Los Angesles CA. - Napster LLC. has captured the digital distribution rights to the entire Dave Matthews Band song catalog.

In 2001 when Napster was still an illegal peer-to-peer file swapping program, DMB released "I Did It" for free into the file sharing network. Though Napster was in the midst of several lawsuits attempting to shut the service down, DMB arranged for the music to become available. Napster became a legal pay-per-download music service in 2003 following its acquisition by Roxio.

The choice to have Napster distribute DMB's song catalog is a strong departure from the previous setup for the digital distribution of the band's music. The DMB song catalog was available exclusively through the band's official website.

Dave Matthews Band Downloads were powered by Musictoday's digital download service. Music Today is a company owned by DMB manager Coran Capshaw.

The digital distribution of live Dave and Friends release Live at Bonnaroo 2004 and all other live Bonnaroo 2004 artists downloads are powered by musictoday and appear to be being distributed in cooperation with the privately held digital media distribution company Nugs.net.

Currently the Nugs.net about page still lists Dave Matthews Band as a partner for digital music distribution claiming "Dave Matthews was one of the few major artists who never released his music to any of the music download services, opting instead to partner with nugs.net to create his own private label download service."

In Napster's 6/15/04 Press Release on the debut of the catalogue, a spokesman for DMB is quoted as saying:

"Getting our music into the hands of our fans has always been our number one concern. This partnership with Napster and Best Buy will be a great way for us to increase our presence in the digital world."

The emphasis on marketing aspects of the new deal highlights DMB's own failure to sell their songs via their own official website. The band's management was likely drawn to Napster's tight partnerships with Best Buy, Target, Microsoft, Yahoo and Billboard.

DMB bassist Stefan Lessard's recent comparison between DMB and the Beatles songs would have been better placed in the context of digital music distribution. A recent c|net article indicates that the Beatles are facing a similar decision in the digital distribution of their own song catalogue. The article explains that Beatles representatives are considering a "Beatles-branded store that would be the only place online where the group's music...would be sold."

Dave Matthews Band's management has helped pioneer a significant portion of online music and marketing industry, yet failed in its own attempt at self-distribution of its catalogue. Will The Beatles song collection find a way to make a self-branded store work, or will Norwegion Wood get nabbed like Dancing Nancies by a major online digital music distributor?

Comment on this story - (Coming Soon)

Return to Weekly Davespeak Home