ARTISTdirect
Encyclopedia
Founded in 1994
, Artistdirect, Inc. is an online digital media entertainment company. It owns several websites including Artistdirect.com, UBL.com and the Artistdirect Network. These websites are a group of affiliate websites offering multimedia content, music news and information, communities organized around shared music interests, music-related specialty commerce and digital music services.
Artistdirect began as an online music retailer and distribution company. It hosted the Ultimate Band List (UBL), a database with information on over 600,000 artists, concerts, record labels, and other music-related resources. In 1997, it partnered with the band Blink-182
to create Loserkids.com, an online store and community site for fans of the music and fashion of cutting-edge alt-rock, punk
, metal and hard rock
artists. It featured merchandise from various brands including Hurley
, Dickies
, and Ben Sherman
. In the early 2000s Artistdirect combined the database of the Ultimate Band List and online store with free audio and video streams, music news, album reviews, and movie trailers.
In 2006, Artistdirect re-launched the UBL.com site to focus on independent and unsigned bands, and helping them to be "discovered". According to Media Metrix
, the Artistdirect Network averages 12.4 million Uniques.
In 2005 Artistdirect acquired MediaDefender
, a company with a 90% share of the market for protecting against online copyright infringement.
In 2009, Artistdirect acquired MediaSentry
, another company that focuses on battling online copyright infringement. The Company will operate with two divisions, one for its Copyright Protection products, and another for its music related web sites.
In August 2009, the Company filed a "Form 15" with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, under which it will "Go Dark" and cease to make public its financial information. The company shares will also cease trading on the major stock exchanges.
co-founder Ted Field
launched ARTISTdirect Records (aka ADR) in conjunction with artistdirect.com co-founder Marc Geiger. Financially backed and distributed by Bertelsmann Music Group the label sought to wed a traditional record label with Artistdirect's online delivery platform. The label failed and folded in 2003 leaving behind several releases from artists such as The Blood Brothers, No Good
, and Mad at Gravity
, and a tab of $100,000,000.
distribution and on Ted Field
's ADR marketing and promotion staff.
The basic idea of iMUSIC was to enter into label and distribution partnerships with long established artists (with sizeable fan-bases) who no longer had major label deals.
1994 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1994.-January–February:*January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so....
, Artistdirect, Inc. is an online digital media entertainment company. It owns several websites including Artistdirect.com, UBL.com and the Artistdirect Network. These websites are a group of affiliate websites offering multimedia content, music news and information, communities organized around shared music interests, music-related specialty commerce and digital music services.
Artistdirect began as an online music retailer and distribution company. It hosted the Ultimate Band List (UBL), a database with information on over 600,000 artists, concerts, record labels, and other music-related resources. In 1997, it partnered with the band Blink-182
Blink-182
Blink-182 is an American rock band consisting of vocalist and bass guitarist Mark Hoppus, vocalist and guitarist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. They have sold over 27 million albums worldwide since forming in Poway, California in 1992...
to create Loserkids.com, an online store and community site for fans of the music and fashion of cutting-edge alt-rock, punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, metal and hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
artists. It featured merchandise from various brands including Hurley
Hurley International
Hurley International is a clothing company located in Costa Mesa, California founded by Bob Hurley. The company puts emphasis on skateboarding, surfing, music, and "fun"...
, Dickies
Dickies
Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Company, more commonly referred to as the brand Dickies, is an American company headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas that manufactures and sells work-related clothing and other accessories, including back packs, steel-toe boots, and belts. Its major competitors are...
, and Ben Sherman
Ben Sherman
Ben Sherman is a British based clothing company, designing shirts, suits, shoes, accessories and other items that are, in common with many British brands, now made overseas, largely in the Far East. Their designs sometimes feature the Royal Air Force roundel which is often called the mod target...
. In the early 2000s Artistdirect combined the database of the Ultimate Band List and online store with free audio and video streams, music news, album reviews, and movie trailers.
In 2006, Artistdirect re-launched the UBL.com site to focus on independent and unsigned bands, and helping them to be "discovered". According to Media Metrix
ComScore
comScore is a Internet marketing research company providing marketing data and services to many of the Internet's largest businesses. comScore tracks all internet data on its surveyed computers in order to study online behavior....
, the Artistdirect Network averages 12.4 million Uniques.
In 2005 Artistdirect acquired MediaDefender
Mediadefender
MediaDefender, Inc. is a company that offers services designed to prevent alleged copyright infringement using peer-to-peer distribution. They are controversial because of their use of unusual tactics such as flooding peer-to-peer networks with decoy files that tie up users' computers and...
, a company with a 90% share of the market for protecting against online copyright infringement.
In 2009, Artistdirect acquired MediaSentry
MediaSentry
MediaSentry was a United States company that provided services to the music recording, motion picture, television, and software industries for locating and identifying IP addresses that are engaged in the use of online networks to share material in a manner said organizations claim is in violation...
, another company that focuses on battling online copyright infringement. The Company will operate with two divisions, one for its Copyright Protection products, and another for its music related web sites.
In August 2009, the Company filed a "Form 15" with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, under which it will "Go Dark" and cease to make public its financial information. The company shares will also cease trading on the major stock exchanges.
ARTISTdirect Records
In February 2001, Interscope RecordsInterscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
co-founder Ted Field
Ted Field
Frederick Woodruff "Ted" Field is an American media mogul and entrepreneur and film producer.-Biography:Field was born in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, the son of Katherine Woodruff Fanning, an editor of the Christian Science Monitor, and Marshall Field IV, who owned the Chicago Sun-Times. He is...
launched ARTISTdirect Records (aka ADR) in conjunction with artistdirect.com co-founder Marc Geiger. Financially backed and distributed by Bertelsmann Music Group the label sought to wed a traditional record label with Artistdirect's online delivery platform. The label failed and folded in 2003 leaving behind several releases from artists such as The Blood Brothers, No Good
No Good (hip-hop duo)
No Good was a rap duo consisting of rappers Derrick "Mr. Fatal" Hill and Tracy "T-Nasty" Lattimer, which was active from the late 1990s to the mid–2000s....
, and Mad at Gravity
Mad at Gravity
Mad at Gravity was a short lived alternative rock band from 2000 to 2003. The band's name came from a poem that lead singer J. Lynn Johnston wrote at age nineteen, stating that it "just jumped out" and "it had so many applications."-History:...
, and a tab of $100,000,000.
iMUSIC
In August 2002, Marc Geiger launched his own iMUSIC label as a separate entity to ARTISTdirect Records but still under the Artistdirect umbrella. It also relied on BMGBMG
Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...
distribution and on Ted Field
Ted Field
Frederick Woodruff "Ted" Field is an American media mogul and entrepreneur and film producer.-Biography:Field was born in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, the son of Katherine Woodruff Fanning, an editor of the Christian Science Monitor, and Marshall Field IV, who owned the Chicago Sun-Times. He is...
's ADR marketing and promotion staff.
The basic idea of iMUSIC was to enter into label and distribution partnerships with long established artists (with sizeable fan-bases) who no longer had major label deals.