Friday, September 21, 2007

Slacker inks deals with major labels

Slacker, Inc. today announced agreements with the major labels EMI Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to make the labels' content available to listeners on the Slacker Personal Radio service. Slacker, which previously announced a similar agreement with SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, now has agreements with all four major labels that enable listeners to choose from a vast catalog of artists to play on their personal radio stations wherever they are. Including extensive digital music catalogs from EMI Music, SONY BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group will give Slacker listeners access to a deep catalog of music to create personalized stations based on genre or favorite artists.
As part of the agreement, Slacker listeners can transfer their personalized stations to Slacker Portable Players with a single click and automatically refresh them via Wi-Fi or over USB.
"Slacker is about enabling music lovers to play personalized radio everywhere they go," said Dennis Mudd, CEO of Slacker. "These agreements allow us to provide truly portable personalized radio for the first time, in a structure that fairly compensates artists, labels and the entire music ecosystem."
Slacker Personal Radio enables listeners to create, edit and share their own stations or personalize over 100 professionally programmed stations. Slacker customers also have easy access to artist profiles, album reviews and cover art within the Slacker Web Player, Desktop Radio and on the Slacker Portable.
"Universal Music Group is pleased to partner with Slacker," stated Rio Caraeff, Executive Vice President of eLabs, the company's new media and technologies division. "Slacker's service is designed for consumers who value the ability to explore a wide variety of music across many genres, and provides us with another great promotional opportunity to connect our artists with their fans."
"Slacker is an exciting new music discovery experience because it offers consumers choice, portability and community," said Lauren Berkowitz, Senior Vice President of Digital for EMI Music North America. "We are delighted to make our artists' music available to fans through Slacker."
"We are excited by the Slacker service and the potential value it offers consumers and copyright holders," said Michael Nash, Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy and Business Development for Warner Music Group. "Today's consumer has a plethora of music channels and services to choose from, and Slacker brings discovery, choice, mobility and community to the music experience while compensating record labels and artists for their works."
The Slacker Personal Radio online experience is available for free today in beta at www.slacker.com and is coming soon on Slacker Portable Players. Slacker Basic Radio is advertising supported and will remain free for customers to use on the web, Slacker Desktop Radio and Slacker Portables. Slacker Premium Radio, which will offer additional features, is also coming soon. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Slacker Slacker, Inc. today announced deals with leading independent music labels and distributors, including IODA, The Orchard, Beggars Group and Matador Records, IRIS, Ubiquity Records and Sanctuary Group PLC. The agreements give Slacker the content rights to enable Personal Radio that can be played everywhere. Slacker previously announced similar agreements with the major labels EMI Music, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. The agreements with the major and Indie labels enable Slacker customers to create and play highly personalized, continuously refreshed radio stations via PC or Mac (www.slacker.com ) and later this year on Slacker Portable Players.
"Slacker is focused on building the world's largest and most eclectic music radio catalog," said Dennis Mudd, CEO of Slacker. "With these licenses, we enable music lovers to create deeper and more diverse radio stations than ever before, and play them wherever they go."
Slacker Personal Radio enables listeners to create, edit and share their own stations or personalize over 100 professionally programmed stations. Slacker customers also have easy access to artist profiles, album reviews and cover art within the Slacker Web Player, Desktop Radio and on the Slacker Portable.
"IODA is very excited about this deal with Slacker as it gives our labels and artists an innovative avenue in which to grow their audience and reach their fans," said Kevin Arnold, Founder/CEO of IODA. "Our music catalog includes close to 1 million tracks from thousands of leading Indie labels worldwide The ability for fans to access these tracks has just become a whole lot easier with Slacker."
"We're pleased to be part of the innovative Slacker Personal Radio service," said Simon Wheeler, Director of Digital at Beggars Group. "Our groundbreaking artists and creative labels are naturally at home in an environment where music lovers can discover, share and enjoy music. Music discovery and word of mouth are two key factors in our success and the viral capabilities of the Slacker service should help us spread the word further and louder!"
"IRIS is happy to collaborate with Slacker to provide its users with the best independent music," said Bryn Boughton, Chief Marketing Officer for IRIS. "At IRIS we are always seeking new ways to help our labels reach new audiences and we believe Slacker will provide an excellent channel."
The Slacker Personal Radio online experience is available for free today in beta at www.slacker.com and is coming soon on Slacker Portable Players. Slacker Basic Radio is advertising supported and will remain free for customers to use on the web, Slacker Desktop Radio and Slacker Portables. Slacker Premium Radio, which will offer additional features, is also coming soon. About Slacker, Inc. Slacker is the world's first Personal Radio company, providing a new kind of radio that enables consumers to play highly personalized music everywhere. Visit www.slacker.com to start listening today.

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