Napster(R) Teams With Clear Channel Entertainment's Instant Live(TM) as Exclusive Digital Music Service Provider
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Napster , the biggest brand in digital music, today announced a partnership with Instant Live(TM), a division of Clear Channel Entertainment's Music Group, for exclusive rights to offer music fans access to Instant Live's recordings of artists' concert performances in digital format.
The alliance with Instant Live(TM), the premier provider of onsite concert recording and distribution, will allow Napster subscribers to stream or download full-length performance recordings of both existing and newly recorded content as part of Napster's vast catalogue of music that is accessible for one low monthly fee. Napster will also be the exclusive retailer for fans who wish to buy Instant Live(TM) performances in digital format. The performances can be accessed by visiting http://www.napster.com/ or by clicking the "Download Now" button on Instant Live's website, http://www.instantlive.com/. Moreover, Napster has gained on-site promotional benefits at Instant Live(TM) shows.
Napster leverages the flexibility of digital delivery to make individual Instant Live(TM) tracks available for the first time. With membership to Napster's subscription service, fans will be able to stream or download their favorite singles on demand. All fans can also make purchases on a track-by-track basis with songs priced at just $.99 cents each.
"Our partnership with Clear Channel's Instant Live gives music fans the opportunity to see a great concert and then go home and download it on Napster" said Chris Gorog, Chairman and CEO of Napster. "Giving our members access to truly 'live' performances allows them to recapture the concert experiences of favorite artists and enriches the environment of discovery and appreciation that Napster fosters."
"This partnership represents another leap forward for Instant Live, which is now embraced as a viable business and is helping to drive greater adoption by making recordings even easier and more widely available to fans," said Stephen Prendergast, General Manager, Instant LiveTM LLC. "Not only does it benefit Napster subscribers who have readily adopted acquiring music through digital delivery, it underscores their dedication to live music."
Instant Live(TM) offers concertgoers a CD souvenir of a show directly after the performance conclusion. Through this partnership, concert attendees also now have the option to purchase the performance recording through Napster shortly after the show's conclusion. In addition to streaming and downloading capabilities that come with membership to Napster's award-winning digital music service, with a Napster To Go subscription members can transfer entire Instant Live performances directly to a host of compatible portable media devices without having to purchase individual songs on a la carte basis.
New content will be made available starting with The Allman Brothers Band, Bauhaus, The Black Crowes and Copeland.
This partnership marks the second time Clear Channel Entertainment and Napster have joined forces. They kicked off their relationship at Clear Channel Entertainment's inaugural U.S. Download Festival held at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Northern California, where Napster served as the official digital music service sponsor powering the official website's "Download Vault," which served as the hub of digital music content offered to attendees. The festival featured performances by some of the country's most popular artists including: The Killers, Modest Mouse and The Arcade Fire.
About Napster
Napster, the biggest brand in digital music, is a subscription service that enables fans to freely sample the world's largest and most diverse online collection of music and move an unlimited amount of songs to compatible MP3 players. Napster (http://www.napster.com/) members have access to songs from all major labels and hundreds of independents and have more ways to discover, share and acquire new music and old favorites with community features like the ability to email tracks to friends and browse other members' collections. Napster also offers Napster Light, a "lighter" version of the service for those who just want to purchase songs and albums a la carte. Napster is currently available in the United States, Canada and the U.K. and is headquartered in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York, London and Frankfurt.
About Clear Channel Entertainment
Clear Channel Entertainment, a leading producer and marketer of live entertainment events is a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications , a global leader in the out-of-home advertising industry. Clear Channel Entertainment currently owns, operates and/or exclusively books approximately 130 live entertainment venues, in North America and internationally. Each year more than 69 million people attend approximately 32,000 events promoted and/or produced by the company, including live music events; Broadway, West End and touring theatrical shows; family entertainment shows; museum exhibitions, and specialized sports and motor sports events. In addition, the company's independently operated athlete representation business, SFX, provides management, marketing and financial consulting services to many of the world's top professional athletes. Clear Channel Entertainment operates throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. More information may be found by visiting http://www.cc.com/ and http://www.clearchannel.com/.
Safe Harbor Statement
Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this press release, in particular matters related to the availability of live content on the Napster services and the strategic agreement with Instant Live contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties such as Napster's inability to secure third party content licenses and failure to maintain strategic relationships that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Additional information on these factors are contained in Napster's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as filed with the SEC on August 3, 2005, copies of which are available at the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov/. Napster assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements included in this press release.
Copyright (C) 2005 Napster, LLC. All rights reserved. Napster and Napster Light are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Napster, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries.
For More Information Contact:
Becky Farina Stephen Prendergast
Napster Instant Live LLC
(310) 281-5005 (310) 867-7000
becky.farina@napster.com
Nancy Sullivan / John Conroy Ray Yeung / Nancy Zakhary
Rogers & Cowan Brainerd Communicators, Inc.
(310) 854-8199 / 854-8178 (212) 986-6667
nsullivan@rogersandcowan.com/ yeung@braincomm.com jconroy@rogersandcowan.com nancy@braincomm.com
