**RealNetworks Publicly Previewing MusicNet on Thursday
by Dave Brigham
May 16, 2001
Tomorrow, RealNetworks Chairman and CEO Rob Glaser will show the first
public preview of MusicNet, the digital music platform the company is developing
with three major label groups.
Real's readiness to preview the platform reinforces the claims of its music label
partners that the record industry is working swiftly to provide legal online music
to consumers. It also suggests that the platform should be ready to launch on a
timetable that's competitive with the planned launch of Napster's commercial
music service.
Glaser will be testifying Thursday at a U.S. House hearing on Internet music
licensing, alongside representatives from Vivendi Universal, MP3.com, the
National Music Publishers' Association and the American Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers [see 05.16.01 House Subcommittee to Gauge Views on
'Net Music Licensing].
A RealNetworks spokeswoman would not provide details of Glaser's
presentation.
The company announced MusicNet last month, in advance of another hearing
on Capitol Hill [see 04.02.01 RealNetworks to Launch Subscription Platform With
Labels]. MusicNet is a joint venture with AOL Time Warner, EMI Group and
Bertelsmann. With minority investments from the three media groups, MusicNet
will combine downloadable and streaming music with digital distribution
technology developed by Real. Working as a stand-alone company, MusicNet
will license its platform to companies hoping to offer online subscription services
featuring music from Warner Music, BMG Entertainment and EMI Recorded
Music.
Following a year of technical development, RealNetworks revealed last month it
was fine-tuning the MusicNet platform, and working on royalty payment systems
[see 04.20.00 MusicNet Makes Its Platform Real for Major Label Execs]. A
MusicNet spokesman said that the code for the company's platform would be
available to partners during the summer. With a summer release of the code, it's
possible companies could launch commercial MusicNet services late this
summer or early this fall.
MusicNet appears to have an advantage over a competing commercial music
service that Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment are
developing. Called Duet, the label groups' service is intended to be a
multi-tiered subscription and pay-per-play streaming service -- with high quality
downloads possibly added later. But Duet has been hampered by technical and
business problems for months [see 05.15.01 The Song Remains the Same:
Universal and Sony Music's Duet Still a Plan].
A Duet source said the project is on schedule for a late-summer launch. A major
label source told Webnoize that two of the three music companies backing
MusicNet have held discussions with either Universal or Sony to obtain a license
for MusicNet. Duet and MusicNet sources believe, however, that the two services
will not be merged into one endeavor.
