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It's Online Rock 'N
Roll, continued... While the competition foments on the software side of Webcasting, the companies actually producing these events have shown a remarkable ability to coexist. For instance, in order to accommodate the almost 90,000 simultaneous online spectators that logged on for this year's Tibetan Freedom Concert, SonicNet enlisted the help of other Web sites equipped for cybercasts, including N2K's Rocktropolis, iMusic, 911 Entertainment, LiveConcerts.com, and ITV.net. "The goal of a Webcast is to drive as many people as possible to that Webcast," N2K's Nilson says. "If we as Rocktropolis say we're going to do this alone, then the only people who will know about the event will be the ones that come to our site on a regular basis... I think it just makes sense to make these events as big as they can be, all the time." And what about the artists? Well, while the technology companies are busy building better mousetraps, and the Webcasting companies are busy determining rules of engagement, the artists have been busy learning their way around this new medium. They're learning that not only is the Web a great way for them to reach their fans, it also gives them a new opportunity to experiment with performance and musical presentation. "I think the artists are still very open to new media and cybercasts," says Terri Hiroshima, public relations manager for One Reel Productions, which handles Bumbershoot, Seattle's acclaimed music and arts festival. This was the first year the festival was cybercast, and Hiroshima estimates the event drew in excess of 35,000 hits over four days. "But, I think the artists are quickly becoming more savvy about the Net as a media vehicle. There are so many Webcasting sites popping up now that no one can keep up. The management companies and the artists themselves are definitely becoming more sensitive to the fact that it's an uncontrollable vehicle for them--their image can end up anywhere!" This increased sensitivity is epitomized by the experience the people behind the LiveConcerts.com site had with those rock 'n' roll bad boys turned savvy businessmen, the Rolling Stones. LiveConcerts.com, initially intended as a showcase for RealNetwork's RealAudio and RealVideo software, soon took on a life of its own as a Webcaster following a partnership deal with the House of Blues. According to Eric Magnusson, Webmaster for LiveConcerts.com, the Stones were at first hesitant to Webcast their entire tour-opening show in Chicago. They finally agreed to Webcast the first four songs. "Mick was very into the technology," Magnusson explains. "He'd seen it, but he was very concerned about the business side of it -- how was it going to make him money? And we'd yet to really prove that to him. However, the marketing value of doing just four songs was great enough that the band eventually could justify doing it for free." Not only are the artists protective of their images and their income, the artists' record labels are also cautious when it comes to maintaining copyright control. Technically, an artist can perform a Webcast on the Internet without their label's permission. However, because an archived copy of a performance is equivalent to a digital recording of copyright protected music, the label that holds the copyright can deny Webcasters permission to archive the event at their site. For example, many Webcasts, like David Bowie's performance, are no longer available. "As a responsible music entertainment company, we have to be sensitive to all the rights issues relating to an event," N2K's Nilson says. "We want to make sure that everything we do is in synch with all the copyright issues, and we respect absolutely the need for what the artist or label tells us to do -- that's the only way to make a business out of it!" LiveConcerts.com's Magnusson agrees and says cooperation can often depend on whom you talk to at a record label or management company. "If you talk to the wrong person, you'll get shot down pretty quickly," he says. "The legal departments at a lot of labels are very against cybercasting, so every day is a struggle to get rights to these artists." And what lies ahead for Webcasting? In a word, multicasting. This emerging technology is the online equivalent of the standard broadcasting model of 'one to many'. With multicasting, one content stream can be split and sent to many users simultaneously, as opposed to the current online model that dictates an individual media stream for every user. As Jupiter's Keane points out, "There are only about 19 million households online today. We see that rising to 52 million by the year 2002, so there is definitely room for significant growth, but I think technology like multicasting has to happen in order for cybercasts to really reach a mass audience." However, implementing multicasting requires significant hardware upgrades across the network, so, unless you currently have access to a high bandwidth pipe, you'll have to put up with some Webcasting static for at least another year. But, as soon as bandwidth catches up to expectations, Webcasting's popularity is expected to skyrocket. "Looking forward to 1998, there isn't one major festival that isn't scheduled to be cybercast," LiveConcerts.com's Magnusson says. "At some point, we'll be cybercasting everything." SonicNet's Butterworth agrees. "Seeing concerts live over the Internet is going to become just a normal, unremarkable part of everyone's daily life, just like listening to the radio is now or going to a record store," he says. "We're still in the beginning stages of something that is going to become just a really great and accepted part of what it means to enjoy music." Back to: Top of this page |
