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Offering Combines Efficiency of Peer-To-Peer Distribution with Growing Market; Turns File-Sharers into Paid Distributors
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Los Angeles, July 19, 2004 - StreamCast Networks, Inc.™, makers of the
popular Morpheus™ peer-to-peer file-sharing and search application, has
announced the availability of tracks from rock legend Heart's latest
Sovereign Artists' album, Jupiter's Darling, through Morpheus, beginning on
July 16th. The Heart release marks Morpheus' entrance into selling music to
its users via peer-to-peer distribution.
"Morpheus and Heart are both synonymous with innovation and revolution, and
we're extremely excited to be joining Ann and Nancy Wilson in bringing their
music to the world," StreamCast Networks Chief Executive Officer Michael
Weiss stated.
"By using Morpheus as a distribution channel, Sovereign Artists will
benefit from Morpheus' multiple P2P network connectivity to Gnutella, G2,
FastTrack, eDonkey and the soon to be launched NEOnet™ P2P Networks,"
Weiss commented. "This promotion not only provides Morpheus users the
ability to support an artist that is supporting the file-sharing community,
but also includes a built-in structure that will allow each Morpheus user
who downloads the available Heart tracks to also become a paid
re-distributor."
Each Morpheus user who purchases any of the available Heart recordings will
have the opportunity to redistribute those recordings to other P2P users and
receive monetary compensation for their re-distribution efforts, on a
multi-level scale of 20 percent for direct sales, 10 percent for sales at
the secondary level, and so forth. By allowing each Morpheus user to be an
individual authorized distributor, Heart's music from Jupiter's Darling will
be made available to millions, in a way that insures efficiency and
incentives for each user who participates in the distribution effort. The
commerce component of the transactions will be handled by online music
distributor Weedshare. Heart is also releasing "Love Hurts" as an exclusive
track in the weed format.
In addition, 50 percent of the proceeds from each track sold using Morpheus
will go directly to the rights holders for the music, insuring that they are
properly compensated for their intellectual properties. Sixteen tracks from
the album will be made available through Morpheus.
Each of the Heart tracks from Jupiter's Darling made available uses
Microsoft's Windows Media Audio format, and will include Microsoft's digital
rights management (DRM) component. Prior to purchasing each track, the user
will have the opportunity to download the song file and play it three times
for free, as a means of previewing each song in its entirety before being
required to purchase them. When the songs are shared, the new user will
have the same experience.
To locate the available authorized Heart tracks using the Morpheus software,
users need only search for Heart, Jupiter's Darling and/or by song title.
Users are cautioned against downloading songs not from Heart's Jupiter's
Darling album that are not .wma files requiring purchase after three free
plays because the downloading of unauthorized songs might constitute
copyright infringement.
"We're grateful to the other parties who have joined us in this historic
venture, including Sovereign Artists, Weedshare, Microsoft and, of course,
Heart," StreamCast's VP Business Development, Elizabeth Cowley added. "This
is a perfect example of how artists and their record labels can harness the
power of Morpheus for authorized distribution of music -- the artist gains
exposure, compensation goes directly to the rights holder, while at the same
time, users are encouraged and compensated for sharing. The possibilities
from here are endless"
About StreamCast Networks, Inc.
StreamCast Networks, Inc., creators of the Morpheus software product is a leading global communications technology company that is revolutionizing Internet digital media distribution and communications via software that enables users to communicate directly with one another on an unprecedented scale. Users according to CNET's download.com have downloaded over 124 million copies of Morpheus.
Brian O'Neal
Sr. Director of Communications
StreamCast Networks
boneal _at_ morpheus.com
818-887-8610 ext. 122
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Copyright © 2004 Streamcast Networks TM All rights reserved. Streamcast Networks, the Morpheus logo, the MusicCity.com logo, and all other trademarks, service marks and trade names of Streamcast Networks appearing on this web site are the property of Streamcast Networks, Inc. Morpheus is a trademark of Streamcast Networks. MusicCity and Streamcast Networks do not condone copyright infringement.
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