EU
says digital sales tax plan before summer -February 29, 2000 -Reuters
Securities BRUSSELS, March 1 (Reuters) - The European Commission
reiterated on Wednesday its intention to tax digital sales of music,
videos and software downloaded directly from companies situated
outside the European Union into personal computers.
The Commission announced last year it would prepare legislation to
ensure music and other products downloaded direct to the consumer by
companies without a presence in the EU were liable to Value Added Tax
(VAT).
Sanyo
to sell new digital portable audio player -February 29, 2000 -Reuters
Securities
TOKYO, March 1 (Reuters) - Sanyo Electric Co Ltd said it will start
selling in April a portable device for playing music downloaded from
personal computers or compact disc (CD) players. Sanyo, an
Osaka-based major electronic appliance maker, aims to sell 20,000
copies of its new SSP-PD7 portable player in the first month after it
goes on sale April 21 in Japan. It is priced at 37,000 yen.
The company is expected to start selling the gadget in the United
States one month later, the spokesman said. The company has yet to set
sales targets for overseas markets, he added.
The gadget employs the Secure Portable Player Platform (SP3) security
system for copyright protection developed by Liquid Audio Inc. (
note: this is not an mp3player :)
RealNetworks
finds new outlets for jukebox software -February 29, 2000 -CNET
In a sign that retailers can no longer ignore the popularity of Net
music, several big-name stores have teamed with RealNetworks
to carve a place in the growing digital distribution market.
MP3
Goes China - U.S. Company Inks Historical
Internet Agreement With Chinese Government -February 29, 2000 -Press
Release
New Joint Venture Establishes the First Major Government Approved MP3
Site in China Houston InterWeb
Design announced today that it has formed a joint venture with the
Chinese government and a Chinese investment company to build the first
governmentally approved MP3 music site in China. The new joint
venture, Beijing Artists Online L.L.C. plans to launch a Chinese MP3
music site similar to the popular MP3.com within 60 days.
CMGI's
iCast unveils messenger that trades video, music -February 29, 2000 -CNET
Online entertainment start-up iCast
today launched its Web site and an instant messaging service that will
allow music and video lovers to immediately contact their buddies
while a broadcast is in play.
Microsoft
tunes media player for handhelds -February 29, 2000 -CNET
In an anticipated move, Microsoft today for the first time made its
media player available for download to handheld computers.
The software giant plans to offer its Windows Media Player for owners
of Casio, Compaq, and Hewlett-Packard handheld computers. Some of
these devices, like Casio’s Cassiopeia E-105, already have software
that can play digital music or videos. Yet the deal is the first time
Microsoft has offered its own media software technology for handheld
devices.
Traditional
Music Shops Go Tech -February 29, 2000 -Wired
Brick and mortar music stores use high-tech to woo customers from the
Internet, with media-station kiosks that aim to customize consumers'
experiences.
Band lands record contract through the
Net -February 29, 2000 -CNET Pop singer Kathy Fisher didn't win a Grammy last week, but after promoting her
music on the Net for less than a year she does have reason to celebrate: She just
signed a major record deal.
MP3 Sends Music Industry Back to School -February 28, 2000 -The
Standard Harvard Law School hosted a conference to divine the future of the budding
downloadable-music industry.
Qualcomm
New MP3 compatible chip -February 28, 2000 -Press
Release
" Optional software from QUALCOMM for the MSM5100 solution will enable advanced audio features such as Qtunes MP3
player software and CMX MIDI-based multimedia software. These enhancements will allow a
wide variety of future wireless music applications, including karaoke phones, MP3 player phones and more.
The MSM5100 solution will also integrate a mass storage device controller, such as a Multimedia card (MMC) interface,
which will provide an effective interconnection to much larger memory space to store MP3 music data or mapping data from a
geographical navigation service. " click on title for complete press release
Your Rights Online: Pirates Steal Negative
$1,400,000,000 from Music Industry -February 27, 2000 -Slashdot
from the two-faced dept.
In exciting news this week, the RIAA announced that due to the massive piracy of digital music "ripped" from CD's and
made available over the Internet, the music industry lost negative $1,400,000,000 in CD sales in 1999. In fact, the damage was so extreme
that the industry shipped negative 90 million fewer CD's than the year
before.
