Culture MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2010

[ THE WEEKENDER ] The trip of a lifetime

Right: Free All Music and Guvera.com have licensing deals with two of the world’s largest recording companies, Universal Music and EMI, which represent such popular acts as U2 and the Black Eyed Peas. Left: A woman uses the iTunes application on her iPhone. iTunes stopped using copyright protection software last April. Photos: Reuters and Bloomberg Tim Yip’s costumes take center stage in Robert Wilson’s 1433 — The Grand Voyage. photo courtesy of NTCH

By Diane Baker the to give Yip a chance to win STAFF REPORTER an Oliver or a Tony. His designs American director Robert Wilson were brilliant, turning elements said his new production with of traditional Chinese court dress ’s U-Theatre (優劇場), 1433 into something extraordinary. New free music sites learn — The Grand Voyage (鄭和1433), General Ma Huan (馬歡) — played would be a journey of exploration. by Huang Kun-ming (黃焜明) — He certainly delivered on that wears a three-tiered hat that looks promise on Saturday night at the like a miniature pagoda, while National Theater. aide Fei Shin (費信) — played by from others’ mistakes What a wonderful journey Huang Kuo-chung (黃國忠) — had 1433 was, beginning with giant the most amazing triple-hoop skirt Online startups Free All Music and Guvera.com say they can generate roughly as much revenue white-clad Eskimos moving that often appeared to have a life per download for recording companies as Apple’s iTunes slowly across a white expanse, of its own as he shimmied across before taking off for Africa, , the stage. Linking many of the Vietnam and Malacca. costumes were the broad shoulder By RYAN NAKASHIMA AP, LOS ANGELES U-Theatre director Liu Ruo-yu pads spiking off to each side that (劉若瑀) crafted a script that told appeared, however, to have more the story of Ming dynasty explorer in common with Ziggy Stardust wo new companies are giving consumers a unique advertising packages so companies are Song royalties are paid per download, in the Zheng He (鄭和) — played silently or Kiss than Asian history. The way to download songs for free by watching willing to pay more. And they are putting the range of 70 percent of the retail price of a song. by her husband Huang Chih-chun African dancers’ costumes were T a few ads. The idea has been tried before money toward offering downloads of songs that So advertising revenue should be able to cover (黃誌群) — through flashbacks. a wonderful, whimsical mix of but this time it appears it might work, because the can be put on portable devices. what the track would have made if it were sold for While Zheng explored the world wooden facemasks and multi- startups have found advertisers that are willing to They also have made changes to deal with a US$1.29 on iTunes. for his emperor, his story was also layered stringed garments. Then pay around US$2 to have a moment of your time. problem that helped cause another free-download “We are very satisfied with the business terms one of loss and longing, for like so there was Queen Lipo (麗波皇后), “That means recording companies can get about site, SpiralFrog, to croak last year. we’ve come to with both those companies,” said many imperial officials, he had been played by Liu, who looked like a as much compensation from the free services as SpiralFrog irked users because its songs expired David Ring, executive vice president of business made a eunuch as a child. 1950s glamour queen. they receive from a download on iTunes that costs if people failed to log back on every few months to development and business affairs for Universal The stars of the show were The cast and musicians came the consumer US$1.29. view more ads. Its songs also couldn’t be played on Music Group’s eLabs unit. “As long as there’s fair Taiwanese gezai (歌仔) diva Tang from U-Theatre and it was terrific “You pay for the song by paying attention to iPods or iPhones. compensation ... we ought to empower anybody Mei-yun (唐美雲), saxophonist to see some familiar faces doing the advertiser,” said Richard Nailling, CEO of Free All Music and Guvera let users play with a good idea and a dynamic new service.” Richard “Dickie” Landry and very unfamiliar things, even though FreeAllMusic.com, which launched an invitation- songs on any device. The users also don’t have to Free All Music is the easier to navigate of the two. costume designer Tim Yip (葉錦添). the usually gracefully fluid Huang only test of its service in December. “It’s a fair deal with copy protection software that requires Users can type in search terms to find a song, or Tang had the audience in the Chih-chun was largely restricted to trade of attention for music.” checking back in with the service. So-called digital