eMUSIC TO FEATURE SONY MUSIC CATALOG

eMusic, the internet's corner music store, and Sony Music Entertainment have announced that they have reached an agreement to sell songs from Sony Music's back catalog on the eMusic website. Beginning in the third quarter, eMusic will offer its U.S. subscribers classic recordings from all Sony Music labels, such as Arista, Columbia, Epic, Jive, LaFace, Legacy Recordings and RCA, including artists such as Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and OutKast. The agreement covers music that is two years old or more. Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

eMusic offers music fans a deeper, more immersive alternative to mass market digital music stores and will present Sony Music artists with the same award-winning editorial focus that it brings to its current catalog. The site, geared to adults over the age of 25, will contextualize albums and songs from Sony Music's renowned artists, drawing meaningful connections between "major" and "indie" artists, and featuring in-depth discographies and collections built around genres and themes.

"We welcome the opportunity to expand the reach of Sony Music catalog artists online to include eMusic's large and passionate subscriber base. We look forward to working with them to promote discovery and sales of all the great music available from Sony Music's recent past and legendary history," said Thomas Hesse, President, Global Digital Business, U.S. Sales and Corporate Strategy.

"We're excited to bring Sony Music's vast catalog of music to eMusic's customers," said Danny Stein, eMusic CEO and Chairman. "First and foremost, eMusic is about a quality customer experience. We are eager to bring eMusic's in-depth approach and curatorial excellence to these incredible recordings -- as we've done for independent labels for the last 10 years."

eMusic launched in 1998 and was one of the first digital music services to sell MP3 download and the first to launch a download-to-own subscription service for music in 2000. Its subscription pricing offers the ability to download 24 tracks for as little as $11.99 per month.