From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V4 #238 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Tuesday, August 31 1999 Volume 04 : Number 238 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: 'Open Mic' - publish & sell your own music on the 'net [RThurF@aol] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 11:36:36 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: 'Open Mic' - publish & sell your own music on the 'net The following news item gives a nice overview of the latest from Yahoo! Digital (featuring Beatnik!)... Robin T SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Aug. 30, 1999--Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet media company, announced that beginning today Yahoo!(R) users can take their musical talents beyond the privacy of their own showers and cars and onto the Internet. Yahoo! Open Mic (http://digital.yahoo.com), in collaboration with IUMA (Internet Underground Music Archive) and Liquid Audio, Inc. (Nasdaq:LQID), gives musicians of all levels the opportunity to self publish and sell their own music online. From an up-and-coming jazz pianist to a garage band on the verge of making it big, those users who submit their own music will be playing to one of the world's single largest music crowds -- 80 million unique monthly users on Yahoo!. Yahoo! Open Mic is part of Yahoo! Digital, a multimedia digital property that combines the best of audio, video and interactive content. Yahoo! Digital, launched last week, gives users the ability to watch and listen to Internet broadcasts from today's top music talent; preview music as well as download and purchase both secure and open audio files, including MP3; remix selected music tracks online; view on-demand video channels; and browse a licensed music directory. "Through Yahoo! Digital, Yahoo! Open Mic gives our users a forum to be both the entertainer, as well as entertained," said Michael Latham, director of production, entertainment and media at Yahoo! Inc. "Whether an artist strums the guitar, plays the keyboard or sings gospel, the site offers simple self-publishing tools for users to create a musical signature and distribute their music to a global audience. Much the same way Yahoo! Geocities has built a strong community of Web site self publishers, we feel audio self publishing is extremely compelling." Set the Tone Amateur musicians can upload a song, artist description, and image to Yahoo! Open Mic, essentially providing the user/entertainer a place to post their musical signature. Submissions through Yahoo! Open Mic will be part of the Yahoo! Digital artist directory, where people will be able to locate and listen to the music in secure or open MP3 format. An Online Star is Born For musicians who are even more serious about their renditions can submit their music to either IUMA's new Artist Uplink(TM) (www.iuma.com) or the Liquid(TM) Music Network, where Liquid Audio (www.liquidaudio.com) will distribute their songs to more than 200 Web sites. Through either IUMA or Liquid Audio artists will be a part of the Yahoo! Digital artist directory. Artist Uplink, IUMA's free self-publishing Web site creation tool for emerging and unsigned bands, enables artists to create free, customizable, multi-page Web sites with their own unique Web addresses. Artists can upload and edit bios, band member photos, tour dates, images, artwork, songs and lyrics. Once these are uploaded, artists can customize their sites, choosing the look and feel, button types, background colors and text colors from hundreds of choices, resulting in a completely unique and personalized Web site. All audio is available in streaming RealAudio and MP3 format. Once their sites are up, artists can activate message boards, email fan clubs and can sell music directly to fans. IUMA is a subsidiary of EMusic.com (www.emusic.com). Liquid Audio enables unsigned and independent musicians to promote and securely sell their music online through hundreds of sites in the Liquid Music Network, including Yahoo!. Liquid Audio provides the information, tools and distribution artists need to get discovered and make money on the Internet. Artists start with an online signup tool that creates a Liquid Audio account where they can publish up to 25 megabytes of music (about five songs). Artists then download a copy of the Liquifier(TM) Pro encoding tool and use it to create secure CD-quality Internet masters of their tracks. Artists publish their tracks with song information, pricing, graphics and promotional links. Liquid Audio then distributes these songs as part of its catalog to the 200 sites in Liquid Music Network, where they are broadly available for preview, purchase or free download by consumers. Liquid Audio also handles all the e-commerce transactions and ensures correct payment to the musician. Remixing Through Beatnik Those users not as musically-inclined can still participate by turning their browser into a miniature sound studio using software from Beatnik, Inc. Songs from some of music's top names can be remixed, including David Bowie ("Fame"), Luscious Jackson ("Ladyfingers"), Moby ("Body Rock"), and Queen Latifah ("Latifah's Had It Up 2 Here"). Each instrument is on a different track that users can boost, mute, solo or adjust. The result is a rendition of the original tune, personally created by the user. No Sound Studio Required Uploading pre-recorded or live music through Yahoo! Digital is done easily by connecting a stereo or other sound source to a computer with a standard sound card and Internet access. Song files, once uploaded, will be available in either MP3 (Yahoo! Open Mic and IUMA) or secure format (Liquid Audio), depending on what platform the user chooses. Listeners with the Real Networks' Real G2 Player, Microsoft Media Player, or the Liquid Audio Player can listen to either MP3 or secure format. ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V4 #238 ***************************