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This is cool news. People can purchase and download, permanently, music online and even have the option to burn a limited number of tracks. It is, so far, available only in the US but we will see. I am betting that it's just for windows users. Damn Apple for making me switch.
NINE NEW DISTRIBUTION DEALS ANNOUNCED FOR
INITIAL U.S. LAUNCH WITH ALLIANCE ENTERTAINMENT, E-CAST, FULLAUDIO, LIQUID
AUDIO, LISTEN.COMS RHAPSODY, MUSICNET, PRESSPLAY, ROXIO AND
STREAMWAVES
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 13, 2002 EMI Recorded Music the worlds largest
independent record company today announced its enhanced digital download
distribution program for the U.S. in which the company will give consumers
through leading distributors the ability to download tracks permanently, the
technical capability to burn a limited number of personal copies and the
flexibility to import recordings to portable devices.
Beginning December 1, through agreements it has signed with Alliance
Entertainment Corp.; Ecast; FullAudio Corporation; Liquid Audio; Listen.coms
Rhapsody; MusicNet; pressplay; Roxio (NASDAQ: ROXI); and Streamwaves, EMI
will enable these distributors to sell tens of thousands of works as digital
downloads through the dozens of Internet service providers, portals and online
retailers they service, including AOL, Yahoo!, Earthlink, Verizon Online, MSN,
Cablevision Systems Corporation's Optimum Online (TM), Charter Communications,
DIRECTV Broadband, BestBuy.com, HP.com, MTV.com, MP3.com and SongPro.com.
Included will be works from artists such as Billy Idol, Blondie,
David Bowie, Coldplay, Joe Cocker, DC Talk, Duran Duran, Everclear, Fatboy Slim,
Pink Floyd, Norah Jones, Kottonmouth Kings, Dave Koz, Lenny Kravitz, Megadeth,
Kylie Minogue, Anne Murray, Tina Turner, Thalia, Keith Urban, The Vines,
Cassandra Wilson and The Beach Boys, as well as music
from legendary EMI catalogue artists such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin,
Nat King Cole and Selena. EMI will also offer
classical works such as recordings by Placido Domingo,
Sarah Chang and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Sir Simon Rattle as well as thousands of other recordings
in the country, jazz, gospel and Christian music genres.
As part of its new digital download program, EMI will enable consumers to
purchase radio singles from upcoming albums. EMI will give its
distributors the ability to sell these radio singles to the public in digital
download formats when the tracks debut on radio and before the albums street
date.
EMI has already made its recordings available to more than 60
companies around the world, mainly in temporary download or in streaming audio
formats. The companys new enhanced digital download program gives its
distributors more flexibility and upgraded formats to sell EMIs music to
consumers.
This is the next step in our plan to give consumers our music in the formats
they are demanding today, and to give our distributors maximum flexibility to
offer a wider range of options and a deep selection of music, said David Munns,
Chairman and CEO of EMI Recorded Music North America. Taste and demand
will change, but weve developed an initial framework that is good for
consumers, artists, customers and our business. In addition, we plan to
make more and more repertoire available.
"We're looking forward to working with EMI and integrating their content in
our digital distribution execution. This is another important building
block towards creating a permanent and legitimate digital distribution
environment," said Eric Weisman, President and CEO of Alliance
Entertainment.
"Ecast is very excited to build on our long-standing
relationship with EMI to offer consumers a wide range of digital music
everywhere they go, whether it's out-of-home on broadband-enabled jukeboxes, at
home on their PC or on-the-go with portable devices," said Robbie Vann-Adibé,
CEO of Ecast, Inc.
As the only completely independent digital music service provider, FullAudio
is pleased to expand our offering by providing consumers access to EMIs catalog
in an increasingly compelling way, said Chris Gladwin, CEO of FullAudio.
This is an important step forward in transforming the dreamproviding customers
with instantaneous access to secure digital musicinto a reality and a
legitimate business.
This latest agreement with EMI builds on our long standing strategic
relationship to encode, host, distribute and manage digital rights for EMIs
major label content, said Gerry Kearby, president and chief executive officer
at Liquid Audio, Inc. EMI, and 1,900 other record labels, have selected Liquid
Audios leading digital distribution system because it provides the most
advanced features and the broadest network of retailers when selling music
online.
