Bebo partners with Audible Magic

Bebo (www.bebo.com ), the world’s most engaging social network, has just this week partnered with Audible Magic, the industry’s top provider of content recognition technology, to ensure all artists and the 500,000 bands on Bebo have complete control over their music. Using Audible Magic’s content identification and digital fingerprinting solutions, Bebo will be able to instantly identify unauthorized copyrighted content and remove it from its site.

“Bebo Music was established to enable people to build direct relationships with the artists they love, and to enable these artists to make money from their art,” said Michael Birch, CEO & founder, Bebo. “With Audible Magic we ensure that artists and the labels that represent them are the only ones who decide which songs they give away for free and which not.”

“Bebo is already leading the way in helping artists find and grow their fan base,” said Vance Ikezoye, founder and CEO of Audible Magic. “With Audible Magic in place, they take a step forward in creating an environment which enables artists the freedom to share the music they want with their audience and with full confidence that their copyrighted material doesn’t get distributed by someone else.”

Earlier this week, Bebo announced a groundbreaking partnership with Apple in the UK to enable Bebo users to purchase music from the iTunes store directly from artist profiles. Combined with their existing partnership with 7 Digital, Bebo now offers both well-known and undiscovered artists the chance to promote and sell their music to the Bebo community without the concern of lost revenue due to piracy.

About Bebo
Founded in 2005, Bebo (www.bebo.com) is a thriving social network of highly engaged individuals who want to express themselves, discover their passions and connect with like-minded users. More than 33 million members worldwide, have joined the Bebo community, making it the largest social network in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand and one of the top 3 social networks in the US, Canada and Australia. Over 95% of Bebo users are under the age of 35 and the site is one of the fastest growing on the Internet, with 5 users signing up each second. Bebo is also one of the world’s most engaging websites, ranked #3 in the UK after Google and MSN*.

Bebo was named as the number one search term in the Year-End Google Zeitgeist 2006.

*Source: comScore World Metrix

About Audible Magic Corporation
Audible Magic Corporation provides content management and anti-piracy services to the media and entertainment industries as well as business, governmental, and educational institutions. The company’s offerings utilize patented content identification technologies and an extensive reference database of audio and video content that includes one of the largest collections of copyrighted digital song recording fingerprints in the world. Its digital technology and services were designed to monitor, track, manage, filter and monetize digital content in all its forms. The company has been actively providing services for the Web 2.0 user-generated content video sharing sites including MySpace, Microsoft (Soapbox), Break.com, Dailymotion, Eyespot, GoFish, and Grouper. The company also has an agreement with Viacom’s MTV Networks
(MTVN) and the Harry Fox Agency, a leading U.S. music rights organization.
Corporate partners include EMI Recorded Music, Palisade Systems, Sony/BMG Music, Universal Music Group, V2 Music, Warner Music Group, and EMI Recorded Music. Audible Magic is also employed by iMesh and PlayLouder MSP music service. Audible Magic products include the CopySense P2P Plug-In, CopySense Network Appliance, and
RepliCheck.

For more information please visit: http://www.audiblemagic.com./


About Bebo Bands:
Launched in July 2006, Bebo Bands helps Bebo users discover new artists. Now, more than 500,000 bands—from unsigned amateur artists to big names like Avril Lavigne—have set up profiles to harness the power of Bebo’s 33 million user base to connect with old and new fans. Using the 7digital widget, bands can sell their music directly through their profiles.

Background on Bebo:

Founded in January 2005, Bebo is by far the largest social network in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand and one of the top 3 social networks in the US, Canada and Australia

Bebo currently has more than 33 million users, and the number is growing strongly every day with 5 users signing up each second

Bebo is among the ‘stickiest’ sites on the web: users worldwide spend an average of 29 minutes on Bebo each day.

Over 95% of Bebo users are under the age of 35 and the site is one of the fastest growing on the Internet