gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.spa	Asia Spa and Wellness Promotion Council Limited	tld.asia	View

Following from #20b “Relationship and Appropriateness of the Selected TLD string with the Community”, the selected TLD string “spa” perfectly matches with the name as well as the philosophy of the spa and wellness community.

1. Name

“Spa” is the name for which the community is commonly known by others. Almost all the associations in the community uses the word “spa” as a distinctive element in its name. The activity or its facilities are sometimes known as “bath” or “springs” (more common in the past), but in the present day, the predominant trend is to use the name “spa”.

The community often identifies itself as the “spa and wellness” community. The Registry has studied the different possibilities for representing the community with a TLD string, including for example, .spa, .well, .wellness, .saw, etc. None of the alternatives come close to the choice of “.spa” as a short, representative and meaningful representation of a key distinctive spirit and cohesion describing the community.

2. Identify

The applied for string: “spa” closely describes the community and the community members. Almost all the associations in the community uses the word “spa” as a distinctive element in its name. Many members of the community, i.e. spa operators and providers include or integrate the word “spa” in its own company name, and almost all of them include the word “spa” in the description of their business.

Based on research conducted by the Registry, we are aware that the string “spa” is also used in three other contexts:
- the municipality of Spa in Belgium
- the short form of ʺSocietà Per Azioniʺ means “stock corporation” in Italy and is often denoted in the short form: ʺS.p.A.ʺ
- the short form of ʺSpondyloarthropathyʺ, a medical term for any joint disease of the vertebral column

While the municipality of Spa in Belgium was likely the inspiration of the use of the term “spa” in its present day meaning as a generic description, the .spa TLD is not intended to serve the town of Spa in Belgium. The registry is also aware of the use of the term “S.p.A.” to mean ʺSocietà Per Azioniʺ (i.e. stock corporation) in Italy, as well as a short form of the medical term “Spondyloarthropathy”. Neither of which is associated with the use of the term “spa” in its most accepted meaning and the meaning for which the .spa TLD intends. Furthermore their usage is significantly less prevalent than the use of the term “spa” in its present day generic descriptive meaning. As such, the registry does not believe that the use of the term over-reaches substantially beyond the community.

Further explanation is provided in 4. Uniqueness below and further policies to mitigate its use for other possible designations are further discussed in #20e, #22 and #29.

3. Nexus

Most people inside and outside the spa community refer to spas and the spa community with the word “spa” as a distinctive descriptor. The location for which a member of the community operates is called a spa; a member of the community is often called simply a spa or in a more industrial descriptor a spa operator; and, products and services of members of the community are described as spa products and spa services. All of which utilizes the word “spa” as a distinctive element.

The word “spa” is the noun that the typical community member would naturally be called in the context. The term “spa” is not excessively broad and relates to the primary community of about 40,000 spas around the world, along with the community organizations, whose members are generally these operational spas.

4. Uniqueness

According to historians, the word spa has been a generic description since at least 1596 or perhaps as early as in the 1300s. The global public in general would refer to the word “spa” in its meaning as offered by the Dictionary.com:
1. a mineral spring, or a locality in which such springs exist.
2. a luxurious resort or resort hotel.
3. health spa.
4. a hot tub or similar warm-water hydromassage facility, usually for more than one person.
5. New England . soda fountain.

And Wikipedia (http:⁄⁄en.wikipedia.org⁄wiki⁄Spa):
“The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments.”

Understanding that the string “spa” is being used in other contexts, the Registry has done further research to assert that the word is predominantly used in a general point of view with the meaning as associated with the spa community.