Big Labels Make New Enemies -February 26, 2000 -The
Standard
If there is any lingering doubt that the record industry's future is online, it again will be put to rest next week at
the annual conference of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers.
USC bucks growing MP3 ban -February 26, 2000 -ZDNet
Defying nationwide trend, university officials heed student pleas to allow use of
controversial app.
In a move that bucks a nationwide trend, the University of Southern California will announce
next week that it will not ban the use of popular MP3
trading software Napster.
Pundits Ask: Who Owns Music? -February 26, 2000 -Wired
Law professors, technologists, and others debate the notion of controlling
intellectual property in a Napster-happy
world.
MP3 Revolution: Rhetoric or Real? -February 25, 2000 -Wired
Old and new media players debate the status of the great MP3
hope at Signal or Noise: the Future of Music Online.
*PMS What is Hip? Not GoHip.com -February 25, 2000 -Wired
What is GoHip, and what's it doing taking over people's PCs? That's what people are
asking after the site found its way into user startup folders, wreaking havoc with
homepages and email signatures.
*Public Message Service :-)
MP3 technology worries recording industry -February 24, 2000 -CBC.ca Behind the smiles at Wednesday night's Grammy Awards, there was growing anger among
musicians and record labels because of something known as MP3.
MP3.com Passes Milestone With 10 Million Registered
Member -February 24, 2000 -Press
Release MP3.com, Inc., the premier online music service provider, today announced that its database of members
registered by email address has grown to more than 10 million since the site was launched a year ago in
February 1999.
New Legal Terrain for Digital Rights -February 24, 2000 -MP3.com
MP3.com act the Rosenbergs' decision to reject
Farmclub.com's offer
to appear on TV continues to raise questions about the music industry's traditional contract practices (see
"What's In
Farmclub's Fertilizer?"). Questions of domain-name ownership and
digital-distribution royalty rates abound in this LiveDaily report. "They
know that this (the Internet) gives the independent artist a voice and gives them power," said Rosenbergs band member David Fagin. "Our
point is: Why not now? Now's a perfect time to stop accepting the
85/15 split or the 90/10 split...Why shouldn't it be that little by little,
the contracts' first drafts start to change a little bit?"
Honda Not Fond Of Honda.net -February 24, 2000 -Wired Honda.net Web site for Honda fans is getting sued by the automaker.
Honda says it won't tolerate cyberpiracy, even by folks who like its cars.
You Gotta Feel the Music -February 24, 2000 -Wired
Braille music software allows blind musicians and their instructors to
transcribe music and keep tempo with the rest of the band.
Artist Software Guide -February 23, 2000 -MP3.com
With artists in mind, we've run the top MP3 software through some
rigorous testing to determine which ones best suit artists' needs. Speed is obviously an attractive attribute, and your times will vary
based on the system you are running. But if speed means sacrificing quality, it may be worth the extra time to produce better
results. As a prerequisite for their inclusion, all of the software in this
chart produced high-quality results.
EMI picks Supertracks for online
music -February 22, 2000 -Reuters
Britain's EMI Group
Plc, home to the Beatles and Rolling
Stones, said on Tuesday it had chosen Supertracks Inc to
help develop an Internet-based digital music distribution system for its catalogue of recordings.
Dueling Over Digital Music Rights -February 22, 2000 -Wired
Companies like Napster and MP3.com developed software to make digital music more
consumer-friendly -- and ran smack into the RIAA. So what rights *do* consumers have with
digital music?
It's A Wireless Extravaganza -February 21, 2000 -Wired
When wireless developers converge in Silicon Valley this week, the focus will be
less on mobile phones and more on mobile everything else.
There's a PC in My Salt Shaker -February 19, 2000 -Wired Don't blink! Very soon there may be a computer in your Coke bottle, your
wristwatch, or even your sheets.
EMI heads toward full digital distribution -February 18, 2000 -CNET
EMI Recorded Music will announce Monday that it has teamed with Supertracks to
create a system to digitally distribute music--a major sign that the "Big Five"
record labels are starting to get over their long-running love affair with CDs.
