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Entertainment Cyberscope
by Jerry Flattum, CyberAstronomer

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Advertising

Advertising is the land of the "jingle," although this term seems antiquated in an era of techno-pop, alternative rock and rap. From tightly written "jingles" to classic pop hits, from modified production music libraries to original scoring, advertising is a creative medium despite the underlying motivation to sell.

The list of online sources is small but does include major associations and major advertising firms. Be sure to check your local area listings for advertising firms and the audio/visual companies that supply them. In the digital realm, production houses can supply a global market (SEE Technology - Production Music).


Ad Council

Ad Forum

Advertising Age

Advertising Educational Foundation

American Advertising Federation

American Association of Advertising Agencies

Council of Public Relations Firms

elance (matching project with freelance professionals)

Interactive Advertising Bureau

Institute of Canadian Advertising

International Advertising Association

J. Walter Thompson

Lists of Top Marketing and Advertising Firms (University of Massachusetts)

New Age Retailer

Ogilvy

Redbooks (Advertisers and Agencies online)

Television Bureau of Advertising

Radio Advertising Bureau

Young and Rubicam

Young and Rubicam - Advertising


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Band and Artist Listings

The All Music Guide is a good place to start. But literally every music website, search engine, entertainment portal, university, genre, label and more provide artist/band listings. And, most artists/bands--large or small--have their own website.

Bands break down into numerous sub-categories:
--geography (Irish bands, British Bands, American Bands, Chicago Bands)
--genres (blues bands, acid jazz bands, new age bands)
--purpose (military bands, marching bands, high school bands)
--instrument (horn bands, string bands)
--decade (60's bands, 90's bands, millennium bands)

The Net is a pretty creative place, and you will find interesting listings by using descriptors, i.e., exotic bands, funny bands, old bands, weird bands, lesbian and gay bands--use your imagination. These kinds of searches are reserved for major search engines. The Artists category will cause trouble. You'll get everything from painters and graffiti artists to con artists. Use music-based keywords like Musical artists, musicians, singers, singer/songwriters.

Acid Jazz Bands and Artists

Artist Direct (Includes Ultimate Band List, shopping, news and more)

Burb's British Underground Rock Bands

Concert Web (a global listing)

DJ Global Listings

DJ Listings - TorontoNightclub.com

Deejayz.com

Forbes Celebrity 100 - 2001

Google Web Directory - Bands and Artists

GuitarSite.com

Harmony Central - Bands Page

Internet Music Resource Guide

Lycos - Bands and Artists

Mp3.com - Artists

Musicians Registry (includes Agents and other sources)

Planet Salsa (Global DJ listings)

ProDJ.com

Punkbands.com

St. Louis Concert Web (sponsors The Concert Web - a global listing)

Taxi

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Content Providers

The term "content" is a Digital Age term replacing the older--and perhaps more offensive term "product" of the 70s and 80s. In pre-broadband days, moving and storing text digitally was far less cumbersome that larger sized data files like photos and other graphics. As the 21st century races forward, Media Asset Management, Digital Asset Management and similar concepts now describe processes where moving, storing, processing and downloading audio and video is as simple as black and white ASCII.

Content providers--online services that provide content of any kind--can offer huge databases of songs, movies, corporate info, articles and whatever as long as they have the servers to support it. It's not quite that easy, but you get the picture (pun intended).

Databases containing millions of items can be swapped, sold, tagged, stored, organized and manipulated as easily as two teenagers sharing the latest Britney Spears mp3 file. Having the ability to control such huge amounts of data--which is what the WWW is all about--is significantly changing how we consume, process and store information we need to function in our daily lives.

Content also includes chat rooms, news, build-your-own-homepage, audio/video streaming, games and other web tricks to entice your viewing and listening pleasure.

Major search engine sites like Yahoo and MSN and media player sites like Realplayer and Shockwave offer the same kinds of content. It gets very confusing. But it also demonstrates increased opportunity for cross-platform outlets and marketing of music and entertainment.

To be more poignant, artists, musicians, songwriters and movie makers are content providers. In lieu of this, the content providers listed here are better described as content aggregators.

