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Masterbeat.Com Launches First Music Download Site Focused on Dance & Electronica to Offer Music From Sony BMG and Warner Music Group

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 October 2008, 12:00 CDT

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- http://www.masterbeat.com/ is a new digital download music site that offers consumers a virtual shopping mall of current hits and classic tracks across a wide variety of dance and electronica genres including House, Disco, Electro, Trance, Garage and Pop. Masterbeat announced that they have signed deals with Sony BMG and Warner Music Group that will allow the site to highlight each label's dance remixes and electronica artists alongside their entire catalogs. Masterbeat.com is the first online niche retailer to safely and securely deliver high quality DRM-free MP3's of dance tracks from Platinum-selling pop artists via its easy to navigate and state-of-the-art website.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081015/NY39237LOGO )

Until now, no online retailer has specialized in promoting and selling dance and electronica product from the major labels. "These are the dance tracks made by and for the industry's top DJs and remixers," said Brett Henrichsen, Founder and President of Masterbeat, at yesterday's announcement in Los Angeles. Henrichsen, himself an internationally renowned DJ, understands the frustration of consumers who have traditionally been unable to legally obtain mixes they hear on the radio or in a club. "These recordings were not originally intended for commercial sale. They were commissioned by the labels to be played at dance clubs and on radio mix shows to promote their artists and mainstream albums. Masterbeat.com is the first online retailer to offer the recordings to fans for commercial sale."

Hosh Gureli, a former radio programmer turned A&R executive at RCA Music Group explained that major labels have not promoted their dance and electronica product for retail sale because mainstream retailers have traditionally been ill-equipped to handle these complex and quickly changing genres. "Hot remixes only have a week or two on the charts before another hit is rising to the top." Now Head of Development at Masterbeat, Gureli contends that the major labels needed a retailer that understood the intricacies of the genre. "Mass merchants and online sites cannot react as quickly as the DJ's, clubs and radio; which made it difficult for the labels to think of dance remixes as anything but promotion. That's where Masterbeat.com comes in. We're providing a site where fans know they can find and purchase a remix the moment they hear it."

Masterbeat.com is a vast catalog of current and classic tracks. In addition to distribution deals with thousands of independent labels around the world, Masterbeat has secured rights to distribute the entire catalogs of Sony BMG and Warner Music Group. This makes the depth of music available on Masterbeat rival that of iTunes and Amazon.com and allows the consumer to use Masterbeat's intuitive site to find and purchase music from all of their favorite artists across every musical genre, even if it's not dance or electronica related. Artist's full albums are available alongside their remixes.

The dance and electronica industry needed to be redefined. "We had to eliminate the old physical mindset of street dates," added Henrichsen. "Fans of dance and electronica are not willing to wait for their favorite records to hit store shelves. They want their music now." With no legal site to obtain the mixes they were hearing, many have turned to file sharing networks to find the music. In order to meet fans' demands, Masterbeat.com built an expedient distribution system. If a label chooses to do so, a remix can be sold at the same time it is being promoted to radio and DJ's, thus diminishing illegal file sharing by providing a legal alternative for consumers who have indicated they are willing to pay for their music if they knew where to find it.

A key element to Masterbeat is promoting the genre as a community. In addition to being a retailer, Masterbeat.com is an educational tool, offering profiles and extensive information on its featured artists, DJs, remixers and record labels. Through partnerships with Billboard, DJ's and leading radio stations, Masterbeat.com posts weekly club charts and playlists, keeping fans up-to-the-minute on the hottest tracks.

Finally, sales on Masterbeat.com count. Masterbeat.com will be the first online dance and electronica online distributor to be a reporting retailer to Nielsen Soundscan, the company that tallies artist sales charts for Billboard. Now sales of an artist's dance remixes can impact the record's Billboard chart position.

"It's an exciting time, not only for Masterbeat.com, but for the entire dance and electronica music community," concluded Henrichsen. "These new deals with two of America's leading record groups, signifies that the major labels are finally recognizing there is profit potential in their dance and electronica repertoire."

For additional information, visit http://www.masterbeat.com/ . CONTACT: Jeff Dorta, Project Publicity: 212-445-0099 jeff.dorta@projectpublicity.com

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081015/NY39237LOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Masterbeat.com

CONTACT: Jeff Dorta, Project Publicity, +1-212-445-0099,jeff.dorta@projectpublicity.com, for Masterbeat

Web Site: http://www.masterbeat.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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