18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.MUSICDotMusic ⁄ CGR E-Commerce Ltdmusic.usView

The .MUSIC Mission⁄Purpose is:
• Creating a trusted, safe online haven for music consumption & licensing
• Establishing a safe home on the Internet for Music Community (ʺCommunityʺ) members regardless of locale or size
• Protecting intellectual property & fighting piracy
• Supporting Musiciansʹ welfare, rights & fair compensation
• Promoting music and the arts, cultural diversity & music education
• Following a multi-stakeholder approach of fair representation of all types of global music constituents, including a rotating regional Advisory Committee Board working in the Community’s best interest
The global Music Community includes both reaching commercial and non-commercial stakeholders. Details of Music Community Establishment can be found in question #20.

.MUSIC will effectively differentiate itself by addressing the key online usage issues of safety, trust, consistency, brand recognition as well as communicate site subject-matter: music-related content. The TLD will be exclusive to the Community and will incorporate enhanced safeguards and Use policies to protect creators, intellectual property and rights holders.

DotMusic will also provide non-registry services and activities which have been established through ongoing outreach efforts. Community members need to be able to distinguish themselves from illegal or unlicensed sites. Ensuring monies flow to rightful owners and the Music Community is critical to the .MUSIC Mission. Purpose-driven services and activities are:
1. Development of Music Community Social Network Premium Domain Channels (Channels) sorted by category types, e.g. genres. It will leverage Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices to improve .MUSIC website search result rankings. The objective is for .MUSIC domains to signal a badge of trust that enables search engines to provide music consumers more relevant and safer search results while reducing infringing and unlicensed rogue sites. Premium Channel development will also include a global Song Registry
2. Promoting arts and music through sponsorships, events and Music Community activities; Enriching society with artistic and cultural diversity;
3. Advancing music education and the study of music in school curriculum by donating proceeds of domain registrations to relevant causes
4. Re-inventing music discovery and search innovation by leading the way to establish the Industry standard for official music sites to benefit the at-large global Music Community and the Internet
5. Enabling legal music licensing via a global Song Registry akin to the International Music Registry (IMR - www.wipo.int⁄imr) & Global Repertoire Database (GRD - www.globalrepertoiredatabase.com ⁄ International Copyright Enterprise) initiatives.

The Mission⁄Purpose has been established through interactions with the Community via numerous outreach activities and upon experiences gained in previous ICANN new gTLD introductions. The Mission⁄Purpose is consistent with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments (AoC) and Basic Principles of the IMR with participants including RIAA, IFPI, SCAPR, ACTRA, SAMRO, IRSC, ECAD, CIAM). These include:

- The “vital importance of transparency, openness and non-discrimination.” (www.internationalmusicregistry.org⁄portal⁄en⁄basic_principles.html)
- “Ensuring accountability, transparency and the interests of global Internet users”, “enhancing the operational stability, reliability, resiliency, security, and global interoperability of the DNS” and “promoting competition, consumer trust, and consumer choice” while “adequately addressing consumer protection, malicious abuse, and rights protection issues” (www.icann.org⁄en⁄about⁄agreements⁄aoc⁄affirmation-of-commitments-30sep09-en.htm)

DotMusic Mission⁄Purpose guiding principles:

TRANSPARENCY OPENNESS & ACCOUNTABILITY
DotMusic has been an accessible and transparently visible .MUSIC applicant since 2008 communicating its intentions publicly at music events, online through its website and social media outreach, and through mainstream⁄non-mainstream media. The .MUSIC registration policies and protection mechanisms have been developed using a bottom-up, multi-stakeholder methodology with input from international Music Community members in both the commercial and non-commercial sector.

DotMusic serves the Community without conflicts of interest and is accountable to the Community by establishing an Advisory Committee & Policy Board with representation from each constituency in the Community. The Committee will advise and provide perspective on .MUSIC issues such as broad policy matters and introductions of new services to meet Community needs.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, COMMUNICATION AND OUTREACH
Since 2008, DotMusic has participated in over one hundred public events globally (www.music.us⁄events.htm), including public speaking engagements, keynote addresses, major music and domain conferences, festivals, events and expos; earned media (broadcast, online and print) in major mainstream publications, online press, and thousands of blog and social media mentions; over 1.5 million emails of support; top search engine results for .MUSIC site(s); and over 5 million social media followers; sponsored major Music Community events globally to explain the intended benefits of the .MUSIC TLD, requesting support and letters of intent or interest by partners or Music Community Member Organizations (mCMO) for this .MUSIC application.

Specific details of the these activities can be found in response to question 18b(vi). Support letters are attached in response to question 20f (Updated list: www.music.us⁄letters).
.MUSIC is trademarked in over 20 countries; has been using the brand in commerce (http:⁄⁄music.us⁄commerce), advertising and sponsorships, in domain registrations as an authorized reseller, merchandising and other commercial activities.

STANDARDS COMPLIANCE, SECURITY, RESILIENCY, AND STABILITY
Afilias is the DNS Registry provider for .MUSIC. Details of technical and operational capabilities matching the .MUSIC mission are provided in responses to questions #24-44.

COMPETITION, INNOVATION, FAIRNESS, AND CONSUMER CHOICE
Balanced domain registration restrictions and a broad Music Community definition ensures the entire Music Community can register .MUSIC domains, provides fairness in .MUSIC domain availability, advantaged branding position, avoid anti-competitive concerns and anti-trust actions.

The Premium Channels will maximize the competitive landscape and innovation in both the music and domain space.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION AND TRUST
In consultation with major music constituents, including multiple Coalitions (such as a Coalition that include the RIAA, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, IFPI, A2IM, FIM, CISAC, IMPALA, NMPA, SABAM, FIM and others), DotMusic has developed policies to protect intellectual property, fight piracy and ensure .MUSIC domains are allocated in a fair method so that music consumers and Internet users are assured the highest level of trust and authenticity when they visit a .MUSIC domain.

A Global Protected Marks Lists (GPML) will reserve all major music brands and established artists, such as RIAA-certified platinum-selling bands.

Phased launches provides rights holders a first-come in the .MUSIC Sunrise, auction of multiple initial landrush domain inquiries, and eventually allows all stakeholders of the Community to register. All registrants must adhere to restricted Use, Name and Anti-Abuse policies that will be monitored to prevent bad practices harming the Music Community.

Dispute mechanisms, compliance efforts, and data validation processes will provide an added level of trust.

DotMusic will conduct reviews of the applicability, usability, overall Community satisfaction. Results will be provided to the Music Community publicly for feedback and we look forward to providing review results and expertise in the ICANN Post-Launch

Similar gTLD applications: (0)

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixzDetail