RioPort and Knitmedia Announce Digital Music Distribution Partnership
MONDAY, MARCH 6 2000 9:20 AM EST
SAN JOSE, Calif., Mar 6, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
RioPort's Distribution Partners to Gain Access to Popular Jazz Tracks Furthering its position as the premiere business to business solutions provider behind the hottest brands in the digital music business, RioPort Inc. today announced a two-year licensing agreement with KnitMedia to sell its vast library of jazz music through RioPort's growing network of distribution partners, including MTV.com, VH1.com, SonicNet.com, Ministry of Sound, gURL.com, iCast, and House of Blues Digital.
RioPort will provide KnitMedia with both content services, including multiple-format encoding and secure packaging, as well as provide it with sales and promotional opportunities through its distribution network. KnitMedia will make available to RioPort network partners an exclusive franchise of jazz artists and eclectic musical content, which includes four record label imprints with a catalogue of over 300 titles and publishing rights to more than 1,000 songs. Songs from the Knitting Factory labels will be made available to RioPort and its distribution network for consumer purchase, as well as on a free promotional basis.
"We are thrilled to be able to provide our distribution partners with access to Knitmedia's incredible roster of eclectic music and audio," said J.D. Heilprin, executive vice president and general manager of RioPort, Inc. "Michael Dorf has grown Knit Media into a truly visionary and exciting company and we're proud to be partners with them. In Jazz alone, KnitMedia's tremendous offerings have fantastic potential for downloadable sales because it appeals to an Internet-savvy, upscale group of dedicated fans."
Knitmedia serves avid, early-adopter consumers in both the "downtown" and "jazz" demographics/psychographic. Knitmedia has positioned itself to take a leading role in the consumer market by developing brands and products in two niche sectors that have not yet been exploited by other players in the business. KnitMedia's target consumers are young, hip and web-savvy professionals. Statistics show jazz accounts for over 8% of online music sales according to Music Boulevard. The future goal of KnitMedia is to reach an untapped on-line audience and position itself as a leader online in both the "jazz" and "downtown" categories.
"We are very excited about our relationship with Rioport," stated Michael Dorf, Founder and CEO of KnitMedia. "It represents an auspicious part of our growth: creating music destinations that bring both a rich hybrid of interactive content and a powerful, internet-based viewing and listening interface that serves as a centralized voice for the global creative community."
About RioPort, Inc. RioPort, Inc. is redefining digital audio by delivering an integrated, secure platform for acquiring, managing and experiencing music and spoken audio programming from the Internet. A pioneer in the digital audio market, RioPort partners with companies to provide them with an easy-to-use platform that includes access to a wide range of digital audio content, customizable software solutions, technology services, and device design services. For consumers, RioPort provides easy access to a variety of popular and innovative music and word programming through its network of distribution partners and through its RioPort.com digital audio site. In addition, RioPort markets the RioPort Audio Manager, an easy-to-use jukebox application for the acquisition, management and playback of digital audio content from the desktop or RioPort compatible portable appliances. RioPort also provides content companies with production services, including encoding and secure packaging, allowing them to easily get their content into the hands of digital audio enthusiasts. RioPort's investment partners include Vulcan Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, MTV iGroup and S3, Inc. RioPort web site is www.rioport.com.
About KnitMedia, Inc. KnitMedia is a unique entertainment company which has built itself around the globally recognized brand, The Knitting Factory. Using its "smart clubs", the New York location and upcoming Hollywood and Berlin clubs, its music festivals and conferences, record labels, and its wealth of websites as sources of content, KnitMedia offers the music consumer a synergistic and completely original model of entertainment.
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