Warner Bows Web Channels: Will Stream Audio, Videoclips On Apple's New Qtv Site

NEW YORK-Will online music fans want their QTV? That's the question as Warner Bros. Records Inc. rolls out two music video channels on Apple's expanding QuickTime TV (QTV) network, which debuted in July and promises to significantly raise the quality bar for Web-based video offerings.
QTV (www.apple.
com/quicktime/showcase/live/) thus joins a growing universe of sites where music fans have access to full videoclips online. Most recently, music Web site Launch.com (www.launch.com) debuted five video-based Web channels focusing on the modern rock, classic rock, R&B, hip-hop, and pop genres (Billboard, Aug. 14).
Getting access to major-label clips to Webcast, however, has often proved problematic for many non-affiliated online video sites-something majors launching their own sites won't have to contend with.
Warner Bros. Inc. debuted on the Apple site Aug. 31 with two separate video channels for its Warner Bros. and Reprise labels (BillboardBulletin, Sept. 1). The coming weeks will see the bow of additional "broadcast-style" audio stations geared to specific genres, according to Jimmy Dickson, VP of new media for Warner Bros. Records Inc.
All will be 24-hour, commercial-free operations, he says, and will include an E-commerce element that will allow for the purchase of featured titles directly from the Time Warner Order Center. No links to other online retailers will be included. "We don't want to be put in a position of giving anyone favored-nation status," Dickson says of that decision.
Similar to offline music video channels but unlike traditional radio stations that have been reluctant to "back-announce," the Warner music and video offerings will include on-screen information detailing the artist and song and album titles of the featured tracks.
The data feature is key to Warner's primary goal for the venture: exposure.
"Unfortunately in traditional media, there is a finite amount of exposure space, which puts a cap on our ability to present to the public all of the great music we are producing," says Dickson. "What QTV gives us is a compelling new way to expose all of our artists-from major superstars who you may see elsewhere to incredible new artists that are just getting started."
The labels will take a traditional "broadcast" approach to presenting music and videos on QTV-programming playlists that will be regularly updated, Dickson says, "so that, just like a radio station or video channel, you never know what will be playing when you tune in."
Video and audio content will be "streamed," meaning material cannot be stored on a user's computer.
"That point was really key for the labels," says Frank Casanova, director of QuickTime product marketing. "They want to give fans access to really great music and videos-but they don't want to actually give it to them. We worked with Warner to design something that would allow them to feel comfortable offering high-quality audio and video not just in 30-second snippets but in full and to present it in the fashion they wanted."
Videos will be of "good" quality with connections as low as a 56K modem, Casanova says, "but to really see it pop, you need to go higher in [connection] quality," he says.
Rhino Records has also signed on to QTV and says it plans to offer exclusive programming on its channel, including content from Rhino Handmade, its recently launched, Internet-only collector's imprint.
Other channels already up include ones from the Knitting Factory, NPR, VH1, and Virgin Radio.