10/14/96 WHY MUSIC BOOTLEGGERS MAY BE SALIVATING

WHY MUSIC BOOTLEGGERS MAY BE SALIVATING

DAVID BOWIE HAS RELEASED a song via the Net with sound far surpassing previous cybertunes. But the music industry fears such efforts invite massive bootlegging.
Piracy has long plagued the $24 billion-per-year music biz. The Recording Industry Association of America says it loses $2 billion yearly to illegal tape and CD copies. ``Next is the Internet,'' groans an RIAA spokeswoman. The industry fears that crooks will download digital recordings for customers at a bootleg rate. (The Bowie download is free, but serves as a trial run for pay-per-download ventures later on.)
Word is out on Bowie's Telling Lies. N2K, the music Web site outfit that put the song online, counts 100,000 downloads since its Sept. 11 debut. Bowie, who couldn't be reached, agreed to a Net-only release, since it keeps the aging star ``cutting edge,'' says his label, Virgin Records. A massive 54-megabyte file, the song is pitch-perfect, in contrast to other Net music's muddy quality. Downloading can take over seven hours with a 28.8 modem, but faster modems and digital compression should eventually cut that to minutes.
EDITED BY LARRY LIGHT By Roy Furchgott