Merger Announcement:
audiohighway.com Signs Letter of Intent to Merge with nicheMusic.com, Inc.
CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 6, 2000--audiohighway.com (Nasdaq:AHWY - news), a leading information and entertainment Internet company, today announced it has signed a letter of intent to merge with nicheMusic.com, Inc.
Under terms of the proposed transaction, audiohighway.com will merge with nicheMusic.com and its online and offline properties -- World Entertainment Network and 75 Ark Entertainment -- in an all stock transaction. The proposed merger is subject to shareholder approval and is slated for completion by the end of the year.
``One of the greatest values of this merger is that it will allow us to market our own artists directly to consumers so they can purchase our artists' products online through our own properties, as well as through traditional retail channels,'' said Nathan Schulhof, president and chief executive officer of audiohighway.com. ``We believe that as the market for commercially downloadable music continues to grow, the sale of physical product -- CDs, cassettes, EPs, and the like -- both online and through traditional retail outlets, will continue to play an important role.
``Furthermore, 75 Ark Entertainment (an up-and-coming Hip Hop/Urban record label) has a distribution agreement in place with Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA), an affiliate company of the Warner Music Group, one of the world's largest distributors of CDs for independent record labels, allowing us to place CDs in thousands of retail stores nationwide. At the same time, World Entertainment Network is one of the top online destinations for consumers interested in world music. Put it all together with what we have already built at audiohighway.com and we believe that our companies will be much stronger in combination than as individual firms.''
nicheMusic.com announced in July that it had closed a $5.75 million round of financing. nicheMusic.com is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in Los Angeles, New York City and London, England.
About nicheMusic.com, Inc.
nicheMusic.com is a music hub specializing in world music. nicheMusic.com's online property, The World Entertainment Network (WEN), is one of the Web's leading global music networks, and features music ranging from CantoPop and Indian film soundtracks to Brazilian samba and African Highlife. WEN also creates original programming about music from around the globe with its seasoned team of international correspondents. In addition, nicheMusic.com owns a groundbreaking entertainment group, 75 Ark Entertainment, that produces critically acclaimed content and utilizes both the Internet and traditional channels for promotion and distribution.
About audiohighway.com
audiohighway.com is a leading online media destination, offering one of the Internet's largest and most diverse libraries of free audio content. Visitors can access thousands of hours of music, audio books, news, entertainment, education and information from audiohighway.com in a number of formats (including MP3, RealPlayer(TM), Windows® Media Player(TM), and bluematter(TM)), through a variety of audio channels. audiohighway.com offers free audio and video content, which can be streamed directly to PCs or downloaded for future playback. Consumers can also purchase music, videos, games, home electronics and much more through its e-commerce Web site: www.massmerchandise.com. |