PMS* Cyberspace Prosecutor -February 18, 2000 -The
Standard Before the courts race to join the content control freaks' chorus, they should pause
to consider our national tradition. Jack Valenti, the Motion Picture
Association of America's lobbyist to the stars, is quickly becoming the Internet's
Kenneth Starr. High from victory in jailing a 16-year-old Norwegian for offering a way to run DVD movies on Linux, Valenti
has been singing victory again in the recent battle over iCraveTV.com, a
company of "cyberthieves"that was rebroadcasting television programs over
the Net
*Public Message Service :-)
MP3.com in Video Venture -February 17, 2000 -Reuters MP3.com
Inc. a Web site that lets users download songs over the Internet for free, said on Thursday it will now provide videos for viewing.
San Diego-based MP3.com said it formed a joint venture with Livemusicchannel.com, a provider of live concert
performances on the Internet and on television.
Start-ups lead push to manage digital
rights -February 17, 2000 -CNET
Before the Internet can replace VCRs, CDs and the printing press, companies like
Sunhawk will have to succeed.
'Save Our
Napster,' Say Students -February 17, 2000 -Wired
Students launch a nationwide petition to get universities to
consult them before banning the popular MP3-trading service Napster. Schools say they're simply having a bandwidth problem
MP3.com pulls out of planned
SeeUthere.com buy -February 16, 2000 -CNET
Music download destination MP3.com is pulling out of its planned acquisition of
Web event planner SeeUthere.com, citing the unavailability of pooling of interest
accounting for the merger. Instead, MP3.com will take a "major stake" in the company for an undisclosed price.
SeeUthere is expecting to raise up to $30 million from current and new investors in the
coming months, the company said.
Security Analysis of My.MP3.com and Beam-It
Protocol -February 16, 2000 -Slashdot
Posted by Hemos on Wednesday February 16,
@12:00PM
from the looking-at-the-underlying-work dept.
Serg writes, "Potential ammo for the upcoming MP3.com trial? From a member of the Rice University CS Dept: "We found the
protocol to provide strong protection against a user pretending to have a
music CD without actually possessing it, however we found the protocol to be
unnecessarily verbose and includes information that some users may prefer to keep private."
Channeling Online Music -February 16, 2000 -Wired Riffage and
Epitonic have
found new partners to help promote their indy and unsigned bands. The strategy?
Up-and-comings sidle up to the established artists who inspired them and
become popular by association.
Controversial Copyright Amendment Wasn't Deviously Slipped Into
Law -February 15, 2000 -LiveDaily.com
Mitch Glazier, the current chief counsel to House Intellectual Property Subcommittee, has
revealed his version of events behind the controversial copyright amendment which could
allow record companies to own a sound recording forever, instead of artists being able to
reclaim the rights to their work after 35 years. Glazier, who will leave the government and
take a six-figure lobbying job with the Recording Industry Association of
America in March, also defended his reputation in light of recent media coverage suggesting that his
new job indicated that he had been doing the bidding of the recording industry all along.
Welcome
To The Machine -February 15, 2000 -Salon
Although digital distribution promises unlimited artistic freedom,
Utopia is already under attack. In short, the larger online sites are starting to act like the major labels once did. When Nirvana
broke, the majors went digging, somewhat cluelessly, for similar underground acts, and some made deals with barely tested indie
labels. Now, the dot-coms are mining the same ground. The difference is that they don't really care about finding, much less
nurturing, another Nirvana. They're more interested in attaching themselves to a tested brand -- a label or a band with a
pre-existing audience -- that will draw traffic to their Web sites
Music Converter Sings Many Tunes -February 15, 2000 -CNET
The Earjam music player tries to make life
easier for digital music fans by cutting through the chaos of online music
formats.
Digital music a hit with kids -February 15, 2000 -ZDNet
Adults aren't the only ones playing with MP3. Toy Fair 2000 promos kid-friendly digital music devices.
Why This Fan May Say
Sayonara to Sony -February 14, 2000 -Fortune.com In its effort to protect the copyrights of music
companies, Sony has designed a really cool digital
player with one big problem--it's a headache to use.
Some musicians say Web record label is old
hat -February 14, 2000 -CNET
With the launch of their new FarmClub.com record label, a couple of Universal
Music Group heavyweights are aiming to build a converged TV-Net soundstage
that cultivates artists for major-league careers.
Studio technician -February 14, 2000 -Salon
MPAA president Jack Valenti has never downloaded an MP3, but he
could have a huge impact on the future of online entertainment.
