Platinum Entertainment Offers Free MP3 Downloads Via MP3.Com; Taylor Dayne, Dionne Warwick and The Band With Eric Clapton Featured on Top Internet Download Site

Business Wire, Nov 3, 1998

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Nov. 3, 1998--Platinum Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTET) and MP3.com today announced the release of free MP3 downloads, during a news conference at the Webnoize '98 Music & Media Conference. Songs from current River North Records releases by Taylor Dayne, Dionne Warwick, The Band with Eric Clapton and Ronna will be offered to music fans who visit MP3.com at http://www.mp3.com and Platinum's new Web site, http://www.PlatinumCD.com.

Additional MP3 files will be available at both sites on a rotating schedule, including a selection of holiday music downloads starting December 1st. MP3.com is the #1 music download site on the Internet, with 3,000,000 visitors per month. In the past year, MP3.com has facilitated more than 5,000,000 legal, original song downloads - approximately 75,000 songs daily.

"While other record labels may still regard MP3 as a controversial format, we see it as a powerful promotional tool," says Steve Devick, Platinum president and CEO. "In creating a strong online buzz we intend to drive a large and active audience to both traditional and online retail record stores to purchase our music." The promotion also introduces people to PlatinumCD.com, where consumers can download CD-quality Liquid Audio files of these and many other songs to their home computer, Devick added.

During the first two weeks of the new MP3 promotion, visitors to MP3.com and PlatinumCD.com can download MP3 files of four current River North Records releases, including Taylor Dayne's "Unstoppable" from Naked Without You, the multi-platinum selling artist's first new album in four years; "I Say A Little Prayer," the Dionne Warwick classic that enjoyed a revival in the film My Best Friend's Wedding and appears in a newly-recorded version on her album Dionne Sings Dionne; "Last Train To Memphis," featuring British guitar legend Clapton, which appears on The Band's critically-acclaimed Jubilation; and "13 Days of Daisy" from Ronna's album Day 14.

Future MP3 promotions will include downloads from Platinum's other wholly-owned labels. Platinum's diverse music formats include blues, country, gospel, pop, urban, dance, adult contemporary, jazz, electronic and classical.

"Platinum Entertainment understands that to market music, you have to go to the music buyers," said Michael Robertson, MP3 president. "Their progressive approach to Internet marketing and e-commerce, plus their quality artist lineup and song catalog, makes them a leader in the 21st century music business."

On October 1st, Platinum announced the opening of PlatinumCD.com, as well as its equity investment and revenue sharing arrangement with The Music Connection Corporation, creators of www.musicmaker.com, the Web's first and largest custom music compilation site. The deal exclusively combined Platinum Entertainment's catalog of more than 13,000 pop, gospel, blues, urban, classical and jazz recordings with 160,000 songs currently available at musicmaker.com, creating the largest custom CD and music download resource on the Internet.

Platinum Entertainment, based in Downers Grove, Ill., produces, licenses, acquires, markets and distributes high quality recorded music for a variety of music formats. Platinum's wholly-owned subsidiary labels include River North Records, House of Blues Music Co., CGI Records and Intersound Country, Intersound Urban and Intersound Classical. Platinum's products include new releases as well as compilations and new configurations of previously recorded music that enable Platinum to exploit its catalog of master recordings.