And I learned that RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser can dodge a bullet and laugh about it a mere two weeks later. But what I really learned at Webnoize '99 is that with all of the new technologies, all of the new strategic partnerships and all of the new companies doing business in the online music space, there really isn't anything all that new. Sure, the buzzword du jour is different. There's still talk about increasing bandwidth. Once it was a matter of moving from the 14.4kbps modem to 28.8 and beyond, now it's about going from 56k to cable or DSL and beyond.
Content is still key.
Even the faces are the same. Former RIAA Chief Counsel David Leibowitz is still on the SDMI panel, only now representing watermarking-software manufacturer ARIS Solana Corp. Recording Academy CEO Michael Greene is still fighting for artists' rights, though no one is exactly sure who he's fighting. And Microsoft is still looming around the space like a vulture, this time in the form of the Windows Media Player. And, of course, the biggest issue is still protection of intellectual property. There seemed to be a lot of confusion between artists' rights and labels' rights.