Two music-industry power players -- former Capitol Records President Gary Gersh and manager John Silva (Beck, Beastie Boys) -- are forming an Internet record company they hope will attract name artists as well as new talent.

"It became apparent to John and I that what we wanted to do was be involved in something that was as much about the future as it was about the past," Gersh, 42, said. Gersh, a 25-plus-year veteran of the music business, is best known for signing Nirvana to Geffen Records in the early '90s.

The men last year formed the GAS Entertainment Company, which also manages such superstar rock acts as Sonic Youth, the Foo Fighters and punk-rockers Rancid. On Tuesday, Gersh and Silva announced that they had become co-presidents of the den.music group, a new division of the Internet entertainment company Digital Entertainment Network (www.den.net). DEN has begun creating youth-oriented television programs for viewing on the Internet.

"[John and I are] both people that love the record business, which I don't believe is going away, or will be taken over by online sales," Gersh said. "But we felt that, with the DEN people, there was a possibility for creating something that was brand new ... [taking] the best of what we learned in the record business over the last 20 years but also the best of what we're learning in the future of marketing and e-commerce."

According to Gersh, the den.music group plans to use such DEN Web video programs as "Fear of a Punk Planet," "Aggronation" and in-development shows focused on electronica, teen music, rave and Rock en Español to market the music of both major and independent record labels. He also said the promotional opportunities for using music in DEN's shows extends beyond just offering the recordings for sale on DEN's site. He suggested the possibility of creating entire programs starring, conceived, directed or produced by the artists for much less than the cost of a traditional music video.

"We're keeping an open mind," Gersh said, adding that he and his partner will consider whatever works to distribute music. "We're technological and format agnostics. We think it all should work."

The den.music label wants to sign both new and established acts, Gersh said, although no acts are signed yet. Gersh said he would like to have the label's first release out by the end of 1999 or early 2000.

Like the recently launched Internet music label Atomic Pop -- started by another ex-major label president, former CBS and MCA Records President Al Teller -- den.music pledged to enter artist-friendly contracts that Gersh said would include a 50/50 across the board split with artists and shorter term recording contracts. Gersh said he could not detail how the 50/50 split would work, but he intimated it would be aimed at building career relationships with artists without holding them to long-term contracts.

Atomic Pop signed hip-hop band Public Enemy to a one-album deal earlier this year. Walter Leaphart, who manages Public Enemy's Chuck D (born Carlton Ridenhour), said established artists are going to be signing more such deals in the future -- as well as deals that allow them to control at least 50 percent of the rights to their master recordings -- to maintain more power and mobility in a rapidly changing industry.

"If it's a good relationship and you can roll with it, the artist will stay," Leaphart said. "It's a partnership; the artist is not an employee."

Gersh is credited with signing to Geffen pioneering '90s bands Nirvana, Hole and the Counting Crows during his tenure that began in 1985. He later inked deals with ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters and rockers Everclear and Paul Westerberg while he was president of Capitol Records.

While it has been widely rumored that the Foo Fighters might be among the first bands signed to Gersh and Silva's new label, Gersh quashed that notion. "We've been involved with Dave for years, and this is a great opportunity for Dave to see what the market has for him," Gersh said. "But we're just getting started and he has a record that's almost done, so the schedule doesn't seem right."

After parting with Capitol in June 1998, Gersh formed GAS with Silva, who had recently stepped down as president of the high-power rock management firm Gold Mountain. Silva has led the careers of a number of major rock artists, including Beck, Nirvana, Sonic Youth and the Beastie Boys, and he retains those artists as clients.

Despite a potential deal with Hollywood superagent Mike Ovitz that Gersh said was worth considerably more than the $50 million quoted in media reports, the pair decided to go with DEN because of the pedigree of its founders, Gersh said. "We didn't want to be in one box in one business," Gersh said of the Ovitz deal.

"Mike [and his investors] needed a firm commitment that we would focus 100 percent on just building a record company, and what we wanted to do is build a record company that is also a marketing center," Gersh explained. "[DEN] had the smart, exciting, young people that will give us the ability to form something pretty different."

DEN was co-founded by Mark Collins-Rector, who launched one of the first Internet service providers, the Concentric Network, eight years ago. Software giant Microsoft is among the companies that have invested in DEN.

Also in the works for the den.music group is a worldwide radio network of hundreds of stations playing both den.music artists and artists from other labels, Gersh said.