EMI Recorded Music Releases
100,000 Songs from 500 Artists to musicmaker.com
NEW YORK, July 19 /PRNewswire/ --
For the first time, the music of EMI Recorded Music artists Cher,
Selena and NWA, among others will be available for custom
compilation CDs due to EMI's exclusive five-year licensing
agreement with musicmaker.com, a leading custom compilation CD and
secure digital download service on the Internet. These EMI artists
are among the first to approve the release of their music for
custom compilations since musicmaker.com and EMI Recorded Music,
the third largest music company in the world, announced the deal.
Prior to the exclusive agreement
with EMI, musicmaker.com had one of the largest libraries of
licensed music on the Internet with 150,000 songs available to
consumers to create their favorite CD, as well as the ability to
purchase secure digital downloaded music directly to their
personal computers. This exclusive agreement with EMI Recorded
Music could technically equip musicmaker.com with as many as
500,000 songs. The ability to create custom compilations and
digitally download music gives fans the opportunity to choose
individual songs from different record labels in a variety of
genres to create a personal CD with their own artwork for friends,
family and themselves. With the addition of Glen Campbell, Lou
Rawls, and Luther Vandross, among others to musicmaker.com's
catalog, consumers are now able to choose from a larger selection
of artists and their individual works.
Jay Samit, Senior Vice President -
New Media, EMI Recorded Music, stated that, "This is the first
step to giving consumers a comprehensive and abundant selection of
songs available from one Internet site. We are glad that our
artists have embraced this new partnership and that they support
this marketing venture."
"We are happy to announce EMI's
release of their masters," said Raju Puthukarai, President and
Co-CEO of musicmaker.com. "This will mark the first time a major
record label with well-known artists will make their catalog
available for custom compilations on the Internet. This marks
musicmaker.com's further positioning as a major player in the
digital distribution market."
EMI has taken a 40% equity
position and named three directors in musicmaker.com since this
leader in delivery of custom compilations via the Internet moved
forward with their IPO on July 7. The musicmaker.com agreement
also makes available to EMI the ability to provide secure digital
download of music once a secure industry standard is recommended
through Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), expected later
this year. musicmaker.com currently offers more than 20,000
licensed songs from major artists for digital downloading,
including The Yardbirds with Eric Clapton, The Ramones, Blondie,
Frank Zappa, Ziggy Marley, The Band, The Beach Boys, Taylor Dayne,
and The Blues Brothers in three secure digital download formats:
secure MP3 format, Microsoft MS Audio 4.0 and Liquid Audio. In
addition to EMI Recorded Music, musicmaker.com currently has
exclusive marketing agreements with Columbia House, Audio Book
Club, Platinum Entertainment, Spinner.com and Woodstock.com.
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Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21202), Fahnestock & Co. Inc.,
(125 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004), or C.E. Unterberg Towbin
(10 East 50th Street, New York, NY 10022).
About EMI Recorded Music
EMI Recorded Music has artists in
every leading music genre, including pop, rock, jazz, classical,
urban, dance, Christian and country. The world-famous labels
include Angel, Capitol, Blue Note, EMI, Priority and Virgin. Its
current roster includes approximately 1,500 artists who typically
release over 1,200 albums each year; last year EMI had 27 releases
that sold in excess of one million units. EMI Music Publishing is
the world's largest music publisher.
About musicmaker.com
musicmaker.com, headquartered in
Reston, Virginia, is one of the leading custom compilation and
secure digital download music sites on the Internet. Founded by
senior executives in the high technology and music industries,
including Robert Bernardi, Cofounder of PictureTel and TranSwitch,
Raju Puthukarai, former president of RCA/BMG Music and Video Club
and President of Warner Music Media and Irwin H. Steinberg, former
Chairman and CEO of PolyGram Records, USA, musicmaker.com offers
music lovers the opportunity to build their own CDs by selecting
and organizing songs from a library of more than 150,000 tracks
from over 100 labels in a variety of music genres. In addition,
musicmaker.com has an exclusive 5-year licensing agreement with
EMI, the third largest music company in the world, for EMI's
extensive music catalogue for custom compilation CDs. Powerful
search engines help find selections by genre, artist, title and
label and Real Audio allows tracks to be sampled before selection.
CDs include up to 20 tracks or 70 minutes of music and can be
personalized with unique labels as well as imprints on the jewel
boxes. CDs range from $9.95 - $24.95 depending on the number of
tracks and orders are taken through secure credit card link and
are shipped within two business days.
SOURCE: EMI Recorded Music
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