Company Information

LOS ANGELES, CA - New Things Are Brewing at One of the Only Music Sites to Turn Five Before the Millennium

Kspace (http://kspace.com), the Internet's leading independent arts and entertainment web site, is celebrating its five-year anniversary with the launch of new "spaces" and services--including MP3 tracks, custom made-to-order CDs, an independent artist online hangout, a web-wide arts and entertainment search engine, and an expansion of its music licensing and supervision service for film, television and advertising projects.

Established in January 1994, Kspace was one of the first commercial sites on the web and is one of the few survivors of the web's early days. Out of the thousands of web-based companies in existence at Kspace's launch, a mere smattering remain today. Kspace has survived through almost the entire history of the web--a remarkable achievement in and of itself. Yet, what makes it all the more surprising is that Kspace exclusively promotes and sells music, art, film, and books by "unsigned" artists--a relatively difficult business in any medium, much less the uncharted waters of the Internet.

Kspace's success is due, in part, to the applied philosophies of the founder and CEO of Kspace, Jeannie Novak (an independent musician, film composer, and music supervisor with her own area on Kspace at http://kspace.com/novak). "Slow and steady wins the race," Novak says. "We didn't start with a lot of flash and hype. We focused on running a tight operation."

Novak's cautious approach has paid off. Kspace charted new territory in entertainment by becoming the very first company to sell independently-produced CDs online. The company sold its first music CD over the Internet in early 1994--and it quickly raised more than a few eyebrows. Ignoring constant pressure to work with major acts, Kspace developed a viable, service-oriented business that catered exclusively to independent artists who wanted to "go around" the traditional industry.

Originally, the Kspace.com site was established to simply promote artists and musicians and allow for secure e-commerce. Over time, the client base and services have expanded . . .

1) Kspace Music Licensing and Supervision (music licensing and supervision for film, television, and advertising placement -- drawing on its artist roster)

2) Kspace Recordings (traditional retail distribution, compilation CDs, and custom one-offs personalized with customer information)

3) Starpoints Custom Sites (http://starpts.com - allows independent artists and musicians to have custom sites [mysite.com] with complete creative control--along with secure ordering)

4) Button Commerce Sites (allows artists who currently have their own sites to list their products in the Kspace Store for secure online ordering)

5) MP3 (http://mp3-space.com - free MP3 files of Kspace artists are available for downloading and streaming)

6) Soundspace, Filmspace, and Visionspace (new areas for Kspace music and recording artists, filmmakers and videographers, and fine/commercial artists to display and sell their works online)

7) Indiespace (http://indiespace.com - online hangout for independent artists and musicians, complete with industry newsfeeds, chat boards/rooms, opinion polls, and artist features)

8) Linkcentral (http://linkcentral.com - search engine exclusively for the independent arts and entertainment industry; all related sites are free to upload links to the database)

Kspace continues to expand its management team. It began with just two principals: Jeannie Novak (CEO) and Pete Markiewicz (CIO). New members include Michael Grodsky (Media & Associate Relations Manager), Jean Gjenasaj [pronounced "jenessay"] (Artist & Industry Relations Manger), Masud Khan (Product Sales & Customer Relations Manager), Toni Barber (Production & Technology Manager), Kevin Ragsdale (Investor Relations Manager) and over 5 additional hard-working consultants and interns.

During the 5 years Kspace has been in business, Novak and Markiewicz managed to write 3 nationally-distributed books (Creating Internet Entertainment, Internet World Guide to Maintaining & Updating Dynamic Web Sites, and Web Developer.com Guide to Producing Live Webcasts). Considered experts in the field of Internet music marketing, they are also consistently invited to speak at industry-related conferences such as Internet World and Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum.

Keeping the overhead to a minimum, Novak still runs the back office out of her two bedroom apartment in Santa Monica, California--an area that is fast becoming a mini mecca for Internet startups. "It's a great location, within walking distance of Main Street. We're like a family here. There's a comfortable couch for some of our business meetings, food in the fridge (most of the time), and a 5-CD changer in the living room when we want to have some marathon listening sessions." During the years, Kspace also managed to expand beyond its original equipment--now housing 2 Linux servers and 1 NT server in an office in Marina del Rey. The NT is solely for the Kspace Store, running state-of-the-art Intershop software.

Involved in the e-commerce industry for the past 5 years, Kspace was quick to realize the significance of new digital audio delivery formats such as MP3. "Digital distribution will change the way the music industry works," says Markiewicz. "Eventually, even unknown artists will become successful without pressing a single CD."

Kspace is one of the Internet's biggest success stories--and it is definitely one of the companies to watch as the traditional music industry continues to be turned upside down with takeovers and flat record sales. It has survived the 5-year mark, which is not easy for a non-traditional Internet company to do. By creating a direct channel between independent artists and their customers and fans, Kspace is poised to take advantage of the changes that are changing the balance of power in the industry--and the next five years could put Kspace at the forefront of the new entertainment industry.

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