can pick one from a list of top hits by genre. palm of her hand. First seen as a sharp, jerky moves. Both Free All Music and another new free site, rights management software is on the way out after They then pick from a range of advertisers, crippled old man with a beard down The lighting, by American AJ Guvera.com, have licensing deals with independent Apple ditched the copy-protection technology in including Coca-Cola and Zappos.com, the shoe to his knees, the white-face Tang Weissbard, washed the stage with labels and two of the largest recording companies, iTunes last April. and apparel retailer now owned by Amazon.com. metamorphosed into dapper MC in strong reds or blues — or sometimes Universal Music and EMI. Fans of U2, Black Free All Music and Guvera are privately funded Users watch one video ad featuring that brand. One black pants, suspenders and a white just Zheng He’s face or hands — or Eyed Peas and Norah Jones should be happy. But and in a beta testing phase with just a few thousand click later, and the song downloads to the user’s shirt, a motorcycle mama in a black stripped it until it resembled a black- admirers of KeUS$ha or Sade, both with Sony users. Wannabe joiners must register and then clear computer and can be transferred to a portable leather vest, cap and chains, a bluesy and-white snapshot. Music labels, will be out of luck for now. a waiting list before getting invited. That lets the device. Users can download a maximum of five crooner in shades and a fedora Wilson has been both praised The new services come after years of falling CD sites make sure there are enough advertisers to pay songs a week; the cap is reset every Tuesday. and a mustachioed comic (with a and criticized for creating “a series sales. More people are consuming music online but for the songs that will be downloaded. Advertisers on Free All Music pay about US$2 per mustache that was a mix of Charlie of stage pictures” in his works, but spending far less for it. The 46 advertisers that have signed up for song for the right to present users with one video Chaplin and Chinese Nationalist for 1433 these pictures are worth In response, recording companies have been Guvera’s test in Australia are paying on average ad. That’s much higher than general ad rates online Party Secretary-General King Pu- a thousand words: seas of clouds, licensing songs to an array of Internet businesses US$4 per visitor, contributing US$250,000 so far. because the users have indicated they are inclined tsung [金溥聰]). She hobbled, strutted, the black-and-white court scenes, that offer songs cheaply or for free — in the hope As the service expands to the US at the end of to hear from the company. Users must click again swaggered, did a Cajun two-step, a wonderful giraffe, a sailing junk that these legitimate alternatives can keep people March, Guvera plans to add users in tandem with to start the download, and they’re reminded who is sang, talked, and riffed with Landry of rectangular bamboo crates and from turning to illegal downloads. more advertisers. providing the song. like she was Ella Fitzgerald. a billowing square of white silk. But some sites that allowed free listening on “Everything’s about a controlled, sort of old- Boston-based advertising agency Mullen, which The most amazing thing about Running at almost three hours, computers couldn’t generate enough advertising school business model of: Build one product, find is testing the Zappos ads on Free All Music, hopes Tang’s duets with Landry was that 1422 tests both the performers’ revenue to cover their debts or pay royalties one customer, sell it. Then build two products, find the goodwill generated by paying for the music will he — like any good jazz musician and the armchair travelers in the that were required every time someone played two customers, and sell it,” said Guvera’s founder carry over to the brand. — was improvising all the time and audience’s physical endurance, a song. One such site, imeem, was on the verge and CEO, Claes Loberg. “We’re giving them something they want,” said she plays along. Every show, they but it is a trip of a lifetime. The of collapse before it was bought last year by “If we have enough to support a million people, a media planner at Mullen, Brenna Hanly. “Us make their own journeys. company will perform 1433 from MySpace Music. that’s all we’ll open the door to, even if we have 5 giving that song can spark them to talk about it on Then there were the costumes. Wednesday night through Sunday The new services have tried to come up with million sitting in the background waiting to get in.” and Twitter.” This show needs to go to London afternoon as part of the 2010 or New York if for no other reason Taiwan International Festival.

