.music

Status:	proposed
Type:	Niche
Community:	Music Industry

.music is one of proposed top-level domain names (TLD) dedicated for the use of the music industry. There are three entities applying for the .music string which include Constantine Roussos, Managing Director of CGR Ecommerce Ltd and founder of dotmusic initiative and Far Further, a top level domain development company led by Warner Music record producer Loren Balman and music journalist John Styll. The third contender is Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. (TLDH) in partnership with LHL TLD Investment Partners of Beverly Hills California (LHL).

Constantine Roussos dotMusic Initiative

The dot Music initiative was started by Constantine Roussos in 2005. He launched the dotMusic (music.us) website dedicated in gathering support for a petition to ICANN to approve the .music TLD for the global music industry. His initiative is supported by members of the music industry including bands, musicians, companies, professionals and many others. Based on the dotMusic website, Roussos initiative gathered more than 1.5 million signatures for the petition. The dotMusic initiative objectives include:

• Music Education
• Fight Against Piracy to Protect Trademarks and Music Intellectual Capital
• Promoting Arts and Global Music
• Innovation in Music and Internet Space

Roussos also gathers support from different social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Myspace. The myspace.music page has almost 4.3 million friends or followers. Aside from Roussos, Tina Dam, Robert Singerman, Ken Abdo, Bob Donnelly and John Simsom comprise the Leadership Team of dot Music initiative. The team plans to operate the .music TLD using the multistakeholder approach and a portion of the revenue generated from the .music TLD registrations will be donated to selected non-profit organizations. Registrations will be restricted to .MUSIC-accredited Community Member Organizations (CMOs).

Far Further Bid

Far Further aims to unite the global music industry through the .music TLD. The company aims to provide a secure domain space for the industry, promotion of music, protection of intellectual property rights and the advancement of music education.

It's executive team include:

• Loren Balman, CEO
• John Styll, President & COO
• John Frankenheimer, .music General Counsel
• Ralph Simon, Head of Global Development
• Paul Zamek, SVP Global Marketing
• Keith Thomas, VP of Artist Relations
• J. Beckwith Burr, .music Special Counsel
• Alexa Raad, CEO of Architelos/Strategic Adviser
• John Matson, COO of Architelos/Strategic Adviser
• Michael Young, CTO of Architelos/Strategic Adviser
• Norbert Grey, CFO of Architelos/Strategic Adviser

The company partnered with eNom, the second largest registrar and a subsidiary of Demand Media to provide back-end registry services. Far Further's bid to operate the .music TLD is supported by the Recording Industry Association of America, International Federation of Phonographic Industries and The Recording Academy. According to John Styll, the RIAA "support was a hard won. The RIAA put together a loose coalition of organizations from sectors from around the world and ran a pretty intensive RFI process.” He also added that, the .music TLD will be restricted and registrants must join the "Accredited Global Music Community Members” organization before they can register a domain name.

TLDH and LHL Bid

On March 23, 2012, TLDH and LHL signed a partnership agreement to apply for the .music TLD. Minds + Machines will provide the back-end registry solutions for the company. In a press release, TLDH CEO Antony Van Couvering said, “We’re thrilled to be working with leading music artists and professionals. This partnership brings financial weight and industry expertise to the table and confirms the value which we see in .music.”