Fostex Announces Deal with Web Based Music
Label
Fostex Corporation of America and NewTechMusic, Inc. to promote the end-to-end music creation and Web based publishing solution June 13, 1999
Fostex Corporation of America announced
a joint marketing venture with the on-line music distribution company NewTechMusic,
Inc. (NTM), based in Campbell, California. Under the terms of the agreement announced,
all appropriate Fostex digital recording products will now include direct access
to a comprehensive set of software engines that will allow users to create digital
music files in MP3 and Real-Audio streaming formats that can then be uploaded
for sale on both the NTM (www.newtechmusic.com)
and affiliated music showcase Web sites.
Furthermore, NTM's proprietary NewTechMusic Smartpages software will now be
bundled with Fostex systems, allowing artists to easily create web pages on the
NTM site to promote and sell their recordings. NewTechMusic Smartpages software
is designed to enable even the least web-savvy musicians to easily and quickly
create, upload and update their own individual Web pages. Artist Web pages are
hosted free of charge on NTM's site. NTM will track all sales by Fostex users
and pay them on a 50-50 basis for all CD sales; sales of individual songs downloaded
via MP3 will be paid at twice the statutory rate for singles. All payments will
be made on a quarterly basis.
The agreement between Fostex and NewTechMusic, Inc. is exclusively of a marketing
nature. Fostex Corporation of America will make no direct financial gains on the
program - other than the increased sales of its products the company expects to
see as a result of this revolutionary program. "At a time when more than
half of the estimated 30,000 recordings made in a year are created and distributed
by independent labels, today's joint venture will provide Fostex users with a
significant advantage in an increasingly crowded music market," observed
Dick Ravich, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Fostex Corporation
of America.
"It is only appropriate that Fostex take this pioneering path in the Age
of the Internet," Ravich continued. "Starting with the first affordable
open-reel 8-track recorder in 1981, and continuing right through to today with
innovations such as the FD-8 hard disk recording system, Fostex has helped empower
the independent music market. Now, together with NTM, Fostex is providing artists
with the tools they need for every stage of the Web based music creation and publishing
process from laying down the first track to having the opportunity of getting
paid for their music."
NewTechMusic, Inc. was founded in August 1998 by Pedro Vargas, formerly of
Intel, to provide online distribution and retail operations as part of joint venture
agreements with musicians and recording artists. NTM seeks to provide these musicians
and recording artists with a viable vehicle to showcase their music before a potential
worldwide audience, who can purchase their recordings either via MP3 downloads
or via retail outlets in a physical distribution network that is in the process
of being established by NTM.
For more information, visit Fostex at http://www.fostex.com
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