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Archive
Scroll down to veiw the 2006
news archive
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November 2006
Meet
Muze at Midem 2007
If you're attending
Midem this year, why not pop by and meet the Muze
team? Muzers from our London, New York and Seattle
offices will be attending. The company will be making
a big splash at the annual event at their dedicated
exhibition booth number R33.01.
From our London office, publishing director Doug
Marshall, head of client services and business development
Deborah Sass and senior business development manager
James Wheatley will all be in Cannes.
Doug Marshall will be in Cannes to meet record labels
and distributors who wish to improve their presence
on the MuzeMusic UK database - and to discuss partnership
opportunities with potential European partners.
Deborah Sass and James Wheatley welcome the opportunity
to meet prospective customers. All three London
Muzers will also be meeting up with existing customers
and friends in the industry. If you'd like to make
an appointment to meet any of the team, they'd welcome
your call.
Colleagues from New York and Seattle will also be
on hand to discuss Muze's increasingly international
offering, and exciting developments to Muze's digital
platform offerings.
For more information on the event itself, visit
the Midem
website. |
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| October 2006
PriceGrabber signs agreement
with Muze Europe
Price comparison site PriceGrabber has signed
an agreement with Muze Europe to use its music
and video databases.
States Darren Davis, business director of PriceGrabber.co.uk.
"PriceGrabber.co.uk is excited to announce
a new partnership with Muze. With thousands of
content selections available on Muze, we will
be offering millions of consumers in the UK an
easier way to shop online for movies and music."
Muze Europe provides the
ideal solution for price comparison sites, enabling
easy linking of products between their own site
and merchants, through the use of Muze unique
IDs.
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| September 2006
New formats added to video
database
Release information for the new generation
of video discs now appears on MuzeVideo UK, the
database of video releases, and searchMuze.co.uk,
the Muze trade website. The new formats of Blu-ray
and HD-DVD are now included along with the four
other current formats - VHS, DVD, DVDi and UMD.
The first Blu-ray disc to be added to MuzeVideo
UK was Sony Pictures' 'Hostel' with a 16th October
release date, and the the first HD-DVD was Universal
Pictures' 'Apollo 13' with a 13th November release
date.
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May
2006
Muze Acquires Loudeye's
U.S.-Based Operations
Loudeye to focus on expanding global operations
with its OD2 services;
Deal significantly enhances Muze's digital media
service capabilities and opens new verticals
Seattle, WA and New York, NY - May 1, 2006
- Loudeye Corp. (Nasdaq: LOUD), a worldwide leader
in business-to-business digital media solutions,
and Muze, the leading provider of entertainment
information services, announced today that Muze
has acquired Loudeye's U.S.-based services and operations
in an asset purchase transaction for $11.0 million
in cash. The transaction closed April 30, 2006.
Muze assumed Loudeye's web and mobile digital music
commerce services, operating on Loudeye's U.S.-based
platform. The platform also has the capabilities
to offer portable music subscription services to
its customers. Live customers of the service are
O2 Germany, ATT Wireless mMode MusicStore (now Cingular
Wireless mMode Music) and BurnLounge. The acquisition
by Muze also includes Loudeye's encoding services,
including for EMI Music customers, and music sound
samples services, along with its hosting and internet
radio services.
This transaction is a further step in Loudeye's
plan announced in February 2006 to focus on its
key revenue generating customers, while substantially
reducing Loudeye's cost structure. This transaction
better positions Loudeye to capitalize on growth
opportunities in rapidly evolving digital media
markets, including mobile, and to accelerate innovation
on Loudeye's OD2 service offering, which Loudeye
offers globally. The success of the OD2 service
has made Loudeye the #1 seller of Windows Media
(WMA) formatted full track music downloads in Europe.
Muze has acquired Loudeye's Seattle based digital
media store services and online radio commerce solutions,
which enable secure downloads of digital media content
for online and mobile users. The acquisition includes
the rights to a broad catalog from the four major
labels, and many of the leading independent labels
and aggregators. Muze clients now have access to
digital music and radio, as well as fully-integrated
or standalone e-commerce solutions. These services
offer retailers and other entities a "branded"
digital music experience, with rapid deployment
and at a minimum of effort.
The acquisition also consolidates Muze's U.S. and
European sound sample libraries with Loudeye's,
creating the world's largest label-sanctioned catalog
in the world, augmented by the deepest, most comprehensive,
and most accurate music database available today.
This combination of leading-edge technology and
world-class editorial content will enable Muze clients
to greatly enhance their respective businesses through
subscriptions or downloads of digital media, all
in support of their specific business models.
