What was the first rock band in cyberspace?

In a well-publicized gambit to promote their pay-per-view broadcast on Showtime this Friday, the Rolling Stones broadcast 20 minutes of live audio and video from a performance at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Friday last week on the Internet, becoming the first major rock band to do so on that network of millions of computers. But their moment in the limelight was tarnished by a little-known band called Severe Tire Damage. Knowing that the channel carrying the Stones was open to anyone, and wanting to take advantage of the worldwide audience the Stones would attract, the group broadcast an impromptu performance from the Xerox PARC offices in Palo Alto, Calif., directly before and after the Stones concert.

"We didn't want to stamp on the Stones broadcast, but we did want to play before an appreciative audience," said Mark Weiser, who plays drums in Severe Tire Damage and works at Xerox PARC, the company that helped bring about the Internet service known as the Multicast Backbone, or M-Bone, which makes audiovisual broadcasting possible. The M-Bone, however, is not quite ready to replace television. The Stones show, for example, had low-quality sound and images and could be received by few computers.

Though the Rolling Stones claimed to be performing the first major concert live on the Internet in their press releases, they weren't the first band ever. At least three other groups beat them. A Seattle rock group called Sky Cries Mary claimed that distinction when it sent a live performance over the M-Bone two weeks ago, although a little-known band called Deth Specula was on the M-Bone in August, and Severe Tire Damage performed an hour-and-a-half show in June 1993.

The Internet has become the biggest promotional tool for the music industry since the invention of the press release. Nearly every major record label and many independent ones have staked out space on line, where they supply fans with information (and dispel rumors) about bands and offer pop musicians for live chat sessions. With only a fraction of the world's record buyers plugged into the Internet, however, what can be more valuable for a band is the publicity that comes with breaking new ground.