Listens new agreement with EMI will give our subscribers the flexibility to
purchase and burn an even wider variety of music through Rhapsody, said Sean
Ryan, chief executive officer, Listen.com. This is a critical enhancement
to our service, and were glad to be working with EMI to offer Rhapsody
subscribers what they want: CD burning from EMIs extensive roster of
artists on a pay-as-you-go basis.
"As one of the first music services to offer broad portability, we're excited
to expand our relationship with EMI to now include the ability to burn, keep and
transfer EMI's great catalog of songs, as well as enjoy them through unlimited
streaming and downloading," said pressplay president and CEO Michael Bebel.
Alan McGlade, CEO of MusicNet, stated: EMI has a very aggressive plan
for providing digital music to the consumer, and this announcement, which
includes their commitment to provide digital rights to MusicNet, is another
important step towards doing just that. We are pleased to be working with EMI
and share their dedication to providing music fans with a quality digital music
experience. We are particularly excited about having the ability to offer
radio singles from upcoming albums when they hit radio, and in advance of the
albums street date.
"As the leader in CD recording, Roxio is already a very significant player in
the digital music infrastructure. We are delighted to extend our relationship
with EMI by now being able to offer consumers access to an incredible array of
music," said Chris Gorog, president and chief executive officer of Roxio.
Streamwaves is committed to delivering music to consumer in their format of
choice, said Streamwaves CEO Jeff Tribble. We are thrilled to extend our
relationship with EMI as part of our efforts to build the best music
service.
About EMI Recorded Music
EMI Recorded Music is the
worlds largest independent record company, operating in nearly 50 countries
around the world. Its record labels include Angel, Blue Note, Capitol,
EMI:Chrysalis, EMI Classics, Mute, Parlophone, Priority and Virgin.
About Alliance Entertainment Corp.
Alliance Entertainment
Corp. (www.aent.com) is a leading total
solution provider of business-to-business infrastructure services that are
essential to transact commerce in the home entertainment product
marketplace. Through its Distribution and Fulfillment Services Group,
Alliance offers an extensive product inventory (including CDs, cassettes, DVDs,
videos, video games and related merchandise) as well as e-commerce fulfillment
capabilities and innovative technology and support services for todays
marketplace. Through its Media and Internet Services Group, Alliance is a
leading distributor of digital entertainment as well as search, browse and
preview capabilities through Digital On-Demand and a leading content provider
through the All Media Guide (AMG) databases. AMGs customers license its
e-commerce enabling entertainment databases to support their Internet retailing
and content businesses. AMG is also a developer of proprietary web sites
for music (www.allmusic.com), movies (www.allmovie.com) and games (www.allgame.com).
About Ecast, Inc.
Ecast, Inc., founded in 1999, provides
a comprehensive platform for the secure delivery and management of digital
content to consumers in both the in- and out-of-home marketplaces. The
Ecast Interactive Media Network, available through broadband-enabled jukebox
systems and entertainment consoles internationally, allows millions of users to
enjoy a wide variety of content and applications including: digital music from
all of the major and many popular independent labels; interactive games from
some of the world's leading game publishers; a photography capture application;
and the best in sports, videos, news and more. Ecast's RioPort Division,
with offices in the U.S. and Asia, focuses on the aggregation, delivery and
management of secure digital content to personal devices, such as desktop
computers, portable music playback devices and Internet-enabled
appliances. Ecast customers include out-of-home venue operators in the
U.S. and Europe; leading online e-tailers such as BestBuy.com, MTV.com and
HP.com; and prominent consumer electronics manufacturers. For more
information, visit http://www.ecastinc.com
or call 877-451-1537.
About FullAudio Corporation
FullAudio Corporation
provides a platform and infrastructure that enables our channel partners to
deliver digital media services, such as digital sampling, streaming, and music
downloads. The company's unique approach allows our partners to quickly expand
their relationships with consumers by offering on-demand subscription services
or short-term promotions. FullAudio's platform and infrastructure makes it easy
for our channel partners to offer branded music services by incorporating the
software and systems that cover every aspect of music content aggregation and
delivery including: content acquisition and management; media storage and secure
delivery; digital rights management; and a service infrastructure. FullAudio
provides all of the back-office functionality, including billing, reporting and
analysis, and usage analysis. Currently, FullAudio also offers its service
through Charter Communications, Clear Channel Communications, Earthlink, and
Windows Media Player.
About Liquid Audio, Inc.