In order to establish that the term “spa” is used on the Internet predominantly with the meaning for which is associated with spas as in places offering water treatment and holistic body, mind and spirit revitalization sessions, the following basic search exercise was conducted at the Google search engine:

Searching the keyword: “spa” minus “-belgium” in Google returned about 4,020,000,000 results;
Searching the keyword: “spa” minus “-italy” in Google returned about 3,880,000,000 results;
Searching the keywords: “spa” and “health” in Google returned about 537,000,000 results;
Searching the keywords: “spa” and “Belgium” in Google returned about 108,000,000 results;
Searching the keywords: “spa” and specifying “Italian” as the language in Google returned about 263,000,000 results;
Searching the keywords: “spa” and “Spondyloarthropathy” in Google returned about 168,000 results
Searching the keywords: “spa” and “soda fountain” in Google returned about 2,340,000 results

Based on the results, it can be seen that by taking away either “belgium” or “italy” as part of the search term, the total number of results returned (about 4 Billion) is significantly over the number if they were included as part of the search (about 100 Million). On further analysis of the results, for those even including the terms “belgium” or “italy” the results are predominantly related to spas as understood in general and as a designator identifying the community. Given that the town of Spa is relatively small with a total population of only around 10,000, and that the origins of the use of the word “spa” in its present day meaning relates to the town’s own spas, the Registry believes that it should not take away from the fact the only significant meaning of the term “spa” is the one for which the Registry intends to promote.

The use of “S.p.A.” as a short form for the Italian form of stock corporation: ʺSocietà Per Azioniʺ is also relatively much less prevalent than the word as intended for the spa community. Furthermore, a more proper and popular way of denoting the form of corporation is “S.p.A.” with the periods included. While this is an important usage of the string “SpA”, the Registry believes that it should not take away from the significant meaning of the word “spa” in its intended use for the spa community as a TLD. Furthermore, additional preventive measures can be put in place to mitigate against any concerns for abusive utilization of the TLD in this manner.

The use of “SpA” as a short form for the medical term “Spondyloarthropathy” is not popular among the general public (with only 168,000 results returned). As this is a very specialized use of the term for the medical profession, the Registry does not believe that it represents a significant over-reach.

Finally, the use of “spa” for soda fountains can be understood as an adaptation, from its popular meaning as intended by the Registry, i.e. the element of a water spring. Therefore again, the Registry believes that this meaning does not form a substantive usage of the word and therefore should not be considered a significant over-reach beyond the community.

In summary, none of the other uses of the string “spa” carries another significant meaning in the common language used in the community and in the global general public as a whole.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.MUSIC	DotMusic ⁄ CGR E-Commerce Ltd	music.us	View

The .MUSIC string relates to the Community by:
- Completely representing the entire Community. It relates to all music-related constituents using an all-inclusive, multi-stakeholder model
- Directly communicating that the content is music- related and representing the Community in a positive and beneficial manner consistent with the .MUSIC Purpose and Use policy
- Incorporating enhanced policies and safeguards matching Community needs
- Branding music-related constituents⁄entities on the Internet through a unique music-identifying suffix
- Serving the Community by implementing supporting services that are built and recommended by Community stakeholders and brought to .MUSIC through its multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee
- Creating a source of creativity, cultural identity, recreation and employment through a music-themed TLD
The .MUSIC affiliation with the Music Community, including interconnected functional activities, relate to the same groups identified by the Cultural Ministers’ Council’s “Statistical Framework for the Music Sector” scoping study (H. Hoegh-Guldberg and R. Letts, Statistical Framework for the Music Sector, 2005 www.culturaldata.gov.au⁄sites⁄www.culturaldata.gov.au⁄files⁄A_Statistical_Framework_for_the_Music_Sector.pdf):
- Musicians including composers & songwriters
- The recording industry including record companies, producers, manufacturers, distributors of physical⁄digital products, studios and self-produced recordings
- Audiences at all public performances and venue operators
The Community is not subject to merely commercial⁄financial variables. The music Community is driven primarily by technology and the socio-cultural environment that influence music-related media cultures and consumer behavior, including the Community itself.
The socio-cultural environment drives the TLD, including the cultural diversity that provides space within the Community for many genres⁄participants, general socioeconomic and demographic factors and their impact on diverse local environments, and the support that the Community gives to new creators⁄performers. The string and Community share a particular cultural ambience: a sensitivity and preference for certain cultural expressions. The ambience is diverse and influential: music preferences of different sections of the society vary, ranging from metal to classical; Socio-economic distributions and demographic patterns, such as age.

