Sheridan Square Entertainment, the company founded last summer by music biz vet Danny Goldberg and C&P Partners, is significantly expanding its online strategy, launching ArtistEnt.com, a group of web sites offering original audio and video programming created by celebrities, and acquiring an Internet enterprise from pop star Todd Rundgren.
"We are creating an online network and community that will foster a real, direct bond between artists and their fans," said Goldberg.
ArtistEnt works to counter a trend of sites dominated by ecommerce and little else, offering original entertainment content personally created by artists. Core artists involved with ArtistEnt will produce a minimum of a half-hour of original content per week.
Current offerings include a soul music radio show hosted by singer Peter Wolf, an interview with Peter Gabriel conducted by actress (and former Gabriel companion) Rosanna Arquette, and the promise of original content by Sugar Ray and Internet visionary and '70s hitmaker Todd Rundgren.
Rundgren founded PatroNet, an online subscription service for original work by popular artists, that ArtistEnt has acquired for an undisclosed sum. PatroNet offers musicians a single, online distribution point and marketing solution for artists, who make money from fans who pay to experience and download content from the network.
Rundgren charges fans escalating amounts for larger and larger packages of downloadable music, CDs, videos (both online and VHS), and even drafts of a book he is writing. The "DieHard" package, which consists of a remarkable volume of content, and even online access to the artist himself, costs fans a decidedly reasonable $60 annually.
"One of the advantages for everybody involved is that more artists can survive on smaller audiences because you don't have the inventory problem, which is what sucks all of the profit out of the regular record model," Rundgren said, explaining PatroNet in a 1998 Webnoize interview.
Last July, Goldberg said he'd formed Artemis Records, a New York-based label that would use the Internet as a major component of its operation.
Sheridan Square-owned Artemis Records has seen some success in its first eight months, placing albums by Kittie, Kurupt, and Warren Zevon on Billboard's top 200 chart.
Now, the two strategies are starting to merge. ArtistEnt.com holds domestic Internet distribution rights to Artemis Records music by Kurupt, Steve Earle, Kittie, Warren Zevon, Cindy Bullens and the Spooks.
When Artemis was first announced, Goldberg -- former chairman of both the Mercury Records Group and Warner Bros. Records, and past president of Atlantic Records -- said he was glad to be free of the constraints of major labels.
"I am thrilled to be totally flexible regarding the Internet, unbound by any corporate policies, or by the RIAA," he said, promising that the label would be "creative and pro-active" with respect to Internet music.
Mercury was part of the PolyGram family that was acquired by Universal Music last year. Artemis was co-founded by C&P Capital partners Michael Chambers and Patrick Panzarella, with an exclusive distribution deal with RED Distribution.
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