| Based in Los Angeles, Kaleidospace is the brainchild of Jeannie
Novak, an independent recording artist. After obtaining a degree
in mass communication from UCLA in 1992, she designed and
programmed Kaleidospace as an alternative means of music promotion
and distribution. Novak's partner, Pete Markiewicz, says,
"Before Kaleidospace, no one had specialized in designing an
Internet site for the entertainment industry."
Novak adds, "We're interested in unsigned
artists--self-produced independents--who have product. The field
has moved from the early adopters and independents to majors. We
only put indies on our site. For example, one of our clients is
Trauma Records, who has a band called Drive, which has a single
our right now."
Kaleidospace also consults with larger record companies
(they're currently in discussion with Sony, according to Novak),
with the ultimate goal of building a virtual community.
"We want them to come online, Novak says, "but we
don't want them to be part of Kspace. We want there to be an
American Recordings space and an A&M space. They can link to
us and look at our site and maybe sign our artists. Some of our
artists still want to get signed and not necessarily to sell
directly."
Kaleidospace's roster includes more than 50 independents, and
it has established relationships with another 50 companies on a
consulting basis. Setup fees vary according to what clients want
to put online. Independent artists can have one sound clip and one
video clip, plus promo information--including interview
transcripts, sound clips and footage, concert information, bios
and pictures.
"One important distinction between Kspace and IUMA,"
Markiewicz explains, "is that we are actually selling. We
have order forms built into our system. If they get sales through
Kspace, we just pass it on to them. We have a merchant account. we
take the information, but we rely on the independent to do the
fulfillment."
Another feature that sets Kspace apart form the others is the
incorporation of video on the site. "We're not using
MPEG," Markiewicz says. "Our video clips are flattened
QuickTime 1.6 movies at 10fps and 160x120-pixel window size.
Unfortunately, the MPEG video spec doesn't incorporate audio.
QuickTime 2.0 is supposed to allow MPEG video with audio, but we
haven't implemented it yet. Players for all platforms are
available form our sit, and they're all freeware or
shareware." |
Independent Artists