VERVE ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF RARE ALBUMS AS RHAPSODY EXCLUSIVES

The Verve Music Group has announced an exclusive program with Rhapsody(R), the award-winning online music service from RealNetworks(R), to make a number of its classic, out-of-print recordings available to consumers as digital releases. Verve has had much success in bringing back titles that either had been deleted from its catalog or were never-before-available and making these titles available as digital-only tracks and albums. Verve and Rhapsody are making this exclusive content available in response to consumer interest.

"Today's consumer lives an on-demand lifestyle and The Verve Music Group is thrilled to have Rhapsody embrace the delivery of out-of-print music to meet the consumer demand for it," says Ron Goldstein, President and CEO of The Verve Music Group. "Verve can now achieve the full potential of its amazing catalog by re-releasing these classic recordings in the digital space." The program will launch with 28 titles. These titles, which are currently unavailable for purchase anywhere in America, was released to Rhapsody beginning on May 23rd and will be available exclusively through the service for three months. Consumers will be able to stream, download, or purchase these classic recordings via the Rhapsody service as well as transfer them to compatible portable devices. Rhapsody and Verve will support this exclusive relationship with a variety of album features and promotions as well as outreach to core music audiences.

"We're very excited to be adding nearly 30 out-of-print titles from Verve Records to Rhapsody," said Tim Quirk, GM of Music Content and Programming. "Rhapsody's infinite shelf space means there's always room for more great music from influential Verve artists such as Art Blakey, EllaFitzgerald, and Oscar Peterson."

Verve titles coming to Rhapsody through the program include:
Albert Mangelsdorff, Jaco Pastorius, and Alphonse Mouzon "Trilogue" (Live)
Alphonse Mouzon "By All Means"
Anita O'Day "Anita"
Art Blakey "The Complete Art Blakey on EmArcy"
Art Tatum "I Got Rhythm Vol. 3 (1935-44)"
Baden Powell "Estudos"
Ben Sidran "I Lead A Life"
Ben Sidran "Puttin' In Time On Planet Earth"
Ben Sidran "The Cat In The Hat"
Ben Webster and Don Byas "Ben Webster Meets Don Byas"
Bill Evans "Symbiosis"
Clark Terry "Clark After Dark"
Dexter Gordon and Slide Hampton "A Day in Copenhagen"
Don "Sugar Cane" Harris "Fiddler On The Rock"
Don Ellis "Soaring"
Duke Ellington "Collages"
Ella Fitzgerald "Songs In A Mellow Mood"
Freddie Hubbard "The Hub Of Hubbard"
George Duke "I Love The Blues, She Heard Me Cry"
Helen Merrill and Ron Carter "Duets"
Jean-Luc Ponty "Sunday Walk"
Joe Henderson "Mirror Mirror"
Marlena Shaw "Out Of Different Bags"
Monty Alexander "The Duke Ellington Songbook"
Oscar Peterson "Bursting Out With The All-Star Big Band"
Stephane Grappelli and the Diz Disley Trio "Violinspiration"
The Jan Hammer Trio "Maliny Maliny"