|
Television
With No Borders /
GIVE
P / We
Preserve The Moment /
KASLC
_____________
Feature
Story Feature Story
EMusic
beginings and future through the eyes of
Steve Curry
- Since
it was
founded
in January 1998, EMusic has established
itself at the forefront of how music
will be discovered, delivered and
enjoyed in the next decade. In addition
to having the Internet's largest
catalog of downloadable MP3 music
available for purchase, EMusic operates
one of the most popular families of
music-oriented Web sites -- including
RollingStone.com, EMusic.com and
DownBeat.com. The company is based in
Redwood City, California, with regional
offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and New
York.http://www.emusic.com/artists
-
-
- 11 - THE VIOLENT
FEMMES RELEASE NEW MP3-ONLY ALBUM
- THROUGH EMUSIC.COM - "Something's
Wrong" includes Cover of the
Police's
- "Every Breath You Take"
-
-
- REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- May 2, 2001
-- EMusic.com Inc. (Nasdaq: EMUS),
- the Internet's leading MP3 music
service, today announced the release
of
- "Something's Wrong", a new MP3-only
album from the Violent Femmes that
- is available exclusively to EMusic
subscribers at
- http://www.emusic.com/albums/25738
"Something's Wrong" is the latest
- MP3 only release available through
EMusic.com. EMusic offers its
- subscribers dozens of releases
available only in the MP3 format as
part
- of its growing catalog of more than
170,000 songs. Previous MP3-only
- releases include music from They
Might Be Giants, Arrested
Development,
- DJ Spooky, Rancid, John Hiatt, The
Donnas and Steve Wynn.
-
- "Something's Wrong" features 22
tracks including absurd cover
versions
- of The Police's "Every Breath You
Take," Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th
- Street", and Paul Anka's "My Way."
The album also includes alternate
- versions of several Violent Femmes'
classics, Outtakes from "Freak
- Magnet", rare demo recordings and
seven live tracks recorded during
the
- band's 1998 acoustic "Viva
Wisconsin" tour. Non-subscribers who
want to
- get a taste of this exclusive
release can download the album's
title
- track, "Something's Wrong" free by
going to
- http://www.emusic.com/albums/25738
-
- "I suppose in the old days, this
stuff would have been available as
- bootlegs, B-sides and tracks on
compilation albums," said Brian
Ritchie,
- front-man of the Violent Femmes.
"In other words, impossible to find
and
- ennourmously expensive collectors
items. Instead, Violent Femmes and
- EMusic have considerately gathered
all of this music together and it
can
- be yours with the mere tap of a
computer keyboard. That's
progress."
-
- "More and more artists and labels
and looking for alternative ways
to
- release new music," said Gene
Hoffman, director of content
acquisition
- for EMusic.com. "Artists such as
the Violent Femmes create more
music
- than they can possibility release
on CD and they have an
enthusiastic
- fan base clamoring for this
material. We're pleased to offer
our
- subscribers another exclusive album
from one on the most influential
- band from the last two
decades."
-
- Violent Femmes "Something's
Wrong"
- Tracks
- 1) Positively 4th Street (cover of
Bob Dylan)
- 2) 12 Steps
- 3) All I Want (alternate
version)
- 4) Yes Oh Yes
- 5) My Way (cover of Paul Anka)
- 6) Rules Of Success
- 7) Every Breath You Take (cover of
The Police)
- 8) Raquel
- 9) Hollywood Is High (alternate
version)
- 10) I Wanna See You Again
(alternate version)
- 11) Reckless Stones
- 12) Requiem
- 13) Washtub Bender
- 14) Procession
- 15) Something's Wrong
-
- Live B-Sides
- 16) 36-24-36
- 17) Out The Window
- 18) Werewolf
- 19) I Know It's True
- 20) Fat
- 21) Waiting (WAITING FOR A
BUS)
- 22) German Song (HERBSTTAG)
-
- EMusic is now offering a free
30-day trial to EMusic Unlimited,
its
- digital music subscription service
at
- http://www.emusic.com/subscription/.
