Warner Music Group Expands Digital Distribution Initiative with Liquid Audio
NEW YORK, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Warner Music Group (WMG) announced today it will expand the reach of its digital distribution initiative by joining with Liquid Audio, Inc. (Nasdaq: LQID) to make available approximately 100 singles and Internet-exclusive tracks by artists including: Barenaked Ladies, Bjork, Busta Rhymes, Natalie Cole, Collective Soul, Deftones, Hootie & The Blowfish, k.d. lang, Mana, matchbox twenty, Luis Miguel, Orgy, Paul Simon and Keith Sweat. Beginning November 1st, the downloads will be available to consumers in the U.S. and Canada via Liquid Audio's digital delivery infrastructure at Musicland Stores Corporation's mediaplay.com, samgoody.com, suncoast.com and oncue.com as well as Tower Records' towerrecords.com and Wherehouse Music/Checkout.com's checkout.com. Best Buy's bestbuy.com also plans to make these titles available prior to the holiday season.
As part of a non-exclusive agreement, Liquid Audio will provide the digital distribution services, including content preparation, hosting and delivery, digital rights management and customer support. The agreement complements the arrangement WMG announced that it had made with RealNetworks last month by making WMG downloads available to a different set of online retailers.
"This deal allows us to extend the reach of our digital distribution by utilizing Liquid Audio's hosting and delivery infrastructure and retail integration services," said Paul Vidich, executive vice president strategic planning and business development for Warner Music Group. "By continuing to partner with the best digital infrastructure companies and online retailers, we can ensure increased availability of our artists' music, and an easy download experience for consumers."
"We are pleased to be working with Warner Music Group on this important milestone in music delivery," said Gerry Kearby, chief executive officer at Liquid Audio, Inc. "Warner Music Group artists represent some of the industry's top talent, and digital distribution of their products will bring their art to a new audience of Internet music consumers."
About Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is home to some of the world's leading record companies, including The Atlantic Group, Elektra Entertainment Group, Rhino Entertainment, London-Sire Records and Warner Bros. Records Inc. The company's Warner Music International, with a roster of more than 1,000 artists, operates in more than 65 countries through various subsidiaries, affiliates and non-affiliated licensees. Warner Music Group also includes one of the world's leading music publishers, Warner/Chappell and WEA Inc., which is comprised of three companies, WEA Corp., WEA Manufacturing, and Ivy Hill. Warner Music Group is a division of Time Warner Inc.
About Liquid Audio
Liquid Audio, Inc. is a leading provider of software and services for the digital delivery of music over the Internet. The Liquid Audio solution gives musicians, record labels, Web sites and music retailers the ability to publish, syndicate and securely sell recorded music online with copy protection and copyright management. Using the Liquid(TM) Player software, available for free download at liquidaudio.com, music fans can preview and purchase downloadable music from the more than 900 affiliate Web sites in the Liquid Music Network(SM). Traded on Nasdaq under the symbol LQID, Liquid Audio is located in Redwood City, California.
SOURCE Warner Music Group
CO: Warner Music Group; Liquid Audio, Inc.
ST: New York
IN: ENT
SU: PDT
10/03/2000 10:42 EDT prnewswire.com |