TOP FIVE MANDARIN ALBUMS FEB. 12 to FEB. 18 P L A N E T POP ilm star and Twitter celebrity Ashton US can work together on technology can be used by authorities and not just “Everything is good,” he told CP24. Kutcher encouraged Russians last issues, one of the projects set up by protest movements. “I don’t know where it come from, it week to share ideas through social the two countries as they seek to “Twitter would probably be a better seems like a bit of a hoax. I was quite Fmedia Web sites during a visit by US improve relations. example of democracy in action if surprised to hear it myself ... I feel technology leaders to Moscow. Twitter has been cited as an more people followed their elected fine.” Kutcher, with more than 4.5 million information source in Iran and representatives than their favorite film Finally, former Family Ties actor followers on microblogging site Moldova, where anti-government star,” Wilsdon said in an e-mail. Brian Bonsall has been arrested again Twitter, is the star of the number one protesters bypassed censored official In other Twitter-related news, in Colorado, this time on a charge of film at the US box office last weekend, media organizations to publish details “dead” singer Gordon Lightfoot says he using marijuana in violation of the 羅志祥 Show Luo ( ) and Valentine’s Day. on events. feels fine. terms of his release. Rashomon (羅生門) with “More importantly than anything I But Twitter’s founder and chairman The legendary 71-year-old Canadian Deputies handcuffed and led the 1 24.46 percent of sales write, it’s really about what you write Jack Dorsey, was skeptical about the singer-songwriter is very much alive 28-year-old from a Boulder courtroom on your blogs,” Kutcher said at a press direct role of technology to promote despite reports last week that said he had on Friday after he pleaded not guilty Jeremy Liu (劉子千) briefing. democratic movements. died while on a North American tour. to an assault charge and a failure to and Mr Why “That is the power of the social “I think the technology will Lightfoot, whose hits include The report charge involving another case. 2 with 7.92% Web, which is to say you don’t have always be a neutral body. I think the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Bail was set at US$10,000. to be a celebrity or sit on a podium to important question is how is Russia Sundown, and Carefree Highway, was Bonsall’s defense attorney says the Rainie (楊丞琳) and have a community that you can build, going to adapt the technology, how said to have been pronounced dead by actor needs marijuana for headaches Rainie & Love ... ? (雨愛) run an idea, a thought, a piece of is Russia going to use it, not just as a a prank message posted on Twitter, and has applied for a medical 3 with 5.13% leadership,” he said. country but as individuals and that has according to the Web site of the marijuana card through the state. Kutcher was joined by US State yet to be defined,” Dorsey said. Globe and Mail newspaper. Reports He is accused of repeatedly hitting Meeia (符瓊音) Department officials and executives By spring 2009 there were 7.4 of his death spread quickly on radio, a friend in the head with a broken and Chic from US technology firms including million Russian-speaking blogs, Ashton Kutcher, the celebrity with the biggest television, and news Web sites. wooden stool in December and of 4 with 3.03% electronic auction company eBay and including half a million online following on Twitter, is urging Russians to share Lightfoot, noted for richly crafted missing a court hearing in 2007 in hardware manufacturer Cisco Systems. community groups, almost doubling lyrics and a deep, smooth voice, was another assault case. ideas on social networking Web sites. Photo: Reuters Huang Hong-sheng (黃鴻升) eBay this week said it is entering the in a year, according to Russian search reached by telephone by Toronto’s Bonsall played the role of the and Love Hero (愛&英雄) Russian market. engine Yandex. Internet has become a lively focus for CP24 news station and said he was youngest Keaton sibling, Andy, on the 5 with 2.94% The delegation is meeting Kremlin With Russia’s main television opposition debate but Moscow-based informed of his death by a report he 1980s NBC TV comedy sitcom starring Album chart compiled from G-Music (www.g-music.com.tw), officials, universities and private channels closely aligned with the social media expert Nick Wilsdon of heard on his car radio as he drove to Michael J. Fox. based on retail sales businesses to see how Russia and the Kremlin and stifling dissent, the E3internet.com said sites like Twitter his office. — Agencies