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We think the PCDJ player not only gives CD buyers tremendous added value, it also provides UMG labels and their marketing departments with a new Net-based tool to extend their brand and stimulate additional demand for product."
—--Visiosonic CEO Joe Vangieri

GETTIN' DIGI WITH IT

If You Think You've Seen This Tech Roundup Before, You're Only Half-Right
LIQUID DREAMS
Digital music software, infrastructure and service provider Liquid Audio has been awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent Office—#6,219,634, to be exact—for a new watermarking technique for audio files. The technique is said to make the watermarking and decoding processing less demanding on computers’ tiny brains, thus bringing the concept of protecting owners of rights to music distributed on the Internet closer to reality. And speaking of tiny brains, ours is beginning to hurt. But there’s more news out of the Liquid Audio camp this week. The company has also announced the deployment of its Liquid Audio Promotions Manager, a new application designed to help retailers and labels offer digital music promotions on their web sites. Currently in use by BestBuy.com, CDNOW and SamGoody.com, the Promotions Manager centralizes promotion administration and allows access to promotional collateral such as editorial content and album artwork and graphics. As of this writing, the software is not yet able to grind a P3 in Dubuque for an add, but we’re sure they’re working on it.

MAD MONEY FOUND
CenterSpan, the Portland, Oregon developer and marketer of Internet distribution solutions best known for dropping $9 million to acquire the assets of sued-into-bankruptcy file-sharing service Scour, has announced the closing of an additional $1 million in financing, bringing its total new financing since June to $6.4 million. Reports that CenterSpans investors represent the same group that recently purchased several acres of beachfront property in Albuquerque have yet to be confirmed. Meanwhile, the revamped and allegedly copyright-abiding new version of Scour is currently in the beta-testing phase. Grab your porn while ye may!

GOING MOBILE
RealNetworks has announced it’s partnering with Symbian, a developer of cell phone operating systems, to include its audio and video player in Symbian-powered wireless devices. RealPlayer Mobile, as the system is known, will allow wireless customers to subscribe to news, sports and, of course, music services such as MusicNet, Real’s joint venture with AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann and EMI. RPM is already available in Europe, where people are said to actually enjoy two-way conversations on cellular phones.

DIY FYI
Always up for empowering the "digital artist" (and banking a little scratch), online music infrastructure company and recent UMG acquisition target MP3.com continues to pimp its virtual real estate via its Promo Auctions program. Those interested in being part of MP3.com’s claimed 5 million daily page views and having their tunes linked to various high-traffic areas of the site can enter bids at www.mp3.com/auction. A recent one-week stint on MP3.com’s homepage went for over two thousand dollars, or about enough Top Ramen to feed a band of four for about three years.

UMG SPINS PCDJ
Visiosonic, Ltd., maker of PCDJ mixing software, has announced a deal with Universal Music Group to distribute an "entry-level" version PCDJ on select UMG CDs, as well as certain UMG-owned or controlled websites. "We think the PCDJ player not only gives CD buyers tremendous added value, it also provides UMG labels and their marketing departments with a new Net-based tool to extend their brand and stimulate additional demand for product," noted Visiosonic CEO Joe Vangieri. "Of course, we also think The X-Files are real, but that’s another story."

STRENGTH AND HONOR, ONLINE
Australian band 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts (TOFOG), fronted by silver-screen gladiator Russell Crowe, has been letting the Internet do the talking when it comes to selecting cities to play in on their summer tour. The band is asking fans for suggestions on their website (www.gruntland.com); Austin, TX, was the first stop chosen this way, and Chicago, Portland, and Philadelphia have recently been added. No word yet if Crowe will actually begin "warming up the crowd" at TOFOG shows by hacking one lucky volunteer to death each night with a sword cribbed from the "Gladiator" prop wagon.

NEAR TRUTHS: SPRING BLOOMS
Here come the big guns. (3/28a)
THE COUNT: COLDPLAY IS HOT, COUNTRY'S COOKIN' IN THE U.K.
The latest tidbits from the bustling live sector (3/28a)
CITY OF HOPE TAPS MARCIANO FOR TOP HONOR
This year's philanthropic model (3/28a)
TRUST IN THE TOP 20
Hip-hop is no longer hibernating. (3/28a)
UMG BROADENS SPOTIFY OFFERINGS
Sir Lucian and Daniel are in harmony. (3/28a)
THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
Now 100% unlicensed!
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