CDart Launches Website for Aspiring Musicians

Posted on October 17, 1997

A local multimedia design group, Pendulum Inc., has just unveiled a new way for aspiring musicians to reach a vast audience - music lovers surfing the Internet. Called CDart, the new website offers free access to select music videos for viewers and free placement on the website for deserving new musicians.

Says company President, Willy Krause, "there's a lot of great music out there that never gets discovered. Lots of bands who are unable to hook into the established music industry get discouraged and give up. We are trying to find a way to change all that."

Internet users log into the site and can download any of 50 "streamed" video clips. "Streaming" is a technology employed by Pendulum, that allows the viewer to watch the video while the information is still downloading. "People really appreciate the streaming," says Krause, "a typical user can start seeing the video in a matter of seconds as opposed to the minutes typically associated with large file transfers." Downloads of free video software are provided by RealNetworks (formerly Progressive Networks) which is linked to the CDArt site.

Customers are encouraged to rate the submissions and the results are compiled allowing viewers to see the most popular titles first. The music has been divided into categories to make it easier for customers to choose videos to download. Says Krause, "it's hard to decide exactly what category to put some of these videos in. Often we just put them in several categories." CDArt even has a "weird" category for some of the more unusual selections.