Missed your favorite alternative rock band when it strummed through Utah? Did the band skip Utah altogether?
No problem. Tune into the Internet via your home computer, where a half-dozen sites offer live cybercasts that let you catch the act somewhere else in the country.OK, it's not exactly the same as rocking out in the aisle 20 feet away from the band. But Web sites such as SonicNet, Rocktropolis, LiveConcerts.com and JamTV offer the next best thing to actually being there.
The newest virtual venue is JamTV Network (http://www.jamtv.com), which packs enough cutting-edge technology and powerhouse computer expertise to make the experience interesting and entertaining.
JamTV is the brainchild of entrepreneur Howard Tullman; Patrick Blake, part owner of the Vic Theatre; and Jerry Mickelson of Jam Productions Ltd., a Chicago-based promotion company that produces more than 1,100 concerts a year. Big-name technology companies providing hardware and expertise to JamTV include Intel, Microsoft and Compaq.
JamTV debuted March 31, and what sets it apart from other Internet mega-music sites is live, streaming video Webcasts of concerts. That means you can see and hear the concert as it is happening.
Sites such as Rocktropolis and LiveConcerts air audiocasts of concerts, but JamTV puts visitors in the front row with live video feeds via RealPlayer technology from Progressive Networks.
Using a computer mouse, virtual concertgoers can manipulate the "JamCam" to get different views at the concert and even travel backstage.
"One of the things that is fun about this is anyone in the world can watch," said Tullman, JamTV's CEO. A week before its official launch, JamTV featured a Webcast of a Korn concert that drew 7,000 fans.
It broadcast a Samples concert last week, and on May 25 will do an all-day festival featuring such bands as Beck, The Cardigans and Veruca Salt.
RealPlayer is a free plug-in utility, available at either the JamTV site or at Progressive Network's home page. With a 28.8 modem, the feed "is not too bad," Tullman said.
Tullman demonstrated the technology in San Diego recently, and he's right: it's not bad. No postage-stamp video here - the picture fills the screen. It is a little jagged, though - sort of like watching a live shot from the space shuttle.
Why offer 'Net surfers free access to concerts other people buy tickets for? To build exposure for the bands, Tullman said. And at JamTV, as well as other online sites, they count on visitors dropping into virtual stores to pick up merchandise.
JamTV is building affiliations with radio stations across the country to promote the online concerts. So far, 10 stations have signed on; Tullman hopes to get stations in 200 major markets eventually.
JamTV also plans to distribute what it calls "connected CDs" to accompany Webcast events. The CDs will be loaded with music videos and interviews that can be unlocked when played while visiting JamTV's Web site. The first CDs will be distributed in August with six-packs of Pepsi, an edition of Time magazine and at Jam Production concerts, according to Tullman.
JamTV plans to produce six connected CDs a year, he said.
At the site, 'Net surfers also will find music reviews, chat rooms and video and audio clips and, beginning June 1, a shop selling everything from CDs to T-shirts. Future plans include offering concert tickets online, said Tullman, whose technology expertise was honed as founder of Imagination Pilots Entertainment, a Chicago company that makes educational and entertainment CD-ROMs.
Despite its big-name backing, JamTV has some catching up to do in the online music arena. From radio stations offering RealAudio cybercasts to music supersites, the field is crowded with hundreds of attractions for music fans.
Among the best are:
Rocktropolis (http://www.rocktropolis.com)
MusicCentral (http://www.musiccentral.msn.com)
SonicNet (http://www.sonicnet.com)
LiveConcerts (http://www.liveconcerts.com)
All feature music and memorabilia shops, chat rooms, reviews and interviews and some include live audio cybercasts of concerts.
During Rocktropolis' recent cybercast of a Bush concert, more than 80 people gathered in chat rooms to discuss the concert as it aired.
"It's more for people who can't get it any other way," said Deborah Newman, vice president of marketing, advertising and sales.
Other than video clips, though, Rocktropolis hasn't tried live video feeds because of bandwidth issues, Newman said.
Rocktropolis is owned by N2K Entertainment, the parent company of several other well-regarded music sites:
- Jazz Central Station:
(http://www.jazzcentralstation.com)
- Classical Insites:
(http://www.classicalinsites.com)
All three N2K sites are linked to Music Boulevard, one of the largest online music store databases. Unlimited, virtual shelf space is something even the most dedicated, real-life music store can't match.
"Online shopping allows people to buy anything that exists and is in print," Newman said.