They’re Surfing the Web for Unsigned Talent

What do Brian Wilson, Chris Cornell, former Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro, Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz and such top music business figures as producer-executive Rick Rubin and Atlantic Records Chairman Val Azolli have in common?

They’re all frustrated by the state of music on the Internet.

The Internet may be the future of music. But finding the music of the future on it is still an iffy proposition. Anyone who’s scoured the Net for undiscovered delights will tell you that while it’s still a cool novelty to be able to access a lot of music from all over the globe, most of it is, frankly, bad.

So those previously mentioned musicians and businessmen have all signed up as participants in “Born on the World Wide Web.” On the surface the venture is more or less the electronic global village version of an old-fashioned battle of the bands, but it is also designed to clear a path for truly worthy unsigned music on the Net to reach both the public and the professionals.

The endeavor is being launched this week by the Ultimate Band List, a music resource and retail Internet site run by ArtistDirect, the company founded by talent agents Marc Geiger and Don Muller. ArtistDirect partner and UBL President Steve Rennie says the idea is to provide a set of much-needed filters for the music.

During the contest’s three months, any unsigned act can submit a track, which will be assessed by panelists. Each week, each of the rotating judges’ Top 5 picks will be posted on a site where the public can seek out ones that match their tastes and interests.

To draw musicians, UBL is dangling prizes of demo recording deals with five major or major-associated labels (Atlantic, American and Time Bomb are officially signed on so far), and a performance slot on an awards show that will be held in October, featuring the Offspring and other name acts as well as the contest winners.

What’s the attraction for a record executive?

“I’m hoping to find a hit,” says Atlantic’s Azolli, who has embraced the Internet as a potential scouting tool. “I’ve spent a lot more money chasing a lot less. You never know where the next big thing is coming from. And another reason I’m doing this is record companies are portrayed as the bad old folks that refuse to accept the new technology. But CDs were the big boon of the ‘80s and this is the next big boon. I don’t want to be the bad, ugly record company.”