What's in Farmclub's Fertilizer? -February 10, 2000 -MP3.com
It all started innocently enough: When MP3.com act The Rosenbergs were asked to appear on the
Farmclub.com television
program, they were, of course, excited...until they got the contract.
Farmclub (a project headed by Universal Music Group honchos Doug Morris and Jimmy
Iovine) may be a using a new-school medium to find
talent, but they're still using the old-school record contracts, members
of the band say. Some MP3 artists scraping by without
labels -February 10, 2000 -CNET
High school senior Alex Smith started making music about eight months ago,
using an inexpensive keyboard and his computer. But by promoting his tracks
solely on the Net, he already has seen what many artists only dream of: a payday.
Time for a Napster Rest? -February 10, 2000 -Wired
The popular service for swapping digital songs has been driving an overload of
campus data pipes. USC is the latest school reexamining student Net access
over Napster. A harbinger for the Net at large?
Future Shop -February 09, 2000 -Washington
Post
I'm ready for the push-button Internet. I got a
tantalizing taste of it this week as I turned the knob of a Kerbango Internet
Radio, flipped through colorful images stored in an Internet-enabled picture
frame and waved a PrestoTag to identify myself to an e-shopping site.
Streaming for Dollars -February 09, 2000 -Wired
The RIAA and www.com have agreed on a royalty payment scheme to compensate
artists when their work is webcast. Microsoft also gets into the act with
technology for pay-per-use Net broadcasts.
Microsoft Windows Media enables
pay-per-use -February 09, 2000 -CNET
Microsoft today announced an addition to its Windows Media Player that enables
pay-per-view and pay-per-download digital content. The company released a preview version of the Digital Broadcast Manager, software
designed to allow secure downloads of audio and video content on a pay-per-use basis.
Another CBS Digital Furor -February 09, 2000 -Wired
CBS News, which on New Year's Eve digitally superimposed images of the network logo onto its broadcast from Times
Square, is threatening legal action against musicians who sampled Dan Rather's voice.
MP3.com hits back, sues RIAA -February 08, 2000 -CNET
update Striking back against allegations that it violated the copyrights on thousands of CDs, MP3.com is charging that the recording industry has engaged in unfair business practices to undermine the Net
music firm. MP3.com, which offers digital audio by 50,000 artists, filed a complaint in San Diego
Superior Court yesterday alleging that the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) and its president, Hilary Rosen, gathered technical information from the Net music
company and spoke to analysts about its stock price just days before suing it for copyright
infringement.
MP3: RIAA 'Waged a Campaign' -February 08, 2000 -Wired
MP3.com accuses the recording industry of interfering with its business
relationships. The lawsuit claims the RIAA had talks with stock analysts and discouraged advertisers from working with
MP3.com.
MP3.com files countersuit against RIAA -February 08, 2000 -CNET
Less than three weeks after being sued by the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA) for alleged copyright violations, MP3.com turned the tables and
filed a suit against the industry trade organization and its top brass alleging unfair
business practices. ( text
of lawsuit )
Not Your Grandma's Radio -February 07, 2000 -MP3.com
Companies such as Kerbango and
AudioRamp.com are building
web-connected radio tuner devices for the forward-thinking audiophile, reports Wired.
The under-$300 Kerbango uses RealNetworks' G2 to stream and includes a
built-in MP3 player that plays files stored on the user's computer.
Artists Won't Work For Hire -February 07, 2000 -MP3.com
The RIAA seems to keep getting deeper and deeper into a jam that
concerns a new "works for
hire" provision added to the 1976 Copyright Act. As noted by The Hollywood Reporter the RIAA is
calling for a hearing on the provision, which artists contend will prevent them from reclaiming their copyrights to performances
recorded after 1978. "RIAA president Hilary Rosen contends that she wants to set the record straight on the provision, which was inserted
at the last minute. In her letter, she contends that it simply clarifies
what is a standard practice in the industry that makes it possible to gain
widespread commercial dissemination for a recording."
Sony Digital Downloads -February 07, 2000 -Slashdot
Posted by emmett on Monday February 07, @09:03AM
from the pizzicato-five dept.
