archives

o Amid Restructuring, Two BMG Music Executives Will Resign
o Broadband-Through-TV Provider Dotcast Raises $60 Million
o Urban Box Office Secures $1.8 Million To Stay In Business
o Online Songwriter Community Tonos Raises $10 Million
o Sonicblue Acquires Car Digital Audio Player Manufacturer Empeg
o Personalized Music Technology Developer Kick.com Raises $6 Million
o British Online Gaming Firm Creature Labs Raises $3.6 Million
o Production Music Distributor Dittybase Raises $980,000
> Digital Media Wire Networking Event - Los Angeles
o Briefly Noted: CuteMX, SightSound.com - Napster, ESPNdeportes.com,
Sprint PCS - FunCaster.com/nGame, Listen.com - Commission Junction, Atom
Films - Lucas Online, "COMDEX Las Vegas"
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o Amid Restructuring, Two BMG Music Executives Will Resign

New York -- Two BMG Entertainment executives said that they will resign
from their positions, citing a dispute with the company's CEO over
strategy, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Days after
Bertelsmann AG announced that it would partner with music file-sharing
service Napster, BMG Entertainment chairman Michael Dornemann and CEO
Strauss Zelnick announced that they will resign from the company,
effective on the first of the year. Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Middlehoff
announced a restructuring of BMG's online distribution for music that
divides the company into content, media services and direct-to-consumer
divisions. Under the restructuring, Andreas Schmidt, the head of
Bertelsmann's e-Commerce Group who was chiefly responsible for the
company's partnership with Napster, will take over responsibility of BMG's
online music distribution and music clubs. Middlehoff also announced that
former BMG executive Rudi Gassner will succeed Dornemann as chairman;
Gassner was fired from his position earlier in the year by CEO Zelnick.
"It's quite normal for someone to want his own team and to reorganize,"
Dornemann said in the article. "But then you have to decide whether what's
being done is right or wrong. And I came to the conclusion that I couldn't
support these changes and didn't want to stand in the way."
http://www.bmg.com
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o Broadband-Through-TV Provider Dotcast Raises $60 Million

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Dotcast, a provider of technology that allows TV
stations to offer broadband data delivery to homes, has received
investments of $60 million from several large media companies, USA Today
reported on Monday. Disney, GE Capital and Intel were among the investors,
who received undisclosed minority stakes in the company. Palo Alto-based
Dotcast has developed technology that allows TV broadcasters to transmit
high-speed data through the same lines that send out television signals,
enabling stations to compete with cable and phone companies in the
broadband market. The technology would allow broadcasters such as PBS,
which has already agreed to send Dotcast transmissions to 75 million
homes, to send data to receivers attached to users' computers. However,
the signal only allows incoming transmissions, so viewers would need a
phone or cable connection to send data back over the Internet.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/mds2.htm
http://www.dotcast.com
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o Urban Box Office Secures $1.8 Million To Stay In Business

New York -- Urban Box Office (UBO), which was reported to have shut down
and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, has secured a
bridge loan of $1.8 million to stay in business, The Wall Street Journal
reported on Monday. Flatiron Partners, CB Capital Investors, Quetzal/Chase
Communications and Eco Associates provided financing for the loan, which
UBO said would be used for employees' final paychecks. The company laid
off 300 employees on Friday, but said the new funding will allow it to
re-hire 50 or so of the employees, Inside.com reported. The company filed
for bankruptcy after investor Eco Associates withdrawing a proposed $20
million investment. "There wasn't any dispute about what needed to be
done," said Fred Wilson, of Flatiron Partners. "We all agreed we needed
new management, although no one wanted Adam [Kidron, CEO of UBO] to step
aside. Eco just decided they didn't want to put $20 million into UBO.
That's all."
http://www.inside.com/story/Story_Cached/0,2770,13897_7_4_1,00.html
http://www.urbanboxoffice.com
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o Online Songwriter Community Tonos Raises $10 Million

Culver City, Calif. -- Tonos, a community site for songwriters and music
industry executives, announced on Monday that it has raised $10 million in
its second round of venture capital financing. Softbank Venture Capital
led the round; Sequoia Capital and individual investors also contributed.
Culver City-based Tonos offers advice and tools to talented musicians and
songwriters through a community that includes contact with music industry
executives. The company said the funds will be used to help launch its
online music creation and collaboration software, which it said will be
released in January.
http://www.tonos.com
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o Sonicblue Acquires Car Digital Audio Player Manufacturer Empeg

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Sonicblue, the MP3 player manufacturer formerly
known as S3, announced on Monday that it has acquired Empeg, a
manufacturer of digital audio players for automobiles. Terms of the deal
were not disclosed. Santa Clara-based Sonicblue said that the acquisition
will allow the company to expand into markets other than handheld MP3
players. England-based Empeg develops MP3 players for cars that contain
hard disks, which can store up to 600 hours of digital music.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001106/ca_s3_soni.html
http://www.sonicblue.com
http://www.empeg.com
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o Personalized Music Technology Developer Kick.com Raises $6 Million