Audiogalaxy

CD Universe

CDNow

CNN Videoselect

CNN.com - Entertainment

E! Online

eBay Music

Gnutella.com

Gracenote

Hollywood and Vine

WindowsMedia.com - Media Guide

Iconoclast Entertainment Group

Launch.com

Launch.com - Music Videos

Liquid.com

Listen Music

Loudeye Technologies

Madster

MSN

MusicNet

MusicSearch.com

MusicStation

NBCi

Net4music

Pressplay

Real.com - Guide - Entertainment

Real.com - Guide - Music

Shockwave.com

Sonicnet.com

Sony Music - Audio/Video

Spun

Tunes.com

TVmusic4U

UGO.com

VH1.com

Vivendi Universal

Warner Bros - Hipclips

Yack

Yahoo - Entertainment

Zeal.com


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Broadcasting

Broadcasting is a generic category covering radio and TV. and includes such powerful organizations as National Association of Broadcasters and MIDEM. It's also a great keyword for searches on entertainment. Broadcasting is also a 20th century term describing how media (TV, radio and film) "broadcast" to the masses at once. The Internet changes this model by introducing "webcasting" and "narrowcasting." Largely born out of streaming radio online, narrowcasting allows for "on-demand," meaning users can have entertainment when they want it and where they want it. Webcasting is any kind of audio/video stream and ranges from personal webcams to live global concert events. To understand web and narrowcasting more fully, do keyword searches in major search engines.


Avid

Digital Media Association

Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center - Northwestern University Library - Film and Broadcasting Resources on the Internet

National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Reed Midem Organization - an international organization sponsoring worldwide events, conferences and trade shows covering all areas of entertainment and broadcasting. MIDEM is a separate trade show/conference covering the international record, music publishing and video music market

Society of Broadcasting Engineers

Turner Broadcasting

Williams Communications (now includes iBeam)

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Copyright and Licensing

The copyright cyberstorm generated by the infamous Napster suit is not over. Copyright and licensing are complex issues not only protecting your rights as a creator but also determining the business models that generate income. Piracy is a serious global threat. Encryption technologies will continue to evolve through the 21st century.

ASCAP

BIEM - BUREAU INTERNATIONAL DES SOCIETES GERANT LES DROITS D'ENREGISTREMENT ET DE REPRODUCTION MECANIQUE (International copyright management)

BMI

Future of Music Coalition

Harry Fox Agency

IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry)

FirstUse.com (digital audit system for timestamping digital content - not a copyright)

Future of Music Coalition

International Lyric Server (See Songfile)

Kohn on Music Licensing (Major resource on copyright and licensing sponsored by Bob, Al and Matt Kohn. Robert H. Kohn, Esq. is Chairman of the Board of EMusic.com, Inc. Al Kohn is former President, Licensing for Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. Matt Kohn is an LA lawyer representing songwriters, musicians, and firms in entertainment and runs Digital Production Resource (DPR), a digital video/audio production company.

Lawgirl.com - Copyright protection for your website

Library of Congress

LicenseMusic.com (online music catalog of pre-cleared original recordings available for
licensing use in all media)

Music Publisher's Association

National Music Publishers Association/Harry Fox Agency

SESAC

Songfile (a licensing database associated with the Harry Fox Agency. Includes International Lyric Server)

SyncSite (facilitate licensing for film, television, multimedia and other synchronization uses)

SESAC

United States Copyright Office

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

World Trade Organization (WTO)

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Culture

Who we are culturally defines who we are individually, nationally and globally. But, we are not the mere sum total of our relics and symbols. New cultures are generated everyday. Some cultures are born--or created--in unpredictable ways like many virtual cultures. Others are created with military precision around superstars like Britney Spears or a movie like Titanic.

A wide range of sub-categories traverses the mountainous category of culture: fansites, genres, education, communications, media, art and science and more. Songs, artists, movies, books, etc. are not created in a vacuum. They are born out of our own experiences as we engage the environment, society and culture. We are no longer cave dwellers--or are we?. Most of our culture comes through media. Technology and the Internet promises cultural change at an accelerated rate.

Universities and educational sites provide much information on Cultural Studies, Media Studies, American Studies, Globalization, Sociology and related areas.

All Music Guide

Culturelink Network

Cultural Studies Central

Cyberpunk

Cybertown

European Center for Film Culture

Film Culture

Media and Communications Study Site

Monterey Jazz Festival

NetAid (social causes)

Popcultures.com (Sarah Zupko's Cultural Studies Center)

Pophistorynow.com

Popkomm (major German/European trade show and festival)

Vitalspace.com

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Dance

The history of music and dance are synonymous. From Neanderthal stompings around a cave fire to steamy nightclubs in Paris and Miami, music makes you move. Dance ranges from the abstract to the street. Dance music in the pop world, of course, reigns supreme, from Madonna to Dr. Dre.