Mad Gav writes "Sony's Music Clip and Memory Stick Walkmans have been around here in Japan for months, but
the software from Sony has been lacking, until now. Sony launched their first stab at a
digital download service in Japan, albeit with a limited
selection of tracks. A single track costs 350 Yen (just over $3) to download. It looks like Sony is finally making serious moves into this
arena, and I'd predict that it's only a matter of months before their entire
catalog goes online..." The link is in Japanese, but you can understand
what's going on there.
When the Piper Pays -February 07, 2000 -The
Standard
It's illegal for radio broadcasters to accept hidden payments in exchange for airplay. Not so on the Web.
Mjuice Piggybacks on Real -February 07, 2000 -Wired
The online music store expands its customer base by linking directly to
RealNetworks. Listeners no longer have to
download a special player to listen to Mjuice music
offerings.
Getting the Most From the Net -February 06, 2000 -MP3.com
by Owen Sloane, subscription music lawyer, Note: Guest columnist Owen Sloane has been a music industry
attorney for the past 30 years. Sloane, whose clients include Elton John, Steve
Winwood, Kenny Rogers and many others, is currently
writing a book designed to help would-be artists and songwriters make it in the music industry.
'Whois' Is Safe At First -February 05, 2000 -Wired
An Internet service provider learns that on the Internet,
"whois" is a sacred name.
Verio tried to trademark the term, but not everyone liked the idea. The trademark
application was rejected Friday.
Spin City for Troubled BMG Music -February 05, 2000 -Wired
CEO Strauss Zelnick downplays dispute with Clive Davis, embraces digital downloading, and swears that being fourth out
of four majors ain't bad. Matt Welch reports from the Variety Interactive Summit in San Diego.
Listen.com to This -February 04, 2000 -The
Standard In their latest counterattack against renegade music download sites, the "Big 5" recording labels have pledged their
support -- and dollars -- to Listen.com
Future is Sounding Good -February 04, 2000 -MP3.com
Just this last week, as I was preparing this column, another big MP3
story broke concerning MP3.com. The MP3.com web site has developed two main functions since it began a few years ago. First,
it is a great place to download legal, legitimate MP3 files for personal use. Second, the web site has become something of an
industry watchdog for the MP3 file format. (Some people have even predicted that MP3.com will become the
“MTV of the Internet.”)
All "Big Five" labels, Madonna back
Listen.com -February 04, 2000 -CNET Listen.com is being heard.
All of the "Big 5" record labels and Madonna's Maverick Records have invested
undisclosed sums in Listen.com, the San Francisco-based start-up plans to announce today. Listen.com's directory categorizes more than 50,000 MP3 music tracks that are available for download across the
Web.
The Napster files -February 04, 2000 -Salon.com
A little MP3 file-sharing program outlines the shape of
things to come in the music industry -- and it's not what the big labels think.
BMG's Zelnick Lauds Digital Leaps -February 04, 2000 -Reuters
While Hollywood worries that the Internet may shrink its coffers, Bertelsmann Music Group president and CEO
Strauss Zelnick told a high-tech summit Thursday that the digital downloading of music and films will only
expand the markets for entertainment content.
Is SDMI a Consumer's Nightmare? -February 03, 2000 -Slashdot
Milo_Mindbender asks: "I recently got hold of a solid-state music player that is Secure Digital Music Initiative (see
www.sdmi.org) compatible. While the player itself is a fine
device, the restrictions forced on it by SDMI appear to make it a nightmare
for the consumer. I'd appreciate it if someone with more knowledge of SDMI
could tell me if my concerns are real, or just the result of a bad SDMI implementation." Click
above to read the rest of Milo's submission and to see the direction the RIAA wants to push us in.
Copy-Protected CDs Taken Back -February 03, 2000 -Wired
BMG Germany pulls the plug on its first effort to protect CDs from piracy after
customers complain that some of the music is unplayable.
MP3.com Brings Full Support to Linux With Beam-it
Software -February 03, 2000 -Press
Release
MP3.com, Inc., the premier online music service provider, today released a Linux client version of
Beam-it(TM), its
proprietary software that allows consumers to store their CDs on My.MP3.com.
Moveable Media: Stick or Card? -February 03, 2000 -Wired
A new industry consortium thinks it has the portable answer to secure storage of
music and more: a secure digital memory card. Microsoft signed on Wednesday.
Look out, Sony Memory Stick.
MP3
Free-For-All -February 03, 2000 -Salon.com
Being in the RIAA's bad graces puts Napster in good company:
An RIAA lawsuit has become almost a coming-of-age ritual for online music companies attempting some new form of digital
music distribution. The RIAA has in the past sued up-and-coming companies like
Diamond Multimedia, which built the first
commercial portable MP3 player; it also sent threatening letters to MP3 search engines like
Mp3.lycos.com. In all cases, the
RIAA has had to settle.
Judge Rags on DVD Hackers -February 03, 2000 -Wired
The distributors of the DeCSS program that allows for DVD
copying have put on a poor case in the New York hearings, says
the judge who ruled against them two weeks ago.
Wirelessly We Roll Along -February 02, 2000 -MP3.com
Can't wait to navigate the web from the comfort of your car? Fingers
itching to dial up My.MP3.com on your cell phone, hear your music and send email from that precious little screen? Hang on for the ride,
kids! It won't be too much longer until you can do both. Check these Reuters reports via Yahoo! News for the latest timetable on
accessing
the web from your wheels and logging in from
anywhere.
Too Dumb to Snoop -- So Far -February 02, 2000 -Wired
Major record labels could be some of the most powerful privacy violators on the Web, if they weren't so
inept.
Reverse engineering could threaten
RealNetworks, others -February 02, 2000 -CNET
While RealNetworks, Microsoft and other corporations battle for control of the
streaming media market, efforts to provide open source alternatives to streaming
media products are cropping up from groups ranging from lone university
students to Internet behemoth CMGI.
Blocked students find backdoor to Napster -February 02, 2000 -CNET
A sort of "free Napster" movement is surfacing to counter efforts by record companies and universities
to quash access to the software, which lets online users swap digital music tracks.
RealNetworks Helps Pay Piper -February 02, 2000 -Wired
Royalties have been a scarce commodity for artists whose work streams across the
Internet every day, but RealNetworks
will soon implement a system for compensating music copyright holders.
RealNetworks will integrate AudioSoft's copyright management technology that
tracks the webcasters' Internet streams into its popular RealSystem G2 platform.
The Boys Behind Etoy -February 02, 2000 -Wired
Each goes by one name only. They're a bunch of international
Web artists. Mysterious and unpredictable are their bywords. And they're the ones who took on eToys, and won. Or did they?
Live From the Living Room -February 02, 2000 -Wired
Forget bar hopping. Houseconcerts.com
helps music lovers return to the day when combos played in living rooms as well as
saloons.
Deconstructing the Mergers -February 02, 2000 -Wired
Entertainment monoliths and digital startups meet to ponder the
implications
of AOL-Time Warner-EMI at this week's Variety Music Summit.
Coca-Cola objects to fan site domain -February 01, 2000 -CNET In the latest David vs. Goliath dispute over Net name ownership, soft drink giant
Coca-Cola has taken a hard-line approach with a fan site called "Vintagecocacola.com" that was established as a favor to a group of senior
citizens.
Web site administrator Randy Martin of Maxistore.net said that the site originally was
founded in a "goodwill gesture" as a place for Coca-Cola fans to display their collections of
vintage Coca-Cola merchandise.
But on Jan. 5, Coca-Cola sent Maxistore a cease-and-desist letter
asking the site to discontinue using the Coca-Cola trademark and to either assign the domain name to
Coca-Cola or abandon the name immediately.
Farmclub.com Steps Back Into Batter's Box -February 01, 2000 -The
Standard
Entertainment firm relaunches Web site, debuts television show for unsigned
musical acts.
For a couple of music industry moguls, Jimmy Iovine and Doug Morris looked pretty casual at the
taping of their new TV show, "Farmclub.com," last weekend. Jeans and
sneakers were the pair's uniform of choice as they milled about a Universal Studios
soundstage and talked about their latest venture, "The online record company, with
a TV show, that makes house calls."
Interview with Jon Johansen Norwegian teenager and his father indicted -February 01, 2000 -LinuxWorld
J.S. Kelly continues LinuxWorld's coverage of the
DVD investigation, interviewing both Jon Johansen, the teenager charged with involvement
with and distribution of DeCSS, and Per Johansen, his father.
Music Vets Build Community Net -February 01, 2000 -Wired Enigma Digital takes the mystery out of
locating niche music with a network of targeted sites, while Music Choice
partners with Microsoft on its unsigned artists program.