.MUSIC will take these factors that relate to cultural-identity into consideration and add value to the Community through the Premium Channels sorted to address NAICS classifications, genre (e.g www.Reggae.music), style, mood, language and other culturally-significant music attributes to catalyze innovation, music identification and to bolster:
The cultural relationship between .MUSIC and the Community is based on the creation of a mutually beneficial ecosystem that is driven by value generation and supports value chains that make a difference that truly matters to:
• Creators, performers, bands, ensembles & orchestras
• Live performances
• Recording
• Airplay
• Distribution
• Others (e.g film, video, advertising)
.MUSIC relates to the Community by representing all constituents involved in music creation, production and distribution, including government culture agencies and arts councils and other complementor organizations involved in support activities that are aligned with the .MUSIC mission.
.MUSIC strategic activities that relate to the Community focus on:
• Creativity, skill and talent
• Wealth and job creation through the generation, protection and exploitation of intellectual property
• Creating music-related intangible inputs that add economic and social value
• Connecting music-related content in a meaningful and organized manner that will benefit both the Community and Internet users.
These strategic activities are consistent with the creative industries strategy that was defined, refined and introduced by the Blair U.K government through the Creative Industries Task Force started in 1997 (U.K Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS 2001), Creative Industries Mapping Study - www.culture.gov.uk⁄global⁄publications⁄archive_2001⁄ci_mapping_doc_2001.htm).

Michael Chanan (Short History of Recording and its Effects on Music, 1995) and Peter Martland (Business History of the Gramophone Company Ltd (1887-1918), 1992) identify factors shared by the Community:
• Music offers the opportunity of enhancing Community earnings
• Music can spread the fame of members of the Community widely, as far afield as the Community’s distribution systems permit
• Fame can be further exploited using global transport systems for touring
• Music, by virtue of its permanence, can create a form of immortality for Community members, which prior to the invention of sound technology had been denied to them
The Community and the .MUSIC string share a core value system of artistic expression with diverse, niche subcultures and socio-economic interactions between music creators, their value chain, distribution channel, and ultimately engaging fans as well as other music constituents subscribing to common ideals.
The Community genre dynamics are akin to those found in other culturally-driven Communities identifying cultural identity such as those relating to nationality, language, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion. Just like languages such as English, music theory follows an organized set of rules relating to composition and performance.
A Community music genre is a conventional category that identifies music belonging to a Community-shared tradition or set of conventions. Cultural criteria relating to genres include a combination of art type; time period; regional⁄national origins; and social function.
Fabbri defines genre as “a kind of music, as it is acknowledged by a community for any reason or purpose or criteria, i.e a set of music events whose course is governed by rules accepted by a community” and it is “characterized by cultural features.” Genres are characterized using the following types of rules, of which only the first is related strictly to music content:

• Formal & technical: Content-based practices
• Semiotic: Abstract concepts communicated
• Behavior: How composers, performers and audiences appear and behave
• Social & ideological: Genres and demographic links such as age, race, sex, political views
• Economical & juridical: Laws and economic systems supporting a genre

(F. Fabbri, Theory of Musical Genres, Popular Music Perspectives, 1981)

Genres inform musicians how they are influenced by identification with different communities and by the music industry (J. Toynbee, Making Popular Music: Musicians, Creativity & Institutions, 2000).

Music genres have “significant importance beyond simply its utility in organizing music. The Community actively identifies culturally with certain genres of music, as can easily be observed in the differences in the ways that many fans of death metal or rap dress and speak, for example. Genre is so important to listeners, in fact, that psychological research has found that the style of a piece can influence listeners’ liking for it more than the piece itself (A. North, & D. Hargreaves, Liking for Musical Styles, Music Scientae,1997).”

Genre is an “intentional concept shared by a given community, much in the same way we ascribe and interpret meanings to words in our languages” akin to a “linguistic category. Music is founded not on intrinsic properties but on extrinsic habits (F. Pachet, Representing Musical Genre: A State of the Art, Journal of New Music Research, 2003).” The Premium Channels will be organized to reflect these Community cultural nuances

.MUSIC & COMMUNITY SUPPORT
See 20f for documented support from institutions⁄organizations representing majority of the Community and description of the process⁄rationale used relating to the expression of support.