AMP3.com Takes Woodstock Virtual

Business Wire, June 30, 1999

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 29, 1999--

By the time he got to Woodstock, Michael Sharp, President/Founder of AMP3.com, had scored the greatest coup for the digital music industry. In an unprecedented arrangement, the AMP3.com web site has positioned itself as the exclusive MP3 provider present at the thirtieth anniversary of the music event that defined a generation.

"This is a rare opportunity to be part of music history," says Sharp. "We are proud to team with Woodstock '99 to bring the world another three days of peace, love and music."

Additionally, a 10,000-square-foot digital demonstration pavilion will feature streams and downloads of AMP3.com independent artists' music.

The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, to be held in Rome, New York on July 23-25, is the hottest event of the summer having surpassed all first day single-event ticket sale records. An estimated 250,000 concert-goers will congregate at Grifiss Park, a former Air Force base complete with its own hospital, sewage plant, water system and 240-acre campground, to partake of everything from ethnic cuisine to henna tattoos, and to sample musical fare ranging from Ice Cube to Willie Nelson.

"The roster of top talent assembled to perform at Woodstock '99 is second-to-none," asserts Sharp. "We hope to augment the festival experience by offering our stage to the next Jimi, Janis or Jerry."

AMP3.com, the Internet's newest and fastest-growing MP3 web site, is committed to featuring start-up musicians alongside industry names, and has successfully delivered more than 350,000 downloads since launching its site four months ago. What distinguishes it from other MP3 sites is its outspokenly cooperative stance toward the recording industry's efforts to devise a standard for the MP3 technology that will better protect copyright, and that all of the more than 3,000 artists on the site get paid for every download.

"We are tearing down walls and building bridges from the latest music delivery system to the world's best-known music event," says Sharp. "Woodstock has always been about song and celebration, and it will allow our artists, even those without recording contracts, to be heard live and by webcast, while giving a voice back to the audience to determine who they want to listen to most. This is the true spirit of the MP3 revolution."