A Formula for Download Freeloaders

So far the Internet’s been largely a free lunch for music fans--and a year or so into the downloadable music explosion, many in the music business are still wondering whether fans will pay for music files by star acts.

The English band Bush is trying to provide an answer. Thus far, such artists as Tom Petty, Alanis Morissette and Chris Cornell have made songs available for download for no charge as ways to build buzz, sign up fans on an e-mail database or draw traffic to a Web site.

But Bush is charging for downloads of its single “The Chemicals Between Us,” which just went on sale as an MP3 file via the EMusic site (https://www.emusic.com) for a fee of 99 cents. Already a hit on rock radio, the song is the first track previewing the band’s album “The Science of Things,” which doesn’t come out until Oct. 26. And since the song won’t be sold as a CD single in stores, this is the only way to legally own a copy.

Rob Kahane, co-president of Bush’s label, Trauma Records, says it’s an attempt to tackle the issues of Internet bootlegging and revenue from downloaded music. They took the step after Bush singer Gavin Rossdale found the song available in bootleg copies that not only were done without fees going to the band, but were also of inferior quality--often even taped off the radio.

“We’d found that one of our successful acts is being pirated on the Internet and the artists are not getting paid,” Kahane says. “But if you make something available to kids and it’s very accessible and downloadable in quick fashion and is of the highest quality, the chances are kids will go to that and pay the 99 cents rather than steal it somewhere else.”

Bush is offering other enticements on EMusic, including a free copy of the song’s video, with bonus behind-the-scenes footage, to anyone ordering the full CD via the site. And when an upcoming single, “Jesus Online,” is made available for download sale at midnight of New Year’s Day, it will be accompanied by at least one unreleased bonus track.

The “Chemicals” sale effort will be closely scrutinized by other artists and record company executives.

“This is the first mega-group actually selling a song over the Internet and absolutely it will be watched,” says Ron Rodrigues, editor in chief of music business weekly Radio & Records. “It’s a baby step that they’re using to see if there will be a lot of illegal replication of the song or if it will legitimately sell a lot, which I think it probably would. . . . And it’s the first step in what will be a floodgate down the road.”

The actual download of “Chemicals” proved relatively simple in a Pop Eye test, though with the same potholes familiar to anyone who has downloaded files or ordered CDs via the Internet. The EMusic home page has a link to the Bush page, but if you don’t have an account to the site you need to register with name, address and credit card before attempting to order the download. After the order is confirmed, a link directs you to the download page. On a 56K modem, the download took about 11 minutes. Once completed and accessed via a Winamp player, the sound quality was terrific.

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THE NEON LIGHTS ARE BRIGHT: Broadway’s a street, right? So Steve Rifkin figures he can sell music that comes from there as well as he sells hip-hop. His Loud Records label has had tremendous success with its Street Teams, the company’s trademark grass-roots marketing crews that have boosted such rap acts as the Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep. Now, thanks to a twist in Loud’s new deal aligning it with Sony Music, he’ll be applying the same methods to musical theater cast albums. Part of the Sony deal has Loud taking over the semi-independent Sony subsidiary Relativity, which has a line of musical cast recordings. First up in that vein for Loud will be albums from London stage productions of “Oklahoma!” and “Dr. Dolittle.”

“In New York, whether you’re on 125th Street uptown, or in the theater district, or in the rock scene in the Village, [music] all comes from the streets,” Rifkin says. “It’s especially true for Broadway, where word of mouth makes or breaks a show. It’s the same concept we have on the rap side--make that great record and have great reviews and we can sell millions even without airplay.”

Rifkin even sees Loud getting into the production of musicals, much as Geffen Records was involved in such hits as “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Cats.”

Meantime, though, he also has his sights set on using Sony’s channels to maximize Loud’s potential at the hot rap-rock crossroads. Working in part with Rick Rubin, the producer-executive whose American Recordings is also a Sony wing, he’s planning a “Loud Rocks” album featuring rock acts doing versions of some of Loud’s biggest hits. Among those lined up to perform are Everlast, System of a Down, Incubus, Shootyz Groove and Sick of It All, with songs to include Mobb Deep’s “Survival of the Fittest,” Wu-Tang’s “Shame on a Nigga” and Big Pun’s “Still Not a Player.”

“Someone asked me recently, ‘This is a hip-hop label?’ ” says Rifkin. “I want to build a Loud brand. A&M; started off as Herb Alpert playing the trumpet, and then they got into R&B; and rock.”

ORANGE CRUSH: Looks like KROQ-FM (106.7) is flying south for winter like ducks on a pond--the Pond, to be exact. The annual KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas charity concert is expected to move this year to the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim. Booted out of the Universal Amphitheatre last year due to scheduling conflicts with the Rockettes, it landed at the Shrine Auditorium for a two-night run.

That proved expensive in terms of production costs (unlike the Universal, the Shrine doesn’t have built-in rock concert sound and lights). And many of the performers felt the building’s classy environs dampened some of the excitement--though that wasn’t a problem when the MTV Video Music Awards took over New York’s Metropolitan Opera last month.

So with the Rockettes back at the Universal again this year (as they will be for the following three years as well), KROQ went house-hunting once more. The new Staples Center was said to be a candidate, but scheduling reportedly proved a problem there, with the Lakers, Clippers and Kings all in season.

KROQ representatives would not confirm the move, preferring to save its announcements until closer to the event itself, with Dec. 11 looking like the date (the Pond can hold twice as many people as the Universal or Shrine, so it will probably be just one show this year). Among the acts expected to play are Bush and Lenny Kravitz.