Designed for the avid music fan,
- EMusic Unlimited allows members to
download as much music as they
desire
- from EMusic's digital collection of
over 170,000 MP3s for one low
- monthly price. For as little as
$9.99 a month -- less than the price
of
- one new CD -- members can get
high-bandwidth access to
quality-encoded
- MP3 music from well-known artists
and labels.
-
- EMusic and Yahoo! to Host Chat with
Brian Ritchie
-
- To mark the release of this unique
album, EMusic and Yahoo! Chat will
- host an interactive chat featuring
Brian Ritchie, front-man of the
- Violent Femmes. Ritchie will chat
with fans about the MP3 only
release
- on May 16 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern
Time. Fans who want to participate
can
- go to http://chat.yahoo.com.
-
- About
EMusic
- http://www.EMusic.com is a Web site
for purchasing music in the MP3
- format. Through direct
relationships with leading artists and
exclusive
- licensing agreements with over 700
independent record labels,
EMusic.com
- offers an expanding collection of
over 170,000 tracks. The site
offers
- "EMusic Unlimited," a revolutionary
new music discovery service that
- allows fans to download as much
music as they desire for as little
as
- $9.99 a month.
-
- EMusic.com features top artists in
all musical genres, such as
- Alternative (They Might Be Giants,
Bush, Violent Femmes), Punk (Green
- Day, Pennywise, Rancid, NOFX), Rock
(Elvis Costello, Creedence
- Clearwater Revival, Tom Waits),
Electronic (DJ Spooky, Sasha &
Digweed),
- Jazz (John Coltrane, Dizzy
Gillespie, Louis Armstrong), Hip Hop
(Kool
- Keith, Blackalicious, The Coup),
Blues (John Lee Hooker, B.B. King,
- Buddy Guy) and Country (Kenny
Rogers, Willie Nelson, Patsy
Cline).
-
- Since it was founded in January
1998, EMusic has established itself
at
- the forefront of how music will be
discovered, delivered and enjoyed
in
- the next decade. In addition to
having the Internet's largest
catalog
- of downloadable MP3 music available
for purchase, EMusic operates one
of
- the most popular families of
music-oriented Web sites --
including
- RollingStone.com, EMusic.com and
DownBeat.com. The company is based
in
- Redwood City, California, with
regional offices in Chicago, Los
Angeles
- and New York.
- ///
-
- 10
EMUSIC.COM
ANNOUNCES THIRD-QUARTER FINANCIAL
RESULTS
-
-
- REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- April 18,
2001 -- EMusic.com Inc. (Nasdaq:
- EMUS), the Internet's leading
downloadable music subscription
service,
- today reported its financial
results for the fiscal third quarter
ended
- March 31, 2001.
-
- EMusic's revenues for the quarter
ended March 31, 2001, were $4.3
- million, a 36-percent increase
compared with combined EMusic.com
and
- Tunes.com revenues of $3.2 million
for the quarter ended March 31,
- 2000. Revenues for the quarter
ended December 31, 2000 were $4.7
- million. Music revenues increased
to $2.2 million for the quarter
ended
- March 31, 2001 compared with
$450,000 and $1.7 million for the
quarters
- ended March 31, 2000 and December
31, 2000, respectively.
Advertising
- revenues were $2.0 million for the
quarter, a 32-percent decrease
- compared with the preceding quarter
-- reflecting the continued
decline
- in online advertising rates and
sell through.
-
- The pro forma net loss for the
fiscal third quarter ended March
31,
- 2001, was $5.3 million or $0.13 per
share compared with a pro forma
net
- loss of $13.3 million or $0.37 per
share in the same quarter of the
- prior year and $8.7 million or
$0.21 per share for the quarter
ended
- December 31, 2000. Pro forma net
losses exclude non-cash charges
- related to stock compensation, the
amortization of intangible assets,
- impairment and restructuring
charges and gain on the sale of
IUMA.
- Including these charges net losses
for the quarters ended March 31,
2001
- and 2000 and December 31, 2000 were
$6.1 million or $0.15 per share,
- $22.5 million or $0.62 per share
and $191.0 million or $4.65 per
share.
- As of March 31, 2001, the company's
cash and short-term investments
- totaled approximately $10.9
million.
-
- In January 2001, EMusic announced a
corporate reorganization aimed at
- reducing expenses and focusing the
company on its two core sources of
- revenue -- advertising and
promotional revenue through
RollingStone.com,
- and downloadable music sales
through EMusic.com. As a result of
these
- actions the Company recorded a
restructuring charge in the quarter
ended
- March 31, 2001 of approximately
$1.3 million that primarily
included
- charges related to severance, lease
terminations and other contract
- cancellations.
-
- Proposed Acquisition by Universal
Music Group
-
- On April 9, 2001, EMusic and
Universal Music Group announced that
they
- had entered into a definitive
merger agreement. Under this
agreement,
- Universal Music Group will commence
a cash tender offer to acquire all
- of EMusic's outstanding shares at a
price of $0.57 per share. Any
shares
- not purchased in the tender offer
will be converted into the same
cash
- price in a subsequent merger.
-
- The tender offer will commence on
or prior to April 20, 2001 and will
be
- made only by an offer to purchase
and other offering and
solicitation
- documents, copies of which will be
filed with the Securities and
- Exchange Commission (SEC) and
mailed to EMusic stockholders.
-
- The obligation of Universal to
complete the tender offer will be
- conditioned on a minimum tender of
shares representing a majority of
- EMusic's fully diluted shares. In
addition, the offer will be
- conditioned on EMusic having cash
and marketable securities (after
- deduction for estimated transaction
costs) of a minimum of $5 million
on
- April 30, 2001, reducing by no more
than approximately $48,000 for
each
- day thereafter until the offer
closes. Either party can terminate
the
- agreement if the offer is not
completed by June 25, 2001.
-
- The transaction is subject to other
customary conditions. It is not
- subject to the waiting period
requirements of the
Hart-Scott-Rodino
- Antitrust Improvement Act of
1976.
- ///
-
- 09 UNIVERSAL MUSIC
GROUP TO ACQUIRE EMUSIC.COM INC.
-
- EMusic's Downloadable Music
Subscription Service &
RollingStone.com Web
- Property to Join Universal Music
Group
-
-
- LOS ANGELES and REDWOOD CITY,
Calif. -- April 9, 2001 -- Universal
Music
- Group and EMusic.com Inc. (Nasdaq:
EMUS) today jointly announced that
- they have signed a definitive
merger agreement. Under this
agreement,
- Universal Music Group will commence
a cash tender offer to acquire all
- of EMusic's outstanding shares at a
price of $0.57 per share. Any
- shares not purchased in the tender
offer will be converted into the
same
- cash price in a subsequent
merger.
-
- "EMusic represents a tremendous
group of assets that appeal to a
wide
- range of music fans, including the
popular RollingStone.com and
- DownBeat.com brands and a deep
catalog of digital music,"
commented
- Larry Kenswil, president, eLabs,
Universal Music Group. "We feel
that
- EMusic complements Universal's
other digital and Internet
initiatives
- and we look forward to joining with
them to offer music lovers more
and
- more compelling online destinations
and experiences."
-
- About
EMusic
EMusic's board of directors
has unanimously approved the
transaction and
- directors and current and former
officers who beneficially own an
- aggregate of approximately 17
percent of the company's
outstanding
- shares have each individually
agreed to tender their shares. The
EMusic
- board has received an opinion from
Allen & Co. Incorporated that, as
of
- the date of the merger agreement,
the consideration to be received
by
- EMusic's stockholders in the
transaction was fair to those
stockholders
- from a financial point of
view.
-
- "We believe that this transaction
is in the best interests of our
- stockholders," said Gene Hoffman,
EMusic president and CEO. "The
- addition of EMusic and
RollingStone.com to Universal Music
Group has
- some very exciting potential for
online music fans."
-
- The tender offer will commence on
or prior to April 20, 2001 and will
be
- made only by an offer to purchase
and other offering and
solicitation
- documents, copies of which will be
filed with the Securities and
- Exchange Commission (SEC) and
mailed to EMusic stockholders.
-
- The obligation of Universal to
complete the tender offer will be
- conditioned on a minimum tender of
shares representing a majority of
- EMusic's fully diluted shares. In
addition, the offer will be
- conditioned on EMusic having cash
and marketable securities (after
- deduction for estimated transaction
costs) of a minimum of $5 million
on
- April 30, 2001, reducing by no more
than approximately $48,000 for
each
- day thereafter until the offer
closes. Either party can terminate
the
- agreement if the offer is not
completed by June 25, 2001.
-
- The transaction is subject to other
customary conditions. It is not
- subject to the waiting period
requirements of the
Hart-Scott-Rodino
- Antitrust Improvement Act of
1976.
-
- On April 5, 2001, in a press
release announcing a letter of
intent
- contemplating the transaction now
provided for in the subsequent
- definitive agreement, EMusic
reported on the status of its
Nasdaq
- listing and its preliminary
financial results for the third
quarter.
- Investors are referred to that
release --
- http://www.emusic.com/about/pr/pr160.html
-- in connection with today's
- announcement.
-
- ////
-
- EMUSIC.COM
ANNOUNCES LETTER OF INTENT FOR
ACQUISITION OF THE COMPANY
- Company Announces Preliminary
Financial Results for March
Quarter;
- Expects to Receive Nasdaq
De-Listing Notice
-
-
- REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- April 5,
2001 -- EMusic.com Inc. (Nasdaq:
EMUS),
-
- the Internet's leading downloadable
music subscription service, today
- announced that it has entered into
a non-binding letter of intent to
be
- acquired by a major publicly-held
media company in a cash
transaction.
- The proposed acquisition price is
$0.57 per fully diluted share.
-
- Completion of the transaction is
subject to customary conditions,
- including satisfactory completion
of due diligence reviews, the
- negotiation and execution of
definitive agreements, Board approvals
and
- satisfaction of all regulatory
requirements. There can be no
assurance
- that the parties will finalize or
execute such definitive
agreements,
- that the terms of such agreements
may not be materially different
than
- set forth in the letter of intent
or that if definitive agreements
are
- executed, the transaction will be
consummated.
-
- As part of the letter of intent,
EMusic has agreed to a short period
of
- exclusive negotiations during which
it will not engage in discussions
- regarding an acquisition of the
Company with any other party.
EMusic
- has no current plans to discuss
additional details regarding these
- negotiations until a final outcome
has been reached.
-
- Preliminary Financial Results for
the Third Quarter
-
- EMusic also announced that it
expects to report revenues for the
quarter
-
- ended March 31, 2001 of
approximately $4.2 million. The company
expects
-
- to report music revenues for the
quarter of approximately $2.2
million,
- up from $1.7 million in the quarter
ended December 31, 2001. EMusic
- finished the quarter with over
10,000 active paying subscribers to
its
- MP3 music service, up from 4,500 at
the end of the December quarter --
- and higher than the 8,000
originally anticipated by the company
at the
- time of its last earnings call.
Active paying subscribers do not
- include any subscribers in trial or
promotional programs. EMusic
- expects to report advertising
revenues of approximately $2.0
million,
- down from $3.0 million for the
quarter ended December 31, 2001 as
the
- company continued to experience the
impact of the depressed online
- advertising market. EMusic had
approximately $10.9 million in cash
and
- short-term investments as of March
31, 2001.
-
- "Despite the obviously challenging
business environment, we are
- extremely pleased with the
continued strong growth of our
downloadable
- music subscription service," said
Gene Hoffman, EMusic president and
- CEO. "With our EMusic.com and
RollingStone.com Web sites, our
company
- has taken a recognized leadership
position in online music, a market
- that continues to generate great
excitement and interest among both
- vendors and consumers alike."
