Song Corp. Launches Foreplay

In a cooperative venture with Microsoft Canada and San Francisco-based digital rights management service Reciprocal Systems, Canadian entertainment company Song Corp. will launch an interactive application called Foreplay Disc, which allows consumers to play an entire album four times before they purchase it.

The Foreplay Disc, which is now being solicited to major Canadian retail accounts with E-commerce capability, will have a list price of $3.99 Canadian ($2.61). It requires the use of a PC computer with Microsoft Windows 98 and Windows Media Player 7, as well as an Internet connection.

The Foreplay Disc has the same physical characteristics as a standard CD. What differentiates it from a music CD is its packaging and that, unless it is specifically programmed to do otherwise, it cannot be played on a standard CD player. Some discs, however, may feature one or two tracks that are playable on CD players and are not limited to four plays.

The first album to be released as a Foreplay Disc will be "Digitally Organic," the debut of Toronto band the Pocket Dwellers on the Song Corp.-affiliated Song Recordings label in early February. It will be followed shortly afterward by Song Recording releases by such acts as Maestro, Grapes Of Wrath, and the Special Guests.

"Foreplay Disc has the potential to be a harbinger of a new business model," claims Song Corp. CEO Allan Gregg, who came up with the concept. "It gives the music industry the prospect of moving to a pay-for-play regime. Consumers can either spend $20 [Canadian, ($13.10)] on the assumption that [the album] they are buying is good, or they can buy five Foreplay Discs for the same price, listen to them in their entirety, and then make a choice whether they want to buy them."

Adds Gregg, "The Pocket Dwellers were the genesis of this idea. I figured the best marketing tool for the record was the music itself. I know if we can get the album into peoples' hands, we will convert them to be big fans."

"It's kind of a convoluted process," says Jason Sniderman, VP of the Sam the Record chain, which has 56 stores nationally. "We haven't decided if we are going to participate yet."

"It does sound convoluted," says Tim Baker, buyer with Sunrise Records, which has 32 stores in Ontario. "On the face of it, they are asking consumers to buy something that they don't know anything about, and then to decide to buy the album."

Gregg counters, saying, "We're trying to get by the tyranny of radio and video [airplay], unenriched musical experiences, and high-risk music purchases."

All of the software necessary for the operation of the Foreplay Disc is included and embedded in the disc itself. Microsoft Windows Media technology provides the platform, format, and software encryption. Reciprocal Systems provides the digital rights management process that facilitates the limited-play function and, if the consumer so chooses, unlocks it.

Once the Foreplay Disc is put into a computer and an Internet link is made, the user then has the options to play music, view a photo gallery, link to the artist's home page, or view purchase options.

When the consumer has used up the four plays, the Foreplay Disc automatically directs the consumer to a screen with the option to either purchase a regular version of the CD from a retailer Web site at full list price, minus $3.99 Canadian, or to unlock the limited-play feature on the Foreplay Disc he or she already owns at $9.99 Canadian ($6.54). (Even unlocked, the Foreplay Disc can be played only on a computer.) Consumers may also purchase the regular version of the CD from retail direct with an offline $2 Canadian ($1.31) coupon provided.