Eight-time Grammy winner, record producer Phil Ramone, has been hired by web music producers N2K (“Need To Know”) to create a music label linked to the Internet.

Ramone will be President of a division to be called N2K Encoded Music. In his new post, Ramone, will sign artists from all musical genres. He will also oversee the Music Boulevard site, one of the web’s most popular CD retail sites.

The first Encoded Music release is scheduled for early next year. It will be a compilation of the most popular jazz music chosen in a poll on N2K’s Jazz Central Station web site. All Encoded Music releases will be in the enhanced CD format, which plays on regular compact disc players and computers. Each disc will link users to an N2K-produced artist site on the Web.

Earlier this month, Music Boulevard presented Sammy Hagar at the AES Convention in Los Angeles. Hagar demonstrated a web audio transmission of unreleased music from his web site, via high-quality Liquid Audio technology. And in September, the company released a David Bowie single that was only available at Bowie’s web site (also created by N2K).

Eventually, N2K hopes to allow users to download entire recordings to their computers as direct purchases. They also intend to host cyberconcerts on the web. Other N2K web sites currently online include Classical Insites and Rocktropolis.

Los Angeles, CA. Warner Bros. Records (Time Warner) announced on the weekend that it is cutting staff at its black music division by 35 percent. Last week, PolyGram NV said it would lay off 400 staff and restructure its music operations to reflect declining music sales. And earlier in the month, Time Warner’s Atlantic Group cut more than 60 jobs and dropped a number of artists from its roster.

It’s all a sign of the times, as sales of music products decline throughout the world, across all categories. Other major record labels and distributors, including Sony, BMG, EMI and MCA have been reporting record rates of returns from retailers, and unusually high inventories in recent months. Record store closures and bankruptcies have also been making news.

The decline is expected to continue, even though general consumer spending is increasing in a strengthening economy. Many in the retail music industry say that consumers have finished replacing their record collections with compact discs.

Tewksbury, MA. Avid Technology Inc. has reported financial results for the third quarter of its fiscal year, ended September 30, 1996. For the third consecutive quarter, Avid recorded a net loss on its operations.

The loss amounted to $6.75 million (U.S.), against reported revenues of $114.7 million. This loss included one-time charges of $8.8 million associated with the decision not to release the Avid Media Spectrum product line.

“Our priorities remain the same as they have been for the past two quarters,” commented William J. Miller, Avid’s Chairman and CEO. “We are focused on generating cash flow, returning to profitability and developing and selling innovative products that meet the needs of our customers. We have instituted several companywide programs designed to improve our operating efficiency and we are scrutinizing all aspects of our business to achieve progress toward these goals.”

Two weeks ago, Avid announced the appointment of Clifford A. Jenks to the newly-created position of V-P, Worldwide Sales and Marketing.

Jenks was most recently COO of Zenith Data Systems. Prior to that, he was Apple Computer’s V-P of Sales and Marketing Support, where he was responsible for U.S. sales operations, marketing, channel finance and administration.

Avid Technologies is the parent company of Digidesign Inc., which manufactures the popular ProTools series of digital audio workstations.

Woodland Hills, CA. Spatializer Audio Laboratories today announced financial results for its third quarter of fiscal 1996, ended September 30, 1996. Revenues were $472,200 (U.S.), an increase of 76 percent over the third quarter of fiscal 1995. The company reported a net loss of $1,101,700 for the quarter, compared to a net loss of $849,822 a year earlier.

Spatializer reported that nine new OEM licensees were added during the quarter, bringing the total to 44 chip licensees. Also, nine new game developers signed up for the company’s Spatializer 3-D MAP™ positional audio enhancement software for Windows® ’95. The increase in licensing reflects both a new “bundled” licensing arrangement with Matsushita Electric Co., and a favorable ruling by the courts in a long-standing patent litigation with QSound Labs, Inc.

“The uncertainty and costs associated with twenty-two months of patent litigation are at long last behind us,” said Steven D. Gershick, President and CEO of Spatializer. “We have already begun to see very positive and immediate effects of this resolution in both substantial licensee growth and increased Spatializer chip sales. [also] we have seen our R&D investment begin to bear fruit during the quarter with the introduction of our N22™ Digital Virtual Surround™ technology for multi-channel discrete digital audio systems for DVD/DVD-ROM and home theater markets.”