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Building a musical dream with MP3
By Patti Hartigan, Globe Staff, 01/15/99
There's a revolution going on, and Brett Fasullo and Ty Rauber are true
believers. That's not to say the two Allston citizens resemble revolutionaries
at all. Rauber, who has a tawny ponytail and pierced eyebrow, is an intense,
exceedingly mature 21-year-old Boston University student. By night, Fasullo,
28, is a member of the local band Flexie; by day, he sunlights (as opposed to
moonlights) as a computer consultant.
These two believers embrace a technology called MP3, an audio-compression
format that enables anyone with a computer and a little technical know-how to
copy CDs into MP3 computer files and post them on the Internet. They recently
launched a site called DMOD.com, where Web browsers can sample MP3 music files
and buy them for $1 a track. There's nothing particularly new about this idea;
MP3.com offers music for free, and goodnoise.com sells tracks for 99 cents a
pop. But the DMOD player, like other commercial formats, encrypts its files,
so you can't share the music with 200 of your closest friends.
The impulse behind this local venture is the age-old hope: Some day, one
band is going to leap out of obscurity by distributing music on line.
Musicians have been on line since the early days of the Web, but to date there
hasn't been a single band that catapulted to fame via the Internet. ''That's
the dream,'' Fasullo admits.
The answer to that dream just might be MP3. College students certainly
adore the technology. Visit any dormitory that has high-speed Internet access
and you're just as likely to hear music blaring out of a computer as out of a
stereo.
Others are less than thrilled about the technology. Take a quick guess who
those folks might be? Did I hear you say recording industry executives? Two
points.
In December, the Recording Industry Association of America and five major
record companies announced plans to develop a standard for digital
distribution that would prevent illegal copying. The recording industry
association routinely shuts down sites that offer free MP3 recordings by major
artists.
''It's piracy,'' says Cary Sherman, senior executive vice president and
general counsel for the group. ''When you had piracy on the high seas, you
didn't have commerce, because no one would put their goods on ships when they
knew they would be plundered.''
But the $12 billion recording industry isn't exactly trembling in the face
of collegiate Captain Hooks. Even Sherman admits that the big issue here is
the realignment of the music business. How do you sell and distribute music
digitally and ensure that the profits go back to the label and the artist?
Hollywood types had the same fears when VCRs first became popular in the '80s;
they took a lawsuit to the Supreme Court to prevent VCR copying for home use.
Guess what? They lost, and the film industry is doing just fine.
The move to digital distribution is undoubtedly going to happen. It's just
a question of when. ''We take it as a given that at some point down the road,
we're going to be irrelevant,'' says Mike Dreese, cofounder of Newbury Comics,
a locally based music store chain. ''You will see a steady erosion in retail
record sales.''
But as the industry sorts out the issues, the question remains: What will
it mean for independent artists? Established names like the Beastie Boys and
Public Enemy have defied their record labels and posted MP3 files on their Web
sites. But what of the little guys, the folks who could truly benefit from
global exposure?
A time-honored truism applies. No technology can replace the essence of
art, that little human thing called talent. You can market bad music in any
format and it still won't sell.
Most of the legal MP3 music available on line isn't all that good. There
are some exceptions. Frank Black, former leader of alt-rock sensation the
Pixies, is selling his terrific new album on goodnoise.com. But most of the
stuff available on MP3.com is garage-quality for quirky niche markets (like
one band called Celtic Elvis, which is neither.)
''For every 1,000 bands, only one is going to become a star,'' says Bob
Cohn, Goodnoise chairman. ''We haven't found that band yet, but we predict it
will happen.'' Goodnoise, launched last year, reported $12,400 in earnings for
its first quarter. Cohn predicts profits will arrive some day, too.
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