For the first time ever in the history of the music business, a majorrecording artist and a leading record company are joining with retail tobring a complete album to music fans via download from the Internet.
On Tuesday, September 21st, David Bowie and Virgin Records will make the tensongs from the artist's new album "hours..." available via download from theInternet from any participating retailer. As a special bonus to theweb-surfing music fan, an eleventh new track offered exclusively through thedownload will be provided. This exciting opportunity is being made availablein conjunction with over 50 retailer outlets for only the two weeks prior tothe album's actual in-store retail date of October 4th.
Announcing the new venture, Virgin Worldwide Vice Chairman Nancy Berry said,"David Bowie is one of the most technologically well informed and culturallyprogressive artists in the world. It is only natural that he be the firstmusician to bring his art to his fans in this manner. We are very excited tobe part of this experiment in new music distribution with David and ourdistribution channel EMI Music Distribution (EMD). Although this process isnot indicative of how Virgin will conduct business in the future, we areexcited to be pioneering this development and look forward to many otherexciting and ground-breaking advances"
Comments David Bowie
"I couldn¹t be more pleased to have the opportunity of moving the musicindustry closer to the process of making digital download available as thenorm and not the exception. We are all aware that these broadbandopportunities are not yet available to the overwhelming majority of people.However, just as colour television broadcasts and film content on home videotapes were required first steps to cause their industries to expand consumeruse, I am hopeful that this small step will lead to larger steps by myselfand others ultimately giving consumers greater choices and easier access tothe music they enjoy. Concurrently, the Internet, with its low barriers ofentry will allow retailers large and small to compete on a level playingfield. This can only be of benefit to the consumer"
The music from "hours..." will be downloadable in the Secure Digital MusicInitiative-compatible formats Microsoft Audio 4.0 and Liquid Audio. (SecureDigital Music Initiative (SDMI) is the global organisation of record andtechnology companies formed to develop a set of guidelines for digitaldistribution that safeguard original content). Microsoft and Liquid Audiowill establish technical support in the United States as of September 21 toassist cyber savvy music fans with the download process. The download willbe available via the major participating retailers, through which the fanswill also be able purchase an actual CD with all the graphics, lyrics andrecording information, not available from the download.
Comments Jay Samit, Senior Vice President, New Media, EMI Recorded Music, "While various artists have put singles on the web, this is the first time afull album has ever been available via digital download. It makes perfectsense that such a feat be spearheaded by David Bowie, possibly the most Websavvy of all artists and someone who has been on the cutting edge of popularculture. We are proud to be working with him in this endeavour and lookforward to learning about customer behaviour with respect to this newdistribution channel".
Comments Richard Cottrell, President and CEO, EMI Music Distribution, "We fully respect the role our retailers' play in selling our artists' musicand therefore, we are pleased to further support their position by makingthis exciting initiative only available via their existing web sites. Bydistributing the digital download via our retailer sites we gain, for DavidBowie's album, the maximum impact from the power of the retailer brands andtheir consumer reach".
Already a visionary in the field of the Internet as early as 1983, DavidBowie¹s record breaking "Serious Moonlight" tour conducted all worldwidecommunications through a new process known as electronic mail. By 1988,Bowie had the first artist news group on the Internet. As the Internetevolved to the utilisation of the World Wide Web, Bowie pioneered both theearliest music web sites and later the world¹s first cybercast. He broke newground once again in 1997 with his Internet only release of the drum andbass single "Telling Lies".1998 saw the launch of BowieNet (www.davidbowie.com), the first artistcreated Internet service provider in the world. BowieNet offers uncensoredaccess to the Internet, including news, sports, finance and the best musicand entertainment coverage on the web. For Bowie fans and indeed all musicfans. BowieNet provides previously unreleased material, videos, photos andshow reviews from all genres of music. It also offers real time chats andcyber casts (both live and archived) from David himself and a host of otherartists.
Bowienet was a nominee for the WIRED Award for Best Entertainment Site OfThe Year 1999.David Bowie's forthcoming album "hours..." is due at traditional retail storeon October 4th, the album will be the artist's first to be handled by VirginMusic Group throughout the world, following a new agreement announced in midAugust. For the past several months David has been in the studio finishingthe new record, which is very song driven, a hark back to his "Hunky Dory"days of the early 70's.
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