e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

[emit]

I hope these two will be among our media partners. Note 'Radio' on MTVi


June 5, 2001- -RioPort, & BestBuy - the leading music application service provider (ASP), today announced that it will distribute commercial music downloads to BestBuy.com(TM), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Best Buy Co., Inc. the nation's number one specialty retailer of
consumer electronics. http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=689931
January 6, 2000 – E.DIGITAL AND RIOPORT, INC. COLLABORATE [/B] TO DEVELOP SEAMLESS, SECURE INTERNET MUSIC DELIVERY SYSTEM.
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=68993


MTV Gets Down With Downloads
by Brad King

12:20 p.m. April 4, 2001 PDT

Music television is about to expand to the Internet, as all five major labels announce a new retail service that will allow consumers to purchase digital downloads through MTV's online network.

The downloads will initially be sold through the MTV Radio and VH1 At Work streaming stations, which use Rioport's Pulse One Media Services delivery system.

When listeners hear a song they want to purchase, they can click on a buy button and immediately purchase a secure download.

MTVi CEO Nicholas Butterworth said the service would eventually be fully integrated with MTV, giving viewers the ability to watch and interact with their favorite music.

"Our expectation is that by the end of this year, about 50 percent of the music played on the music channels on television will be instantly available for download," Butterworth said. "We certainly expect it won't be long before seeing a video on TV is a promise that you can purchase a secure download."

The service is currently offered only through MTVi. Rioport CEO Jim Long said other retailers would be added to the distribution system throughout the year.

Wednesday's deal instantly catapults MTV into the retail market, just one day after traditional merchants like Tower Records accused the recording industry of squeezing them out of the download market.

"MTV is now becoming a powerful retailer," said Webnoize analyst Ric Dube. "We know that retailers are only going to tolerate so much, and it's getting worse and worse. This is just another strike against the established retailers."

Despite the clash that appears to be brewing between the record labels and the traditional retailers, MTV could offers consumers an integrated music service that few online or offline retailers can match. With the powerful brand name and popular television shows like its daily video countdown show TRL, the music television network might have found the perfect fit for an integrated music service.

"If MTV is smart, this is going to evolve into the TRL music club," Dube said. "People will pay a subscription fee to get all the TRL music that they want, and kids can get all the access to (TRL host) Carson Daly that they want.

"Then, they are going to plug song-specific MTV radio stations on their shows, and when you're listening to that song on their radio, if it's available for download, you can then purchase the song."

Dube said creating such a service would still be difficult, as licensing issues would need to be worked out. But the brand the company is developing and subscription-based service work.

The service will initially have 10,000 tracks available, with singles selling for $1.99 and albums selling for $18.98. Consumers will have a variety of rights in terms of how they get to transport the music, depending on which label the music comes from. While not discussing specific details, Long said consumers would be able to move their files between devices and retrieve copies of music that might have been inadvertently lost or deleted.

Long did say that users wouldn't necessarily be able to burn CDs after purchasing music. Each label has its own policy for that.

While the price seems high for music that is delivered digitally and comes with some restrictions on use, one record label executive said that maintaining a retail price structure was important in clearing licenses.

"The idea that the music doesn't have value when it's taken off the disk is wrong; the art form is the music," said Ted Cohen, EMI's vice president of new media. "Whether it's a download, bought in a store, or burned, we see that the value is in the music.

"It makes it more complex to go to an artist and tell them that they are going to get less money because they are selling the tracks digitally."

Downloaded tracks will be available primarily wrapped in security from either InterTrust or Microsoft, the two leading developers of digital rights management technologies. However, Rioport's Long said the labels would each decide on their own what kinds of securities would be attached to the service.

Long said the new service would thrive despite the existence of Napster because of the consumer experience.

"When you have a business model like Napster, when you aren't making money, you can't really put any money into developing business models," Long said. "When you talk to folks involved in swapping, people are very dissatisfied with some of their transactions."

On Tuesday, Realnetworks' MusicNet subscription service executives said they would work with the controversial file-trading company once security protocols were put in place -- an emerging trend from online music companies. Cohen followed suit, saying that while he doubted Napster would change, he hoped that MTV's service would be integrated with Napster.

"Why would we want to freeze out anybody who has been stealing our music?" Cohen said. "I've tried to work with them on creating a business model before I came to EMI, and I finally had to stop working with them. But we want them to embrace our view of how to sell music."


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