OCTOBER 21, 2000 Music Volume 17, Issue 43 £3.95 All Saint's Black Coffee is the highest new entry in this week's Eurochart Hot 100. hiledia®we talk iradio M&M chart toppers this week Merged AOL-Time WarnerThe end of the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles line for Boxman? WHITNEY HOUSTON AND must sever Bertelsmann link by KaiR.Lofthus ENRIQUE IGLESIAS by Emmanuel Legrand ving force in the online delivery of Could I Have This Kiss Forever music. LONDON - Callers last week to the (Arista) BRUSSELS - The well -publicised EU competitioncommissioner London headquarters of European marriage of AOL and Time WarnerMario Monti says: "The Commis-music e-tailer Boxman were greet- European Top 100 Albums ed with the pre-recorded message: MADONNA will come ata cost-a sion has a duty to prevent divorce from Bertelsmann. the creation of dominant "Boxman's phoneline is Music One week after with- positions in all sectors, be temporarily closed due (Maverick) drawing from thepro- they in the old or new to technical difficulties."BOX European Radio Top 50 posed merger of its music economy. In a music mar- Following negotia- MADONNA division with EMI, Time ket already characterised tions with shareholders Music Warner (TW) has been by a high degree of consol- and creditors last Tues-MAN (Maverick) rewarded with condition- idation, the danger was day (October10), the plug was al approval of its merger that by allowing AOL to pulled in more ways than one. Box - European Dance Traxx with online giant AOL by team up effectively with man dismantled its local sites in MODJO the European Commission. three of the five music majors, the Sweden, the UK, Germany, Hol- Lady (Hear Me Tonight) The proposed $129 billion merg-resulting integrated company could land, France, Norway, Denmark, (Universal) er, which still needs to be cleared byhave dominated the online music and Finland. Orders placed by con- US competition authorities, woulddistribution market." sumers would not befulfilled, create a new media giant combining In a joint statement, AOL and TW according to sources. Inside M&M this week AOL's online portfolio with TW'ssaid they were "very pleased" with Facingvoluntaryliquidation content in cinema, music, after failing to raise enough money DANCE STANCES and books-as well as being a dri- continued on page 25 to keep trading, Boxman CEO Tony As dance music Salter told Music & Media: "I'm executives from continued on page 25 around Europe Sanz bares his soul to a million gather for this BMG joins digital year's Amster- by Howell Llewellyn --- described by president of dam Dance WarnerMusicSpain, download race Event, M&M's MADRID - Spanish artist Saul Tagarro as "ridicu- Gary Smith Alejandro Sanz confirmed lous and absolutely spec- by Juliana Koranteng rounds up the latest trends in hisstatusasSpain's tacular." Since his 1991 the genre. Pages6-7 biggest star a week before debut, Sanz has worked LONDON - As predicted, BMG has the worldwide release of mainly with Italian musi- become thefourthof thefive ARTISTS' NET GAINS his latest Warner Music cians. But with El Alma majors to offer digitally -delivered The Internet presents artists Spain album El Alma Al Al Aire, Sanz has broken music on a commercial basis. Fea- with the possibility of "cutting Aire("BaredSoul")on with tradition by record- turing more than 100 singles and out the middle man" by selling September 26. ing at The Hit Factory in albums from top BMG artists such direct to their fanbases. M&M Pre -sale orders of the Miami, rather than, as as Christina Aguilera, Toni Brax- Onlineconsiders some case album already topped 500,000 in before, in Milan. ton, Pink, Whitney Houston and studies. Pages 9-10 Spain alone and it was declared Sanz explains to M&M: "It had Santana, the venture, which began quintuple platinum by labels' asso-nothing to do with marketing, butlast week in the US, will be rolled WORLD CLASS ciation AFYVE on its day of release. the fact that in The Hit Factory stu- out internationally. By the end of Thisyear's WOMEX world After four days, Sanz had solddios we had a specially -designedthe year, customers should have music trade fair in Berlin finds nearly 800,000 units in Spain-digital system." Sanz made it clear access to as many as 2,500 down- the genre in rude health across more than the country's best-sellinghe had no plans to imitate otherloadable albums and singles from