microsoft's Windows operating system. Easy to use, mature and
comprehensive, MusicMatch's jukebox is the reason that many customers utilize their store and service.
Yahoo! expects its music audience to double to about 24 millions users once the deal is completed later this year. MusicMatch
has 170 employees based out of San Diego, California and is said to gross about $50 million per year. Just as the digital
music services heat up, Yahoo's purchase of MusicMatch is well timed, economical and makes it instantly competitive with
adversaries such as Microsoft's MSN and AOL. However, much of MusicMatch's success has been from bundling it's software with
other established internet properties, will these deals erode now that Yahoo! is the parent?
The Future: Under Yahoo's savvy branding, marketing and advertising eye, MusicMatch should blossom nicely. The deal
is real bargain for Yahoo! and gives it a huge lead over Microsoft's and Sony's immature services.
The nationwide DJ talent contest THE NEXT BIG THING came to a thrilling conclusion this past weekend as Winner
Hac Le opened for super start DJ John Digweed at the Denver Colorado stop of his Endless Summer Tour. "This
experience has been such a validation of my dreams and hard work," said an astounded Hac after receiving a
personal phone call from Digweed revealing he was the contest winner.
Close to 2000 contestants were vying to be THE NEXT BIG THING, sending in 60 minute DJ mixes from all across
the United States. Futuremusic hosted the contest and screened the entries. "It was a tough decision," says
Futuremusic President Dan Brotman, "we had dozens of our staff listening round the clock to all the CD's that
came in. We narrowed it down to 5 semifinalists, and then John Digweed personally selected the winning mix."
"It was very exciting to take part in this special event. I was totally blown away by the amount of DJ's entering
The Next Big Thing, and the standard of the mixes were very high. This just shows that DJ culture is still very
much a career path that many young people want to follow," stated John Digweed.
So what was it like for Le to be flown out to The Church, one of America's premier clubs? "DJing at the Church
was incredible," Hac Le recounted. "You feel like you are transported into another world with the architecture,
lights and dˇcor. The crowd, the vibe and the staff were amazing. Denver really has a hot scene!" However, the
true highlight of the evening for Hac was meeting John Digweed. " John Digweed has been my favorite DJ for a
very long time." Hac revealed. "His musical influence was pivotal in my development as a DJ. He is exactly the
type of DJ I want to be. So to have the opportunity to meet the role model that I respect and admire the most
in the industry, leaves me kind of speechless."
The feeling was reciprocal, John Digweed was also quite impressed with Hac Le. "As well as a great DJ, Hac is
really down to earth guy who loves his music I wish him all the best in the in the future and I hope that winning
this contest gives him the break he deserves."
"I plan to dive in headfirst into the production side of things and bang out some tracks. Winter's coming up in
Chicago so it will be perfect. I'll just hibernate in my apartment, learn the tools of the trade and hopefully have
some decent tunes by spring. I've been talking about acquiring a proper studio to my friends since forever and now I
finally have one. This is a Godsend! Thank you! Thank You! THANK YOU!"
"I would like to thank Futuremusic and everyone involved with organizing this contest as it really helps motivate new
talent to push themselves," Digweed added.
The Future: The Next Big Thing - Experiments In Sound...coming this Fall!
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