NASHVILLE |DATE: SEPTEMBER 20, 1996
FROM: MITCH SCHNEIDER/TRESA REDBURN
DAVID BOWIE
DAVID BOWIE RELEASES NEWLY RECORDED SONG "TELLING LIES" EXCLUSIVELY ON THE INTERNET; THE TRACK WAS DEBUTED SEPTEMBER 11, WITH TWO DIFFERENT MIXES OF THE SONG TO SOON BE UNVEILED EXCLUSIVELY AT OFFICIAL DAVID BOWIE WEBSITE WWW.DAVIDBOWIE.COM THE FIRST ON SEPTEMBER 18, THE OTHER ON SEPTEMBER 25, BOTH AT 11:00 PM EST
"I often plunge myself into the deep end of a situation just to see what happens," said DAVID BOWIE to his fans on the night of September 11.
It's a quote that summed up the extraordinary Internet event which took place at http//:www.davidbowie.com.
That‰s where BOWIE–in an unprecedented move–exclusively released his newly recorded song, "Telling Lies." 300,000 "hits" were registered at the live event, according to Virgin Records, BOWIE's U.S. record company.
Notably, the song–a hybrid of rock and underground dance rhythms–is not available in any store or distributed to any radio station.
And two other mixes of the song will also be made available to fans exclusively via the Internet, the first on September 18, the other on September 25, both at 11:00 PM ET.
The September 11 event began as an interactive scenario (accessed in CompuServe's Convention Center and on the web at http://www.compuserve.com/bowie), whereby BOWIE was joined at a secret New York City location by two impostors: BOWIE guitarist Reeves Gabrels and Patrick Briggs from Psychotica, a Bowie-influenced group which was recently on the Lollapalooza tour.
Each "BOWIE" answered questions from the fans who ultimately voted on whom they believed to be the real BOWIE (all three "BOWIES" wore caps to conceal their identity). Even though the real DAVID BOWIE told the truth in every answer, fans actually placed him last in their vote behind their first (Briggs) and second (Gabrels) choices.
Sample question: "What are the contents of your wallet now?"
DAVID #1: "Because I'm an Englishman, I don't have a wallet. I just have a room key."
DAVID #2: "American Express, platinum card, three condoms and two hundred dollars."
DAVID #3: "Passport, a driver's license, and no money."
Another question: "What is the reason you chose to do these four ballroom shows?"–an inquiry about BOWIE'S sold-out East Coast weekend shows (9/6 in Philadelphia, 9/7 in Washington D.C., 9/13 in Boston and 9/14 in New York City), which he scheduled for fun while recording his new album in New York for release in early '97, titled Earthlings.
DAVID #1: "Cause they're all within driving distance of New York so we can drive back and get into the studio."
DAVID #2: "Well, I've always liked ballrooms. I've always liked Fred Astaire. I figured this is one way to see those places I always wanted to see as a child."
DAVID #3: "Well, I quite like the intimacy of a small room as most artists do."
(Note: The real DAVID BOWIE will be revealed at the end of this press release.)
At the end of the guessing-game interview, the real BOWIE fielded questions about everything, from the three different mixes of "Telling Lies" (BOWIE's "Feelgood" jungle mix, the "Paradox" mix from A Guy Called Gerald, and the "Adam F." mix) to the secret behind, as one fan asked, his "longevity in a business that burns up talent so quickly."
Replied BOWIE: Strong willpower and a good pair of socks."
Some interesting facts about this Internet event:
- On the world wide web, users who wanted something more than the event's live transcript could download enhanced CU-SeeMe software and witness the audio/visuals of the event in color. This works like standard teleconferencing equipment except that it runs over the internet and works even at modem speeds of 28.8.
- Users got the audio of the conference and saw all three Davids in silhouette until the real David was revealed with full lighting, at which point he answered 15 minutes worth of questions on his own.
- While there was an incredibly high demand for the event live, users who did not get to the live conference can now access paces detailing how to access the rebroadcasts.
- The "hit" count for accessing the site has remained steady at 300,000 hits per day, since 9/9, essentially as much as the system can handle.
- In the first four days of release, there were over 46,000 downloads of the track–over 10,000 per day–which is pretty much server capacity.
- The next version of "Telling Lies" (9/18) will premier Progressive Network's new Real Audio player, which means the sound quality of the streamed audio will be twice as good. All three mixes will be available in this new, improved format.
Note: As for the identities of the three DAVID BOWIEs, they are as follows: the real DAVID BOWIE (#1), Reeves Gabrels (#2), and Patrick Briggs (#3).
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