New Coalition Aims To "authenticate' Legit Online Music

WASHINGTON, D.C.‹While the new Genuine Music Coalition spearheaded by Liquid Audio acknowledges that the initiative was developed in part to foster good will between MP3 supporters and those who remain skeptical about the popular audio-compression format, the coalition initially looks to be preaching largely to the converted.
What's keeping those still on the sidelines‹including the still-wary majors‹from jumping on board is the distinction between authentication and security. The Genuine Music technologies can ensure that a music file has not come from a pirate source, but they do nothing to stop a file from being copied and spread around the Internet.
"This is not a security initiative. It is an initiative to help consumers see whether a file is legitimate," says Rick Fleischman, Liquid Audio senior marketing director. "If you put material out in [the MP3] format, it is the intention that people will hand it around, or you are trusting that if you asked them not to, they wouldn't do so."
The coalition officially launched Jan. 25 with a mission to promote open-standard enhancements to digital audio formats that will provide authentication of the origin and ownership of music (BillboardBulletin, Jan. 25). Authentication is provided through two avenues: a digital certificate that is appended to a given file and a watermark that is embedded in each file.
The digital certificates initially will be provided by the Netscape Certificate Server; the watermark technology was developed by Liquid Audio. A prototype was on display at MIDEM in Cannes, with the first commercial application expected by June.
"We are trying to build a bridge between MP3 and legitimate content providers," says Fleischman. "We felt like we needed to embrace MP3 in a way that is responsible so we can start to work past the problems because of the stigma associated with it."
The partners in the new coalition say they will work to educate consumers about the meaning of the "Genuine Music" authentication mark.
Fleischman says because of growing requests from Liquid Audio customers for a means to distribute unencrypted material, the company will incorporate support for MP3 into its Liquid Music System. Users of the newest version of its player will be able to download any MP3 or Genuine Music-marked track from the Internet; users of its Liquifier Pro encoding software will be able to create MP3 files.
The coalition's 48 charter members include software and MP3 vendors such as Xing, MusicMatch, and GoodNoise; hardware manufacturers such as Diamond Multimedia; Internet music sites such as Tower Records, CDnow, and SonicNet; and independent record labels such as Platinum Entertainment. Many are already aligned with MP3 in some way.
The movement stands to gain the most visibility‹and credibility‹through those companies that have used secure Liquid Audio technology to deliver music and might now begin to swim into the unencrypted waters of MP3.
Using the Liquid Audio watermark, Minneapolis-based Twin/Tone Records has posted 800 songs on the Internet, with another 2,000 soon to come, says label co-founder Paul Stark. "We identified the authentication problem right from the beginning," says Stark. He notes that because the Liquifier will now encompass both secure Liquid Audio and MP3 technology, Twin/Tone will leave the decision of which way to go to its artists.
"Those that want to give away the songs for free will probably use MPEG-3. For anything we are trying to sell, we'll stick with what Liquid Audio has," he says.
Although the coalition maintains a charter to create open standards, currently MP3 is the sole digital audio format and Liquid Audio is the only end-to-end distributor of secure music signed on.
"We are always supportive of any initiative that promotes high-quality security for music," says Larry Miller, president of a2b Music. "But it is difficult to see how this initiative can set a standard without involvement from the other secure, end-to-end distribution companies, the electronics manufacturers, and the majors."
Also aiming to assure those majors, the Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) in December launched the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) and asked record companies and technology companies, including Liquid Audio, to develop an industry-sanctioned standard for selling music downloaded online by the end of the year.
RIAA executive VP/general counsel Cary Sherman says that while the association applauds the Genuine Music movement, the initiative does not go beyond educating consumers about whether a file is legitimate.
"We think it is commendable to do something to try to distinguish between legitimate uses of digital distribution and pirate uses, and anything that moves in that direction is beneficial," he says. "But it doesn't take the important next step, which is actually to disable the copying of illegal MP3 files. Much more is needed to truly ensure that the Internet becomes a vibrant and legitimate avenue for music."
Fleischman says the Genuine Music initiative is fully aligned with the goals of, and possibly could roll into, the SDMI.

Assistance in preparing this story was provided by Ed Christman in Cannes.