San Francisco -- Kick.com, a developer of music personalization
technology, announced on Monday that it has raised $6 million in its first
round of venture capital financing. Utah Ventures led the investment
round; other investors included Sony Broadband Entertainment's 550 Digital
Media Ventures. San Francisco-based Kick.com's technology sends content
and e-commerce opportunities to users through a web connection to music
player software such as Winamp. The content sent to each listener is
tailored toward their musical preferences.
http://www.kick.com
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o British Online Gaming Firm Creature Labs Raises $3.6 Million

Cambridge, England -- Creature Labs, a developer of online video games,
announced that it has raised $3.6 million in its first round of venture
capital financing. Company shareholders 3i Group and Foresight Technology
were the investors in the round. England-based Creature Labs develops
interactive games that feature "artificial intelligence," where players
must care for and interact with virtual pet creatures in order to preserve
and enhance their growth. The games are similar to "The Sims," a spin-off
of the city-growing interactive computer game SimCity and the Japanese
Tamagotchi virtual pets.
http://www.creaturelabs.com
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o Production Music Distributor Dittybase Raises $980,000

Victoria, British Columbia -- Dittybase, an online distributor of
production music, announced on Monday that it has been approved to receive
$980,000 from Hewlett-Packard Canada's HP Garage Program, in the form of
HP products and services for the start-up company. Canada-based Dittybase
has created an online library of production music -- sound effects and
other instrumental music -- used by traditional filmmakers, broadcasters
and interactive webcasters. The company acquires and licenses digitized
production music and provides usage reporting for its clients.
http://www.dittybase.com
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> Digital Media Wire Networking Event - Los Angeles

Digital Media Wire will host its first networking event on Wednesday,
November 8, 2000 in Los Angeles, for subscribers and those interested in
the convergence of entertainment, technology and the Internet. Please
feel free to spread the word to others who may be interested. Light hors
d'oeuvres will be served and there will be a cash bar. There is no charge
for the event and registration is not necessary.

Sponsors:
Netjammer
Red Road Foundation

Date: Wednesday, November 8
Time: 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Where: The Sunset Trocadero Lounge
8280 Sunset Boulevard - West Hollywood, CA

For additional details: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/dmw_event1.html
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(San Antonio) GlobalScape, a developer of digital music software,
announced on Monday that it will re-release its peer-to-peer file-sharing
application, CuteMX.
San Antonio-based GlobalScape said that the new version of the software is
equipped with filtering technology designed to prevent the sharing of
unsecured content. The company restricted access to the software in July,
following the preliminary injunction that was awarded in Napster's case
with the Recording Industry Association of America. "It is a pivotal time
for file sharing technology with the recent BMG and Napster announcement
and Listen.com's bid to acquire assets from Scour Inc., developer of a
competitive file sharing application," said Sandra Poole-Christal,
president of GlobalSCAPE. "We intend to take CuteMX into the mainstream."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001106/tx_globals.html
http://www.globalscape.com/products/cutemx

(Mt. Lebanon, Pa.) SightSound.com, a music and video entertainment site,
announced on Monday that it has developed a partially patented for
encrypted, file-sharing of music on a peer-to-peer network using
subscription-based accounts. Pennsylvania-based SightSound.com has
released 11 encrypted songs from the Quantum Project soundtrack onto the
Napster network. Users may download a song, but when they attempt to play
the song they will be directed to a web site, where they will be asked to
pay $4.95 for a one-month subscription to its new service. Users will then
be able to listen to the songs for as long as they are subscribed to the
SightSound.com service.
http://www.sightsound.com

(New York) ESPN Internet Group announced on Monday that it has launched
ESPNdeportes.com, an online sports site for Latin American and U.S.
Hispanic communities. The site will provide coverage from ESPN's Latin
America-based reporters for sports like Latin and European soccer, South
American basketball and winter league major league baseball.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001106/ny_espn_in.html
http://www.espndeportes.com

(Kansas City, Mo.) Sprint PCS announced on Monday that it will offer
interactive games to its web-enabled PCS subscribers from both
Florida-based FunCaster.com and England-based nGame. FunCaster.com will
provide Sprint with access to web-based games including video poker and
blackjack; nGame will provide the company with multi-player games
including "Merchant Princes."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001106/fl_funcast.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001106/mo_ngame_s.html
http://www.funcaster.com
http://www.ngame.com

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) Listen.com, a site that provides links to music on
the Internet, announced on Monday that it has launched an affiliate
program with Commission Junction, a site that pays merchants each time a
user clicks on ads that it places for its clients on web sites. Under the
program, San Francisco-based Listen.com will pay Commission Junction's
300,000 merchant affiliates five cents each time a user clicks on a
Listen.com banner ad or interactive search box.
http://www.listen.com
http://www.cj.com

(Seattle) Online film site Atom Films announced on Monday that it has
partnered with Lucas Online to launch "The Star Wars Fan Film Network,"
where fans can submit their homemade Star Wars parodies and documentaries.
The site will give participants access to Star Wars movie sound effects to
use in their films. Some of these user-created films will be featured on
the site.
http://www.starwars.atomfilms.com
http://www.lucasfilm.com

(Las Vegas) "COMDEX Las Vegas," a business-to-business convention and
conference for information technology, will be held November 13-17, 2000
at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Sands Expo and Convention Center. The
convention will draw a great number of software developers in the digital
media industry. Keynote speakers will include Microsoft chairman Bill
Gates.
http://www.key3media.com/comdex/fall2000
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