News: July 2000

New Albion Records Announces Internet Distribution Agreement

Foster Reed Photo taken by Arne Svenson

ew Albion Records has entered into an Internet distribution partnership with EverAd, the parent company of PlayJ.com. Performances from New Albion's catalog will be available for download on the Web at the PlayJ.com site.

The agreement allows users to listen to selected tracks from nineteen CDs in the New Albion collection, including works by John Cage, Lou Harrison, Charles Dodge, Henry Cowell, and Terry Riley. Customers can download the PlayJ.com player, select New Albion titles from the Classical Music section of the site, and save the tracks on their computer. PlayJ provides the music content free of charge, but pays content owners for their tracks.

This distribution system enables copyrighted music to be downloaded legally at no charge by displaying targeted visual advertising material while the tracks are played, thus circumventing the legal problems encountered by Napster and its competitors. This process enables record labels to share ad revenues while providing music at no cost to the customer. Downloads from PlayJ are encrypted with a code that prevents the unauthorized duplication of copyrighted music onto digital and analog formats.

Foster Reed, the founder of New Albion, predicted last year in an interview with NewMusicBox that the Internet would eventually become the dominant channel of distribution for music: "I think as a mode of distribution, its time is arriving. What we're seeing now in the industry is a shakedown. The market will at some point identify a carrier and when it does all intellectual property will be on the Web....It's going to be a big shot in the arm for the record industry."

Tom Welsh, the vice president of New Albion, recently commented, "Offering modern compositions via PlayJ will open the world of New Albion to many listeners who may have had little opportunity to sample our recordings through traditional radio and retail channels. Without a doubt, music over the Internet levels the playing field. By working with PlayJ we will bring the best contemporary classical music to places it's never been before."

New Albion's catalog of more than 100 CDs features many leading new music composers. The company is known for documenting works by historic Americans, including Cage and Cowell, and by more recent composers such as John Adams, Ingram Marshall and Daniel Lentz. The company's CDs are available at leading offline and online music retailers.

More than 60 labels have already implemented the PlayJ proprietary platform as an official downloading format, and over 600 advertisers have confirmed their commitment to use PlayJ as an advertising channel.