Emd's New Extranet Gets Promo Info Out To Stores

NEW YORK-Early feedback from retail and distribution customers on emidigital.com, EMI Music Distribution's (EMD) new business-to-business Extranet site, has been positive, says Richard Cottrell, president of EMD.
The site was fully operational July 30, after intensive testing for 30 days, with about 20 various-size retail and distributor accounts in all regions.
"We were able to do some fine-tuning and repair some glitches," Cottrell says.
EMD has had an Intranet site up and running for about three years for its own sales staff and label executives, and the Extranet was a logical extension, he notes. The limited-access, password-protected site offers information to accounts in six main sections: new releases, catalog, artwork, programs, publicity, and tours. Also offered are a featured selection, breaking news, and current EMD singles on The Billboard Hot 100 chart.
"The biggest asset of emidigital.com is the number of options it has," says Chris Bader, who handles EMD's advertising and marketing for wholesaler Valley Media. "Not only can we find artwork, which is our most important need, but if we need to get tour dates or press info, it's all right there. Also, there are fewer steps involved in moving around the site, so the process is a little quicker than on other distributor Extranet sites."
Bader observes that artwork-preparation time has dropped dramatically. Previously, one person would have to make numerous trips to a warehouse a mile or so away to pull live product for artwork use. "Now, she can jump on the Net and get it in a matter of minutes," he says. "The artwork also comes in a number of sizes which fit almost any need we have."
"Based on early response from accounts, our focus is in getting current release information up quickly," Cottrell emphasizes. "For both new releases and catalog tracks, all a user has to do is click on the "music' button to get a 30-second audioclip. We'll be adding music videos in the future, and, when we have DVD Audio available early next year, we want to handle it in the best way on our Extranet. Our intent is to have all our products available on the site."
According to EMD Webmaster Casper Casparian, who works in the business development group that put the site together, "Our overreaching goal is to make available to our users exactly what they want and no more." As an example, he notes that in a typical new-release book, every new title is listed, some of which may not interest a Latin, Christian, or other niche retailer. "The Extranet allows retailers to obtain only what information they specifically need," he says.
"Our dynamic, relational database allows users to access tour data, publicity info, artwork, and track listings for any given title," he adds. "This would usually require flipping through and ordering many different printed or mailed materials. Now, successive clicks on the keyboard can deliver the same information on the Extranet in just minutes, including artwork downloads and music clips."
Casparian believes that EMD's chief point of differentiation with the other major-distributor Extranets is this emphasis on relational data. "You'll find a lot less static content-almost none-on emidigital.com than on other sites," he observes. "You'll also see a full-featured help and support section, searchable deleted titles, and a searchable tours section, among other useful areas."
He points out that during EMD's planning phases, WEA and Sony launched their sites, and the EMD development group was afforded the opportunity to poll its accounts as to the most important and frequently used features on the WEA and Sony sites.
Cottrell adds that Andy Shenkler, EMD's director of emergent technologies, got input from all EMI label sources and from retailers through market research.
"By that time the retailers had experience with using other sites and could tell us what was good, bad, and needed," he says. "As an example, one key thing was how we make artwork available in both format and file size. The result is that we offer HTML, Excel, or comma-separated formats, whichever is better for a specific account's needs."
He credits Eric Barnes-who was with EMD until about four months ago-as the architect of the Extranet. Barnes-now with Vantage Systems, the Newport Beach, Calif., firm that developed the site- worked closely with Shenkler, Casparian, and teams from information technology, sales, marketing, and the field to put it all together.
Each EMD label is responsible for posting all information on new releases and artist-related activities on the Extranet, with Casparian and his team managing that process and all other information.
EMD does sales and distribution in North America for Capitol, Virgin, Capitol Nashville, Virgin Nashville, Angel, Blue Note, Christian Music Group, EMI Latin, Priority, the Right Stuff , Nettwerk America, Real World, Narada, and Higher Octane Music.
The benefits of the Extranet to EMD are obvious, Cottrell observes. "There are significant cost savings to both EMD and our retail accounts in reducing paperwork alone," he notes. "It speeds up communication and gives accounts immediate access to both information and artwork quicker and more efficiently. Previously for any art, they would have to contact the art department at each label, and a staffer there would have to locate the artwork and expedite it overnight to the retailer. Now it's as quick as a click."
"Equally important," he adds, "it's much easier for our sales reps to get up promotions with any retailer for any release in any genre in any market."
Cottrell notes that emidigital.com is the first Extranet site within EMI International. "Whether we offer international products will depend on having the rights," he says. "We have worldwide rights to Janet Jackson and the Beatles, among others, and, as of Dec. 1, to Pink Floyd and the Beach Boys."
As far as the EMD Intranet is concerned, "the success of the last three years has led us to develop that site into a global Intranet," he says. "It should be up and running in early 2000."
Addressing the expansion of all the business-to-business sites of the major music distributors, Valley's Bader says, "Extranet service is making life so much easier. We don't have to spend hours filing artwork, calling labels to get it, or pulling it from stock, because it's right at our fingertips. We've just begun to utilize the music sampling services, but they should make the sites even more valuable in the future. The Extranets have really allowed us to focus more on what we really do-market and sell records."