Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES: The online music service formerly known as Duet, now officially
known as Pressplay, on Monday named a chief executive for the year-old venture
between Vivendi Universal and Sony Music. Andy Schuon was named president and
chief executive officer, while Michael Bebel was named chief operating officer
of Pressplay, an on-demand music service set to launch in late summer.
The appointments come as Pressplay negotiates with several technology
companies, such as Microsoft Corp, according to sources familiar with the talks.
Pressplay has been exploring a deal with Microsoft similar to its existing deal
with Yahoo Inc. to distribute songs once the service launches, the sources said.
In an interview on Monday, Schuon and Bebel failed to confirm whether
discussions with Microsoft were underway, but said the venture was negotiating
with several parties. "We already have the support of two of the world's
largest music companies and Yahoo, and we hope to get as many music companies
and online affiliate partners on board as possible by the time we launch,"
Bebel said.
The world's big five labels have been announcing alignments and acquisitions
at breakneck speed as they prepare to launch music subscription services to fill
the void left by the once wildly popular song-swap Napster, which has seen usage
decline due to a court order barring traffic in copyrighted material.
Pressplay's executive appointments follow a licensing deal announced last
week between Napster and MusicNet, a rival music venture backed by RealNetworks
Inc and AOL Time Warner's Warner Music, EMI Group Plc and Bertelsmann AG's.
Schuon's appointment had been a matter of speculation for months. He joins
Pressplay after formerly leading Jimmy and Doug's Farmclub.com online music site
for Universal Music Group, which was folded into GetMusic.com, another Universal
venture. Bebel previously served as executive vice president, business
development and strategic planning for Universal Music Group's eLabs since 1998.
Battle for edge over rivals, partners
Several industry watchers have questioned Pressplay's outlook. The venture
was first announced in May 2000, but has yet to demonstrate its platform and
skeptics have questioned its progress. While several analysts have said MusicNet
has an advantage because of its use of RealNetworks' secure technology, Vivendi
Universal last month bought online music company MP3.com Inc, in large part to
acquire its technology.
"We want to meet the demands of consumers and MP3.com provides
technologies that are relevant," Schuon told Reuters. So far, the world's
big labels have announced distribution deals for their subscription services
with Yahoo and two Microsoft competitors, America Online and RealNetworks Inc.
"We continue to talk to many technology providers rather than tying
ourselves to any particular technology. We have the potential to go to several
technology companies," Schuon said. While Microsoft's security technology
has been endorsed by most of the big labels, they have not licensed their
content to Microsoft, in part because of concern the software giant, which is
feared for its strong-arm marketing tactics, would take over the distribution of
their music.
For its part, Microsoft has said that it is continuing to talk to many
players in digital music about tie-ups with its MSN Internet service but will
not discuss those ongoing discussions more specifically. Universal Music has
primarily provided music in a digital format known as Blue Matter, but analysts
said it has struggled to some extent with the format as most fans are using
Windows Media, Liquid Audio Inc. or MP3 for downloads.
Any deal with Microsoft would presumably signal that Universal and Pressplay
were opening the venture to the Windows Media format. On Monday, Schuon said one
of Pressplay's advantages is its open approach to standards. "One of the
advantages we have is that we have the music and we know how to package that to
consumers," he said. "We have flexibility on the technology side. We
have the ability to go out across the technology spectrum."
Officials from both Pressplay and MusicNet have said that these services
would be best served if they could offer music from all the labels
simultaneously. Schuon said talks with the other labels are continuing.
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.