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U.K. TV AWARDS SHOW BOOSTS SALES (Continued from page 5) that objective. Saturday night." of 150,669 for Keating. Spears' newsline... Produced by London Weekend "This has got to be the ". biggest Baby One More Time" was a Television for ITV in conjunction boost to music sales in the two distant third, with 73,841; the A FEDERAL ANTITRUST investigation into possible CD price -fixing by sev- with entrepreneur Jonathan weeks immediately before Christ- Westlife and Keating singles eral music major companies has apparently slowed government approval King's Tip Sheet publication, and mas," says a typically ebullient between them earned almost 40% of the merger of online retailer CDnow Inc. and mail -order music and sponsored for the second time by King of his creation. He claims that of the vote. video marketer Columbia House. Now that snag reportedly may bring direct -mail club Britannia Music, RCA is "saying that by new year it The show was broadcast live by the two labels major behind the deal -Sony and Time Warner's Warner "Record Of The Year" reached a will have put on 300,000 extra leading London top 40 outlet 95.8 Music Group the -to bargaining table to settle the matter. peak audience of 8.8 million view- album sales, as a direct result of Capital FM. "The second year on, The investigation has appar- ers and elicited almost 800,000 it's proving to be very popular with ently slowed the federal OK of telephone votes. Now King says he the public," said Capital group head the deal to combine the Fort is in advanced discussions with `We reached a sixth of programmes Clive Dickens Dec. Washington, Pa. -based online NBC to produce an American ver- 14. "It undoubtedly sells records retailer and the mail -order mar- of the population of - sion of the show for U.S. televi- you only have to look at the mid - keter of music and videos. sion. Great Britain, all weeks today to see that." The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) confirmed Dec. 16 it was "investi- (Westlife is slated to make its The programmer notes that gating potential anti -competitive conduct involving the sale of CDs" but U.S. debut on Arista in late March. of them inspired to "Record Of The Year" is a good fit declined to elaborate. The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 16 that the FTC, Tentative plans call for the single for the station's demographic. as part of its review of the CDnow deal, is pressing Sony and Warner Music "Swear It Again" -the band's first go out and buy a "Obviously it's relatively free from Group-the joint owners of Columbia House-to stop participating in an British chart -topper, last spring industry interference, and the songs industry practice - of imposing a "minimum advertised price," or MAP on CDs. to go to radio in late January, with a CD' that end up in the final list are much Retailers that sell below that price forfeit cooperative ad subsidies from the commercial release a month later. closer [than in other awards] to music companies. - JONATHAN KING - The album will contain "one or two what radio knows are the best songs The Journal reports that Warner and Sony have engaged in settlement new tracks," compared with the of the year. That's why we were so talks with the FTC but that no agreements have been reached. Howev- U.K. version, says RCA internation- involved in the event, because we er, a source familiar with the situation denied knowledge of such talks al marketing and promotions man- the show." knew the short-list represented our and considered the investigation ongoing. ager Guy Higgins.) While the 8.8 million viewing recurrents. That list is basically Sony said it does not comment on matters under government review Most pertinently for the record figure was down from the 9.7 mil- Capital as you hear it." or litigation. Warner Music officials also declined comment. industry, retailers were reporting a lion peak figure for the inaugural Dickens believes that compar- In a separate investigation, disclosed earlier in the week, the Justice healthy upswing in sales for West - 1998 show, on which Boyzone's "No isons with the U.K.'s other regular Department is looking into alleged antitrust violations by MTV Networks life's self-titled debut album, which, Matter What" won the title, this mainstream awards event, the (see story, page 10). according to RCA, has now passed year's program aired an hour later, Brits, are irrelevant. "They can't Kathy Styponias, an analyst with Prudential Securities, noted that the double- platinum mark, with in two parts in Saturday -night really be compared; they happily while such antitrust concerns are legitimate, they are nothing new. The shipments of 670,000 and over -the- prime time, and was up against coexist in the marketplace," he says. common thread in both of the most recent developments is the transfer counter sales of 420,000. It showed BBC1's perennially high -rated Gennaro Castaldo, head of press of existing dominant franchises to the online world. "I think [the FTC is] a 92% increase in sales immediately "Casualty." "That normally gets 12 and public relations for the HMV to trying get a better understanding of how certain trends are develop- after the show, according to the million [viewers], and we cut them retail chain, adds, "There's a whole ing with respect to the music industry and the Internet," she tells Bill- label. down to 10 million," says King of sweep of [music TV] programs now board. `A lot of times, a way in which you can do that is opening up an The win also gave a perfectly the hourlong first part of the show, catering to different audiences, and investigation. [Regulators] want to ensure that incumbent players aren't timed boost to Westlife's bid for the which featured live or prerecord- at the end of the day, as long as it looking to use their power in the bricks-and -mortar world and translate highly prized Christmas No. 1 slot ed performances by all 10 short - gets people excited about music, it's it on to the Internet in anti -competitive ways." with the act's follow -up single, the listed artists. got to be a good thing." CDnow announced on Nov 24 that the FTC had asked for more infor- double -sided "I Have A Dream"! Britannia Music marketing direc- Castaldo is cautious about the mation regarding the Columbia House merger. The request extends the "Seasons In The Sun," released tor Mark Williamson pronounced specific effect of the show on album FTC's initial review period until 20 days after Time Warner and Sony Dec. 13 and at press time leading the company "dead pleased" with its sales. "Because it's on in the Christ- comply with the request. The FTC can terminate the waiting period at the "mid- week" chart positions involvement in "Record Of The mas period, when [sales] are going any time if it completes its review sooner. CDnow said Dec. 16 it still plans leading up to the Dec. 19 publication Year." "It moved on and built on last off the scale anyway, you won't real- to close the deal in the first quarter of 2000. "Sony and Time Warner com- of the official holiday chart. year's success," he says. "We en- ly be able to judge the scale of the mitted to this transaction and are trying to work through these issues "Flying Without Wings" be- joyed 10 great years [sponsoring] effect. But it's certainly of benefit with the FTC," said a CDnow spokeswoman. She added that additional came Westlife's third straight U.K. the Brits [awards show], and as we from the TV promo point of view, requests for information were not unusual. No. 1 in October. It was written by were in on the beginning of them like the Lottery show or anything The current federal investigation into label practices began in 1997 but Steve Mac and Wayne Hector and with Jonathan King, we're delight- else, especially with Christmas picked up steam in September with the agency's request that senior published by Rokstone /Ron- ed to work with him on a new thing around the corner." record -company distribution executives testify on their policies (Billboard, dor Music. Says the group's Kian like this and hope it grows the same Dickens believes that to Sept. 18). BRIAN GARRITY Egan, "After a tremendous year way they did." progress, the show must persuade scoring three No. l's, winning the King devised "Record Of The more U.S. acts to perform live; A FLURRY OF DEALS between big brick -and -mortar retailers and leading `Record Of The Year' was the icing Year" in 1998 as a vehicle for his among the American nominees, online companies in the last few days suggests a new awareness on each on the cake." Tip Sheet publication's industry only Jennifer Lopez was present, side of the value of the other in growing their businesses. "The portals Gary Lettice, product manager Triumph Awards, which he also to sing "If You Had My Love," need the brick -and -mortar presence, and the retailers need to appear for rock and pop at the Virgin retail announced to the live audience at which came last in the voting. "The Internet -savvy," says David Cooperstein, an analyst with Forrester chain, says he has seen an "uptake" the show, in between the perfor- two things they've got to learn Research, of the pacts.

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