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New Audition Venue Combines the Power of the Internet
with Live Performance -"Open Mike on the Internet"
Discovering New Artists and Distributing Music Based on Voter Popularity-
Development of the Yamaha "Music Front" |
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Aimed at discovering new artists and distributing their music starting in June this year, Yamaha Corporation has developed Music Front, a virtual "open mike" venue that combines the power of the Internet with live performance. The company plans to distribute outstanding works discovered through this venue via various information media, including its own web site.
For the time being, this program will be carried out in Japan only. |
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| Plan |
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Music Front is an open Internet audition forum aimed at discovery a wide range of new artists, especially independent bands that haven't made it into the commercial mainstream, and giving them a "Net debut." Music enthusiasts can listen at their leisure to everything from amateur works to select musical compositions and will then cast their votes for their favorites. Outstanding works will be determined based on the voting. Music Front also plans to hold live events, and to take listeners' votes from live venues and via mobile phone. Popular artists of outstanding works will be given an opportunity to debut their works on the Internet after getting advice from national and international recording artists. In addition to helping them sell music via digital transmission through various information media including the Internet, Yamaha will help them to release CDs. Because Music Front chooses works based on listeners' votes, it will discover artists that meet consumers' demands, and will likely expand the fan base of various artists, because they were chosen by the fans themselves. Yamaha also plans to offer a wide variety of music-related information to users who access the web site to listen to and vote for their favorite songs.
By developing Music Front, Yamaha has created a business model in a new field and will become an active participant in the world of e-commerce. |
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| Features |
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1. A millenium audition venue that combines the power of the Internet with live performance.
2. Gives outstanding artists "Net debuts" and supports their CD releases.
3. First stage in the plan to create a new comprehensive music-related business on the Internet. |
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| Background |
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In recent years, while the music industry has produced super mega hits that sell millions of CDs, independent artists that have not made it into the commercial mainstream have been receiving wide acclaim, and have formed another major current of their own.
Also, Net businesses are emerging in many fields, and businesses involving the transmission of music and images over the Internet are expected to experience even greater growth in the future. The communications infrastructure that supports this kind of environment is constantly being improved.
Music Front has been developed to meet the need of music lovers to find music they like, not necessarily music that has received commercial support, and to find the music that best suits them. It is also intended to support musicians that have a great deal of future potential but who are not interested in the commercial mainstream, and to widely introduce good music that people really want to hear. The name "Music Front" refers to "the front line of music," meaning that it will use the most advanced technology to discover the most pioneering music and artists.
Yamaha has already been involved in a wide range of new talent discovery events such as the Popular Song Contest, the Teen Music Festival (TMF) and MusicQuest, but Music Front is a new kind of Net audition that combines the virtual world of the Internet with the real world, and has been developed as the kind of 21st century music venue that one might expect of the new millennium.
Yamaha has already developed the web site, MidRadio, where visitors can listen to and purchase MIDI music, and Music Front will build a new model for Yamaha's Internet business. |
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| Main Features |
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1. A millenium audition venue that combines the power of the Internet with live performance.
Plays music submissions from the general public over the Internet and simultaneously holds live performances of those artists, and decides on outstanding works from listeners' votes. This is a new kind of talent discovery venue that debuts outstanding artists. Music submissions will be accepted beginning in June, when the web site has been completed. Internet listening and voting will be conducted in September and live performances are scheduled to start in October. Yamaha plans to distribute and sell the works of outstanding artists over the Internet beginning in December.
2. Give outstanding artists "Net debuts" and support their CD releases.
Outstanding works will be professionally recorded with the advice of nationally and internationally acclaimed artists. In addition to selling the works over the Web, Yamaha plans to distribute the music in the future to kiosk terminals, digital audio players, game devices, and cellular telephones. Yamaha will also provide backing for the CD's record company release.
3. First stage in the plan to create a new comprehensive music-related business on the Internet.
Music Front is the first stage of the plan to build a comprehensive music web site, and in the future, Yamaha plans to develop other Net businesses in addition to Music Front, such as the sales of various kinds of music and music accessories, as well as web auctions. |
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| Music Front Entry Requirements |
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Entry period: Starts from June 2000
Entry requirements:
All ages, genders, performance styles (forms) and music genres are welcome. Applicants must be residing in Japan to be eligible to enter.
Entry method: Send your original song (with lyrics) recorded on a cassette tape, MD, or CD to Yamaha. You may also upload an encoded file to the Music Front web site.
(Must be songs that are not under contracts with certain record companies, publishers, or producers. Must be able to obtain consent to play and distribute songs on the Music Front web site.)
Submit entries to: Yamaha Corporation MusicFront Division
2-17-11 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8588 |
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For press inquires, please contact:
Mr.Seki
Public Relations Section, Public Relations Department
Yamaha Corporation
2-17-11 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8588
Tel: +81-3-5488-6601
e-mail seki-sab@post.yamaha.co.jp
For generation information, please contact:
Mr. Hoshino
Digital Media Business Planning Division
Yamaha Corporation
2-17-11 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8588
Tel: +81-3-5488-6636
e-mail hosino@slab.yamaha.co.jp
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