Music industry warms up to Internet ideas
By Jon Healey and P.J. Huffstutter
Los Angeles Times
Online jukeboxes providing thou
sands of songs on demand to sub
scribers. Internet radio stations that
let users buy and download the songs
they hear. Online music storage
vaults that let users supply songs to
their friends.
These are some of the services
made possible by a spate of deals an
nounced this week between the ma
jor record labels and online entertain
ment and technology companies.
The brief flurry suggests that die mu
sic industry's acrimonious relation
ship with the Internet is finally
warming.
Insiders say the change stems from
a mix of forces, including pressure
from Congress and key court rulings
that could sideline a formidable com
petitor.
Still, they caution that there's a gulf
between an announcement and a real
service, just as there's a gap between
what the labels are willing to do and
what the public really wants.
"My sense is, it's still more about
talking than about .doing," said Bill
Koenig of Cantametrix, a company
that helps protect copyrighted mate
rial online.
Nor is it enough just to win the la
bels' backing. Several online music
services licensed by the labels have
been hampered or derailed by other
problems, including money short
ages, shifting business models and
troubles with the music publishers.
The five major label groups all
have dipped their toes into the online
music market, offering a small per
centage of their songs for download
ing. But before this week, they'd
turned down virtually all proposals
for distributing music in new ways
through the Net.
Of the deals announced this week,
the one closest to reality is a new set
of Net radio stations from MTVi, the
online arm of Viacom's MTV, which
are expected to be fully functional by
the end of April.
These stations — grouped under
the banners Radio MTV.com and
VHlatWork Radio—enable listeners
to buy downloadable versions of se
lected songs or CDs as they're play
ing. The supplier of the downloads is
RioPort.com Inc., which spent sever
al months winning distribution
rights to songs from all five major-la
bel groups.
Injuries
continued from page 1
“People are much more likely to
get injuries of any kind when
they’re drinking,” he said. “It’s an
epidemic problem with alcohol.”
Young said that while he treats
both men and women, men need
treatment more frequently.
“Males are more often in a situa
tion where they aren’t in control of
themselves,” he said. “They think
they’re invincible.”
Young said one of the most severe
injuries he ever treated was a man
who had been in a drunken fight at a
party that ended in a riot. He said
the student’s neck was slashed with
a broken bottle. .
“The wound went down to his
jugular vein,” he said. “He could
have been killed.”
Dr. Paula Ciesielski, staff physi
cian at the University Health Cen
ter, said she has treated students
who have punched holes in walls
and sprained their ankles. While
she said some of these injuries were
probably the result of too much al
cohol, she said she does not ask her
patients outright if they were drink
ing, so as not to offend those who do
not drink.
However, she said students who
drink are more likely to hurt them
selves because their judgment is im
paired.
“Sometimes students drink until
they blackout, so they aren’t sure
what happens to them,” she said.
“Most people have very good com
rnon sense, but when alcohol is in
volved they lose their inhibitions.”
She said one reason students
drink too much is because they
model the behavior of their peers.
“If everyone’s sitting around
playing a drinking game, then
everyone’s going to drink,” she said.
Ciesielski said one way students
can restrain out-of-control drinking
habits is by looking out for their
friends. She said people are more
likely restrain their drinking if they
are told to slow down by a friend.
But Ciesielski added she has
hope that many students will learn
to control their own drinking habits
with time.
“I think the majority of people
who get drunk once or twice and ex
perience negative consequences
probably won’t continue to binge
drink,” she said.
But Hilles disagrees.
“I haven’t changed a thing,” she
said. “I’ll just use recyclable plastic
next time.”
Liability
continued from page 1
tablishment could still be named in
a lawsuit, Stubenvoll said.
Sometimes assessing what con
stitutes intoxication is a tricky mat
ter.
Rennie’s Landing manager Dan
Geyer feels that the term “visibly
intoxicated” is highly subjective,
and that often patrons enter the bar
after drinking elsewhere. After be
ing at a bar for a while, the effects of
previously consumed alcohol can
hit hard, Geyer said:
In his tenure at Rennie’s Landing,
Geyer said that the bar hasn’t been
involved with any liability law
suits.
Minnis’ legislative aide Steve
Minnis said SB 925 reaffirms the
ideology that the individual must
ultimately be held responsible for
his or her actions.
Salem
continued from page 1
impressed by the content of that
panel, because it was important for
the legislators to hear the voices of
younger generations.
“We shouldn’t only be worried
about us in our short-term effects,”
Morales said. “But we should be
worried about our long-term ef
fects.”
Morales said he is still motivated
enough to return for Monday’s ses
sion.
Andy High, the student body
president at Western Oregon Uni
versity, said he was surprised to
see so many business leaders testi
fy, but he stressed that the hearing
isn’t over yet.
“Iam excited that they extended
it to Monday because then they can
actually hear about what students
have to say,” High said.
And while Wednesday’s meet
ing was in part intended to allow
students the chance to voice their
opinions on the OUS budget, it
was also for business leaders, con
cerned citizens, and any other stu
dents who wanted to speak about
the budget. With the exception of
Watari, the two-hour period was
filled with testimony by such par
ties.
ASUO State Affairs Coordinator
Brian Tanner said despite Wednes
day’s college panel “shut-out” and
the initial disappointed reaction,
students will still have a chance to
affect the legislators.
“We got a dose of the reality of
how politics work,” Tanner said.
University
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