Circuit REWIRES the MUSIC magazine - QuickBand Networks - Product Announcement

With each new method of media distribution, the same rumor circulates: Paper is dead. Despite repeated predictions of paper's imminent demise, print media still has plenty to offer the consumer. In the theoretical world of "the next big thing," media would evolve and become interactive, allowing the consumer to step outside the margins of traditional media. Many tried it with CD-ROM magazines, but slow access times, choppy video, and disappointing hybrid features couldn't keep up with the ease and convenience of simply flipping the page.

Enter DVD. Suddenly speed and video quality are no longer an issue. And, because of its non-linear nature, DVD allows the reader/viewer to experience some of the same sense of control and immediacy as flipping the page. But can something you need a TV or laptop to experience really sup plant a print medium you can casually take to the beach?

Founded in 1998, QuickBand Networks saw in DVD a way to combine information and entertainment to produce a new wave of visual magazines. The company's first effort was Short Cinema Journal. Short, the first ever DVD magazine, is comprised of film shorts and complementary information, and was with rave reviews from the film community. Of course, DVD itself was primarily in the hands of early-adopter-types then, who might be inclined toward greater acceptance of a DVD magazine than the general population.

QuickBand followed up with Circuit, a music journal delivered on DVD-Video. Circuit features filmed profiles on major and indie-label arts, as well as music-related topics. The 'zine is not genre-specific, but as Editor Mara Schwartz describes it, "I really wanted it to be something a little left of center. People who were buying DVD a year-and-a-half ago were forward-thinking and I figured they were probably more forward-thinking in their musical taste as well." With each of its quarterly issues, Circuit attempts to merge journalistic and cinematic sensibilities to create an intimate interactive environment between the viewer and the artist.

Schwartz works closely with music execs to develop content for each issue. Because of the DVD format, Circuit has a lead time twice that of print magazines, so she tries to gauge what bands will be of interest to her audience six months in advance. To date, Circuit has featured the likes of Beck, 311, REM, Moby, Ben Harper, and The Afghan Whigs.

Schwartz believes that DVD allows Circuit to provide something that music magazines (both print and their television counterparts) have previously been unable to deliver. She says, "I think there is a certain element to something like Circuit that you can go as in depth as you want with a band. You click on the video and then you can watch it with director's commentary or you can watch rive seconds and return to the menu."

Designed predominately as a DVD-Video, each issue of Circuit also incorporates PC DVD-ROM features. Schwartz says, "We are currently exploring a number of ROM content additions, everything from simple trivia games to DVD-ROM game demos." Current issues offer links to QuickBand Networks, various band Web sites, and retail DVD outlets.

Circuit incorporates music videos and some other previously created material, but Schwartz focuses on developing and shooting new footage for the discs, as well as offering alternate soundtracks to provide the musician's or video director's insight into the included footage, as well as artist profiles.

Though she finds herself repeatedly explaining what DVD is to record execs, Schwartz says many of the artists are big fans of DVD and enthusiastically participate in stretching the boundaries of what the medium will allow.

In Issue 3, Schwartz planned to tape the Flaming Lips recording songs for their new album. The Lips had of other ideas. Circuit ended up filming the band performing a spontaneous original number. The Lips segment also incorporates an ingenious use of DVD's multiple audio track feature. In 1997, the Lips released Zaireeka, a four-CD set comprised of different sound tracks on each disc that were intended to be played simultaneously. Originally, the band staged performance-art gatherings to synchronously play the tracks, however this concept proved unwieldy for the average music lover. The band thought that DVD would perfectly showcase the concept so Circuit included one of the pieces from Zaireeka presented as four separate audio tracks as well as one combined piece. At any point in the combined piece, the user can select one of the isolated tracks and listen to that moment in the composition.

In addition to offering new opportunities for the kind of content magazines tan deliver, DVD has also forced Circuit to move away from the traditional magazine subscription and advertising based model and develop ways to repurpose magazine content for other uses, like TV. Circuit is currently working on a deal with CDuctive in which samples of pieces from the magazine will be used to enliven their site as well as drive retail sales. Schwartz also believes that as a DVD-Video, Circuit has a longer shelf-life in retail outlets than traditional magazines that the consumer will toss after a month or two.

All of the magazine's interstitial materials, bumpers, menus, and film editing are produced in-house using Avid Media Composer. Circuit delivers its animation video, and audio to LaserPacific Media Corporation where it is authored using Daikin Scenarist for SGI and encoded with C-Cube and Sony systems. Jess Bowers, one of three authors at LaserPacific, says that the Circuit team is pretty organized in delivering their materials and very clear about what they want. Bowers especially likes Circuit's menu design: "All of the menus are connected by really interesting dynamic animation. It does, however, require a lot of thought in the authoring process."

The menus are all done with auto action buttons. With Circuit, if you hit a directional button, it opens up an expanded menu. With these elaborate bumpers, Bowers also believes it is important to provide the user with the option 'of skipping them, which they can do by hitting the menu or skip ahead buttons. Circuit tests the DLT that LaserPacific provides using a Toshiba Infina system emulator and will often do a one-off with a 4.7GB DVD-R to test the disc before sending the disc to WAMO for replication. Circuit is pressed on DVD-5 discs, though QuickBand has used DVD-9s and 10s for other projects

Initially, Circuit's packaging was designed in-house, which produced, according to Drew Bourneuf, Supervising Producer for QuickBand Networks, "very busy" results. When they chose WAMO to replicate and distribute the magazine, Bourneuf says they made a "fiscally responsible" decision and went with Warner's standard packaging, The Snapper, and simplified the art design as well.

According to Bourneuf, each issue costs about $20,000 to produce. After Issue 4, Circuit will put advertising on hold (except for a separate section reserved for Warner promotions).

The magazine had a difficult time developing "timeless" advertising that would have as long a shelf-life as the content. Both Schwartz and Bourneuf emphasize the move away from the traditional magazine model to find a way to make Circuit profitable. Each issue is available at all major retail venues, as well as via online retailers for $14.99. Circuit will honor any existing subscriptions, but has put future subscriptions orders on hold for now.

So the ideal publishing model still remains a topic of experimentation. Still, it is clear that Circuit uses DVD to provide fans with video and sound from musical artist with an unprecedented intimacy. Schwartz says, "There are not that many outlets where you can get to know your musician better, get a feel for how the person acts, the general vibe around them. Circuit gives you a sense of interacting with the musicians." And, though Circuit takes viewers to places a print magazine cannot, the question still remains, will viewers take Circuit to the beach?

(LaserPacific Media Corporation; 809 North Cahuenga Boulevard; Hollywood, CA 90038; 323/462-6266; Fax 323/464-3233; http://laserpacific.com. QuickBand Networks, 1041 North Mansfield Avenue; Hollywood, CA 90038; 888/383-6247; http://www.quickband.com)

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