Kathleen Webb, a former president of Digital Eve – Toronto, has joined the New Media Business Alliance as a full-time staffer. She will take on research, lobbying, and administrative tasks for the Toronto-based group.

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It’s official: TELUS to offer radio services with Moontaxi
As previously reported by CNM, TELUS Corp. has launched an Internet radio service dubbed Pureradio in partnership with Moontaxi Media Inc. The service will include over 75 channels of continuous music in digital format, no commercials, the ability to skip songs and a quick download feature. The service is being offered on a free, 14-day trial basis, after which it will cost $4.99 per month (CNM, Feb. 6/04). A trademark application for the Pureradio name was flipped from TELUS to Moontaxi over the course of last month.

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Many industry executives and bureaucrats – though not all – will be watching the outcome of the current attempt by the music industry to force ISPs to cough up subscriber info (see article here and CNM, Feb. 20/04) for any potential implications in the larger lawful access process (CNM, Sept. 6/02). Lawful access is the broad label applied to Ottawa’s inquiry into how telecommunications and Internet service providers should be made to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in terms of providing the modern equivalent of wiretaps, and dates back to the late summer of 2002. Several issues including mandated data retention, data preservation and how much reasonable cause a litigant should be made to provide before getting access to private records are clearly touched on by the current Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) court motions, says David Elder, assistant general counsel regulatory for Bell Canada, which owns the Sympatico service.

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A year and several letters of industry support later, Reeves Interactive continues to find itself shut out from the Electronic Copyright Fund (ECF), much to its president’s frustration. The group has been touting its TraceRight digital rights management software as a way to put audio-visual material securely online and is seeking public assistance to do so (CNM, March 21/03).

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Current music industry woes are partly the hangover of the excesses of the 1980s, argues the head of a small Toronto indie label hoping to reverse trends with a new business model. Neil Leyton, head of Fading Ways Records Ltd., says the amount of money being spent to promote artists is untenable in the current economic climate, but that record labels can effectively use the Internet and album-sharing by fans to build the long-term careers of artists. Toward that end, Fading Ways recently announced it would put out eight new releases this year under the so-called "Creative Commons" licence framework, essentially letting fans share, copy and trade the music however they want so long as the use is non-commercial.

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Liberal Member of Parliament Paul Bonwick will introduce a working plan on March 9 to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage that would see the body work toward ratification of the WIPO Internet treaties by February 2005. In a recent interview with Canadian NEW MEDIA, Bonwick talked tough about giving direction to both the departments of Canadian Heritage and Industry Canada to meet the proposed timetable.

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A new deal announced February 24 between Impact Mobile and giant ad agency MacLaren McCann should give notice to other firms and broadcasters that text messaging – or SMS – is a credible and important platform for reaching consumers.

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CBC.ca is crediting the popular success of the new Rick Mercer vehicle Rick Mercer’s Monday Report, as well as the growing strength of its online children’s games, for leaping to the top of the pack as a web draw for Canadians. According to data from ComScore Media Metrix, the public broadcaster’s web site drew more than three million unique visitors in January, a huge number which represents 17.6% of the at-home media market. Company officials say internal numbers, which include the large number of CBC.ca users who access the site from somewhere other than home, show that CBC.ca drew nearly nine million unique visitors in January.

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