AT&T will begin testing its A2B Music platform today, delivering a
compressed and encrypted single from the band The Verve Pipe to trial participants.
The trial is the latest example of Internet service providers (ISPs), and specifically AT&T, focusing
more and more on electronic commerce. Many online businesses are teaming up
with ISPs to take advantage of their large distribution channels. AT&T has
already inked deals with online consumer services NetGrocer and Auto-by-Tel for its AT&T Market Square online commerce
service.
The A2B Music platform uses compression technology to allow a three-minute song
to be downloaded in nine minutes over a 28.8-kpbs modem. A2B encrypts the data
to protect against piracy, while allowing users to choose between single,
multiple, or shared use of the song being distributed.
According to Brian Monahan, a spokesman for A2B, the platform offers
musicians more control than current distribution channels over who has
access to their music.
"Musicians have a right to sell their product with the assurance that
they're not giving up their rights," Monahan said. "It will give consumers
a lot of options, too."
Bands and music labels will be able to better control how much freedom
consumers have to copy their material. Flexible licensing will allow some
songs to be available for personal use only, while others will be available for
multiple users.
Currently, The Verve Pipe is the only band in the trial. A2B is aiming to position itself as the premier
online music distributor in consumers' minds two to three years down the road, when
consumer bandwidth is larger and people are more familiar with electronic
commerce.
"As people get faster pipes into the Internet, eventually this will be
virtually instantaneous," Monahan said.
A2B also is planning to incorporate what it calls "micro-billing" into the
site. Because many of the products offered through the platform will be
single songs, AT&T is looking to leverage its existing telephone billing
capabilities, which include charging customers a few cents through their
credit cards or AT&T bills.
Trial users can download the single at either the A2B or Verve Pipe Web sites.