-
- Nasdaq Listing
-
- EMusic also reported that it
expects to receive a Nasdaq Staff
- Determination indicating that it
has failed to comply with the
minimum
- bid price requirement for continued
listing set forth in Marketplace
- Rule 4450(a)(5) and that its
securities are, therefore, subject
to
- de-listing from The Nasdaq National
Market. Upon receipt of such
- letter, EMusic intends to request a
hearing before the Nasdaq Listing
- Qualifications Panel to review the
Staff Determination, and there can be
no assurance that the Panel will grant
the Company's request for continued
listing. Under Nasdaq's rules, the
Company's common stock will continue to
trade on The Nasdaq National Market
pending the outcome of the
hearing.
- March
22, 2001
EMUSIC
LAUNCHES AUTOMATED SOFTWARE
TO EFFECTIVELY MONITOR THE NAPSTER
NETWORK
- System Protects the Interests of
EMusic, its Label Partners &
Artists
- March 22, 2001 -- EMusic.com Inc.
(Nasdaq:
- EMUS), the Internet's leading
seller of downloadable music,
today
- announced that it has launched
proprietary monitoring software
that
- allows the company to continually
search the Napster network for
EMusic
- MP3s being made available on
Napster without permission. The
software
- also automatically reports these
infringing track names to Napster
Inc.
- for filtering.
-
- To date, EMusic has notified
Napster Inc. of over 75,000
different
- filenames representing 35,000
copyrighted songs. According to the
U.S.
- District court's recent injunction,
Napster is required to filter and
- block access to these files on
their system within 72 hours.
-
- "By identifying our licensed tracks
by their unique MD5 sums instead
of
- their titles, we can now
effectively find and notify Napster
of
- infringing files on their network
-- including misspellings and
other
- variants," said Gene Hoffman,
EMusic president & CEO. "A small
amount
- of unauthorized music will always
be available to those who seek it
out,
- but we are confident that recent
legal opinions and automated
technology
- such as this will significantly
curtail the large-scale, flagrant
- file-sharing that has been rampant
for the past year."
-
-
-
Center
Story
- EMUSIC
OFFERS RARE, EARLY
RECORDINGS
- OF ELVIS
PRESLEY & JOHNNY CASH IN
MP3
-
- EMusic Unlocks the Vault to the
Legendary 'Louisiana Hayride'
Radio
- Program
-
- REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- March 21,
2001 -- EMusic.com Inc. (Nasdaq:
- EMUS), the Internet's leading MP3
music service, today announced
that
- avid music fans, historians and
collectors now have easy access to
rare,
- seminal recordings from the
'Louisiana Hayride', an influential
live
- music radio program dating back to
1948 that featured some of the
- earliest public performances of
rock & roll, country and
rockabilly
- pioneers -- including Elvis
Presley, Johnny Cash, June Carter,
Werley
- Fairburn and Tibby Edwards.
-
- EMusic is offering these recordings
inexpensively and conveniently in
- the MP3 format at
http://www.emusic.com/features/hayride/
. Every two
- weeks, the Web site will be updated
to feature new artists and titles
- from the legendary Hayride
archives. Besides the classic
music
- recordings, EMusic also features
extremely rare photographs from
the
- Hayride, including a collection of
Elvis images from 1954 and
historical
- photos of Shreveport radio station
KWKH.
-
- "The release of these historic
recordings highlights one of the
major
- benefits of MP3 distribution for
music fans," said Ray Farrell,
EMusic's
- director of Content Acquisition and
Management. "This vintage material
- has been unavailable for years
because issuing it on CD has simply
not
- been cost effective. The
efficiencies of downloadable music
allow us to
- blow off the dust and make it
easily accessible. We're pleased to
be
- able to provide our EMusic
Unlimited members with exclusive access
to
- these gems from the birth of rock
& roll."
