To: RDR who wrote (8775 ) 2/24/1999 1:24:00 PM From: Patherzen Respond to of 27722
News from 2/23 on JBRD + NAVR... J-Bird Records Set to Launch New On-Line Marketing Effort Customers Get Microsoft Windows Media Player for Full-Length Music Samples as First Step in Joint Marketing Effort WILTON, Conn., Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The J-Bird Music Group (OTC Bulletin Board: JBRD) today announced the launch of a cooperative marketing effort with Microsoft Corp., that will significantly improve the online shopping experience for music buyers and generate enhanced visibility for J-Bird artists in the future. The first step in this effort will begin with Microsoft Windows Media Player placement and usage on the J-Bird Records Web site: jbirdrecords.com , from which customers will be able to playback full-length music samples from their favorite artists. This arrangement will help J-Bird Records to create a user database and listening station, and streaming full-length audio samples from its more than 3,000 titles. "We are extremely pleased to be working with J-Bird Records, its staff and its artists," said Greg Carpenter, group product manager Windows Media Technologies at Microsoft. "Our dialogue with the music industry must include promising independent labels such as J-Bird, as we jointly seek to find ways to enhance service for online consumers." "This will combine Microsoft's unparalleled technology and marketing reach with the growing J-Bird Records' artist roster," said Jay Barbieri, founder and CEO of J-Bird. "It will also give us the ability to offer our customers all the current web technology and advances that Microsoft brings to the Internet arena." With more than 20 million media players already in the public's hands and thousands of Windows Media Players downloaded daily, J-Bird Records can now count itself as one of the first label-affiliated Web sites to showcase this technology. It is anticipated that J-Bird Records will seek to further develop with Microsoft methods to enhance both its Web site functionality and online marketing on behalf of its artists. While discussions are ongoing, the two company's will be seeking ways to position J-Bird Records and its artists on the Microsoft WebEvents page, (http://www.webevents.microsoft.com); J-Bird Records artist usage of Microsoft audio/video studio facilities; and customized Microsoft Windows Media Players. J-Bird Records (http://www.jbirdrecords.com) was launched in 1996 as the music industry's first World Wide Web recording label. The label went to the public markets in 1997 even as its catalogue began to swell to more than 250 artists and 3,000 titles, with well-known artists including Billy Squier, The Guess Who and Rockapella. This strategic alliance with Microsoft is the latest by J-Bird, whose other technology and distribution partners include AT&T's a2b Music and The Navarre Corporation (Nasdaq: NAVR). In addition, J-Bird Records is now represented in more than 50,000 retail accounts through the Navarre Corporation, the industry's leading distributor of independent record labels across the country.