Article taken from "USA Today" about the Live Page/Crowes Release Online!! 02/28/00-

-Updated 12:55 AM ET Black Crowes CD lands only on the Web By Mike Snider, USA TODAY Former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes are taking the Web-only path in releasing a live album. Rather than make the CD available in retail stores, Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes Live at the Greek will be available only at custom CD and download site Musicmaker.com. Fans can pick and choose tracks (about $1 a song) or order an 18-track, two-CD set (about $18) with a booklet and liner notes. Fans also can download samples and buy downloadable songs individually via PC. "I like the idea of putting out this album like this. It's not conventional," Black Crowes front man Chris Robinson says. Adds Page: "Giving the fans the ability to select songs makes them part of the creative process." Albums released on the Net are not entirely new. David Bowie and Pete Townshend have previewed recent releases online, and the Beastie Boys let customers choose from the songs on their latest collection, Sounds of Science. But soon after the online release, those albums were available in brick-and-mortar stores. The Page-Crowes album will be available exclusively through Musicmaker. "This continues on the path of emphasizing consumers," says the site's Larry Lieberman. "It's giving consumers more choices. They do get to make a recording mixing the songs they want." The album features more than two hours of music from the Oct. 18-19 performances at L.A.'s Greek Theater. Songs include classic Zeppelin tunes, such as Heartbreaker and Whole Lotta Love, as well as vintage blues numbers. "I don't think anyone expected there to be a record," Robinson says. "But in listening to the tape, there was energy. We said, 'Wow, this is kind of happening.'" The musicians' managers turned to the Net because of its immediacy for artists and fans alike. "For people who are creative and spontaneous, you can get your music in the marketplace faster," Lieberman says. Lieberman says the Page-Crowes release breaks ground in that radio stations can get involved by playing songs, then referring listeners to Musicmaker. Stations will get a cut of the revenues. "Radio has sort of been cut out of online music," he says. "We're cutting them in." Despite the part their music may play in setting online music trends, the Crowes' Robinson acknowledges not being on the cutting edge. "I am from the old country, man. We can talk about e.e. cummings, but I don't know much about computers." His more-wired brother Rich, the band's lead guitarist, thinks that Net distribution can help musicians get their work directly to their fans. "The major labels today are dinosaurs. They only know how to work with one kind of band now, and others are getting shafted." Still, downloadable music has pros and cons, he says. "You can get more music to more people, and we can put out whatever music we want. The only bad thing is some jerk can rip it off. That's disrespectful."

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