The world of classical, modern, jazz, ballroom and ethnic dance seem to exist outside mainstream pop and rock. But productions like Cirque de Soliel are pushing boundaries by combining circus, techno pop, technology, acrobatics, ballet, costuming and myriad other entertainment forms to create a unique and exciting experience.

The current dance scene is a blend of hip hop, techno, trance, salsa and many other styles. The world of pop has always been under the influence of Latin, from soft sambas to fiery mambos. Country, well, country is sort of doing just fine all by itself from line dancing to old fashion square dancing. Tango is not just a old Argentinean romance ritual but still very much a way of life. Ballroom is not just old people remembering the days of Fred Astaire and ballroom competitions rival the Olympics in terms of sheer endurance. Riverdance is traditional Irish dancing at its best, but is also a celebration of everything that is mysterious, romantic, spiritual and beautiful about Ireland.

Arthur Murray

Cirque du Soleil

Dance Plus (ballroom)

DeepDisco.com

Irish Dance Magazine

Latindance.com

Latin Dance

Onlinedancing.com

Riverdance Online

Saphire Swan (See Dance Directory)

Swingdancemusic.com

Technomixes

Vic Rader's Country Line Dancing

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Databases

Databases are not lists of lists. They are veritable information processing centers designed to collect every single bit of information that exists...including the meaning of life. Each database you encounter seems larger than the last. It no doubt warms the hearts of many to know they can carry around the entire Library of Congress and US Copyright Office in back pockets, in purses, or on "smart" cards.

The bigger the database the bigger the hacker, but fortunately this list will not include government, military, molecular, weather or astronomical databases (astronomical is right!). But music and film databases will prove no less daunting in the amount of information available.

Databases - Film

4Filmmakers.com

All Movie Guide

Asiandb.com

Big Movie Zone

Cinema Sites

Cinema Sites Databases

Cnmovies.com

Internet Move Database (IMDb)

Tdfilm.com - Film Databases


Databases - Music

1212.com

Classical.net

Center for Popular Music

DW3 Classical Music Resources: Databases

Indiana University, William and Gayle Cook Music Library

Internets Databases - Music

Loeb Music Library - Harvard

Library of Congress

Research Libraries Group

RISM - RÉPERTOIRE INTERNATIONAL DES SOURCES MUSICALES (INTERNATIONAL INVENTORY OF MUSICAL SOURCES)

Sibelius Academy

WAIS

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Jerry Flattum
is a songwriter (BMI), screenwriter, freelance writer, book writer and singer/keyboardist/arranger. Jerry has written Bridge On Fire: A Holistic Journey in Song Creation. Bridge On Fire is a comprehensive manual on songwriting from the technical, social, cultural and entertainment industry perspectives. The book will be published by Publish America in 2005 and available through major and other retail outlets. In 2002, Jerry wrote a full-length feature comedy, 7/11 Pair-O-Dice Road for Lear Entertainment (Las Vegas). Several screenplays are in-progress: The Acrobat; Watertown, South Dakota; Lars; Out of Context; Amazon Moon and others. He has written the story, music and lyrics for Time Travelers in the Celestial Age, a screen/stage musical loosely based on H.G. Well’s, The Time Machine. As a freelance writer, he has covered live shows for e-Vegas.net, the Las Vegas film scene for Callback, and written several articles for Musesmuse.com, Script Magazine and others. Jerry has worked as a singer/keyboardist in several bands throughout New York, the Twin Cities, and on the road. Prior business experience includes CBS, Harry Fox Agency, Samuel French Play Publishers and other indie ventures. He has a self-designed BS in Songwriting (graduating Phi Kappa Phi) and a Masters in Liberal Studies (U of MN). Jerry is a member of the Songwriters Guild of America, the Nashville Songwriters Association, and the International Songwriters Association. He is soon to become a member of the National Writers Union and plans are to join the Authors Guild and the Writers Guild of America. He is also launching JerryFlattum.com in October 2004, featuring original songs and other works. This site will interface with SongCatalog.com, an online service designed to connect songwriters with song buyers.
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