Contact Information: Contacts: Warner Music Group Amanda Collins 212/275-2213 Email Contact Last.fm June Parina Sparkpr for Last.fm 415/533-3565 Email Contact
Warner Music Group and Last.fm Strike Wide-Ranging Content Agreement
First Major Music Content Agreement for Leading Online Social Music Network
| Source: Warner Music Group
NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- February 6, 2007 -- Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE : WMG ) and
Last.fm, the social music networking site, today announced a broad
partnership to offer WMG's renowned music catalog available over multiple
services offered by Last.fm in the U.S. and Europe. This announcement marks
Last.fm's first content agreement with a major media company and
underscores WMG's commitment to offering consumers unique ways to
experience its artists' music.
With more than 15 million active users per month currently, Last.fm is a
service that analyzes what its users listen to and then presents them with
an array of personal recommendations based upon their tastes including
custom radio streams, music charts, users with similar tastes, and more.
As part of the partnership, Last.fm's music fans will have access to WMG's
catalog through Last.fm's free, advertising-supported radio streaming
service and its soon-to-be released premium, subscription-based interactive
radio. Through a phased rollout, U.S. music fans will have first access to
these services with the European markets following suit in the coming
weeks. Fans will be able to discover new music from the WMG catalog with
Last.fm's intelligent radio and music recommendations and share their radio
channels with other subscribers.
In making the announcement, Alex Zubillaga, Executive Vice President,
Digital Strategy and Business Development, WMG, said, "This agreement
reflects WMG's dedication to fostering the growth of community-driven music
discovery services. We want to enable fans to experience exciting ways to
uncover new Warner Music artists, and to enjoy innovative approaches to
customizing their digital music experience."
Martin Stiksel, cofounder and chief content officer of Last.fm, said, "We
are very excited to have reached this agreement with WMG. This constitutes
a major development for our social music network. Our innovative approach
to music discovery and online radio now gives our users access to some of
the greatest music ever recorded."
About Last.fm
Founded in 2002 in London, Last.fm is the online, social music revolution
that connects people with music and artists with listeners. By joining the
Last.fm community, music fans can choose to share their music preferences
by linking their media player (e.g. iTunes) to the Last.fm database. This
database is populated continually with over 500 million monthly track
submissions from Last.fm music fans. As a result, Last.fm can intelligently
recommend songs, artists, local concerts and even other members based on
their musical tastes. Learn more about Last.fm at www.last.fm.
About Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group became the only stand-alone music company to be publicly
traded in the United States in May 2005. With its broad roster of new stars
and legendary artists, Warner Music Group is home to a collection of the
best-known record labels in the music industry including Asylum, Atlantic,
Bad Boy, Cordless, East West, Elektra, Lava, Maverick, Nonesuch, Perfect
Game, Reprise, Rhino, Roadrunner, Rykodisc, Sire, Warner Bros. and Word.
Warner Music International, a leading company in national and international
repertoire, operates through numerous international affiliates and
licensees in more than 50 countries. Warner Music Group also includes
Warner/Chappell Music, one of the world's leading music publishers.