Music Industry Unveils Net Sales Tracking Tag

Music Industry Unveils Net Sales Tracking Tag
Mon Feb 10, 9:09 AM ET Add Technology - Reuters
Internet Report to My Yahoo!



LONDON (Reuters) - A music industry trade body
launched Monday electronic identity tags to keep tabs
on Internet music sales in a bid to compensate
musicians and song writers as more of their works
become available online.

The Global Release Indentifier, or GRid, is a code
akin to the Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code
found on a CD or cassette tape in stores.


The aim is to track each time a record label, online
retailer or distributor such as Microsoft's MSN or
Italian Internet service provider Tiscali sells a song
in the form of a Web stream or download.


Such tracking initiatives are considered vital to an
industry that is reeling from lost sales compounded by
a slumping global economy and the growth in online
music piracy.


With the GRid initiative, resellers would be charged
an annual fee of 150 pounds ($245.10), for which they
can issue an identity tag to millions of songs sold
online.


Each track will be distributed with an individual GRid
serial number. Like a bar code, it will be reported
back to rights societies and collection agencies so
that artists can be compensated for sales.


International Federation of Phonographic Industry
(IFPI) and Recording Industry Association of America
(news - web sites) (RIAA) have been developing the
standard for the past two years.


"If this is done properly, the artists and authors of
music will be paid adequately for the sale of their
works online," said Paul Jessop, chief technology
officer of the IFPI.


He added the GRid initiative is a voluntary system,
and that the fee would, initially at least, be covered
by the resellers.


Jessop cautioned that GRid is not designed, nor is it
intended for, keeping track of songs that wind up on
online file-sharing networks, a major source of music
piracy.


The music industry blames the popularity of such
networks, including Kazaa and Grokster, where millions
of consumers swap songs for free, for the decline in
recorded music sales. Monday, the British Phonographic
Industry (BPI) reported a 3.7 percent decline in
recorded music sales in the fourth quarter of 2002,
traditionally the strongest selling period.


In an effort to provide consumers an alternative to
illicit file-trading sites, the major record labels,
including Sony Music, Warner Music, Universal Music,
EMI and Bertelsmann, have begun selling more of their
music online.


But music officials have complained that
sales-tracking systems in place at the moment need to
be standardized so that online sales, though small at
the moment, can be better recorded.


"It's our ambition to evangelize this to the
independent music labels and the new generation of
online music distributors," Jessop said. "I would
expect they'll be part of the second wave of
adoptees."


"At first sight, this looks like a really good thing,"
said Gavin Robertson, general manager of
MusicIndie.com, research and development and licensing
arm of the Association of Independent Music, a trade
body representing 700 independent music labels.


"The industry is really in need of interoperable
identification tags and this technology appears to
really fill a gap," he said, adding that the
independent labels group would consider adopting the
GRid technology.








=====


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ARCADIA: long poem serialized in the muse apprentice guild: http://www.muse-apprentice-guild.com/
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/385/lewis_lacook.html


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marc garrett Feb. 10 2003 14:58Reply

Not to mention all the crap and boy/girl bands that they keep churniing out
that much of the 16 upward audience is bored shitless with…

marc


>he music industry blames the popularity of such
networks, including Kazaa and Grokster, where millions
of consumers swap songs for free, for the decline in
recorded music sales. Monday, the British Phonographic
Industry (BPI) reported a 3.7 percent decline in
recorded music sales in the fourth quarter of 2002,
traditionally the strongest selling period.

> Music Industry Unveils Net Sales Tracking Tag
> Mon Feb 10, 9:09 AM ET Add Technology - Reuters
> Internet Report to My Yahoo!
>
>
>
> LONDON (Reuters) - A music industry trade body
> launched Monday electronic identity tags to keep tabs
> on Internet music sales in a bid to compensate
> musicians and song writers as more of their works
> become available online.
>
> The Global Release Indentifier, or GRid, is a code
> akin to the Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code
> found on a CD or cassette tape in stores.
>
>
> The aim is to track each time a record label, online
> retailer or distributor such as Microsoft's MSN or
> Italian Internet service provider Tiscali sells a song
> in the form of a Web stream or download.
>
>
> Such tracking initiatives are considered vital to an
> industry that is reeling from lost sales compounded by
> a slumping global economy and the growth in online
> music piracy.
>
>
> With the GRid initiative, resellers would be charged
> an annual fee of 150 pounds ($245.10), for which they
> can issue an identity tag to millions of songs sold
> online.
>
>
> Each track will be distributed with an individual GRid
> serial number. Like a bar code, it will be reported
> back to rights societies and collection agencies so
> that artists can be compensated for sales.
>
>
> International Federation of Phonographic Industry
> (IFPI) and Recording Industry Association of America
> (news - web sites) (RIAA) have been developing the
> standard for the past two years.
>
>
> "If this is done properly, the artists and authors of
> music will be paid adequately for the sale of their
> works online," said Paul Jessop, chief technology
> officer of the IFPI.
>
>
> He added the GRid initiative is a voluntary system,
> and that the fee would, initially at least, be covered
> by the resellers.
>
>
> Jessop cautioned that GRid is not designed, nor is it
> intended for, keeping track of songs that wind up on
> online file-sharing networks, a major source of music
> piracy.
>
>
> The music industry blames the popularity of such
> networks, including Kazaa and Grokster, where millions
> of consumers swap songs for free, for the decline in
> recorded music sales. Monday, the British Phonographic
> Industry (BPI) reported a 3.7 percent decline in
> recorded music sales in the fourth quarter of 2002,
> traditionally the strongest selling period.
>
>
> In an effort to provide consumers an alternative to
> illicit file-trading sites, the major record labels,
> including Sony Music, Warner Music, Universal Music,
> EMI and Bertelsmann, have begun selling more of their
> music online.
>
>
> But music officials have complained that
> sales-tracking systems in place at the moment need to
> be standardized so that online sales, though small at
> the moment, can be better recorded.
>
>
> "It's our ambition to evangelize this to the
> independent music labels and the new generation of
> online music distributors," Jessop said. "I would
> expect they'll be part of the second wave of
> adoptees."
>
>
> "At first sight, this looks like a really good thing,"
> said Gavin Robertson, general manager of
> MusicIndie.com, research and development and licensing
> arm of the Association of Independent Music, a trade
> body representing 700 independent music labels.
>
>
> "The industry is really in need of interoperable
> identification tags and this technology appears to
> really fill a gap," he said, adding that the
> independent labels group would consider adopting the
> GRid technology.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> =====
>
>
> http://www.lewislacook.com/
> NEW! Zoosemiotics http://www.lewislacook.com/zoosemiotics
> ARCADIA: long poem serialized in the muse apprentice guild:
http://www.muse-apprentice-guild.com/
> http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/385/lewis_lacook.html
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
> http://mailplus.yahoo.com
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