? about on-line music and film

[anne mcknight]

Since there's all the hooplah about alternative distribution & exhibition of
new media in the US press recently, I was curious what's going on in
Japan--if anybody knows.

I know there are sites like atom.com which "show" and distribute (i.e. sell)
short films on-line in the US, and of course there's Napster & gnutella for
music distribution/dissemination.  I'm curious, for those of you who teach &
otherwise hang out with today's youth, who tend to consume tons of music &
images, what the kids are saying about these new technologies, and
whether--in the spirit of earlier "dokuritsu pro" movements--they, or you,
see them as potentially viable and/or threatening to older forms of
distribution and exhibition.

Of course, I'd be glad to hear reports of any of these isues if they've
cropped up in the media, but am just as glad for ear-catching anecdotes &
observations.  Actually I'd be interested to hear ANY interpretations or
speculations from outside the US, e.g. the LoveBug thing (to which the
Silicon Valley industries reacted very differently than they did to
'home-grown' Napster) seemed incredibly interesting in terms of these
"intellectual property" questions too...

Thanks.