-
- About EMusic Unlimited - the
Internet's Leading MP3 Music
Service
-
- EMusic is now offering a free
30-day trial to EMusic Unlimited,
its
- digital music subscription service
at
- http://www.emusic.com/subscription/
. Designed for the avid music fan,
- EMusic Unlimited allows members to
download as much music as they
desire
- from EMusic's digital collection of
over 160,000 MP3s for one low
- monthly price. For as little as
$9.99 a month -- less than the price
of
- one new CD -- members can get
high-bandwidth access to
quality-encoded
- MP3 music from well-known artists
and labels.
-
-
- 03
EMUSIC
FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST NAPSTER
INC.
-
- Downloadable Music Company also
asks that Users Blocked by
Napster
- for Sharing EMusic Songs be
Reinstated
-
-
- REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- March 7,
2001 -- EMusic.com Inc. (Nasdaq:
EMUS),
- the Internet's leading seller of
downloadable music, today
announced
- that it has filed a complaint
against Napster Inc. for contributory
and
- vicarious copyright infringement
and unfair competition. The
complaint
- was filed in the United States
District Court for the Northern
District
- of California in San
Francisco.
-
- "For over six months, Napster Inc.
has flatly rejected our requests
to
- filter out and effectively block
EMusic tracks from being traded on
- their system without our
permission," said Gene Hoffman,
EMusic
- president and CEO. "Napster has
stated clearly to us and to the
courts
- that they believed such a system
was technically impossible.
-
- "In light of this position,
Napster's ability to quickly implement
such
- a filtering system over this past
weekend shows the company's true
- motive -- to unfairly build a
business upon the copyrighted works
of
- others.
-
- "We welcome the injunction that the
court has issued against Napster.
- It is a major step towards leveling
the playing field for legitimate
- downloadable music companies,"
Hoffman said.
-
- EMusic represents thousands of
artists and hundreds of
independent
- labels by legitimately licensing
their digital music copyrights and
- selling this music to consumers
conveniently and inexpensively in
the
- downloadable MP3 format. The
company offers a legitimate alternative
to
- Napster through EMusic Unlimited, a
first-of-its-kind music
subscription
- service that offers music fans with
unlimited to access to more than
- 160,000 high-quality MP3s for as
little as $9.99 per month.
-
- EMusic Asks Napster to Reinstate
Blocked Users
-
- EMusic also announced today that it
has requested that Napster Inc.
- reinstate any Napster users that
had their accounts terminated for
- trading EMusic songs. In November
2000 at Napster's insistence,
EMusic
- started notifying Napster of users
that were distributing EMusic
tracks
- without permission. At the time,
Napster suggested that EMusic's
only
- recourse was to have these users
banned completely from the system.
-
- "Today's actions should make it
clear that EMusic bears no malice
- towards Napster's users," Hoffman
said. "We understand and support
- their passion for downloadable MP3
music."
-
- For more information on EMusic's
position on the rights and
- responsibilities of MP3 users, go
to
- http://www.emusic.com/about/rights.html
-
- A PDF copy of the complaint is
available at
- http://www.emusic.com/napster/emusiccomplaint.pdf
-
- UBIQUITY
RECORDS TO OFFER ITS MUSIC IN MP3
THROUGH EMUSIC.COM
Premier
Collection of Latin Jazz, Down-Tempo
Grooves and Retro Soul & Funk
Available Legitimately From EMusic's
Unlimited MP3 Service
- REDWOOD
CITY, Calif. -- February 28, 2001 --
EMusic.com Inc. (Nasdaq:EMUS), the
Internet's leading seller of
downloadable music,
today
- announced an
exclusive digital distribution
agreement with San
- Francisco-based
Ubiquity Records, one of the music
industry's most
- popular and
respected independent record labels.
At
- http://www.EMusic.com,
music fans can now purchase and
download hundreds
- of
high-quality MP3 tracks from the
Ubiquity, Luv n' Haight, and
Cubop
- catalogs.
-
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