There may only be one Oasis but there are over 150 Web sites devoted to the band. All of them trade on common currency - information and gossip regarding the brothers Gallagher and the Other Three - yet all bar one are unofficial.
And, after the recent to-do, the number of unofficial sites may steadily decrease. According to the Oasis Webmasters for Internet Freedom (http:// falcon.cc.ukans.edu/jackm/ OWIF.htm), 35 sites stopped operating since letters were issued from the official band site in May asking unofficial sites' webmasters to remove all copyrighted material from their sites within 30 days or face legal action.
What makes the Oasis saga even more newsworthy is that the warning letters did not come from the band's label (Sony/Creation) as one would expect, but from the band's management, Ignition.
No wonder Noel Gallagher told MTV that he'd prefer Oasis fans to buy electric guitars rather than computers.
All very well but what, besides the official tag, does this site have that the others don't? Why go here rather than to say, http://www.algonet.se/ rico1/prodigy?
"They're Number One in 23 countries so it is difficult for them. There may be an opportunity for live video webcasts in the future. We also have a secure interface whereby the band can add comments and messages from anywhere around the world as long they can get access to the Internet."
THERE may only be one Oasis but there are over 150 Web sites devoted to the band. All of them trade on common currency - information and gossip regarding the brothers Gallagher and the Other Three - yet all bar one are unofficial.
And, after the recent to-do, the number of unofficial sites may steadily decrease. According to the Oasis Webmasters for Internet Freedom (http:// falcon.cc.ukans.edu/jackm/ OWIF.htm), 35 sites stopped operating since letters were issued from the official band site in May asking unofficial sites' webmasters to remove all copyrighted material from their sites within 30 days or face legal action.
It wasn't always like this. Once upon a time, before a URL became an essential tag on any marketing campaign worth its budget, the Net was one unofficial site after another because the only people providing information on a variety of subjects were the great unwashed. Web sites devoted to one particular star or artist (the online equivalent of inkie fanzines) allowed a vast number of fans and enthusiasts to tap into attitudes, views and opinions without fear or favour.
As the Net has developed, this aspect has become the subject of increased scrutiny - nowhere more so than in the music industry. As even its most Luddite labels have begun to realise the Net's intrinsic value, the bigger operations have started to wonder whether there is a significant piece of the action out there which they may not be getting.
What makes the Oasis saga even more newsworthy is that the warning letters did not come from the band's label (Sony/Creation) as one would expect, but from the band's management, Ignition.
No wonder Noel Gallagher told MTV that he'd prefer Oasis fans to buy electric guitars rather than computers.
A dispute like this casts doubts on just how much input that acts such as Oasis have into their own sites and on whether these acts have any real grasp of Net culture.
Of course, there's no reason why official and unofficial sites can't co-exist happily alongside one another. In many cases, the unofficial site is a far better bet than the official one for up-to-date information, news and gossip - especially when the record company has set an embargo on reviews or news. Some acts are astonished by the level of information available on fan sites - for example, Radiohead were amazed to discover a Web site in the US with full details on their OK Computer album long before the information became public knowledge.
In the case of The Prodigy, there were already plenty of fan sites available for dedicated clickers before http:// www.prodigy.co.uk opened for business on June 30th, the same day The Fat Of The Land went on sale. If the album's performance was unprecedented, the site was just as remarkable: 14,000 hits within 48 hours is quite a start, and one with which Stephen Morris at Birmingham's tw2, the site developers, is quite happy.
Their brief, from the band's management, was simple: "The aim was to give something back to the fans and to produce a site which would reflect The Prodigy and also reflect The Prodigy philosophy - to constantly be pushing back the boundaries and playing with people's perceptions. As the band's message reads at the entrance to the site, `Keep it raw, keep it real'. It's designed to give online Prodigy fans a focus with the use of exclusively written chat areas and billboards."
Stephen says the band had a significant input into the site at the start-up stage. "The site is fully approved by the band, with all the main elements and design issues being seen and OKed at several stages during the development. We have put ideas to the band and this has generated some great ideas from them. Some of these ideas are already present in the site, some are being developed for the future." Plans in the pipeline include online merchandising, Shockwave games and VRML chat forums.
All very well but what, besides the official tag, does this site have that the others don't? Why go here rather than to, say, http:// www.algonet.se/rico1/prodigy?
"Although both the band and developers give a lot of respect to people who dedicate their time to building unofficial sites, none of them manage to present such an integrated and stylish representation of the band online. To be fair, we have some of the most creative and talented designers and site builders available, so we're bound to produce a more impressive site."
Stephen stresses that there are no plans to "do an Oasis" with unofficial Prodigy sites. "There is no attempt to stop fans from publishing Prodigy Web pages - we have actually spent a lot of time collating an extensive list of unofficial Prodigy sites. We have been commissioned to provide a site for the fans and the logs to date show us that we've been successful. So far, the audio and video clips, the billboard and the chat areas are the most popular areas of the site. Our own WebTalk and WebBoard applications allow fans to use the site as a focus, and the comments they have left have been positive about the site."
The band's future involvement with the site remains unclear due to their busy schedule conquering the US and other markets. "They're Number One in 23 countries so it is difficult for them. There may be an opportunity for live video webcasts in the future. We also have a secure interface whereby the band can add comments and messages from anywhere around the world as long they can get access to the Internet."
For now, though, the only Net firestarting the Prodigy are getting up to is confined to basic information and selected soundfiles.
Jim Carroll is at: aliens@dircon.co.uk http://www.u2popmart. msn.com/