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January 1, 2001

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Innovators And Influencers 2001

He's Got An Ear For Online Music

Aram Sinnreich hits the high notes with expertise in new media

By Tony Kontzer

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sk Jupiter Research's Aram Sinnreich about how he's come to be one of the foremost experts on digital music distribution at the ripe old age of 28, and the word serendipity comes up quite a bit. There was no master plan, no narcissistic vision of being quoted in Rolling Stone and The Wall Street Journal. A lifelong series of interests and circumstances led to his appearance on the radar screens of new-media executives seeking stamps of approval for their latest products and services. A senior analyst in online media programming and distribution who specializes in music and entertainment, Sinnreich says, "It was never my intention to become an online-music guru."

Intent aside, Sinnreich is just such a guru, and his opinions are likely to be a powerful influence in 2001. What does he opine for the year? More integration between file-sharing and music-locker concepts; lots of experiments in wireless music distribution; an aggressive music strategy from America Online; the emergence of Microsoft as a dark horse in online music; and the elevation of Ogg Vorbis, an open format for music encoding, to media-darling status.

Aram Sinnreich Sinnreich, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., grew up with a profound love of all things musical. He's an accomplished bass player in his own right, having recorded and performed extensively with Brave New Girl, a group fronted by his wife, Dunia, a singer. He followed up an English degree with a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, where he refined the writing and analytical skills that are key to his profession. Along the way, a low-level position at former EMI Recorded Music label SBK Records taught him that the music industry could be summed up like so: Sell lots of records and you're a genius. The musician in him was appalled. The journalist in him was intrigued. The industry influencer in him was born.

DREAM JOB :
Talk show host (a la Charlie Rose)

CHARITABLE WORK MOST PROUD OF:
Playing music in an AIDS hospice for LifeBeat

UNWANTED STOCKS :
Anything beginning with "cyber" or a lower-case "e"

2001 VACATION :
South Korea

WANTS TO DO IN 2001:
More exercise; less worrying

He came to Jupiter in 1997. An interview for a "digital-sweatshop" position turned into an offer to become a research associate and editor of Jupiter's Interactive Content newsletter. He suggested to his boss and mentor, Mark Mooradian, who headed Jupiter's content group, that the time was right to develop a music practice. Jupiter eventually followed through and made Sinnreich an analyst in its new music practice in the spring of 1999. He was promoted to senior analyst in October.

Mooradian says Jupiter had always planned to do music research sooner or later. The explosion of digital music distribution made it sooner. "He's great in this space because he's a musician and he's got a lot of experience in the various facets of the industry," says Mooradian, now a Jupiter VP and senior analyst. "He's at the top of his field."

New-media executives who depend on Sinnreich seem to agree. Larry Miller, president of digital-rights-management company Reciprocal Entertainment in New York, says Sinnreich demands respect. "We certainly do need his stamp of approval, and he makes us work for it," Miller says. "We know when we meet with Aram that we have to be on our toes and prepared for just about anything." While Sinnreich's expert opinions place him in a position to wield great influence in the digital-music arena, he clearly has bigger things in mind. "I live in constant fear of being a lifer analyst," Sinnreich says. "I actually want to do stuff."