Slacker Finalizes Deals with EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music
Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner/Chappell Music to
Enable Slacker Personal Radio Experience
SAN DIEGO, April 8, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Slacker, Inc. today announced
it has entered into agreements with top music publishers, including EMI
Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing
Group and Warner/Chappell Music. The new deals give Slacker the content
rights to enable Personal Radio that can be played everywhere on Slacker
Portable Radio Players.
With these publishing license agreements, Slacker users can transfer
songs from the Slacker service and store the music on Slacker Portables
giving listeners the best on-the-go personal radio experience available
today. The agreements, completed prior to the availability of Slacker
Portables, also enable Slacker Premium Service customers to save songs and
replay them whenever they want.
"By working with the publishers, we can offer a radio experience that
is more personalized and -- for the first time -- completely portable,"
said Dennis Mudd, CEO of Slacker. "These new partnerships give Slacker
customers the freedom to customize personal radio stations to their style
and take them wherever they go."
Slacker Personal Radio enables listeners to create, edit and share
their own stations or personalize over 100 professionally programmed
stations. Slacker listeners also have easy access to artist profiles, album
reviews and cover art within the Slacker Web Player, Software Player and on
the Slacker Portable. Personalization options include rating songs or
artists, playing more popular vs. more eclectic music and listening to
newer vs. classic songs.
"As publishers, we must continue to be flexible and open to new
business models and find creative solutions to license them," said David
Renzer, Chairman and CEO, Universal Music Publishing Group. "Credit to
Slacker for making sure they secured the proper rights before launching and
we look forward to distributing royalty checks from Slacker to our UMPG
songwriters."
"People who love music want to discover new artists, listen to their
favorites and take their songs with them wherever they go," said Roger
Faxon, EMI Music Publishing Chairman and CEO. "Slacker's Personal Radio
service is a promising distribution channel that fulfils a clear consumer
demand, and that has to be good for our songwriters and for the industry as
a whole."
"The multi-tiered format of this new digital service creates a
potentially rewarding user experience," said Martin Bandier, Chairman and
CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing. "We are happy to agree to license a
business where our writers get paid, and move the industry forward in legal
song streaming and delivery in the digital space."
Dave Johnson, CEO of Warner/Chappell Music added: "Today's music
delivery options are evolving rapidly and interactive Internet radio
services have the potential to be a promising new business. Slacker's
personalized service provides the kind of interactivity and portability
that consumers demand and it offers an ideal platform for us to distribute
our talented roster of artists, songwriters and producers."
Slacker Basic Radio is free to use on Slacker Software and Slacker
Portables, while Slacker Premium Radio is available at $7.50 per month with
an annual subscription.
Last year, Slacker signed deals with all the major record labels and
thousands of independent labels to give Slacker listeners access to a deep
catalog of music. In March 2007, Slacker launched the free Basic Radio
service and in November 2007, Slacker Portables and Premium Service were
announced.
About Slacker, Inc.
Slacker is the world's first Personal Radio Company, providing a new
kind of radio that enables consumers to play highly personalized music
everywhere. Visit http://www.slacker.com to start listening today.
Slacker and Slacker.com are trademarks of Slacker, Inc. All other
registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their
respective owners.
SOURCE Slacker, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.slacker.com
CONTACT:
Anders Steele of FortyThree, Inc.,
+1-831-239-0960, slacker@fortythreepr.com, for Slacker, Inc.
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