McCartney's Internet record could tumble soon

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Jan 25, 2000 Source: Reuters Submitted By: Tuesday January 25, 10:54 am Eastern Time By Paul Majendie CANNES, France, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Paul McCartney set a world record with 50 million hits on the Internet when he went back to where he once belonged with a concert last month at Liverpool's tiny Cavern Club. Now the record set in the birthplace of the Beatles looks set to fall. So great is the growth of concerts on the information superhighway that the organisers of that electronic milestone now confidently predict that the American group the Backstreet Boys will comfortably top McCartney in March. ``The growth is just phenomenal,'' said Tia Ernst of MCY.com, showing off its technological wares at Midem, the record industry's annual marketplace which attracts more than 4,000 companies from over 90 countries to this French riviera resort. The rapidly expanding company is the brainchild of Bavarian music scholar Bernhard Fritsch whose mission statement in a rapidly shrinking global village is ``to surmount musical and geographical borders.'' Audience figures have climbed steeply in just one year for the new ``music on click'' phenomenon. It started last year with a concert in Munich by Michael Jackson that attracted 10 million hits. Next came Luciano Pavarotti in Helsinki and then McCartney in Liverpool. As the technology improves, the potential for online entertainment is potentially monumental. Next stop is the North American ``Into the Millennium'' tour by the Backstreet Boys and MCY.com, now headquartered in New York, is confident McCartney's record can be smashed. ``Absolutely no doubt about it,'' said Ernst. ``We will be offering up the webcast for three months. I am convinced the McCartney figure will be topped. Just look at their fan base.'' The Backstreet Boys, whose latest album sold more than 28 million copies worldwide, will also be offering backstage footage and interviews in the web package that will retail for under $10. Ernst said that the Internet was pushing at an open door with pop stars. ``They love it. It is a way of going directly to their fans,'' she told Reuters at Midem. ``Pavarotti adored it, McCartney thought it was the coolest thing and did a little Thank You video for us afterwards.'' For the day has come when fans can download a vast catalogue of stars from Tina Turner to Louis Armstrong. ``This is the way the industry is going,'' Ernst concluded. Comment on this item. Next Item: RCA to Release 6'th Annual GRAMMY Nominees Albums Prev Item: Backstreet Aim For Web Record