• by February 6, 2004

The drumroll to the Grammy Awards has begun and while Justin Timberlake is set to perform on the CBS broadcast Sunday night, Janet Jackson is banned from the show. Meanwhile, America Online is preparing to stream Clive Davis' big pre-Grammy party on Saturday night. The party will be streamed live to members and non-members. The event begins Saturday night at 9:30 PST, 12:30 EST. See today's story here:

https://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsID=237322

A live stream, like live television, suggests that something equally, or more outrageous than Janet's breast-baring stunt could happen again. AOL doesn't need that. But artists are artists and spontaneous, free-spirited acts of rebellion, parody, and guerilla PR are par for the course. Then again, if publicists are involved there's no such thing as genuine spontaneity.

AOL says it doubts there will be a problem. For one thing, the event is late, it's Clive and classy, it's an exclusive guest list and so forth. Besides, AOL says it will deploy a tape delay technology during the live streaming that will help filter potentially offensive hijinks. I wondered if Janet is invited to the party. A publicist handling the guest list for Clive Davis' J Records label declined to reveal invited guests. Live streams are a good thing-but anything can happen. I say let the chips fall where they may. Just think of the audience AOL could have racked up if it had decided to go ahead with its plans to stream the Super Bowl half-time show. All it had to do was cover the offending "spot" with a blur and let the audience decide.