You hear a song on the radio that appeals to you and you decide you must have a copy of
it. You could make the trip to the CD shop and get the album or you can now buy and
download the song over the Internet and have it saved to your hard disk. From there the
music can be recorded onto Mini Discs or CD-R so you can play it anywhere.
The music-over-the-net project will make its appearance in the SingaporeONE project and
it will be implemented by Cerberus Digital, a company formed from the joint venture of
Cerberus Central Ltd (U.K.) and Singapore company Audio Music Group Pte Ltd. The latter is
involved in the acquisition, administration and licensing of music rights throughout Asia.
Cerberus Digital is using Cerberus Central Limited’s Virtual Pressing Plant
(VPP)
as the backbone technology in the project. Also called the Cerberus Digital Jukebox
(CDJ),
the VPP permits copyright owners to compress, encrypt and sell music online. Cerberus
developed the "Coded Bitstream Reliant" format (CBR) specifically to protect the
distribution of audio data online.
After two years of trials and obtaining the approval of all the world’s major
copyright collection agencies and major publishers, including a mandate from EMI Music
Publishing for 1.5 million songs, Cerberus Digital Jukebox is now considered by many
observers to be a mature digital music distribution system. During a demonstration in
which the online version of a song was compared to music from a conventional CD, the music
quality was virtually indistinguishable.
Besides selling music online, the company is also looking at setting up kiosks on
certain locations where users can choose songs to be compiled on the spot.
With the launch of the service this January, the service intends to charge S$1 per song
selected and downloaded.
"It is still too early to assess the size of the market for digital music
delivery," said Paul Edwards, chairman and CEO of Audio Music Group. Edwards.
"But the Digital Jukebox concept is not likely going to replace the traditional CDs
sold through the shops any time soon." He adds however, the music chain Tower Records
has forecast the value of online music sales, including online ordering of CDs, could
reach seven to ten per cent.
Meanwhile another service set up by an American company allows music lovers accessing
www.musicmaker. com to create their own, personalized CDs, using the site’s powerful,
unique search engine to select music by genre, artist, composer, instrument or label. Up
to 70 minutes of music can be selected, and each CD comes with track listings both on the
jewel case and the CD. Customers are prompted to create their own label for each CD
ordered, including messages to those who will receive the CDs as gifts. CDs range in price
from $9.95 - $19.95 depending on the number of tracks ordered. Transactions are completed
through a secure credit card link and orders are shipped within two business days.
(Contact: Sam Ostrow of The Music Connection Corp., 203-328-3018, or SamO@ostrow-partners.com)