"We are focused on achieving significant growth
in our digital media store services globally. The
market for digital music downloads, including mobile,
is expanding at a fast pace, and we are well positioned
in key markets to capitalize on this growth,"
said Mike Brochu, Loudeye president and chief executive
officer. "Moving forward, Loudeye remains committed
to offering
leading digital web and mobile services through
our successful OD2 platform and we look forward
to further expanding our services with existing
partners as well as with ventures in new markets
worldwide. This transaction is a continuation of
our restructuring efforts to streamline operations,
align technology platforms and significantly reduce
our cost structure. The cash infusion from the deal
also strengthens our balance sheet. We will provide
more information about the transaction, together
with our first quarter 2006 operating results, on
our quarterly earnings conference call scheduled
for May 9, 2006."
According to Muze CEO Bill Stensrud, "Over
the last 15 years, Muze has created the most comprehensive
and highly-valued database for music, movies, games
and books. As entertainment transitions from physical
to digital media, this database becomes more critical
than ever before in enhancing the consumer experience.
It's always been our intent to leverage Muze's unique
asset as a foundation on which to build a world-class
digital commerce organization." He adds, "With
the addition of Loudeye's proven digital media platform,
we have expanded our world-class service offerings
for our global customer base. With this acquisition,
Muze is now truly the industry's B2B choice for
digital content."
With the transaction, Muze significantly expands
its global presence, with the addition of a Seattle
office, adding to its New York headquarters and
offices in the U.K. Loudeye will remain a U.S.-based
publicly traded company, with offices in Seattle,
Bristol and London, U.K., Paris, France, Cologne,
Germany and Milan, Italy.
The digital music service customer relationships
transferred in this transaction represented less
than 2% of Loudeye's total revenue for the year
ended December 31, 2005, and the remaining encoding,
samples service, hosting and internet radio services
represented approximately 23% of Loudeye's total
revenue for the year ended December 31, 2005. Loudeye
previously announced that encoding services for
EMI Music, which represented 14% of total revenue
for the year ended December 31, 2005, are expected
to be transitioned to a new service provider during
the second quarter 2006.
About Loudeye Corp.
Loudeye is a worldwide leader in business-to-business
digital media solutions. Loudeye combines innovative
services with a broad catalog of licensed digital
music and an industry leading digital media infrastructure,
enabling partners to rapidly and cost effectively
launch complete, customized digital media stores
and services. For more information, visit www.loudeye.com.
About Muze Inc.
Muze is the leading provider of tools and information
used to connect people to art, education, and entertainment.
Since 1991, Muze has provided the most comprehensive
and accurate entertainment content available. In
stores, at home, and on the go, Muze content drives
the media experience by providing detailed information
about entertainment products, turning browsers into
buyers. Nearly 700 companies worldwide rely on Muze's
rich entertainment content. Muze provides solutions
to a vast array of markets and verticals, ranging
from in-store and online retail, portals, community
sites, auction sites, and consumer electronics.
Clients include Yahoo!, eBay, Tower Records, Best
Buy, Overstock, Pricegrabber, Amazon, MSN,
RealNetworks, BurnLounge, CNET, Virgin Megastores,
Transworld Entertainment, Hastings Entertainment,
Inc. and many others. Muze is based in New York
City, with European offices in London. To learn
more about Muze, please visit www.muze.com and www.muzeeurope.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking information
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements
in this release are based on current estimates and
actual results may differ materially due to risks,
including the possibility of adverse changes in
the market and growth projections for distribution
of digital audio and video that Loudeye serves;
adverse or uncertain legal developments with respect
to copyrights surrounding the creation and distribution
of digital content; pricing pressures and other
activities by competitors; the failure of hosting
infrastructure; the complexity of digital media
distribution services and delivery networks; any
problems or failures in the structure, complexities
or redundancies of Loudeye's network infrastructure;
failures in third party telecommunication and network
providers to provide required transmission capacity;
lack of market acceptance for Loudeye's products
and services; risks relating to Loudeye's ability
to continue as a going concern; and other risks
set forth in Loudeye's most recent Form 10-Q, Form
10-K and other SEC filings which are available through
EDGAR at www.sec.gov.
These are among the primary risks we foresee at
the present time. Loudeye assumes no obligation
to update the forward-looking statements.
Loudeye Contacts:
Media/Public Relations
Karen DeMarco / Ariel Carpenter
mPRm for Loudeye
323.933.3399
kdemarco@mprm.com
/ acarpenter@mprm.com
Investor relations
Chris Pollak
(206) 832-4000
ir@loudeye.com
Muze Contacts:
Muze U.S. Press Contact
David Z Orban
(212) 824-0349
dorban@muze.com
Muze Europe Press Contact
Doug Marshall
+44 (0)20 7566 8216
dmarshall@muzeeurope.com
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April 2006
2006 Classical Catalogue
Competition
"We are pleased to announce
that the winner of the 2006 Classical Catalogue
Competition is Mr. N. Anthoni, who wins the Mozart
masterpieces as chosen by James Jolly, Editor
In Chief of The Gramophone.
Congratulations Mr. Anthoni!"
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