New Zealand Welcomes Myspace Music

New Zealand Welcomes Myspace Music

New Offering Provides Access to Ad-Supported Streaming of the Most Robust Music Catalogue Available

Opportunity to Download Music on iTunes

[October 2nd, 2009] MySpace today announced the official launch of the new MySpace Music platform in New Zealand and Australia. The first territories outside the United States in a global rollout, MySpace Music brings to the Trans Tasman all of the functionality currently available to United States based users including; an ever-growing catalogue of fully licensed audio tracks, user-friendly e-commerce solutions, personal music players and user and artist playlisting, in addition to monetisation opportunities for all artists.
 
MySpace Music is a joint venture among MySpace, EMI Music, Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. MySpace Music not only offers users in Australia and New Zealand access to content from the four major music labels, but also access to The Orchard and IODA catalogues as well: two of the largest independent digital music aggregators.
 
MySpace Music also offers users in New Zealand the opportunity to purchase and download single songs and full albums on iTunes. Additional products and functionality include:

 MySpace Music Product Overview

Free and unlimited ad-supported, full-length audio streaming of single songs and albums
Free and unlimited ability to create and share playlists with easy addition of tracks to playlists via drag-and-drop functionality
Access to MySpace Music’s vast catalogue of content from EMI Music,  Sony Music, Universal Music Group ,  Warner Music Group, The Orchard and IODA artists and more
The ability to purchase and download music on iTunes
The My Music personal music management toolset allows  users to create and edit their playlists, discover  what their friends, favourite bands and celebrities are listening to, as well as browse and search for songs
The Artist Activity Feed in the pop-up player provides users with constant updates from their favorite artists, including new songs added to player, blog entries, recent uploaded photos and updates to their playlists
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“The nature of music consumption globally has changed, and MySpace Music is delighted to part of that evolution,” said Rebekah Horne, MySpace’s Managing Director and SVP of International. “MySpace pioneered an open and social model which encourages the discovery of artists and music, and enables distribution of music and content worldwide. We’re excited to bring this experience to our Kiwi users whilst offering millions of artists on MySpace an unparalleled opportunity to connect and stay in touch with music fans.”

An ad-supported platform, MySpace Music will launch with a range of unique programs from inaugural Kiwi sponsors Coca-Cola and KFC. From November Coca Cola will “Bring Summer Early” through MySpace Music via a MySpace brand community [www.myspace.com/cokenz] where users can create, view and share their favourite summer playlists.  Playing host to a range of summer beach party video content, Coca Cola’s community will also give MySpace users the opportunity win a range of exclusive prizes including artist signed merchandise and concert tickets, as well as the opportunity to have their own playlist appear on MySpace Music’s Featured Playlists page.

As KFC’s first ever online sponsorship venture, MySpace will create a new branded community called MySpace Music Real Bitz presented by KFC Krushers [www.myspace.com/realbitz]. The MySpace Music Real Bitz brand community will act as a hub for premium video content and will showcase short interviews with artists backstage at major music events across New Zealand and Australia.
 
Since officially launching in the United States in September 2008, MySpace Music has seen 1,017% growth in annual page traffic (according to Neilsen). This increase translates to a substantial user growth from 4.2 million unique visitors at launch to 20 million unique visitors in September 2009 (according to comScore).
 
MySpace Music hosts more than 5 million major, indie, and unsigned artist profiles, providing a vast artist-powered collection of songs, music videos, tour dates, blogs, and photos.  MySpace’s deep, long-standing ties to the music community, has delivered numerous exclusive releases from some of the most popular and respected musicians in the world. The company’s new music product and marketing initiatives will greatly enhance the existing MySpace Music offline concert franchises including Secret Shows.

MySpace Music executive quote sheet, screen shots, logos, and fact sheets are available upon request.

NEW ZEALAND MUSIC INDUSTRY EXECUTIVE QUOTES

Adam Holt, Managing Director, Universal Music New Zealand

“MySpace has always been a great place to find great new music – now it’s got even better. MySpace Music lets music fans listen to whatever they like, whenever they want. They can thrash their favourites, discover new artists and tell the world and their friends what they love. It’s the first music service of its kind in New Zealand and we’re thrilled MySpace Music has arrived.”

Ed St John, President & CEO Warner Music Australasia

“Warner Music is excited to participate in the launch of MySpace Music in New Zealand, which has the potential to provide a dynamic vehicle for unlocking the social value of music. In consultation with the industry, MySpace has created an innovative social music service which offers a high quality and engaging experience. This unique partnership offers a powerful platform for our roster of talent to fully engage a large online community, and gives consumers a great resource for music discovery, preference sharing and convenient transactions.”

Mark Poston, Chairman & Senior Vice President of Marketing, EMI Music Australasia

“MySpace is a vital platform for connecting our artists and their fans.  We're excited about exploring new ways to connect with those fans and we see MySpace Music as a great tool for doing this.  MySpace Music is the next step in the development of an important online music property. The record industry has been evolving over the last decade and MySpace has been an important part of that evolution.”

Denis Handlin AM, Chairman & CEO, Sony Music Entertainment Australia & New Zealand

“The launch of My Space Music is an exciting initiative that will give consumers great access to a wide range of music. It will also provide labels and artists with a quality distribution channel for their music and represents a significant development in online music services to the music loving public.”  

ARTIST QUOTE

Midnight Youth - www.myspace.com/midnightyouth

 “MySpace has been essential for our band to reach fans we may otherwise not have had. It's so easy to upload your music and start letting people from all around the world hear it and tell their friends about it. We now have a fan base across the globe that we can easily keep up to date with our happenings and share our music and videos with and we've found ourselves signing an international record deal as a result of the increased exposure." Jeremy Redmore, Lead singer Midnight Youth.

Midnight Youth have created a playlist to celebrate the launch of MySpace Music in New Zealand. To view ‘Midnight Youth’s Top Pre-Show Tracks’ go to www.myspace.com/midnightyouth.

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