pressplay, the leading music service, has entered into an agreement with BMG that brings that company's prestigious music catalog to the pressplay service. BMG becomes the fourth major music company to add its songs to pressplay's catalog of more than 120,000 songs from thousands of artists across all genres.
The agreement will add tens of thousands of tracks into pressplay from both frontline and catalog BMG artists including Christina Aguilera, Alabama, Brooks and Dunn, John Denver, Placido Domingo, Vince Gill, Whitney Houston, Kenny G., Barry Manilow, Monica, Lorrie Morgan, Sarah McLachlan, OutKast, Iggy Pop, Elvis Presley, Lou Reed, Run DMC, Frank Sinatra, The Strokes, TLC, Tyrese, Usher, Wu Tang Clan, Yanni, Yes and ZZ Top. Pressplay members will be able to burn these artists' songs to CDs, transfer them to portable devices or keep their tracks permanently on their computers, as well as enjoy unlimited streams and downloads.
"From Elvis Presley to Whitney Houston and Sinatra to The Strokes, the addition of BMG's great artists and music will add tens of thousands of songs for our members to enjoy online or offline, on their PCs or on the go," said Michael Bebel, president and chief executive officer of pressplay. "The addition of this fourth major music company is another important step forward for pressplay. Following the successful launch of our latest version, which includes commercial-free radio, pressplay continues to deliver to our members the features and music they want."
"We are pleased to make our music available through pressplay," said Michael Smellie, chief operating officer, BMG. "This license agreement further demonstrates BMG's commitment to bringing music to consumers online in a way that is dynamic and respects our artists' rights."
Launched in the U.S. in December 2001, pressplay remains the only online music subscription service to offer subscribers broad portability options along with an unlimited number of streams and downloads. Pressplay also offers more than 25 professionally programmed stations on Radio pressplay. Pressplay is available through MSN, Yahoo, MP3.com, Roxio and Sony Musiclub. Last month pressplay also became accessible on the "services" tab of Microsoft's new Windows Media Player 9 Series, exposing tens of millions of Windows Media users to the pressplay service.
pressplay is an equally held joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group (a unit of Vivendi Universal), and has offices in Los Angeles and New York City. Music companies, including BMG, EMI Recorded Music, Madacy, Matador, Navarre, OWIE, Razor & Tie, Roadrunner, Rounder, Sanctuary, Sony Music Entertainment, TVT, Universal Music Group and Zomba separately provide their content to pressplay on a non-exclusive basis. Pressplay is marketed to consumers through relationships with MP3.com, MSN Music, pressplay Connect, Roxio, Sony Music Club and Yahoo!. An independent executive team with deep music, programming, technology and business experience leads the company.