Europe. Nigel Williamson artist in the whole of 1999. AndLatino stars and move to Miami. BMG's catalogue. looks at the circuit's hottest after a week, sales had topped the"It's not elastic enough. My lifestyle Chief marketingofficerand talent. Pages 12-13 one million mark, an achievement continued on page 25 continued on page 25 captain joy THE SPIRIT OF DANCE I'm drnnming york web gowning nisi my,/ on the benGh like on angel r.m A S 1710NI MUSICAL) t lotscor;PArtcrir vin Bru-:(:rwrio, 1770117i Minn(Itniy) exploding g radio now MI 439 021350r01 C v -4"39 (Vint 9,10(411 AmericanRadioHistory.Com WANTED! Top European Radio Stations For FREE Internet Broadcasting BroadcastEUROPE.com INTERNETWORKS A Division of BroadcastAmerica.com BroadcastAmerica.com, with over 622 radio stations and 200 syndicatedprograms reaching 220 million listeners per week, has launched our new European division, BroadcastEurope.com. Our goal is to provide top radio stations throughout Europe with an opportunity to reach a worldwide audience- FREE! Joining our growing network allows you to stream your local programming right onto the Internet and right around theworld! 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Hence the inter- Music est on the part of companies like AOL or Vivendi to Upfront aggregate this content onto their online platforms. by Emmanuel Legrand, Music & Media editor -in -chief The conventional view is that AOL or Vivendi could Media. turn music into nothing more than a commodity to Call M&M on: Another week, a different song. drive traffic to their various sites. There is a risk, but tel (+44) 207 822 8302 At Time Warner and AOL's HQs, they must havethere are also some economic realities to deal with. fax (+44) 207 242 9138 been singing It Feels So Good this week, after the Euro- AOL's Peter Case or Vivendi's Jean-Marie Messier For direct lines dial +44 207 822, pean Commission decided to green -light their merger. will look at the balance sheet of their newly -acquired followed by the required extension And it looks like Vivendi Universal will soon joinassets and will certainly think twice before jeopardis- ing their music division's profitability. Publisher. Ron Betist (ext. 8312) AOL/Time Warner in the chorus line, singing Vamos Editor-in-chiefi Emmanuel Legrand (8318) A Bailar, as the Commission seems set to clear that On the other hand, this could be the one great Director of operations: Kate Leech (8307) merger. chance for the music industry to grow at a quicker pace Editorial In contrast, Time Warner and EMI were left Aloneby taking advantage of all the new Deputy editor Jon Heasman (8316) online platforms. An analyst once News editor. Gareth Thomas (8317) With Everybody, after they had to "withdraw" their Features/specials editor Steve Adams (8380) proposed merger project last week. said that the music industry was a Music editor: Adam Howorth (8319) Whatever the tune, all three events will have some$100 billion business trapped in a Reporter Siri Stavenes Dove (8311) profound effects on the industry as a whole, as they $40 billion body. Charts 8c research Both AOL and Vivendi have the Charts editor: Raul Cairo (8313) really seal the entry of entertainment into the new Charts researchers: Menno Visser (8322), media era, and they also mark a new step in verticalpotential to make this prediction a Beverley Evans (8321) reality-but they will be judged on Charts system manager: Ray Hewitt (8345) integration and a halt to horizontal growth (to avoid what the Commission called "collective dominance"). their capacity to enhance the Prc>cfctl on Production manager: Jonathan Crouch (8314) Tough to admit for some, but music over the pastvalue of music rather than down- Designer Mat Deaves (8323) decade has become a fully-fledged part of the widergrading it. Correspondents Austria: Susan L. Schuhmayer - (43) 1 334 9608 Music & Media values its readers' opinions-you can e-mail the editor -in -chief at: [email protected] Belgium: Marc Maes - (32) 3 568 8082 Classical/jazz: Terry Berne - (34) 91 474 4640 Dance: Gary Smith - (34) 9 3488 2180 Denmark: Charles Ferro - (45) 3369 0701 Belgian radio set for single survey Finland: Jonathan Mander - (358) 503 527384 France: Millane Hang (artist profiles) -(33)48821599 by Marc Maes by the three main sales housesFlemish public stations, French Germany: Gesa Birnkraut - (49) 4101 45930 IPRadio, VAR and RMB.