PassAlong Networks

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PassAlong Networks
Tennessee Pacific Group, LLC
Type Private
Founded 2002
Headquarters Franklin, TN, United States
Key people Dave Jaworski, CEO
Scott Lewis, SVP
Brad Edmonson, SVP
Jozef Nuyens, CFO
Industry Digital Music
Products Storeblocks, OnTour, FreedomMP3
Revenue (undisclosed)
Employees 85
Subsidiaries Speakerheart
Website PassAlong Networks website

PassAlong Networks, also known as Tennessee Pacific Group, LLC, is a developer of digital media innovations and services located in Franklin, Tennessee. The company has a digital music library of 3 million licensed songs—two million of which are raw MP3 music files, and provides a series of products and services in the digital media marketplace.

The company has digital music catalog agreements with the four major record labels: Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, EMI, and Sony/BMG. PassAlong’s catalog is comprised of non-DRM, high definition MP3 music files. The other major catalogs are DRM-protected files based on Microsoft WMA technology. The Independent MP3 catalog includes songs from The Orchard, Nettwerk Music, IODA, CD Baby, Naxos Records, and many others.

The divisions of the Company include:

  • StoreBlocks Division: online retail store-building platforms, media libraries, metadata, and web services. Its technology includes turnkey templates, Web services, reporting systems, storefront showcases, a music referral system, consumer rewards programs, legal music sharing, and a library of raw MP3s to enable consumer interoperability. This platform currently powers over 120 digital stores, including BreakthruRadio, TransWorld’s f.y.e. online music store and Procter & Gamble's Julie's Jukebox, a digital music store on HomeMadeSimple.com[1]. See www.StoreBlocks.com for more information.
  • OnTour Division: consumer-direct media showcases, widgets, data services, and notification systems. Its core product notifies users when their favorite artists are performing a concert in their area. The OnTour Barenaked Ladies Special Edition won the 2006 Billboard Demmxpo Award for Best Use of Technology by an Artist. See www.OnTour.net for more information
  • FreedomMP3 Division: non-DRM protection technologies and media tracking services
  • Speakerheart: a subsidiary to empower independent artists to self-publish and promote their works online. See www.Speakerheart.com for more information.

Contents

[edit] History of PassAlong Networks

Founded in 2002 in Nashville, Tennessee, the company moved their headquarters to the Factory at Franklin, south of Nashville. The founders included former Microsoft executive Dave Jaworski, digital media producer Brad Edmonson, former EMI executive Scott Hughes, Scott Lewis, Robin Pou, and independent music producer Jozef Nuyens, who also owns The Castle Studio in Franklin, Tennessee.

In September 2004 PassAlong launched its first digital music download store in conjunction with eBay. The store became the largest store on eBay. Since then the company has launched over a hundred stores, including Procter & Gamble's Home Made Simple store and the f.y.e.- for your entertainment, digital download store.

PassAlong became Microsoft PlaysForSure certified in December 2004. In 2006 the company released a non-DRM solution that helps guard artist content without restricting interoperability on the consumer side. In that year PassAlong joined DDEX to develop metadata standards across the industry. Members include Microsoft and Apple Computer.

Current initiatives include: advertising premium incentive programs; ad-supported revenue models, variable-pricing programs and in-car music downloads; mobile devices; media place-shifting and device-shifting, digital video libraries and social networks.

[edit] DRM and Microsoft PlaysForSure

Playsforsure logo

The PassAlong library of digital songs includes both DRM files and MP3 files. The DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology used was developed by Microsoft to protect digital music files. They are called WMA or Windows Media Audio files.

The certification program developed by Microsoft to ensure that portable devices (portable media players, phones, etc.) and content services have been tested against several hundred compatibility and performance requirements, is called Microsoft PlaysForSure. PassAlong is PlaysForSure certified.

[edit] See also

Artist-rights, Rightsholder organizations, and royaties:

  • RIAA - Recording Industry Association of America
  • CRIA - the Canadian Recording Industry Association
  • ASCAP - performance rights organization for songwriters, composers, publishers
  • BMI - performance rights organization for songwriters, composers, publishers
  • SESAC - - performance rights organization for songwriters, composers, publishers
  • SOCAN - Canadian performance rights organization
  • Harry Fox Agency - agency that collects and distributes mechanical license fees on behalf of music publishers
  • CMRRA - Canadian agency for mechanical license fees
  • Soundscan - Performance tracking used by Billboard Magazine and others
  • RoyaltyShare - an outsourced royalty processing solution for the music industry
  • DRM - Digital Rights Management
  • DMCA - The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, made law in 1998, and validated DRM

Alternative artist rights/royalty models and open source:

Consumer rights, user experience, and device interoperability:

News, Blogs and Sources:

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes and References