Audio for the Web by Laurie Flannery released as an NDR newsletter 1/99 back to Info

Music and audio professionals are constantly seeking out new technologies to promote their material in the best, most efficient way possible. The hottest new trend is using the internet to market and sell music to consumers all over the world. While this article is being written, new technologies and formats are being developed, making this fast changing landscape hard to keep up with.

So how do you dive into this exciting arena? First, it's important to understand the basic structure of the way music on the web is currently evolving, how you fit into the picture and what your needs are. Then you can determine what formats and uses of web audio are good for you.

Who uses the web for music promotion and distribution? Artists take great advantage of the web's widespread accessibility to market themselves, and even sell their music independently through direct downloading technologies or on-line ordering practices. Record Labels are using the web to promote artists through use of music preview clips, live broadcasts, and quick interview segments through streaming technology. They also get higher distribution power through on-line ordering and downloadable audio sales through their own sites and sites like Good Noise.com. Online music stores like CDNow.com allow users to browse samples and order music from their home, having the CD's delivered to their door.

What are the basic types of web audio? There are two basic types: streamable and downloadable.

With Streamable, the music data is played in real time over the user's internet connection, with little or no downloading required. Because of this, the sound quality is usually AM radio quality. This is a great way to provide samples of tunes people might purchase, to offer live web broadcasts, or other clips you want included in your website's presentation.

The front runner in the streaming field is Real Audio. An indication of Real Audio's omnipresence is the fact that Mircosoft bundles a Real Audio player with it's Windows 98 software.

Quicktime 3.0 is vying to compete in the streaming world as well. Apple has teamed up with QDesign to offer a flexible encoding system, which lets the technician tailor the encoding process to the material. Since Quicktime players are already common in the computer world, easy access is again a big plus. An update to Quicktime 3.0, soon to be released, will allow true streaming, without partial downloading to enable playback.

The second type of Web Audio is Downloadable, which consumers use mainly to purchase a whole song or album for multiplayback use. These files can be purchased from the record label or an independent artist, or offered free as a marketing tool. Of course, it's important to note free material should not be placed on the web without the artist and/or label's consent. Web security remains a big concern for audio professionals and artists. It is improving though, through the development of digital watermarking technology. This will help discourage piracy and can even track unauthorized free downloadable music on the web.

The RIAA and the "Big Five" record labels have recently joined together to form the SDMI Forum, (Secure Digital Music Initiative), to address the fast changing advancements in the downloadable music market. Hi-tech supporters of the forum include AT&T, Sony, IBM, Lucent, Microsoft, and America Online. The forum is striving for an open architecture which will accomodate various digital formats and distribution strategies. Of main concern is security. The forum hopes to have it's format established and usable by the 1999 holiday season. Companies with web audio products can then acquire the SDMI mark indicating it's compliancy.

In the meantime, there are several formats vying for the throne of the downloadable audio market, each offering different advantages and disadvantages. We'll mention some of the format front runners...

The hottest format is MP3 (MPEG3), which is very popular with college students and music loving net surfers. There are many sites available for downloading free material, including "MP3.com" which has helped make the format very popular. The music files are heavily compressed, and although not secure or quite CD quality, offer many advantages such as compact data size.

There are a multitude of free desktop players for users and there have been 2 portable players developed for under $300. The first on the market is Diamond's Rio PMP300 player, which has no moving parts, functions similarly to a CD player, lists for $199, and runs on a single AA battery. Diamond has recently won their dispute over security with the RIAA, and have been selling at a rate of 10,000 units per day. Samsung is manufacturing Nordic's PMan player for $299, which also has no moving parts, functions similarly to a CD player and offers MusiCode digital watermarking for added artists' security. PMan will not be released until it has been approved by the RIAA, per Samsung.

AT&T is hoping to supercede MP3 with their a2b (based on MPEG2 ACC format), which has many improvements including better sound quality and embedded watermarking for security. The current MP3 players aren't compatible though, and a2b's presence on the web doesn't seem to be a deterrant for new MP3 users as of yet. AT&T plans to release their own portable a2b player this year.

Liquid Audio is another popular format, which also offers secure downloadable multiplayback files, but which stresses CD quality sound. It too, can be imbedded with watermarking technology for the artist's protection. This format's main focus has been on purchase type usage for labels and independent artists, who want to offer this option to fans. For instance, users can purchase and download an entire new release (or just one song) in the compact disc 44.1kHz sampling rate/16 bit format and then write the material to a CD-R. There are also several free desktop players available to users.

Sony is also developing a format which may be unveiled later this year. The technology uses security that prevents data from existing in more than one place at the same time. Users would have to "move" a song from one storage system to another instead of making a copy. It's likely this technology will be used in future versions of Sony's "Memory Stick".

Who should I use for my Web Audio Encoding? Once you're ready to use the web to market and sell your material, it's crucial to hire someone who will help you pick the right format and do quality encoding. Many web experts offer to do this work, but it's important to look for audio professionals who offer these services as well. A good avenue to explore is your mastering facility, which places high emphasis on your sound quality & protection if needed. During or just after your mastering session can be a good time to request your music be formatted for the web. Your mastering engineers can then use the highest form of audio available, ie. 24 bit 96 kHz, and optimize it for web encoding, instead of coming from a replicated CD. This will give you the best sound possible.