Artists & Music

WARNER BROS. TAKES ARTISTS INTERACTIVE WITH CYBER -TALK (Continued from page 1) time whom are expected to have albums velopment, Warner Bros. will tap spawned by Jim Wagner, VP of ad- says. mistic that the established will make "Cyber- Talk" "al- released in the fourth quarter) in into the America Online network vertising and merchandising at Jeff Gold, Warner Bros. senior slot a TV show" that users stores before Christmas. In addi- for "Cyber- Talk," an hourlong Warner Bros., and Laurie Burke, VP of creative services, says, "We most like is planning to re- program that will allow computer senior director of advertising and have been doing these on -line tune to on a regular basis. tion, the label on -line "CD -ROM sin- users to communicate with various merchandise for Warner Bros. things sporadically, but then Jim Warner Bros.' previous lease low- priced bulle- gles" that feature an audio single Warner Bros. artists. Originally, the duo thought of the brought up the notion that we activities include electronic America Online with additional CD -ROM data, a The first installment of the se- concept as a way to promote a com- should do this on a regular basis so tin boards on the says. The audio portions of ries, which will run Mondays at edy album by Adam Sandler. people will know there is always and CompuServe networks, and in- source De- a stan- 9:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. PT), will In a meeting to discuss the la- something interesting happening teractive conferences with the discs will be playable on Lou dard CD player. Prices for the new feature Porno For Pyros front bel's various on -line projects, the at a specific time and place." peche Mode, New Order, products have yet to be estab- man and mastermind idea mutated into a regularly Todd Steinman, who works on Reed, and Green Day. . scheduled forum for various various interactive and multimedia "It's interesting and a lot of fun lished. with While those projects are in de- The idea for the show was Warner Bros. artists, Wagner projects for Warner Bros., is opti- to have a direct connection the people who are buying our rec- ords," Gold says. "We have been ait no longer! Excellent audio getting feedback, both negative and positive, on the bulletin boards, and this is just a natural extension." quality is at your fingertips. Call us While "Cyber- Talk" usually will showcase Warner Bros. acts, it won't be limited to artists signed to the label. Nor will it be restrict- and select from our complete range of audio studio products ed only to musicians. Gold says he has had discussions with magic/ comedy team Penn & Teller about appearing on the show. "We will for professionals. BASF will deliver your choice, world -wide. make it as much like a talk show as we can, with various celebrity moderators from time to time," he says. Steinman says that computer us- Tel. (3) 212 1500 Tel. (2) 66216 407 ers who enter the "digital auditori- um" for "Cyber- Talk" will also be mim able to interact with each other. Tel. (1) 87890 342 MN Tel. (85) 717 318 Files with tour and new -release in- formation, as well as artist TV ap- A pearances, will also be available. Tel. (2) 373 2903 fM Tel. 22 41 95 90 Meanwhile, the label is eyeing the retail release of multimedia software that it has used as pro- Tel. (11) 2345 122 Tel. (34)1 562 7845 (in E) motional items. In the past, Warner Bros. has issued press kits (:: on regular computer discs for its album, Tel. 800 661 8273 Tel. (65) 479 7077 Jimi Hendrix tribute 11 "Stone Free," Lush, and Jon Has- sell. u Warner Bros. VP /chief art di- I_ Tel. (31) 5733 22 226 Tel. 31 27 47 00 rector Jeri Heiden calls the new developments exciting. "This is the first time in 12 years that I have been involved in the develop- ment of a product, as opposed to WE DELIVER, just the packaging," she says. Aside from the screen savers, which will incorporate artist logos r and photographs, the label is also release of CET Tel. 98 00 50 070 Tel. (1) 781 9291 investigating the CD -ROM titles, including a possi- ble R.E.M. release, a source says. "We're looking at a mixed -mode Tel. (1) 4964 5741 Tel. (11) 314 2900 - 2924 II release that would be like a maxi - single with some CD -ROM infor- mation," says a source. "The idea is to keep the price down so that the consumer can get a taste with- AND ON TIME out spending a lot of money." Warner Bros. VP of creative en- terprises Georgia Bergman con- firmed that the label is looking PP Tel. (621) 4382 283/251/470 l= Tel. (1) 562 7845 into screen savers and mixed-mode CDs, but would not confirm specif- r ic artist involvement. k _ __! Tel. 800 225 4350 l0 Tel. (81) 908 2340

Tel. (21) 525 3483 FOR THE RECORD ADDED VALUE BY BASF The correct title of Luscious Jackson's new album on Capitol Records is "Natural Ingredi- ents." An incorrect name for the Aug. 23 release was given in a bl BASF story in the July 16 issue.

17 BILLBOARD JULY 23, 1994 www.americanradiohistory.com