Liquid Audio, Inc. is a leading
provider of software, infrastructure and services for the secure digital
delivery of media over the Internet. The Liquid Audio solution gives
content owners, Web sites and companies the ability to publish, syndicate and
securely sell digital media online with copy protection and copyright
management. Using the Liquid(TM) Player software, available for free
download at www.liquidaudio.com,
consumers can preview and purchase downloadable music from hundreds of affiliate
Web sites in the Liquid Music Network(TM).
About Listen.com
Listen.com is a leading online music
company that develops and distributes Rhapsody, a digital music subscription
service. Launched in 2001, Rhapsody gives consumers unlimited access to the
world's largest library of music on the PC and via home networks &
Net-connected home stereo systems today, and on wireless devices in the future.
Rhapsody combines on-demand music, customized and professionally programmed
Internet radio, and engaging music information and editorial recommendations.
Rhapsody is available through Listen.com and a network of companies that
offer co-branded versions of the service, including Audiogalaxy, Cablevision
Systems Corporation's Optimum Online (TM), Charter Communications, DIRECTV
Broadband, Down Beat, JamBase, Lycos, Time Warner Cable's Road Runner high-speed
ISP, Sony's Musiclub, Speakeasy and Verizon Online. Founded in 1998, Listen.com
is based in San Francisco. Visit www.listen.com for more information.
Listen.com, the Listen.com logo and Rhapsody are trademarks of Listen.com, Inc.
All other company names are the property of their respective owners.
About MusicNet
MusicNet is a leading digital music
company. The most widely distributed digital music service for streaming,
downloading and burning music online, MusicNet offers the music of major and
independent record labels including Warner Music Group, BMG Entertainment, EMI
Recorded Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Zomba,
Ritmoteca and Sanctuary. As both a service and music content provider,
MusicNet supports companies seeking to fully integrate digital music services
into their online music offerings.
About pressplay
pressplay is the
leading online subscription service that offers music from across all genres,
unlimited listening and broad portability options. Launched in December
2001, pressplay is an equally held joint venture between Sony Music
Entertainment and Universal Music Group (a unit of Vivendi Universal), and has
offices in Los Angeles and New York City. Music companies, including BMG,
EMI Recorded Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and numerous
independent labels separately provide their content to pressplay on a
non-exclusive basis. Pressplay is marketed to consumers through
relationships with MP3.com, MSN Music, Roxio, Sony Music Club and Yahoo!
Visit www.pressplay.com for more
information.
About Roxio
Roxio, Inc. (Nasdaq:ROXI) provides the best
selling digital media software in the world. Roxio makes award-winning software
products for CD/DVD burning, photo editing and video editing. Roxio's family of
products includes category leading products Easy CD Creator ® (Windows) and
Toast ® (Macintosh) for CD/DVD burning, PhotoSuite ® for digital photography,
and VideoWave ® for digital video. Roxio also makes GoBack® , the #1 selling
system recovery software that enables PC users to instantly recover from system
crashes, virus attacks and data loss. Roxio's current install base is in excess
of 100 million users. Roxio distributes its products globally through strategic
partnerships with major hardware manufacturers, in stores with the leading
worldwide retailers, through Internet partnerships and also sells its products
direct at www.roxio.com. Headquartered in
Santa Clara, California, Roxio also maintains offices in Minnesota, Canada,
United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany and Japan. The company currently employs
more than 400 people worldwide. Roxio is a member of the S&P SmallCap 600
and the Russell 2000 Index.
The Roxio logo is a trademark of Roxio, Inc., which may be registered in some
jurisdictions. Roxio, PhotoSuite, Easy CD Creator, Toast, GoBack, and VideoWave
are registered trademarks of Roxio, Inc. in the United States and/or other
countries. All other trademarks used are owned by their respective owners.
About Streamwaves
Streamwaves is the leader in the
digital music subscription business, innovating the way musical entertainment is
delivered and enjoyed. Streamwaves was the first Internet company to build a
streaming subscription engine, the first to license major label masters for a
subscription service, and the first company to launch a subscription service
with major label content. Streamwaves holds license agreements with EMI Recorded
Music, EMI CMG Publishing, BMG, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, The
Harry Fox Agency, BMI and others. A preview of the service can be found at www.streamwaves.com.
# # #
Contact:
Jeanne Meyer
Senior Vice President,
Corporate Communications
EMI North America
Direct: 212.786.8850
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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